AI can build fast. Should you?

Hi, and welcome to The Atomic Builder!

Where I build fast, smart, and with just the right amount of chaos.

Last week, I launched SiteSpark - a tool that turns your resume into a personal site in under 60 seconds. It is clean, useful, and… surprisingly minimal. It’s also totally FREE if you want to try it out.

Today, I want to talk about that minimalism. Because the most important part of the build wasn’t the code. It was the decisions I didn’t let AI make. Let’s get on with it…

🧠 The Real Role of AI: Not to Build for You - But to Build With Restraint

When you’re building with AI, everything becomes easier to do.

…Add a testimonial slider? Easy.

…Custom fonts? One prompt away.

…Analytics dashboard? Probably done before lunch.

But that’s where things get dangerous. The biggest challenge in AI-driven building isn’t capability.

It’s YOUR judgement.

You’ve really got to think about what you’re doing and guide AI. The essence of building with AI is knowing that it is very likely to make changes to files and folders you want it to leave well alone…

The tools are getting better. But that’s just the way it works today.

⚙️ Building SiteSpark: What I Could Have Added (But Didn’t)

Here’s what AI happily offered to build - that I didn’t ship:

• Multiple site themes

• Inline preview editor

• SEO fields

• Domain connection (that’s why we have the ugly netlify URL!)

• Referral tracker

• Site visit analytics

ChatGPT, Cursor (and models within), Claude - they all suggested these.

And could have built most of them in minutes. But I didn’t let them. Because SiteSpark was never meant to be a playground for features.

It was meant to be a moment of clarity for someone stuck in resume hell. I think it does that well.

That’s what I want you to think about as you build stuff. Is it useful, do I need it now?

🚫 Three “Smart” Features I Killed

1. Image uploads for users and projects

AI made this sound like a quick win. But the added UX, storage, and layout logic would’ve diluted the core purpose. For what I was aiming for, this level of complexity, not needed!

2.Elaborate theme customization with background uploads

Fun? Yes. Useful? Not really. For 90% of users, simplicity is the real luxury. There is just no value in having customisation that might alienate a number of users. Simple is best.

3.Industry-specific site templates

A tempting idea. But making 10 half-useful experiences felt worse than building one great default. I opted for one great default!

✍️ The New Muscle: Knowing When to Say No

As product builders / creators, we used to struggle with resources. Now we struggle with restraint. It’s a nice problem to have.

As AI has flattened the cost of “building”, the cost of adding noise, confusing users, or drifting from your core use case? That’s higher than ever.

That’s something we should all think through.

🧩 What I Did Ship - And What It Actually Cost

SiteSpark does one thing and that’s the point:

No fluff. No upsells. Just value. But building it - even with AI - wasn’t free.

Here’s what it cost:

• Time: Prompting, testing, debugging (and repeat)

• Tokens: Cursor, Claude, and ChatGPT - a lot of back-and-forth

• Infra setup: Supabase and Netlify were “free,” but only after config, setup, and retries - with more users this could end up costing me. For now I’m safe…

• Mental load: Managing 3+ AI agents, interpreting failures

Each of us will ‘pay’ with something, potentially different to others, there’s always an inherent cost... I say that not to scare you off - but to prepare you.

Because I still believe anyone reading this can build something useful.

Just know that the velocity you can achieve today doesn’t remove thought that you should apply to what you build. That’s important to consider, the more you are set loose building with these tools.

👀 What’s Next (And Why This Was Enough)

I’m not writing another issue about SiteSpark. For now…SiteSpark exists.

But I will say this. It’s already helping people share who they are, without faffing about with LinkedIn or resumes or templates.

And that’s enough.

📣 Don’t Be That Friend Who Keeps the Good Stuff to Themselves

Made your SiteSpark yet? If not - consider this your gentle shove.

Or send it to a friend who’s still battling LinkedIn or trapped in résumé limbo. Share your link. Or just point them here → https://site-spark.netlify.app/

It’s free. It’s fast. And it makes your dusty PDF look like it finally got a glow-up.

Already tried it? Have any feedback, pls let me know by replying to this email!

Final Thoughts

We’re in a phase where AI makes everything buildable. The harder skill now? Knowing what to leave out.

So whether you’re building a startup, a tool, or your own personal site - Don’t ask, “What else can I add?”. Ask: “What should I leave out?”

Until next time, keep experimenting, keep building, and as always - stay atomic. 👊

Faisal

This Week’s Build Beats 🎵

Each issue, we pair the newsletter with a track to keep you inspired while you build.

This week, because AI building is about fighting distraction and tuning out the noise…

🎧 “The Less I know The Better” – Tame Impala

Grab the playlist on Spotify - I add to it each week!