Comment by apparent
12 days ago
Curious to know how you think AI/vibecoding will affect the solopreneur path.
On the one hand, it could make it accessible to many more people, who previously couldn't have built a business alone because they lacked coding skills.
On the other hand, it could make it harder to get customers because they can also code their own customized tools, making it less necessary to buy software and some services.
There's probably a third and fourth hand, which haven't yet sprung to mind.
These things also on my mind recently. I'm a freelancer, providing design-development services, and trying to understand as things changing rapidly.
I don't think even the tools are advancing, allowing us to build in a new way, not everyone will be able to develop production ready products. Or good looking ones. So there will be always in need for people know how to orchestrate the new workflows with good taste and years of experience.
Couple of articles I've bookmarked recently:
● What, then, are we paying for? https://quinnkeast.com/writing/software-is-problem-ownership
● Designers as agent orchestrators: what I learnt shipping with AI in 2025 https://uxdesign.cc/designers-as-agent-orchestrators-what-i-...
● The new UX Toolkit: data, context, and evals https://uxdesign.cc/the-new-ux-toolkit-data-context-and-eval...
● How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Terminal https://pablostanley.substack.com/p/how-i-stopped-worrying-a...
● The rise of the Model Designer https://uxdesign.cc/the-rise-of-the-model-designer-cef429d9c...
I just sold my first solo(ish) business, so I can speak to this a bit.
'ish' because I had a partner, but he was non-technical.
AI is a boon. I'm currently finding it works best in apps that have established patterns but aren't enormous. If you lay some groundwork (as I did, because the AI didn't exist when I started), it's quite lovely for migrating heaps of old code and just doing all those annoying little things which were never very high priority but needed fixing.
If you're just starting, AI will do what you ask but it just doesn't know how to structure things in a maintainable way. So I'd argue it's still not particularly great if you "lack coding skills" but it might trick you into thinking so.
My customers (B2B) were generally older folks. They never once asked about AI. I don't see it being a serious threat yet. People are still afraid of spreadsheets and other things I would consider quite basic, the fact that coding is more accessible than ever... I don't think that's really enticing many people. Some, sure, but why would they want to mess around with that if your product is fairly priced, does what they need, and you will maintain it for them?
It's the same as us software engineers when we're deciding whether to pay for a 'managed' platform (SQL, Cloud, k8s) etc or roll our own. Sure, we can do it ourselves and for cheaper, but it just doesn't always make sense due to time and maintenance.
Anyway, I'm excited for the doors this opens up for me. I was looking to hire someone a few years back the guys I brought on briefly were very mediocre and required a lot of ramp up time. And also hiring is really hard. I can get away with not hiring for much longer now because the AIs understand the project and are productive instantly. Going from zero to one employee is hard. After that I imagine it would get easier but I never made it that far.
> Going from zero to one employee is hard.
Story of my life the last 5-10 years haha. Hard to take such a big risk without having a very solid position.
I'm taking an AI-first approach with a project I wouldn't have accepted otherwise, to get a better understanding of how much I can delegate and how quickly I can get it done. Could open up a lot of doors if successful. There are many more projects I'd be willing to pitch/accept if I didn't have to do all the grunt work. Quality still needs to be there though.
As a technical person, how does one find a non-technical business partner? ;)
I know about Entrepreneur First, but that's not for bootstrapping and has a too much of the unicorn vibe for me. The obvious is of course luck through one's social network.
>> The obvious is of course luck through one's social network.
I'd really counsel you to pursue this but not focus on the luck piece of it (which really is a big part). Just like hiring works best when it's a recommendation of a known good hire, look to your 2nd (and possibly 3rd) degree network. Force yourself to attend events, programs and communities (irl & virtual) outside of your direct sphere of expertise. Economic development orgs in your city/region might work too. Maybe you can do it with some help/practice and don't need a partner? You could be looking for a support network more than business expertise; the good news is IME that's easier to find than a partner.
Social networks are work as often as they are luck.
Be more interesting/seek out additional interesting people!
I work for a SaaS.
Basically I think it depends on your customers. If they’re just regular people, developers, etc. looking for a productivity tool, you should worry.
But if your clients are actual businesses looking for reliable, secure software, I wouldn’t worry too much. A real business isn’t going to trust hacked together, vibe coded solution. At that level it’s better to just pay $100-1,000 a month than deal with unpredictable problems.