Yo—let me tell you something wild.
We just hit a moment in tech that most people completely overlook.
The moment where it became easier to build your own app than to explain your problem to a developer.
I’m talking about tools like Cursor, Replit, and V0—the new wave of AI-powered no-code/low-code platforms.
They don’t just help you prototype. They help you ship real stuff that solves real pain… sometimes in a weekend.
The Pain
In my companies, we travel. A LOT.
We’ve got a bunch of employees constantly on the road, managing a fleet of company cars.
And that means:
Business trip approvals
Travel forms
Car mileage tracking
Expense claims
Receipts, invoices, fuel logs…
And a Mount Everest of paperwork for accounting.
It was chaos.
Receipts got lost. Mileage was guessed. Forms forgotten.
The accounting team wanted to quit. The drivers were annoyed.
I was tired of hearing, “Can you resend that form?”
The Lightbulb Moment
Instead of paying €20K–€50K for some enterprise software nobody wants to use…
I rolled up my sleeves and said:
“Screw it, I’ll build it myself.”
Here’s How I Built Travello in Replit (Step-by-Step):
🔧 Step 1: Describe the Problem to ChatGPT
I started by literally opening ChatGPT and typing:
“Help me build a small SaaS app where employees can submit travel approval forms, track car mileage, and submit expenses via speech or image upload.”
Boom. ChatGPT sketched out a basic backend logic, database idea, and front-end form layout. It even created a mock UI in HTML/CSS.
💻 Step 2: Open Replit — The “Garage” of AI Startups
I opened Replit — it’s basically Google Docs for coding, but with superpowers.
Think: GitHub + VSCode + ChatGPT in one browser tab.
I chose the Python + Flask template for the backend.
Frontend? I kept it simple with HTML, Bootstrap, and JS.
For the database, I used Replit DB (super easy key-value store).
🧠 Step 3: Plug in AI Magic (Seriously, it’s copy-paste)
Here’s the fun part:
Speech-to-Text API (Whisper or Google STT)
Mobile browser → records audio → sends to Whisper API
Output = “I’m going to Zagreb on Tuesday till Friday”
ChatGPT interprets it → pre-fills the travel form
OCR for Receipts (Tesseract or OCR.Space API)
Snap a photo of the invoice
AI reads the merchant name, amount, date, VAT
Auto-categorizes it (fuel, food, tolls)
Simple mileage math with datetime stamps
User reads mileage at start and end
App calculates usage, time away, and cost
All of this in one mobile-friendly app, no downloads needed.
🔗 Step 4: Host It & Connect to a Domain
Once the app worked:
I clicked “Deploy” on Replit — this gives you a working public URL (like
travello.replit.app)I connected a custom domain from GoDaddy via Replit’s domain settings (www.travello.ai)
And yes, it’s secure with HTTPS out-of-the-box
🌐 Step 5: Embed or Link on Your WordPress Site
If you’re running WordPress, there are two easy paths:
Direct Link
Add a button that says “Submit Travel Form” — link it to your app (app.yourcompany.com)iFrame Embed
Use the HTML block in WordPress to embed the Replit app like a widget.
Bonus: you can theme the app to match your brand with a few CSS tweaks
📬 Step 6: Auto-Send to Accounting
All submitted forms are:
Stored in a simple backend database (with search/filter)
Emailed as PDFs or Google Sheets rows
Synced with accounting tools (via Zapier or Make.com if needed)
The Result?
What used to take 30 minutes, 2 reminders, and 4 spreadsheets…
Now takes under a minute, and nobody has to type a thing.
Mileage = tracked
Forms = accurate
Expenses = uploaded
Accounting = happy
It’s not just a tool. It’s peace of mind on autopilot.
Why This Matters for You
In 2025, you don’t need a developer army to solve business problems.
You just need:
A problem that annoys you
ChatGPT to help you scope it
Replit or Cursor to build it
That’s it.
You can now afford to build apps for:
One task
One department
Even just one employee
And that’s what makes it so powerful.
TL;DR
💡 Have a workflow that’s annoying?
🎯 Turn it into a micro-app.
💰 No dev team. No budget bloat.
Build what you need. Not what the market tries to sell you.
—
If you liked the idea, let me know what annoys you and I might be able to help 🙂 We are even thinking of sharing Travello with other companies that need it!
Stay scrappy,
and may your receipts always be automatically scanned,
— DJ
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