UX for AI EP. 81 - No Code: How AI Lets Non-Tech Founders Build MVPs Faster w/ Carl Meran
In this episode of UX For AI, we sit down with Carl Meran, a founder and technologist at the forefront of AI-driven product development. As AI continues to reshape the landscape of design, engineering, and entrepreneurship, Carl shares his firsthand experiences leveraging AI to accelerate product-building, automate workflows, and lower the technical barriers for founders and startups.
Carl discusses how tools like V0.dev, Claude, and Vercel are enabling semi-technical and even non-technical people to build products that would have once required full development teams. He breaks down how AI assists with coding, debugging, and workflow automation, allowing him to work as an engineer without a traditional engineering background. We explore how AI is shifting the startup landscape, making it possible to build a functional MVP (Minimum Viable Product) with a much smaller team—and in some cases, even as a solo founder.
One of the biggest areas of transformation Carl highlights is the Figma-to-code revolution. He believes that one of the next major breakthroughs in AI will be tools that can take Figma designs and instantly generate production-ready code. While some early attempts exist, Carl shares his thoughts on where these tools need to improve and how they could eventually streamline the entire product development lifecycle.
The conversation also covers how AI is affecting UX design, with new capabilities in automated interface generation, content creation, and even real-time translations of complex UI flows. As AI advances, the traditional boundaries between designers, developers, and product managers are becoming more fluid, allowing for a more collaborative and iterative process.
We also discuss the evolving role of founders in this new era. With AI-powered automation reducing the need for large startup teams, Carl argues that what once required ten engineers can now be done with three to five people. This fundamental shift in startup formation has massive implications for entrepreneurship, funding, and product innovation.
Carl also shares his bold predictions for the future of AI-driven development, suggesting that in the near future, founders may be able to simply describe a product idea, and AI will generate the entire application. While this vision is still a work in progress, he believes that we're getting closer to an era where AI acts as a true co-founder, developer, and designer all in one.
Whether you’re a designer, developer, startup founder, or simply curious about the future of AI and UX, this episode is packed with insights into how AI is reshaping the way we build and innovate.
Tune in to hear Carl Meran’s take on the most exciting trends in AI, UX, and product development—and what it all means for the future of tech.
You can find Carl Meran here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/carl-meran/
Interested in joining the podcast? DM Behrad on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/behradmirafshar/
This podcast is made by Bonanza Studios, Germany’s Premier Digital Design Studio:
https://www.bonanza-studios.com/