Vibe Coding

Will Simon lost a fortune in the FTX collapse, walked away from crypto, and rebuilt using vibe coding. CFO by day, vibe coder by necessity. Will built a full internal CRM for his payroll company using Lovable—no coding background, just frustration with manual processes and limited dev resources. We dig into his chat mode strategy, why he sees AI having bigger impact than crypto, and his plan to automate every manual payment by next year. Key topics Building production tools without developers: from margin calculators to DocuSign clones Strategic prompting: using chat mode to optimize before implementing Crypto's decade vs. AI's revolution The FTX collapse and walking away from trading Takeaways Chat mode is your friend: spend 30-40% of prompts reviewing plans before implementation to prevent the AI from chasing the wrong problem Security matters from day one: even Lovable's built-in review got a B+ from Will's database engineer with minimal tweaks AI creates jobs, not just kills them: new skills for everyone from founders to entry-level, not replacement Information access is the real shift: from encyclopedias to Wikipedia to ChatGPT—each step didn't kill jobs, it changed what skills matter Know when you need real developers: vibe coding gets you 80% there, but production needs cleanup and optimization   Links The Mainspring   Connect Discover the latest vibe coding news and resources Subscribe to our newsletter Join our Discord Follow on X

Adrian Humphrey beat thousands of developers to win $100K at the Bolt Hackathon—here's how he did it. His approach to vibe coding: strategic debugging, knowing when AI isn't ready, and building for real pain points. We dive into how he built Tailored Labs (an AI video editor) using Bolt and Google's Gemini 2.5 Pro, why his 2018 startup was "too forward thinking," and his framework for turning hackathon wins into fundable companies. Key topics Debugging strategies for vibe coding tools that save time and money Building production-ready apps vs. hackathon prototypes Competing with established players like CapCut and Adobe Takeaways Start with a PRD and user stories: map out use cases before building, then write tests Debug strategically: don't let AI iterate blindly—investigate first, then fix Timing matters more than tech: great ideas can fail if the market isn't ready Production is the real bottleneck: vibe coding makes building easy, but deployment and scaling are still hard Solve time, not features: focus on the biggest pain point (time) rather than flashy AI capabilities Links Tailored Labs Follow Adrian Connect Discover the latest vibe coding news and resources Subscribe to our newsletter Join our Discord Follow on X

Tommy Thomas, founder of Opzura and creator of Keyhaven, shares how he rose to success after winning third place in a major hackathon. He discusses his unique vibe coding approach, emphasizing a PRD-first strategy and the importance of monetization from day one. Tommy delves into the development of Keyhaven's secure API management features and the challenges of running a tech incubator in Kuala Lumpur. He also explores the future of builders in a rapidly changing economy and the possibilities of Universal Basic Income.

Robert Welch, Chief Innovation Officer at APM Help, dives into the effects of AI on engineering skills. He debates whether AI tools are speeding up development at the cost of core capabilities. Welch emphasizes the importance of maintaining quality through tests and reviews while balancing the use of AI as an augmenting tool rather than a replacement. The discussion also covers security measures against scams and the uniqueness of human creativity in music compared to AI-generated content.

In this discussion with Alessio Carrà, a developer of Context Engineering, the urgency for entrepreneurs in AI coding is laid bare. Hear how one idea quickly generated $2K in revenue and why the golden opportunities are fading. Alessio explains Context Engineering, designed to streamline chaotic vibe coding as projects scale, contrasting it with existing tools like Amazon's Kiro IDE. The emotional toll of AI coding and the rise of local, open-source models are also examined, offering a glimpse into the next wave of tech innovation.

Ash Gobindram, CEO of Kinemeric and expert in spatial technology, discusses how vibe coding is revolutionizing rapid prototyping. He shares his experience using Lovable to create interactive experiences in under an hour, such as a lending platform and a step-by-step watch repair guide. The conversation explores the evolution from early mobile tech to today’s AI-driven tools and the importance of making "believable" human simulations in XR. Ash raises concerns about AI’s impact on human relationships while envisioning a decentralized, personalized future for computing.