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Solveit – A course and platform for solving problems with code

answer.ai

71–80 of 109 posts

Re: Solveit – A course and platform for solving problems with code

#71
I had access to GitHub Copilot as a student in early 2022 while learning Haskell and immediately realised that it would hinder my learning if I didn't turn it off and implicitly follow this understand, plan, execute, reflect loop.

AI products like Cursor have the notion of an 'autonomy slider' [1] that can fortunately be turned all the way down (disable Cursor Tab) but relying on this discipline seems fickle when with the right agentic loops [2] and context engineering, thousands of lines of code can be churned out with minimal supervision.

I've considered always working on two projects over a long timespan, one with no AI assistance, possibly in a separate IDE like Zed, and one in Vibe Kanban (my current daily driver) but this feels like an inefficient proxy to accelerating this four step learning loop with a tool like solveit.

Since the solveit product isn't released and seemingly isn't competing with solutions, is there an opportunity to convey how AI product developers should be thinking about amplifying their users and keeping them in the learning loop?

So far, I've seen Claude Code's Learning output style [3], and also ChatGPT's study mode but in these cases, the only product change is a prompt and solveit is more than that.

[1] https://www.latent.space/i/166191505/part-a-autonomy-sliders [2] https://simonwillison.net/2025/Sep/30/designing-agentic-loop... [3] https://docs.claude.com/en/docs/claude-code/output-styles#bu...

Re: Solveit – A course and platform for solving problems with code

#74
I apologise folks that we did a bad job of explaining exactly what we're launching! My bad. :( I've added this to the top of the article now -- I hope this does a better job of explaining things:

----

*tldr from Jeremy:* You can now sign up for Solveit, which a course in how to solve problems (including coding, writing, sysadmin, and research) using fast short iterations, and also provides a platform that makes this approach easier and more effective. The course shows how to use AI in small doses to help learn as you build, but doesn't rely on AI at all -- you can totally avoid AI if you prefer. The approach we teach is based on decades of research and practice from Eric Ries and I, the founders of Answer.AI. It's basically the opposite of "vibe coding"; it's all about small steps, deep understanding, and deep reflection. We wrote the platform because we didn't find anything else sufficient for doing work the "solveit way", so we made something for ourselves, and then decided to make it available more widely. You can follow the approach without using our platform, although it won't be as smooth an experience.

The platform combines elements of all these: ChatGPT; Jupyter Notebook + nbdev; Bits of vscode/cursor (we embed the same Monaco editor and add similar optional AI and non-AI autocompletion); a VPS (you get your own persistent full VPS running Linux with a URL you can share for public running applications); Claude Code (all the same tools are available); a persistent terminal. Then there's some bits added that don't exist elsewhere AFAIK: something like MCP, but way simpler, where any Python function can be instantly used as an AI tool; the ability to refer directly to any live Python variable in AI context (but optional, so it doesn't eat up your context window); full metaprogramming of the environment (you can through code or AI tools modify the environment itself or the dialog); context editing (you can -- and should -- directly edit AI responses instead of tell the AI it's wrong); collaborative notebook coding (multiple people can edit the dialog, run code, etc, and all see live updates).

Re: Solveit – A course and platform for solving problems with code

#75
post #8
post #3

Hey everyone, Eric Ries here. solveit is the AI environment I personally have been using every day for months, not just for code but for writing and research, too. it’s solved all the problems and frustrations I’ve had with both vibecoding and the limitations of the chatbot interface for doing deep work that requires concentration + the ability to understand the artifacts you are producing and, as a special bonus, pe…

(For those that don't recognise the name, Eric is the creator of The Lean Startup, and also founded the Long Term Stock Exchange. He's the co-founder of Answer.AI, which has built the solveit platform, and which fast.ai is now part of.)

Oops that should say "which fast.ai is now part of". s/not/now/

Re: Solveit – A course and platform for solving problems with code

#76
post #75
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(For those that don't recognise the name, Eric is the creator of The Lean Startup, and also founded the Long Term Stock Exchange. He's the co-founder of Answer.AI, which has built the solveit platform, and which fast.ai is now part of.)

Oops that should say "which fast.ai is now part of". s/not/now/

I fixed it :)

Re: Solveit – A course and platform for solving problems with code

#77
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm slightly confused. From your comment I expected an AI chat tool, but solveit appears to be more a class?

It's both! We built a new platform designed to be a good place for using the approach we've designed. So it's a course, plus access to the platform. Sorry it is a bit confusing tbh!

No worries, keen to try out your approach.

Re: Solveit – A course and platform for solving problems with code

#78
I participated in the first cohort and I'll be doing it again because I enjoyed it so much the first time around. The course focuses on teaching a robust problem solving approach, rather than explicitly teaching people how to program with AI. It's not a dream or a scam! If you digest the course concepts, the takeaways can be put into practice even if you aren't programming directly in SolveIt. But the SolveIt application certainly greases the wheels by making this problem-solving approach easier and fun! My growth as a programmer has been supercharged by what I learned and applied in the past year since taking the first course.

Re: Solveit – A course and platform for solving problems with code

#79
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did do that now, and I see a string of similar consultant-like training/course packages. It's a bit like when Deloitte comes by to pitch. What have they built that impressed you?

I love almost everything they have done, I would highly recommend looking a little deeper.

Can you provide some links? Because I see that Eric Ries has a resume on Wikipedia that mainly highlights his book, "The Lean Startup." I see that he was adjacent to some dot-com-bubble-era startups. I see he has a handsome photo. I don't see where he actually founded a successful startup; if anything, reading his resume makes me think he stopped coding and discovered a more successful career in selling promises to young people that his methodologies would turn them into successful entrepreneurs. To me, that does sound like a grift. I mean, why bother doing the actual work of starting a startup, coding and solving lots of problems, when you can present yourself as a guru in how startups work, right? Smart. Also, shady.

Apparently he also runs a stock exchange with two companies on it. And a lot of "core principles". Lol. Speaking as someone who coded and ran the first Bitcoin casino and was around a lot of early crypto bullshit in the nascent years of BTC when lots of dudes like this had crazy plans to commoditize it all sorts of ways, this is juvenile boiler room stuff that would have been laughed out of the Bitcoin Business Association Skype chat in 2010. (And yes, dread pirate roberts was there for a sec, and the general level of dialog was a far sight more intelligent than this dreck).

I got hell-banned here for criticizing PG for running this very site basically to achieve the same grift - to form a cult of young people who'd worship him in exchange for pie in the sky promises that they would become successful startup founders. But to be fair, PG has both actual experience and a ton of investment capital to prove it, so his cult followers have at least some chance of receiving an investment (or a gift, if you think kissing his ass is the essential requirement) that will catapult them into another echelon.

These guys are just living the mantra of "fake it til you make it." This reminds me of the $500 I spent when I turned 21 to take a bartending class for two weeks. Loads of fun. End result: There was one job on their board for graduees, for a bar that had been closed for a couple years. Turned out the best way to become a bartender was to learn on the job.

Turned out that was also the best way to become a software engineer.

Re: Solveit – A course and platform for solving problems with code

#80
post #3

Hey everyone, Eric Ries here. solveit is the AI environment I personally have been using every day for months, not just for code but for writing and research, too. it’s solved all the problems and frustrations I’ve had with both vibecoding and the limitations of the chatbot interface for doing deep work that requires concentration + the ability to understand the artifacts you are producing and, as a special bonus, pe…

Thanks Eric (and Jeremy and Johno). The course details are a bit sparse on the sign-up site. What's the expected time commitment for the course over the 5 weeks? And how useful would the course be if you missed a few of the courses and had to catch up later?
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