Vibe coding · What you make · How you sell it
Independent publication and research for vibe coders.
A publication for the solo builder doing it all with AI: vibe coding the product, finding the users, pricing the work. Here you will learn how to market, what the studies say, and what tools to use, and read about other founders who have done it all.
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The Studio · verified
Studio 03 · Tom Huang, Open Design: "Stars are not revenue wearing a trench coat"
Eleven days after Anthropic shipped Claude Design, a Shanghai team shipped the open-source alternative. It has since crossed a million installs on 77,000 stars, and the first build cost about $200. Tom Huang on the file-first method that let agents write all the code, why giving the product away was the plan, and the part no agent can do for you.
Built by Tom Huang · Open Design
The Proof · AI tool
Cursor Pro: we gave it $20 and a startup idea
We handed Cursor a founder-style pitch and it shipped a working, named SaaS the same evening: a tracker for the exact unnumbered AI allowances our own reporting keeps exposing. It survived two curveballs and a cold ship check, all on the $20 plan. Worth it, with the two caveats the meter still will not show you.
How to read the marks
A Studio build we checked: it is live and its receipts hold up. Hands-on when we can run it ourselves, independently confirmed when it is a B2B build we cannot.
A Proof verdict on a tool we used ourselves: signed up, ran real tasks, and logged what it costs.
The Study · Explainer
Is distribution really the moat? What actually defends an AI product
Android and Search placement carried Gemini from a twentieth of the AI market to nearly a fifth in a year, while Copilot stayed pinned near 1.2% despite shipping inside Windows. Same year, same distribution-wins slogan, opposite results. The rule that explains both: distribution is a moat only when it is owned or embedded and sits on a product people keep opening. Every channel you merely rent can be repriced or switched off by its owner overnight.
The Signal · Issue 2
The vibe coding split is a pricing event
The search data split vibe coding in two. The casual mode keeps the name; the disciplined mode got its own: agentic engineering. Two words end one price.
The Ledger · Freelancing
Getting paid for AI work: deposits, deadlines, and the clients to refuse
Nonpayment is not a freak event; it is the base rate. Half of surveyed freelancers had collection trouble in a single year, the average victim loses about $6,000 annually, and a contract alone still leaks. The fix is structure installed before the work: deposits, pause clauses, handover on final payment, and a refusal list for the clients who signal early.
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A room of people building with AI. Show what you're vibe coding, swap what you're into, and ask what you're stuck on. It doesn't have to be finished, and it doesn't have to make money. Grab a handle and jump in.
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