Unlock Hypergrowth: How Vibe Coding Can Fast-Track Your Startup Success w/ Bolt CEO Eric Simons

13 snips

Jul 14, 2025

In a thought-provoking discussion, Eric Simons, Founder and CEO of StackBlitz, reveals how AI tools like Bolt.new are revolutionizing startup creation. He explains the shift allowing non-technical founders to build products without extensive coding. The conversation delves into the evolving roles within teams, the importance of rapid prototyping, and avoiding common pitfalls with AI. Eric shares insights on what the skillset of a founder will look like in the near future and recounts Bolt's astonishing journey to success after seven years.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Iteration Is Startup Superpower

The true startup superpower is iterating rapidly based on real market feedback, not just ideas or plans.
Cycle times have drastically shortened, making learning from reality faster and more crucial than ever.

ADVICE

Maximize Shots on Goal

Maximize your "shots on goal" by iterating rapidly with quick experiments and real user feedback.
Use modern AI tools like Bolt to drastically reduce build times from months to hours.

INSIGHT

Bolt Enables Real App Prototypes

Bolt allows non-developers to build full-stack SaaS apps complete with backend and payments with just a few prompts.
This creates high-fidelity prototypes that are real apps, enabling meaningful user feedback and iteration.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Can you really build and launch a startup without writing code, or even knowing how to?

As AI tools promise lightning-fast product development, many founders still fall into old traps: over-validating, under-executing, or waiting too long for a technical cofounder.

In this episode, Chris Saad and Yaniv Bernstein are joined by Eric Simons, founder of StackBlitz and creator of the viral AI app builder Bolt.new. Eric shares how modern tools like Bolt and Cursor are redefining what it means to be a founder, turning product managers, designers, and even marketers into full-stack startup builders.

They explore how AI coding agents are changing team composition, cycle times, and what the real founder skillset looks like in 2025.

In this episode, you will:

Discover why reality-based iteration—not ideas—is the true startup superpower
Learn how AI tools like Bolt give non-technical founders real shots on goal
Understand the evolving role of the technical cofounder in the AI era
Compare top-down and bottom-up AI workflows (e.g. Bolt vs Cursor)
Avoid common pitfalls when prompting AI tools to build production-grade apps
Explore how startup team roles are converging—and where creative tension still matters
Hear the origin story of Bolt’s breakout growth and what made it an overnight success (after 7 years)

The Pact

Honor the Startup Podcast Pact! If you have listened to TSP and gotten value from it, please:

Follow, rate, and review us in your listening app
Subscribe to the TSP Mailing List to gain access to exclusive newsletter-only content and early access to information on upcoming episodes: https://thestartuppodcast.beehiiv.com/subscribe
Secure your official TSP merchandise at https://shop.tsp.show/
Follow us here on YouTube for full-video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNjm1MTdjysRRV07fSf0yGg
Give us a public shout-out on LinkedIn or anywhere you have a social media following

Key links

Get your question in for our next Q&A episode: https://forms.gle/NZzgNWVLiFmwvFA2A