Vibe Coding: Why Your AI-Built App Has No User

What Is Vibe Coding?

Vibe coding is when you use AI coding tools like Cursor, Replit, Lovable or Bolt to ship a product based on intuition rather than evidence. You have an idea. You prompt the AI. You iterate through the build. You launch.

The vibes are immaculate. The build is fast. The code works.

And then nobody uses it.

I've reviewed about 40 products in the last year from founders who vibe-coded their way to launch. The pattern is always the same: three months of building, launch day excitement, then crickets. A few sign-ups. No retention. Confused founder adding features hoping something will stick.

The problem isn't the tools. Cursor and Replit are brilliant for building quickly. The problem is building quickly without knowing what you're building or for whom.

The Vibe Coding Trap

Here's how it usually goes:

1. You spot a problem in your world (usually your own problem)

2. You assume other people have this problem too

3. You sketch out a solution in your head

4. You fire up an AI coding tool and start prompting

5. The AI builds it surprisingly fast

6. You ship it

7. You wait for users

8. Nothing happens

So you add more features. You tweak the onboarding. You post on Product Hunt again. You try Reddit. You cold-email people.

Still nothing.

Eventually you start wondering: is this a marketing problem, a product problem, or did I just build something nobody actually wants?

Usually it's the last one.

The danger of AI coding tools is they remove the friction that used to force you to think. When building meant hiring a developer or learning to code yourself, you had time to validate the idea first. You had to be sure enough to invest real money or months of learning.

Now you can go from idea to working product in a weekend. Which means you can also go from half-baked assumption to polished solution for a problem that doesn't exist.

What Vibe Coding Gets Wrong

Vibe coding optimises for shipping. But shipping isn't the goal — solving a real problem for real people is the goal.

Here's what gets skipped:

Problem validation. Is this actually a painful problem? For whom? How do they solve it today? Would they pay to solve it better?

User research. Who are these people? Where do they hang out? What language do they use to describe the problem? What have they already tried?

Value proposition clarity. Why would someone use this instead of [spreadsheet / existing tool / doing nothing]? What's the specific benefit?

Distribution plan. How will people discover this? What's the first 10-user plan? The first 100?

You can ship a technically sound product without answering any of these questions. That's the trap.

The Three Questions You Should Ask Before You Build

I run a simple diagnostic with founders who come to me post-build with no traction. Three questions:

1. Can you name five specific people who have this problem?

Not "small business owners" or "busy parents". Actual human beings you could message right now. If you can't name them, you're guessing.

2. Have you watched someone struggle with this problem in the last month?

Not "I know people struggle with this". Have you actually observed it? Ideally multiple times. If the answer is no, you're building from theory.

3. What did the last three people you spoke to say when you described the solution?

If you haven't had this conversation, you don't know if the solution resonates. And "That's interesting" or "I'd probably use that" doesn't count. You need "When can I get access?" or "How much does it cost?".

Most vibe-coded products fail at least two of these.

What to Do If You've Already Built It

OK, so you've shipped. You have a working product. Zero traction. Now what?

First: stop adding features. Seriously. More features will not fix a fundamental product-market fit problem.

Second: go back to the questions above. Find five real people who should have this problem. Show them what you've built. Watch them use it. Listen to what they say.

Three outcomes:

They love it but can't find it. This is a distribution problem. Good news — you built the right thing, you just need to get it in front of more of the right people.

They like the concept but the execution is off. This is a product problem. The idea has legs but the implementation doesn't match how people actually work. Fixable with targeted iteration.

They don't care. This is a market problem. Either the problem isn't painful enough, or you're solving it for the wrong people, or both. Hard truth: you might need to pivot or kill it.

In my experience, about 60% of vibe-coded products fall into the third category. The idea sounded good. The build was fast. The market doesn't exist.

How to Build the Right Thing (Even When You're Moving Fast)

You don't need to abandon AI coding tools. You just need to use them at the right stage.

Here's the sequence that actually works:

1. Identify a repeated, specific problem you've seen at least 3-5 times in real people.

2. Talk to 5-10 people who have that problem. Understand how they solve it today and what they'd pay for a better solution.

3. Sketch the simplest possible version that would meaningfully improve their situation.

4. Show them the sketch (wireframe, Figma, even a slide deck). Get their reaction. Iterate.

5. Now build the prototype using whatever tools make sense — Cursor, Replit, no-code, whatever.

6. Put it in front of the same people who validated the concept. Watch them use it.

7. Only then start thinking about distribution and scale.

This isn't slower. It's faster. Because you're not wasting three months building features for a market that doesn't exist.

The Real Value of AI Coding Tools

Cursor and Replit are brilliant when you know what you're building. They let you move from validated concept to testable prototype in days instead of months. They remove the technical friction so you can focus on the hard part: figuring out what people actually want.

But they can't tell you what to build. They can't validate your assumptions. They can't find your users.

Those are still your job.

Vibe coding lets you ship fast. But shipping without validation just means you've built the wrong thing efficiently. Talk to real users before you write a single line of code. Use AI tools to build quickly once you know what you're building — not to skip the thinking.

If you've already shipped and have no traction, stop adding features. Go back to the problem. Find out if it's distribution, product, or market. Two of those are fixable. One might mean it's time to move on.