Previously

In Part 4: Birth of the Kagemusha System, I wrote about the decision to turn my personal tool into a product and the challenge of building automated setup.

The core product was ready. Next, it was time to build the infrastructure to sell it.

What You Need to Sell

Having a system means nothing if you can't sell it. At minimum, I needed the following:

Landing Page (LP)

A web page that communicates the product's value and drives purchases.

Payment System

A way to collect payments. Credit card processing.

Post-Purchase Automation

Payment complete → send email → setup instructions. All automated.

At a typical company, you'd hire a designer for the LP, an engineer for payments, and a marketer for emails.

I didn't have that kind of budget. I had to do it all myself (with AI).

Stripe Payments — Uncharted Territory

When it comes to online payments, Stripe is the go-to. I'd heard the name. But "API key," "Webhook," "subscription"… I had no idea what any of it meant.

👨
I want to accept monthly payments of ¥500 using Stripe. Where do I even start?
🟠
First, create a Stripe account and set up your product and pricing. Then create a payment link — just embed it in a button on your LP and customers can purchase directly.
👨
Wait, it's that simple?

Creating the payment link itself was indeed simple. The challenge was what came after.

"When a user makes a purchase, automatically send an email and guide them to the setup screen."

To automate this, I needed to use something called a Webhook. A Webhook is essentially a notification that says, "Hey, when something happens on Stripe, let my server know."

How Long It Took a Beginner to Understand Webhooks
At first, I was at the "Webhook? Hook? Like a fish hook?" level. After asking Claude Code over and over, I finally understood it as "an automatic notification from Stripe to my system." Think of it like the post office (Stripe) calling your house (your server) to say, "Your package has been delivered."

Building the Landing Page — With Zero Design Experience

Next up was the landing page. Naturally, I'd never designed one before.

👨
I want to build a sharp-looking LP. Something for tutors that feels trustworthy but clean and simple.
🟠
Let's structure it with a hero section, feature highlights, pricing, FAQ, and a CTA. We'll use a teal color scheme to convey trustworthiness.

What Claude Code produced was a fully responsive, animated, professional-looking landing page.

I couldn't write a single line of HTML or CSS, yet by simply saying things like "add more whitespace here" or "change the button color," the page transformed in real time.

What I Learned from Building an LP
Even without design expertise, everyone has an intuitive sense of "I want this kind of vibe," "this part is hard to read," or "make this stand out more." AI acted as a translator that could turn those instincts into reality.

The Post-Purchase Automation Flow

The most challenging part was the automated flow from purchase to setup.

User Clicks the Purchase Button on the LP

They're taken to Stripe's checkout page to enter their card details.

Payment Complete → Webhook Fires

Stripe automatically sends a "payment successful" notification.

Activation Email Sent Automatically

An email with a setup link arrives in the user's inbox.

User Clicks the Link

They authenticate with Google, and setup begins automatically.

Done

Within minutes of purchasing, the system is ready to use.

If even one gear in this flow was out of alignment, the whole thing would grind to a halt. The Webhook doesn't arrive, the email won't send, the setup throws an error mid-process… I tested it dozens of times, fixing issues one by one.

I Built It All by Myself

Looking back at everything I've done, even I can hardly believe it.

TaskNormally Done ByHow I Did It
Attendance management systemBackend engineerMe + Claude Code
Automated setupInfrastructure engineerMe + Claude Code
Stripe payment integrationPayment specialistMe + Claude Code
Landing pageDesigner + front-end developerMe + Claude Code
Automated email deliveryMarketing engineerMe + Claude Code

How much would it have cost to outsource all of this? $7,000? $14,000?

What I actually spent was just the monthly fee for Claude Code's Max plan.

That Said, It Wasn't Easy
AI doesn't do everything for you. Deciding what to build, what the user experience should be, and what to prioritize — that's all on you. AI is an excellent executor, but holding the vision is a human's job. I agonized over decisions and changed direction countless times. It wasn't easy. But it wasn't impossible either.

Next Time

[Part 6] The Tech Stack — Hitting the limits of GAS and making the decision to migrate to Cloudflare Workers. It's a technical topic, but I'll explain "why we moved" in a way that anyone can understand.

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