From Toy Circuits to AI Wizards: How I Built Mago.Chat After 20 Years in Industrial Automation

Victor Manuel — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 20:21:33 +0000

This is a submission for the World's Largest Hackathon Writing Challenge: After the Hack.

When I was a kid, I wasn’t just playing—I was building.

I used to take apart my toys, mix their parts, and create new inventions. Motors, blinking LEDs, circuits—I was fascinated by how things worked. That early curiosity led me to become an electronic engineer. I’ve spent over 20 years automating industrial processes, especially in the pharmaceutical industry, where precision and control are everything.

But there was always another dream quietly waiting: to build things not just with hardware, but with software. To automate not only machines, but human experiences.

For years, I admired web developers from afar. I knew some programming—C++, assembly—but my job and responsibilities always made it hard to go deeper. Learning modern web technologies felt like a mountain I couldn’t climb.

Until now.

🛠️ Building Mago.Chat with Bolt.new

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at me bringing Mago.Chat to life using Bolt.new — one of the most empowering vibe coding tools I’ve discovered.

Bolt removed the friction. I didn’t have to set up complex environments or learn React from scratch. I could just build. Combine that with Supabase, OpenAI models, and Netlify, and suddenly I wasn’t just dreaming—I was deploying.

And now, after just a few weeks, I’ve created this:

🧙‍♂️ What is Mago.Chat?

Mago.Chat is an AI-powered wizard that reads your exported WhatsApp conversations and transforms them into:

Personalized gift suggestions based on real conversation context
Beautiful, AI-generated magical cards

It’s fun. It’s personal. It’s the kind of tool I wish existed when I wanted to surprise someone I love.

🎥 How to Use Mago.Chat

Here’s a short video (in Spanish) where I explain how Mago.Chat works—from uploading your WhatsApp chat file to receiving magical suggestions:

Your browser does not support the video tag.

An English version of the tutorial is coming soon!

🧠 What I Learned

Prompt engineering is just the beginning—context design and experience orchestration are the real game.
Vibe coding let me turn intuition and emotion into user flows.
The right tools unlock potential. I realized that even with my background in C++ and ladder logic, I could build software that connects people.

And most of all:

Software creation isn’t reserved for Silicon Valley anymore.

If you have an idea and the courage to start, you can build something that matters.

🚀 Where I’m Going Next

This is just the beginning. I’m fully committed to turning Mago.Chat into a real-world product with two clear paths:

B2C:

💬 Free gift suggestions for everyday users
🔗 Monetized through affiliate links (Amazon, Mercado Libre, etc.)
💎 Sell credits for premium, AI-generated magical cards

B2B:

🤝 Strategic partnerships with brands and service providers
🎁 Recommending their products as gifts inside the app
🌐 For example: travel agencies, car services, experience boxes—anything giftable

Mago.Chat has great potential in North America, but also in Colombia and Latin America, where WhatsApp is central to how people connect.

💡 My Personal Transformation

I didn’t just build an app—I rediscovered the builder inside me.

The same kid who once wired LEDs to batteries now builds with APIs and LLMs.

The same engineer who automated machines now automates joy and connection.

And now I see that creation is accessible again. Thanks to the Vibe Coding movement, you don’t need a big team or a CS degree. You need vision, curiosity, and the right tool.

What makes me proudest?

My two teenage daughters saw me build this—and now they’re building too.

That’s the real magic.

🤝 Looking for Allies

I'm now looking for:

👩‍💻 Developers
🎨 Designers
📢 Marketers
💰 Early-stage investors
✨ Dreamers

If this project speaks to you, or if you want to help grow Mago.Chat, let’s talk. I’d love to explore how we can build magic together.

Thanks to the World's Largest Hackathon for this incredible opportunity.

I’ll never forget the rush of seeing my idea come alive in just a few days.

And now?

I’m hooked.

I’m building.

I’m not going back.

📬 Let’s Connect!

Victor Manuel Jordán Beghelli

📧 Email: victormanueljordan@gmail.com
💼 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/victor-manuel-jordan-beghelli
🧙‍♂️ Try it now: https://mago.chat

Let’s keep building magical things! 🪄✨

DEV Community: Victor Manuel