Develpreneur: Become a Better Developer and Entrepreneur Go Web First: How to Use AI Safely and Choose Mobile at the Right Time (with Angelo Zanetti)
If you're building software in the AI era, speed is everywhere—and that's exactly why discipline matters more than ever. In Part 2 of our interview with Angelo Zanetti, one strategy keeps coming up as the smartest path for founders and product teams: go web first. You validate demand faster, avoid app-store friction, and you get a clearer signal before you spend real money on the mobile "tax."
About Angelo ZanettiAngelo Zanetti is the co-founder and CEO of Elemental, a South African-based software development agency helping startups and scaleups worldwide bring digital products to life. Since 2005, his team has specialized in building scalable, high-performance web apps and software platforms that solve complex business problems. With deep technical knowledge and strategic thinking, Angelo has helped founders launch bespoke software products that are lean, user-focused, and future-ready. He's served on boards including BISA and Entrepreneurs' Organisation Cape Town, and he's a proud member of the global founder community OPUS.
Go web first in the AI eraAI is changing how teams build, but it doesn't change what makes a product succeed. Angelo's take is balanced: AI can absolutely make developers faster—but it can also make mistakes bigger if you don't have the experience to catch what's wrong.
He shares a story that captures the risk perfectly: a developer using Cursor accidentally had the database dropped and recreated. The tool didn't intend harm—it simply took a destructive shortcut with confidence.
Go web first and use AI like an amplifier. In the hands of an experienced developer, AI accelerates delivery. In the hands of someone guessing, it accelerates failure.
Go web first when you're still validating demandIf the goal is traction, the fastest route is often not a mobile app. Angelo points out that mobile adds overhead: submissions take time, changes can slow down release cycles, and testing requires compiles plus device/emulator workflows that can drag early iterations.
When you go web first, you can ship faster, adjust faster, and learn faster. That matters when you're still figuring out what users actually value.
Avoid app-store frictionApp stores introduce delays and rules. Even when you do everything right, you're waiting on review cycles and dealing with policies that can change. By starting on the web, you keep your feedback loop tight and your roadmap in your control.
Shorten the feedback loopThis is the hidden advantage: going web first makes iteration feel like steering instead of guessing. You can test onboarding, pricing pages, feature positioning, and workflows in days—not weeks—then respond to what real users do, not what you hope they do.
Go web first, but use AI safelyAI doesn't remove the need for senior judgment. Angelo's point is that experienced developers still matter because the hard part is translation—turning vision into structure, edge cases, and maintainable architecture.
AI can accelerate progress—go web first with guardrailsGo web first and set guardrails early: backups, version control, review practices, and clear boundaries for what AI can touch. Tools can generate code quickly, but your team still owns security, data safety, and reliability.
Mistakes are cheaper to fixWhen you're validating, mistakes are inevitable. The goal is to make them inexpensive. A web-first approach keeps the cost of change lower, so you don't "lock in" bad assumptions behind a costly mobile release cycle.
Go web first by planning like an architectAngelo uses a metaphor that founders immediately get: building software is like building a house—you don't start by putting up walls. You start with an architect.
Planning is a real deliverable: scope, user journeys, exceptions, and specifications. It's often undervalued because it's not as tangible as code, but Angelo calls it key to success—especially if you want to scale later without rebuilding from scratch.
Start with a clear scope and user journeysGo web first with a simple, documented path: who the user is, what outcome they want, and what steps they take. When the journey is clear, the MVP stays focused—and your team can defend scope when feature requests start creeping in.
Define a foundation you can scaleYou don't need to over-engineer. But you do need a foundation that won't collapse if adoption spikes. A web-first product can still be built with smart architecture that supports growth—without pretending you already have millions of users.
Go web first, then go mobile when users pull you thereAngelo shares a practical signal for mobile timing: when people keep asking for it—repeatedly—through engagement, social channels, and real usage patterns, the decision becomes obvious. That's when "it makes sense," not when it's a personal preference.
When mobile adds real valueIf the web product is solving the problem and users are happy, mobile isn't automatically better. Go web first until mobile improves retention, engagement, or access in a way the web can't.
When hardware features make going mobile necessaryMobile becomes the right answer when you truly need what mobile devices offer—hardware-level capabilities that a web app can't reliably provide.
Closing: Go web first, then expand with confidencePart 2 is a reminder that modern tools don't replace fundamentals—they raise the stakes. Use AI to accelerate, but respect planning and safety. And when you're still proving demand, go web first. You'll learn faster, waste less, and you'll earn your way into mobile when the market makes the call.
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