Some Thoughts on Vibecoding
Hey All,
I'm the creator of r/vibecodingcommunity, i have shared this in my community and got lot of interesting comments so sharing it here as well.
for context - I've been involved in the vibecoding scene both online and offline - hosting dozens of hackathons and joining many events.
Here's my two cents on where the money is and the current state of vibecoding, from my lens (unfiltered).
Around 70% of vibe-coded app builds are not serious business apps. They're fun games or personal software. Some try to build a product, but it dies almost as quickly as it's built - no distribution strategy, tokens burned in the process.
Vibecoding has significantly lowered the barrier to entry, so more and more personalized software has emerged. The next ~25% are internal apps - meant to replace software you already pay for, automate a workflow, or run an agency.
These are pretty much built by people who know one area of tech and use AI to compensate in the others. For example: a data scientist building a mobile app, or a front-end developer building a backend.
This remaining 5% is the interesting part - because that's where the money is. These are people who already have a relationship with a business, or with internal players and vendors. They use vibecoding as a tool to pitch an idea, get traction or a contract, and then build.
Previously these people pitched on PowerPoint. Now that's been replaced by a simple vibe-coded app that demonstrates the idea.
A few real examples from just the last couple of weeks:
- We helped someone who had sold a fairly basic sales-analytics platform for around $200K. He came to us to build the proper software from the ground up.
- An existing entrepreneur - who has run 100+ franchise stores in the past - raised €2 million just by showing the vibe-coded idea. He already had a great track record; he just needed the funds to build his next business, and he wants us to make the software more polished.
- An employee at an 8-person business built an internal tool using Base44. He's from a non-technical background. They didn't pay us to build the software - they'll build it themselves - they hired us to scaffold a harness, review their work, and give them direction. They're using this internal tool across many franchises, and passing a share of the profit on to us.
All I'm trying to say is this: on the community you see people building a lot of software and tools. A real software developer quickly clocks that these are vibe-coded apps - not much taste, questionable software quality, often useless. And that's true.
But the real money is not where you can see it. The real money is inside businesses, and it's often being put to work by people who already have the network and the connections to make it count.