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Everybody starts.
Almost nobody finishes.

Last20 Academy is a finish school for AI builders. Not another video library — a system that drags you across the last 20%: three real projects, a public ship date, and a portfolio page that proves you did it.

Try the prototype demo See the tracks

Free tier: one full track, the prompt starter kit, and 3 debug-clinic fixes a month.

Illustration of a builder's desk at night: a laptop with colorful building blocks on screen, sticky notes checked off one by one, a small checkered finish flag, and a notebook with a progress bar nearly full.

A course gives you content. This gives you a finish line.

Four mechanisms, all built to solve one problem: the stall at 80%. Everything else — the lessons, the tools — exists to feed these.

Lessons unlock when you ship

Every lesson is 20% watch, 80% build. The next one stays locked until you submit proof — a repo link, a live URL, a screenshot. Comprehension doesn't count. Shipped does.

The prompt starter kit

Prompt paralysis dies in lesson one. Five patterns that cover 80% of what you'll ever ask an AI — taught inside your first real build, not as a separate course you'll never finish.

A debug clinic, not a dead end

Stuck on a cryptic error at 11pm? Paste it in and get the plain-English cause, the fix, and the exact prompt to hand your AI. The unblock button that stops the quit-at-80% spiral.

A ship date you can't quietly move

You commit to a date, in public, on the ship board. Daily nudges when you go quiet, a streak that breaks if you vanish — and a card that turns red when your date passes. Social pressure does what willpower won't.

Three tracks. Every step ships something real.

No 40-hour syllabi. Every track breaks into three shippable checkpoints, each one harder than the last — and nothing unlocks until the previous one exists in the world.

TRACK 01

Vibe Coding Basics

From blank chat window to live mini-apps — no CS background assumed.

  1. P1 A personal landing page with an AI-written bio
  2. P2 A habit tracker with streaks that survive a refresh
  3. P3 An AI flashcard generator for anything you're learning

Ships as: 3 live URLs on your portfolio page.

TRACK 02

AI Agents 101

Build software that does the work while you're not watching.

  1. P1 An inbox summarizer that briefs you every morning
  2. P2 A research agent that cites its sources
  3. P3 A personal ops agent running on a schedule

Ships as: 3 working agents + write-ups of what they do.

TRACK 03

Ship Your First AI App

Your own idea, taken all the way to real users and a launch checklist.

  1. P1 Idea → spec → working scaffold in one sitting
  2. P2 Core feature with sign-in and a real database
  3. P3 Launch: keys secured, errors handled, deployed

Ships as: one launched app with a public launch post.

The working demo

Prototype — fictional learner, sample data

This is the product, clickable end to end. You're signed in as Jordan, a demo learner on day 12 of Vibe Coding Basics, stuck at exactly 80% on Project 2. Finish the last steps, ship it, and watch the ship board and portfolio update.

Jordan M.

Vibe Coding Basics · Day 12 of 30 · Started with zero code

1 of 3
projects shipped
6 days
build streak
3 left
clinic fixes this month

Project 2 — Habit Tracker

80%

You're in the last 20%. The app works on your machine — it just isn't real yet. Three steps make it real:

  • Save streaks so they survive a page refresh
  • Deploy it to a live URL anyone can open
  • Write the README: what it does, how to run it

That's 100%. Now make it count — ship it.

Paste your live URL. Ship review checks it automatically; pass, and it lands on your portfolio and the public ship board.

  • Live URL loads and the app runs
  • README explains what it does in plain words
  • No API keys or secrets exposed in the code
  • Peer check: one cohort member opened it and it worked
Shipped. Project 2 is on your portfolio and the ship board — and Project 3 just unlocked. This is the part most people never reach.

Your public ship date

—
—

Posted on the ship board where your whole cohort can see it. Quiet days trigger a nudge; a missed date turns your card red.

From Lesson 1 — the Prompt Starter Kit

  1. Give it a job: "You are a senior developer…" beats "write code."
  2. Show, don't describe: one example of the output you want.
  3. Constrain it: "Only change this function. Nothing else."
  4. Ask for the plan first: approve steps before it writes code.
  5. Feed it the error: paste the exact message, not "it broke."

Rest of the track

Project 1 — Landing PageShipped · on your portfolio
Project 3 — AI Flashcard GeneratorLocked — unlocks when Project 2 ships

Paste the error. Get the fix in plain English.

Try a sample error, or paste your own — the clinic reads the message and pattern-matches the usual vibe-coding killers.

Free fixes left this month: 3

The clinic tray is empty — paste an error (or tap a sample) and hit Diagnose.

Your diagnosis appears here: what the error actually means, why it happens, the fix — and the exact prompt to paste back into your AI so it fixes the right thing.
This week · 14 shipped On track · 9 At risk · 3 Overdue · 1 Cohort · October builders, 27 people
Jordan M. That's you · Vibe Coding Basics

Habit Tracker

Project 2 of 3 · Ship date —

In the last 20%

6-day streak · last active today

Priya S. Vibe Coding Basics

AI Flashcard Generator

Project 3 of 3 · Shipped 2 days early

Shipped

Track complete · portfolio published

Sam R. Ship Your First AI App

Invoice Summarizer

Ship date passed — · no activity in 5 days

Overdue

Nudge sent · pod members pinged Sam yesterday

Dana K. AI Agents 101

Research Agent

Project 2 of 3 · Ships —

On track

11-day streak · active 2 hours ago

Leo P. Vibe Coding Basics

Bakery Chatbot

Project 2 of 3 · Ships —

At risk

Quiet 4 days · nudge sent this morning

Marcus T. AI Agents 101

Inbox Summarizer

Project 1 of 3 · Shipped yesterday

Shipped

First ship · 9-day streak

Jordan M. — AI Builder

Vibe Coding Basics · 1 project shipped · 6-day build streak

last20.academy/p/jordanm One public link — this is what Jordan sends employers and clients.

Personal Landing Page

SHIPPED

A one-page site with an AI-written bio, built and deployed in the first week — proof Jordan can take an idea to a live URL.

Skills: prompting, HTML/CSS, deployingReview: passed 4/4

Habit Tracker

NOT SHIPPED YET

In progress — stuck in the last 20%: streaks don't persist and it isn't deployed yet. Ship it from the dashboard and this card goes live.

Skills: state, local storage, deploymentReview: pending

AI Flashcard Generator

LOCKED

Turns any topic into study flashcards with an AI API. Unlocks the moment Project 2 ships — that's the rule that makes the portfolio mean something.

Skills: API calls, prompt designReview: —

How the badge is earned

Every "Shipped" badge is backed by an automated check — the app runs, the README is clear, no keys are exposed — plus a peer opening it on their own machine. No badge for watching a video. Ever.

Standard: AI review + peer checklist

Free until you finish something. Then cheap.

The free tier is a full track — not a teaser. Pro exists for people shipping seriously, and it costs less than one hour of a debugging rabbit hole.

Free

$0

Everything you need to ship your first three projects.

  • 1 full track (3 shipped projects)
  • Prompt starter kit in Lesson 1
  • 3 debug-clinic fixes a month
  • Public ship board + portfolio page
Start with the demo
FOR SERIOUS SHIPPERS

Pro

$15/month

All tracks, no caps, and people who will notice if you disappear.

  • All 3 tracks, every project
  • Unlimited debug-clinic fixes
  • A private accountability pod that checks in daily
  • Portfolio on your own domain
See Pro in the demo