Vibe Coding: How Business Owners Are Building Simple Apps with AI
Coding just got easier. Build your dream app with AI.
Word of the Day: Vibe Coding
Vibe coding is using AI to help you build software by describing what you want in plain English (instead of writing every line of code yourself). The big shift is that regular business people can now turn ideas into working tools way faster, which could change how startups and even “non-tech” companies build internal systems and new products.
How Vibe Coding is Changing the Game for Non-Techies
In the world of technology startups, I’ve had the privilege of advising several companies, especially those building software or what’s called Software as a Service (SaaS). Think of SaaS like your monthly subscription to Zoom: you pay each month to use their software.
When I’ve advised these companies, some didn’t have a technical person on the team, like a coder or developer. Usually it was one or two smart founders with a strong software idea who outsourced the build to a contractor or development firm. I’d often caution them against that setup and push for a technical co-founder or an in-house developer. The reason is simple: software is never “done.” The day you launch is the day you discover what needs to change, especially once real users start giving feedback.
But here’s the exciting part: vibe coding is changing the rules. Vibe coding uses AI to help non-developers, people who’ve never coded before, actually build software. It’s not magic, and it’s not effortless, but it does open the door for a whole lot more people to create useful business tools without needing a traditional developer for every little change.
For example, I have a friend who never coded before and recently built two incredible SaaS tools for his clients using vibe coding. Check out his first one: Modern Humans. Did it start out a little rough? Yep. But with AI helping him through the process, he got it done, and the apps are real.
That’s the opportunity: companies can now have someone in-house building custom tools that fit exactly what they need, and in some cases, those tools could even become products they sell to other businesses.
In short, vibe coding is opening up a whole new world of possibilities. Below, I’ll share some of the most popular vibe coding tools you can try right now. Pick one and see what you can build.
Today’s Task
Pick one tool from the list below (I recommend Lovable) and ask it to build you anything.
Try one of these prompts:
“Build me a simple website that collects leads for my business and emails me a summary.”
“Create a lightweight CRM for my sales calls with tags, notes, and follow-up reminders.”
“Make a dashboard that tracks weekly revenue and expenses with a simple upload.”
“Build an onboarding checklist app for new hires with progress tracking.”
Your goal is not perfection. Your goal is to see how far you can get in 5 to 15 minutes, and what your brain starts imagining next.
This is what I created in 30 seconds using the website prompt above:
Tools & Tips
Most Popular Vibe Coding Tools Right Now
1) Lovable (SmartOwner pick)
Why it’s great: Super fast from idea to a working web app, especially if you’re not a developer.
What stands out: You can “talk” your way into a real product, then refine it in small steps.
Pricing options: Start for free. Upgrade starting at $25/month to get the capacity that exactly matches your team’s needs.
Link: https://lovable.dev/
2) Replit
Why it’s great: A well-known build-and-deploy platform that’s friendly for learning, experimenting, and shipping real apps.
What stands out: Strong AI help plus a clear path from “test idea” to “publish it.”
Pricing options: Start for free. Upgrade starting at $20/month to get the capacity that exactly matches your team’s needs.
Link: https://replit.com/
3) Base44
Why it’s great: “From idea to live app in minutes” style builder with a no-code vibe, designed to help you launch functional apps without setup headaches.
What stands out: Their pricing is built around integration credits, which are used when your app calls integrations (including actions like calling an LLM).
Pricing options: Free plan available with paid tiers starting at $16/month based on usage and credits.
Link: https://base44.com/
4) Bubble
Why it’s great: One of the biggest no-code platforms for building more advanced web apps with a visual builder.
What stands out: Powerful flexibility for serious projects once you get the hang of it.
Pricing options: Start for free. Upgrade starting at $59/month with each payment level increasing options available.
Link: https://bubble.io/
5) Adalo
Why it’s great: Great for building app-like experiences with a no-code approach, often used for mobile-style apps and client projects.
What stands out: Clear plan options for individuals, freelancers, and teams.
Pricing options: Free plan available, plus paid tiers starting at $45/month.
Link: https://www.adalo.com/
6) Softr
Why it’s great: Excellent for building client portals, internal tools, and lightweight business apps quickly.
What stands out: Very approachable starting point, with upgrades as you grow.
Pricing options: Start for free. Upgrade starting with Basic at $49/month.
Link: https://www.softr.io/
7) Amazon Kiro
Why it’s great: Kiro is positioned as an AI-first development environment that helps turn “vibe coding” into more structured, production-ready work.
What stands out: It emphasizes spec-driven development and “agent hooks,” which can reduce messy builds by adding structure and repeatable steps.
Pricing options: Free tier (credits), plus paid tiers. See our news section below where Kiro is free for the first year!
Link: https://kiro.dev/
Today’s News
1) Google Cloud + Replit expand partnership to bring “vibe coding” to businesses
Bringing vibe-coding to the enterprise with Replit
Google Cloud and Replit announced an expanded strategic partnership aimed at bringing “vibe coding” to business teams, not just individual builders. The focus is deeper integration of Google’s AI models and cloud services with Replit’s build experience so teams can create apps and websites by describing what they want. The announcement positions “AI-first building” as something companies can standardize and roll out across departments.
Why it matters: This is a strong signal that “prompt-to-app” is moving from experimentation to mainstream business use. For small businesses, it means you can build internal tools (quoting calculators, client portals, onboarding checklists) faster and cheaper, without waiting on an agency or a scarce senior developer.
2) Amazon pushes its AI coding tool “Kiro” by giving startups a free year
Amazon hopes to jump-start its AI coding tool Kiro by giving it away to startups
Amazon is trying to drive adoption of its AI coding tool, Kiro, by offering startups a free year. The move highlights how competitive the “vibe coding” and AI coding market has become, with founders already juggling many tool choices. It’s a classic land-grab play: reduce friction now, win developer mindshare later.
Why it matters: More competition usually means better features and lower prices, which is great news for small businesses. Expect a growing number of affordable options for quickly building landing pages, internal dashboards, simple CRMs, and customer-facing apps without huge dev budgets.
3) Anthropic acquires Bun to improve AI coding speed and reliability
Anthropic acquires developer tool startup Bun to scale AI coding
Anthropic acquired Bun, a developer toolkit used for runtime, package management, bundling, and testing. The stated goal is to improve the speed and stability of Claude Code as AI coding adoption grows. This shows major AI labs are investing deeper into the tooling layer, not just the model layer.
Why it matters: Small businesses should care about reliability, not hype. As AI coding tools get faster and more stable, “build it in-house” becomes more realistic for everyday business workflows, and less risky to deploy in production.
4) The downside: “vibe coded” apps can ship with bugs and security holes, so testing tools are booming
Start-ups promise to help vibe coders catch the AI bugs
As more people generate software with AI (“vibe coding”), demand is rising for tools that test and secure AI-generated code. The article highlights concerns that code produced with minimal oversight can contain bugs or vulnerabilities. Startups focused on validation and security are raising money to meet this new need.
Why it matters: If you’re a business owner building internal tools or customer-facing apps with vibe coding, security and quality checks need to be part of your process. The opportunity is real, but the “new best practice” is simple: ship small, test, and treat AI-generated code like a first draft that still needs review.
Next Issue: Imagine a “robot” that logs into websites, copies data, fills forms, and updates spreadsheets automatically. That’s RPA browser automation, and it can save your business hours every week.
Thanks for reading. Have a tool or news story we should cover? Reply to this email.
Solid take on the pragmatic shift vibe coding enables for non-technical founders. The key insight that software is never "done" used to lock out anyone without adeveloper on retainer, but now iterative building becomes accessible to the operator themselves. What's underappreciated is how this changes product-market fit discovery speed when the person closest to customer pain can directly shape the tool. The real competitve edge isn't in the first version, it's in the velocity of subsequent iterations once you actually have users.