Contra × Anything · playbook
Anything Expert.
Won on the writing.
This is the only one of the four with essay questions. One project is all they ask for - then two written answers that most applicants will fill with mush. You already carry the Vibe Coder tag on Contra. The build is half a day; the answers are where this is decided.
What Anything actually asks for
Anything turns natural-language prompts into sites, tools, apps and products - built with real code. HQ San Francisco. The listing was posted 28 October 2025 and is tagged Vibe Coder.
Read Anything's brief, word for word
"Are you a power user of Anything or need an excuse to upskill in the tool? We're currently welcoming new experts to the Anything Expert Program! This is open to anyone who has a projects showcasing their work using Anything and is looking to obtain an exclusive badge highlighting their expertise."
Anything
"Active Anything account."
"Has 1+ project built with Anything."
"Include an example of a challenging issue you experienced in the builder and how you resolved it."
"Include if someone asked you for the top 3 tips on using the platform, what would they be.""Anything will review and select partner on a regular basis (typically bi-weekly)... This is not a paid opportunity... Incomplete applications or applications that do not meet the outlined requirements will be dismissed."
Source: Become an Anything Expert, posted by Anything on Contra, 28 October 2025. Read 31 July 2026. The listing says 101 experts; the network page shows 98.
Read the two questions again. They're a trap for tourists.
Both questions are unanswerable unless you've genuinely fought with the product. That's deliberate - it's how a team with 98 existing experts filters the next hundred applicants without reading portfolios.
So don't write the answers first and build second. Build first, keep a notes file open while you do it, and write down every moment you got stuck. Your answers are already in that file by the time you finish.
Build one real thing
Day 1 · ~half a day-
Create your Anything account and open a notes file
anything.com, same email as Contra. Then open a scratch note called
anything-friction.mdand keep it open the entire build.Every time you re-prompt, hit a wall, or find a workaround, write one line: what you wanted, what it did, what fixed it. That file is literally your application.
-
Build the Landing Page Brief → Live Page pipeline flagship
A tool where you answer eight questions about a client and it generates a real, deployed one-page site you can hand over.
Anything's whole pitch is words in, shipped product out - with actual code underneath. So build the thing that sits closest to your day job and makes the tool look good doing it. Sections, copy, responsive layout, live deploy.
Why it lands: it's recursive - you're using a prompt-to-app builder to build a prompt-to-page builder. That's a memorable application and it demonstrates you understand what the platform is for, not just how to click it.
Push it until something breaks. A build that went perfectly gives you nothing to write about, and the brief demands a challenging issue.
-
Deploy it and check the link logged out
Private window, signed out. A dead link is a dismissed application.
Write the two answers
1 hr · this is the badgeAnswer 1 - the challenging issue
Four beats, in this order. Keep it to five or six sentences.
- Name the exact feature. Not "the builder." The specific thing you were doing.
- Describe the symptom precisely. What you asked for, what you actually got, how it failed.
- Say what you tried that didn't work. This is the sentence that proves the story is real. Everyone skips it.
- Say what fixed it, and why it worked. The "why" is what separates an expert from someone who got lucky on retry four.
If your answer would still make sense with the product name swapped out for a competitor's, you haven't answered the question. Delete it and go back to your notes file.
Answer 2 - the top 3 tips
Banned, because every rejected application will contain them: "be specific in your prompts", "iterate", "break big tasks into small ones", "give it context". These are true, useless, and free to say.
A good tip has a mechanism - it says what the platform does under the hood and how to work with it. Shapes that work:
- "Do X before Y, because the builder locks Z once Y exists."
- "When it does A, that means B - fix it by C rather than re-prompting."
- "Describe the data model before the interface, or you'll rebuild the interface twice."
Pull all three from your friction file. Three tips you actually earned beat three tips you could have written before signing up.
-
Draft both answers from the friction file
Write them long first, then cut. The whole application shares one 1,500-character box, so you have roughly 400 characters for the issue and 400 for the tips once the intro and the link are in.
-
Add their tags
The listing is tagged Vibe Coder and Anything World. Vibe Coder is already on your profile. Add Anything as a tool.
-
Publish one Contra case study
Cover at 1600 × 1200, centered and high-res. Structure it client-problem → process → result, include the live link, tag it Anything. Linked projects get read 50% more often.
Assemble and send
30 minThe draft is scaffolded with both answers marked out. Replace the bracketed parts with what's in your friction file - do not ship it with my placeholder wording in place.
-
Submit
Open the application → Apply to be an expert → paste → attach the case study → Submit. Check both questions are visibly answered before you send; an application missing one gets dismissed rather than queried.
-
Wait two weeks
Bi-weekly review, email only if selected.