I’ve written this because I believe vibe coding is here to stay, in one form or another. It’s early, it’s raw and its users can’t get enough. The attention, IMO, will soon turn from, ‘this is fun’ and ‘look Mum, I built a game’, to ‘the world’s hottest apps are vibe coded’. This is a significant transition and a lot has to take place in the interim. So I’m looking at this from the playbook for businesses perspective, because that’s what I have wanted to see. Where roads don’t exist yet, we need to imagine them.
Emerging tech fields including AI, Web3, and immersive gaming are ripe with opportunity, but also fierce competition. Web3 is an industry which is largely based on hype, narrative, and a whole lot of wash-trading, vaporware, and fake data, this could be the movement that helps underpin the space with value and legitimacy. The noise in the vibe coding space is building and cut-through is already getting hard. Web3 can provide the perfect option for monetisation of the movement, and to make sure it’s in time for this run, you have to move fast.
As a founder, how do you build a startup that not only survives but thrives in these fast-moving spaces? Drawing from the wisdom of Y Combinator, venture capital insights, and Reid Hoffman’s Blitzscaling, I’ve crafted 10 rules to help you leverage AI-driven vibe coding, a creative, flow-based approach to building with AI, to create a startup that scales fast, wows users, and attracts investors.
1. Prioritise Speed to Capture the Market First
How often have we heard, the first mover often wins? Blitzscaling teaches us that speed trumps efficiency in the early stages, your goal is to capture the market before competitors can catch up. Use vibe coding to build your minimum viable product (MVP) at lightning speed with the use of Replit and AI tools like Cursor or Claude 3.7, which can write, debug, and optimise code in hours, not weeks. For example, if you’re creating a Web3 gaming platform, focus on launching a playable demo with core mechanics (e.g., player movement, levels, and lore) within weeks. Speed gets you to market first, giving you a head start to iterate based on real user feedback.
2. Obsess Over Your Users’ Core Problem
I have a Customer Experience background, so I may be biased, but the numbers don’t lie. Y Combinator emphasises that successful startups solve real problems for users. In vibe coding, this means starting with a laser focus on your user’s needs, not the tech itself. Identify the one problem your startup must solve, whether it’s seamless token or NFT trading in a Web3 app or lag-free gameplay in a 3D game, and build your MVP around that. Use AI to prototype solutions quickly, then test them with users within days. If users want faster load times, prioritise optimising performance over adding fancy features. Solving a core problem builds a loyal user base, which is gold for early-stage startups. Let the sneezers (early-adopters) do their work.
3. Embrace Uncertainty to Stay Agile
Blitzscaling highlights that uncertainty is a feature, not a bug, in high-growth startups. Emerging tech fields are chaotic, new tools, protocols, and user behaviors emerge daily and this one requires you to run to keep up. Vibe coding lets you stay agile by using AI to iterate rapidly. Don’t overplan, instead, build, test, and pivot as needed. Overplanning will kill your start-up faster than you can imagine. If you’re developing an AI-powered wellness app and users demand Web3 integration for tokenised rewards, use AI to add that feature in a sprint. This flexibility ensures you can adapt to market shifts, a trait Y Combinator values in founders who can navigate the unpredictable early stages.
4. Leverage Orange Web3 ID and Passport to Unlock an Established User Base and Monetisation
In Web3, community and connectivity are everything. Integrate an Orange Web3 ID and passport into your startup, through a simple widget integration, to tap into a vast user base, enable tokenisation, rewards, XP, and gain rich data insights. This decentralised identity protocol lets users join your platform with a privacy-preserving ID, connecting you to the Web3 crowd eager for new experiences. In a gaming startup, you can issue NFTs or tokens as rewards, create tokenised subscriptions, or use Orange’s data to personalise user experiences, all while protecting privacy. This not only drives user growth but also opens monetisation opportunities, making your startup more attractive to VCs looking for scalable revenue models. You will also avoid the cold-start issues that face most start-ups, and join a growing base of users who will benefit from the impending crypto bull cycle.
5. Build for Rapid Iteration, Not Perfection
It’s been said that a ‘start-up is like jumping off a cliff and building a plane on the way down’. Y Combinator mentors stress that early-stage startups succeed by iterating quickly based on user feedback. Vibe coding is your secret weapon here. AI lets you build, test, and refine features in real-time. Focus on creating a functional MVP, then use AI to make incremental improvements based on what users say. If early testers of your AI gaming app want to trade the assets in the game, then add a marketplace or trade function in days, not months. This rapid iteration cycle keeps you ahead of competitors and ensures your product evolves with user needs, a key trait VCs look for.
6. Scale Your Team’s Output with AI-Driven Workflows
Emerging tech startups often start with small teams and even just one person as is the case for some vibe coders, but you can punch above your weight by using AI to amplify productivity. Writing code is only part of what vibe coding offers, it’s also about automating workflows. Use AI to handle repetitive tasks like generating documentation, summarising meetings, or tracking progress. AI can be prompted to create a sprint plan based on your last meeting notes or generate API docs for your backend. This frees your team to focus on high-impact work like strategy and user engagement, helping you scale faster, a principle Blitzscaling champion for achieving massive growth.
7. Focus on a Niche to Dominate Before Expanding
Blitzscaling advises startups to dominate a niche before scaling broadly, stating that every billion-dollar company was first a 10-million-dollar company. With these emerging tech fields, this means targeting a specific user segment and owning that space. Use vibe coding to build a hyper-focused product for your niche, whether that’s a Web3 marketplace for digital art collectors or a VR game for sci-fi fans. AI can help you tailor features to that audience, like generating art preview tools or immersive 3D environments. Once you’ve dominated your niche, then expand to adjacent markets. This focused approach builds a strong foundation, a strategy Y Combinator often sees in successful startups.
8. Optimise for Fundraising by Showing Traction
VCs and accelerators like Y Combinator prioritise startups with traction, proof that users love your product. Vibe coding helps you get to market faster, so you can start gathering user data and metrics to show investors. It also helps you assess new ideas faster and more cost-effectively. If you’re building a Web3 social app, use AI to launch a beta with core features (e.g., tokenised posts, with data user profiles via Orange Web3) and track metrics like daily active users or transaction volume. When pitching to VCs, you need to be able to say, “We’ve grown to 5,000 users in 3 months with a 20% week-over-week increase.” Traction, enabled by vibe coding’s speed, gives you a huge fundraising advantage.
9. Keep Code Lean and Scalable for Growth
As your startup grows, a messy codebase can slow you down. Use vibe coding to keep your code lean and scalable from the start. Might sound farfetched considering the public noise about code quality produced by AI, but it’s more about keeping your house in order. Prompt AI to write modular, well-documented code and regularly refactor to remove redundancies. For instance, if your app’s user base spikes after integrating Orange Web3 ID, a scalable codebase ensures you can handle the load without crashing. This aligns with Blitzscaling’s focus on preparing for rapid growth, your tech needs to keep up as you transition from a small startup to a medium or large one.
10. Build a Community to Amplify Your Reach
Successful startups in emerging tech don’t build only products, they build communities. Use vibe coding to create features that foster engagement, like in-app forums or tokenised rewards via Orange Web3 ID, then amplify your reach by sharing your journey. Post your startup’s progress on platforms like GitHub or X, and encourage users to join the conversation. For example, if you’re building a Web3 game, create a Discord community where players can trade or discuss in-game assets and share feedback. Y Combinator notes that startups with strong communities often have higher success rates, as they create a flywheel of user growth and loyalty that VCs love to see.
