The Rise of Vibe Coding Shaping a New AI Economy

Giggles launched an AI-powered social app with zero engineers. It snagged 120,000 waitlist spots and 150 million impressions — all without VC cash, marketing spend, or a traditional coding team. The app lets Gen Alpha and Gen Z users share AI-generated content, digital collectibles, and game-like social interactions.

Soon after, Base44 popped up. Its non-tech founder used AI to “vibe code” a no-code dev platform. Six months, fewer than 10 employees, profitable. Then sold to Wix for $80 million cash, per TechCrunch. These startups are rewriting “engineering” — replacing traditional code teams with AI-driven creativity.

“Vibe coding” blew up fast. Andrej Karpathy, ex-OpenAI/Tesla AI chief, coined the term for writing code by talking ideas. Y Combinator’s Garry Tan says startups now generate up to 95% of their code via AI, with tiny teams replacing 50-100 engineers. The result? Non-traditional founders build apps through natural language, shaking up SaaS economics.

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But warnings are piling up. Nigel Douglas at Cloudsmith said to the Financial Times, creating an app in your spare time might mean an ugly UI — but getting it wrong in business risks security breaches, outages, and supply chain attacks. GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke added at VivaTech:

“A non‑technical founder will find it difficult to build a startup at scale without developers,”
“Tools like vibe coding don’t provide the depth needed to justify serious investment.”

Edwin Wang, Giggles co-founder, admits the limits:

“There’s a need to build technical depth. We know that’s important and are expanding engineering operations and bringing on advisors.”
“The future, however, must be a community-governed and decentralized future where there’s a balance between creativity and coding.”

At Giggles, 18-year-old Justin Jin and co-founders used AI and gaming mechanics to create a social app rewarding digital expression. It’s more than TikTok — it’s a creative platform where users can vibe code games, apps, and virtual worlds. Jin’s previous startup sold for $3.8 million, fueling his focus on user fluidity over rigid structure.

The challenge? Scaling beyond hype needs serious engineering and security. Jin and Wang agree:

“Scaling creativity still requires coding discipline.”

The AI-native startup boom hints at a hybrid future. Fast prototyping with AI, followed by solid engineering to build lasting platforms. Reid Hoffman notes AI boosts appeal but warns early AI wins don’t lock in long-term leads.

The takeaway: vibe coding moves fast, but no code = no scale. Giggles and Base44 show AI can launch startups — but keeping them alive means building real tech muscle. As Jin said,

“It’s not just about who can build fast. It’s about who can build something that lasts.”