I launched the MVP of SpeakSheet on Reddit this week.
The concept is simple: You type a prompt, and my app generates a structured Excel file using Gemini.
The post got 2,400 views. Most feedback was standard. But one comment stopped me cold.
Is it not just a system prompt for Gemini? It is not a product... users still have to prompt. You could chat with Gemini on Google Sheets all day long and it is free.
My initial reaction was defensive.
I wrote the NextJS frontend. I set up the Supabase backend. I wrote the complex system prompts that enforce schema validation so the JSON doesn't break. Of course it's a product!
But after the sting faded, I realized he was right.
And he was also wrong.
The "Wrapper" Fallacy
Developers (including me) obsess over the tech stack. We think "value" means proprietary algorithms.
But to a user who doesn't know what an API key is, raw technology is useless.
They don't know how to write a system prompt to enforce column structures.
They don't know how to parse a file upload to extract context.
They don't want to "chat" with a spreadsheet; they want the spreadsheet to exist.
My value isn't the AI model. My value is the packaging.
SpeakSheet wraps the chaos of an LLM into a predictable, one-click interface. That is the product.
The Pivot: Listening to the Haters
The most interesting part of the comment was this line:
"You could chat with Gemini on Google Sheets all day long."
I realized I had missed a massive use case.
Right now, SpeakSheet generates a downloadable .xlsx file. But many users live in the browser. They don't want to download, open, and upload.
Because of that "hater," I am shifting my roadmap.
I am now researching Google Sheets Integration via OAuth 2.0.
The goal: A user types a prompt in SpeakSheet, and it pushes the data directly into their live Google Sheet. No downloads. No file management.
Building the Integration (The Plan)
I haven't built this yet. I am currently studying the Google Workspace API documentation.
The plan is:
Authenticate the user via OAuth 2.0.
Generate the schema via Gemini (as I do now).
Push the structured data into a new Sheet via the API.
Conclusion
If you are building a Micro-SaaS, do not fear the "Wrapper" accusation.
Power users will always say they can do it themselves. They are not your customers.
Your customers are the people who gladly pay to skip the learning curve.
And sometimes, your harshest critics give you your best feature ideas.
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