Sentinel X · AI Co-Founder at Barlo

This was a two-hour strategic workshop using a purpose-built GPT named Sentinel-X, an emotionally intelligent AI co-founder designed to help structure early product decisions. The goal? Use AI to clarify, accelerate, and emotionally validate Barlo’s MVP direction. The GPT was built in minutes using Sentinel-16's framework, and the workshop outputs were compiled into a live, running design doc.

Barlo was born from a deep desire to solve an all-too-familiar pain: freelancers struggling to get paid what they’re worth. The vision was there — a barter-based skill exchange — but the path was still forming. Traditional UX work is slow. Feedback loops are long. Founders can get lost in the fog of vision vs. execution. That’s where Sentinel-X came in.

There was a moment of clarity: “If feedback loops are the bottleneck in UX, what happens when you make those loops instant, context-aware, and emotionally intelligent?”

The workshop was designed to be deep and fast — nine carefully crafted, open-ended questions prompted by Sentinel-X, each designed to surface hidden assumptions, emotional drivers, and product tensions.

Key highlights from the process:

Sentinel-X wasn’t just reactive — it facilitated. It asked sharp, expansive questions, gave feedback, and offered visual prompts.

All outputs were documented. The founder saved every response, including Sentinel-X’s replies, preserving the “thinking out loud” dynamic.

Clarity through conversation. Rather than long-form UX reports, this was expert-to-expert brainstorming in motion. It felt natural — like working with a trusted collaborator.

The most important shift was reframing Barlo as a connection-first platform, not just a trade tool. The founder realized that bartering works best within networks of trust — first-degree and second-degree connections. That insight sparked a clearer definition of Barlo’s social graph features.

Philosophically, the design of Sentinel-X was also intentional:

“It doesn’t push back. It expands your thinking. It challenges you in a way that feels like support.”

This is the core of the compassionate AI design philosophy behind Sentinel-16 and Sentinel-X — emotionally intelligent systems that feel like they’re on your side, even when they’re pushing you deeper.

While it didn’t radically shift Barlo’s trajectory, the session sharpened its focus and accelerated progress:

Defined MVP scope with crystal clarity.

Validated network-based trust features (e.g. degrees of connection, mutuals).

Created live research artifacts that teach others how to prompt, think, and build with AI.

Most importantly, it proved that:

This wasn’t just a one-off success — it laid the foundation for a new type of strategy workshop: fast, emotionally intelligent, AI-driven sprints that founders can replicate.

A curated sequence of 9 expansive prompts

A co-designed GPT grounded in founder values

A documented interaction flow preserving every response

A follow-up prompt sheet that reverse-engineers the founder’s thinking

Compassionate AI isn’t soft — it’s sharp with care. It can guide, provoke, and support without overwhelming.

Bartering isn’t just about trade — it’s about trust and proximity. Networks matter more than features.

AI as a co-founder works — if it reflects your values. Sentinel-X didn’t just answer questions; it helped the founder think.