How to Vibe Code Your Startup to Failure

If you ever opened Bolt, Lovable, Cursor, or Replit and typed something like "Build a simple reporting app for small businesses" - this is for you.

Because you are making a huge mistake - and you will end up building something nobody wants.

I once spent €100K because of this exact trap.

Let me show you how to use these tools without making that same mistake.

This is not a prompting video and not a coding guide. This is for startup founders who want to build something people actually pay for.

Before you open any tool - and I mean this, don't touch it yet - you need to answer one question.

What big problem am I solving?

Not a 'this could be cool' idea.
A real, painful problem people actually have.

Now think about who exactly has this problem.
But don’t say "My product is for small businesses."
Or "It’s for marketing agencies."

That's way too broad. Be super specific.
You need to have one person in mind who has this exact problem.

Then you go out and find 10 people just like them.
But don’t do an online survey or a twitter poll.

You need to have a real conversation.
All you need is a 15-minute call.

And during this call, you have 1 simple goal:
You want to find out if those people really have this problem and if they would pay for a solution.

If 3 out of 10 people say "I need this solution right now" - you can move on.
If they say "Sounds good, but it’s not that important to me" - you need to find a different idea.

If you want the exact questions to ask on those calls - I've made a free worksheet that walks you through it. Link is below.

Once you have done all 10 calls and 3 out of 10 people said "I need this right now", you open your vibe coding tool.

But you don’t tell AI to build everything right away.
You don’t build the full dashboard, notifications, the settings page, and the integrations. No no no.

You only build the one feature that solves that exact problem you promised to solve. That's it.

For example, if your idea is to build a tool that helps freelancers create an invoice - you don’t build the full platform. Simply build a dashboard where people can fill in their details and a button to create that invoice.

That's your first version. Make it super simple.
That’s enough to get your first paying customer.

I once coached a startup founder who had 50 paying customers and he basically had only two buttons in his app - and it wasn’t even designed beautifully. It was just a rough version but it solved the problem people had.

So, use your vibe coding tool and build the smallest version first.
And this should take you no longer than a week.

And once your first version is ready - this is the step that determines whether your startup can make it.

Here's what you do.

You reach out to the people who said "I need this right now" and tell them "Hey, I have finished the product. Do you want me to show it to you?".

And you show them a quick demo.

And during this call you have 2 goals:
‍
1. You handle any objections they have
2. You get them to pay

Now, here’s the thing - you need to make saying yes as easy as possible.

→ Don’t sell them the full product right away.
→ Don’t say "This costs $20 per month, you can buy it here."

You want to sell them an easy next step.

Like "This will later cost $20 per month, but as an early user, I would like to offer it for $10 for you."

Or "This will later cost $20 per month I would like to give you 1 months for free so you can see if it solves your problem."

Your goal is to get them to use it.
And if they see that it solves their problem, they become a paying customer.  
If nobody wants to pay for it or even test it - you stop.
And then you have 2 options:
‍
1. You go out and look for more people who have the same problem
2. You find a different problem you could solve

But the good thing is you didn't waste months building something nobody wants. You didn’t invest a lot of money. And you can pivot now, not later.

When you have done these steps you are ahead of 90% of founders. Because you have real proof that people would pay for your product.

And now the plan is simple - you vibe code your full product.
You improve it, make the onboarding better and implement new features.

This is where these tools are absolutely incredible.
You can just build it super quickly.

But you need to avoid one last trap here:
Never ask AI what features you should build next.
Because it will give you a random list of things nobody wants.

Instead talk to your first customers.
Ask them what’s missing, where they are stuck and what could be better. Talk to your customers every time you ship an update.

For example, when I got my first 5 paying customers, I talked to them every 2 weeks. Customer feedback is everything at this stage.

Because if you build your product in a way that people want - they will stay.

Vibe coding is one of the most powerful things that has ever happened for founders. You can build your startup in a weekend.

But at the same time - this is a trap.
Because AI doesn’t know your users, it doesn´t know your market and it doesn’t know if anybody would pay for your product.

So, stop vibe coding and hoping people will pay.
Instead, solve a real, painful problem, validate your idea, build it quickly and improve it based on real feedback.

That's the difference between all the AI startups who fail and the founders who actually win.

But this is just the foundation.

If you want a clear system to actually build your startup, I put everything into my Startup Mastermind.

It gives you a simple step-by-step roadmap so you always know what to focus on next. It’s already being used by 50+ founders, and includes smart AI prompts for each step so you can grow your startup even faster - without overthinking.

You can also join the community, connect with other founders, and build alongside people on the same journey.

You can join here: