Solo Founder Building Civic-Tech Platform Using AI as Strategic Co-Architect

LiveImpact.io shows how one founder can build a civic-tech platform with AI as strategist, researcher, and content studio.

HOLLAND, Mich., June 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Rick Zwetsch, a longtime nonprofit consultant and serial entrepreneur, is building LiveImpact.io, a new platform that helps people pledge and track real-world actions for causes they care about. But what makes the build extraordinary isn't just the mission. It's how it's being built. With no technical cofounder or internal team, Zwetsch is using AI to handle every aspect of development: concept testing, feasibility planning, stakeholder messaging, content creation, user engagement strategy, website copy, and more.

In a media landscape dominated by concerns over AI replacing jobs or generating content at scale, LiveImpact.io offers a different narrative: AI as an enabler of meaningful, human-centered innovation. "It's not about outsourcing," says Zwetsch. "It's about augmentation. I've been able to move at the speed of a small team while keeping the strategy deeply personal and mission-aligned."

Zwetsch has already developed the platform's core architecture, curated a comprehensive taxonomy of causes and real-world actions, written public-facing materials including blog posts, press releases, FAQs, and donor messaging, and designed user engagement flows all by leveraging AI tools thoughtfully and iteratively. The result is a lean but strategically coherent foundation that's ready to scale, grounded in civic purpose, not capital pressure.

Unlike most platforms that start with VC capital and figure out their audience later, LiveImpact.io is people-funded from day one with users contributing a one-time $10 fee. There are no investors expecting returns, no ad revenue schemes, and no data-selling tactics. Just a platform built for the people actually using it. By using AI as a strategic partner instead of assembling a traditional team, Zwetsch has saved an estimated $65,000 over a typical 3-month early-stage build allowing more of the startup capital to go directly into the platform itself. "Using AI lets me stay laser-focused on mission not monetization models," Zwetsch says.

With a GoFundMe campaign currently underway to fund MVP development through a no-code agency, Zwetsch sees the story of LiveImpact.io as a signal of what's to come: impact entrepreneurs using AI to solve social problems, without waiting for traditional gatekeepers to say yes.

"This isn't AI building for me. It's AI making it possible for one founder to think, create, and scale without losing the mission." - Rick Zwetsch, Founder, LiveImpact.io

"We talk about tech for good but often forget that the tools themselves can be good when they're in the right hands. LiveImpact.io is proof."

About LiveImpact.io
LiveImpact.io is a new civic-tech platform where people pledge, track, and visualize real-world actions for the causes they care about. Built for participation, not performance, fiercely independent, people-powered, and ad-free. Lifetime access is $10. No ads. No algorithms. No data selling. Just real action made visible. Support the launch at: www.gofundme.com/liveimpact.

Media Contact
Rick Zwetsch
Founder, LiveImpact.io
303.246.3733

SOURCE Live Impact, LLC