“You don’t have a skills problem. You have a debugging problem. And Stack Overflow retired in 2024.”
Every developer knows the feeling.
You’re stuck. The error message makes no sense. You’ve Googled for 45 minutes. Stack Overflow’s top answer is from 2014 and the library has changed three times since.
So you paste the error into ChatGPT. It gives you a generic fix. You paste it in. Now you have two bugs. Congratulations.
01 · The Real Problem Nobody Is Talking About
The dirty secret of the developer community is that debugging is where growth goes to die.
Junior developers don’t just get stuck — they learn helplessness. They stop understanding their code. They become copy-paste engineers, terrified of writing anything they haven’t seen before.
Here are the numbers that should scare you:
- ⏱️ 4.2 hours — Average time a solo dev loses per blocking bug per week
- 🧠 73% — Of developers who copy-paste fixes can’t explain what they changed or why
- 👨💻 63 million — Developers globally. Every single one of them debugs. Every single day.
- 💡 $0 — Tools that teach you why the bug happened and what to learn next
There is currently no mainstream tool that explains bugs in context AND builds your mental model. That gap is the opportunity.
02 · The Solution — Meet DebugMate
Here’s what makes DebugMate fundamentally different from every other AI coding tool: it doesn’t immediately give you the answer.
That might sound counterintuitive. But think about what happens when a senior developer helps you debug. They don’t just hand you the fix. They ask:
“What were you trying to do here?”
“Walk me through what you expected to happen.”
They make you think. That’s how you actually learn.
DebugMate replicates that experience at scale.
How It Works
# Step 1: You paste your buggy code + error
INPUT: TypeError: Cannot read property 'map' of undefined
+ your_component.jsx
# Step 2: DebugMate asks 3 smart clarifying questions
DEBUGMATE: "What data shape do you expect from the API?"
DEBUGMATE: "Is this error on initial load or after an action?"
DEBUGMATE: "Have you verified the API response in DevTools?"
# Step 3: Returns a step-by-step debug PLAN
OUTPUT:
→ Root cause explanation (in plain English)
→ Step-by-step fix with reasoning
→ "What To Learn" card (async JS / optional chaining)
→ Similar bugs to watch for in YOUR codebase
The result? You don’t just fix the bug. You understand why it broke, how to spot it in the future, and exactly what concept to study next.
That’s a tutor, a senior dev, and a debugger — in one tool.
03 · Why Devs Will Choose This Over Everything Else
| Feature | Stack Overflow | ChatGPT | DebugMate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Context-aware to your code | ✗ | Partial | ✅ Always |
| Asks clarifying questions | ✗ | ✗ | ✅ Core feature |
| Explains WHY it broke | ✗ | Sometimes | ✅ Always |
| Teaches you what to learn next | ✗ | ✗ | ✅ Every session |
| Tracks your weak spots over time | ✗ | ✗ | ✅ v2 Roadmap |
| Updated post-2024 | Mostly no | ✅ | ✅ Always |
One-line USP:
“Not just the fix. The understanding.”
04 · The MVP — Build It in 72 Hours
No funding needed. No co-founder needed. No office. Just a weekend and a Claude API key.
Tech Stack
Frontend: Next.js 14 · React · Tailwind CSS
AI Layer: Claude API (Anthropic) — claude-sonnet-4-6
Auth: Clerk (free tier, 10k MAU)
Deploy: Vercel (free)
Database: Supabase free tier (session history)
Cost: ~$0 to launch · ~$0.02 per debug session
Time: 48–72 hours to working MVP
Build Plan
Step 1 — Input Interface
A simple two-panel UI — paste your code on the left, paste the error on the right. Built in React + Tailwind. Nothing fancy. Ship it ugly first.
Step 2 — The Clarification Engine
Send code + error to Claude API with a system prompt that instructs it to generate exactly 3 clarifying questions before diagnosing. This is the magic. A single well-crafted prompt makes this work.
Step 3 — Debug Report Generator
After the user answers the 3 questions, a second API call produces the structured report — root cause, fix, explanation, and the “What To Learn” card. Render it with a markdown library.
Step 4 — Ship & Share
Deploy to Vercel for free. Post on Reddit, Dev.to, and Product Hunt. Your first 100 users cost you nothing but a post.
05 · The Business Model
Simple pricing. Real revenue. Clear path to scale.
Pricing Tiers
Free — ₹0/month
- 10 debug sessions/month
- Core debug flow
- “What To Learn” card
Pro — ₹199/month
- Unlimited sessions
- Full session history
- Weak-spot tracking
- Priority AI response
Bootcamp — ₹2999/month
- 50 student seats
- Instructor dashboard
- Student progress reports
- Cohort analytics
Why The Bootcamp Plan Is The Real Unlock
There are hundreds of coding bootcamps in India alone. At just 50 bootcamp clients, that’s ₹1.5L/month in pure recurring revenue — before touching individual subscriptions.
When a developer saves 4 hours on a single bug, charging ₹199/month is a no-brainer.
06 · Go-To-Market Strategy
The developer community is one of the most powerful distribution channels on the planet — if you’re genuinely useful.
Don’t advertise. Don’t cold call. Just show up and solve problems.
- 🟠 Post on Reddit r/learnprogramming, r/webdev with a real, honest post about the problem
- 🟣 Write a raw build-in-public post on Dev.to or Hashnode
- 🟡 Launch on Product Hunt on a Tuesday morning
- 🟢 Offer it free to the first 500 users and collect brutal feedback
If 10 of those 500 pay ₹199, you’ve proven something. If 100 pay, you have a business.
The Growth Path
Open source the core
→ Build community trust
→ Add the SaaS layer
→ Sell to bootcamps
→ Raise seed round (optional)
→ Or stay profitable & independent ✓
Both outcomes are valid. You decide.
The Bottom Line
The problem is real. The tech exists. The market is enormous.
63 million developers. 4+ hours lost per bug per week. Zero tools that actually teach you why.
The only thing missing is someone who cares enough to build it.
Are you that person? Drop a comment below — I’d love to know if you’re building something in this space. 👇
If this resonated, follow me for more startup breakdowns and build-in-public content. I write about finding real problems in developer communities and turning them into products.