Right now, someone is building an app in their room that would have cost $50K-$100K easy 2 years ago.
The building isn’t the hard part.
My hot take on AI right now that most will disagree with. Most of the things being shipped on AI are a distraction.
Not all of it. But most of it.
I keep getting shown all the things people have been vibecoding lately - cool dashboards or webapps they’ve rebuilt of a system they use & I always challenge them - is this actually helpful to your business?
Just because it’s pretty impressive that you can build, doesn’t mean that you should. Do you have to do the construction of it yourself if you prefer the interior design? There’s a reason why there’s architects who are not the builders themselves.
I’m super tempted too, I also want to whip up a crazy app that makes money - why wouldn’t you especially on how easy it is to create from idea to execution now?
It seems like everyone is so focused on the build phase of the product, how are they solving this problem, what cool benefits are they developing in this new product. But it feels like no one is really thinking about the actual USE. It’s the classic case of let’s spend most of our time building this thing before we’ve even tested the market.
That’s the mistake. Who was this product intended for and how are they going to find & use this? There’s an assumption that once it’s created that the users will just automatically magically appear - not the case ever. You need to acquire users through a journey that makes someone a customer.
I’m not saying don’t use it. There are things that absolutely should be shipped fast right now. Things that have been blocking people for way too long because they were waiting on a designer or a developer or “the right time.”
A landing page for a workshop you’re running next week. A checkout page for a low ticket offer. A simple lead magnet download page.
If you’re launching a workshop & you’re waiting for your graphic designer to pull together a website before you can sell it - that’s the problem AI solves perfectly. Vibecode that landing page. Get it live NOW.
Remove the blocker between you & your first sale.
Say you need a simple workshop landing page. Here’s how fast this can be now:
Open Claude & get it to write your copy - what the workshop covers, who it’s for, what they’ll walk away with
Get clear on the offer - price, date, what’s included, how to sign up
Drop it into Lovable & whip up a clean page
Get an email registration capture & you’re live.
Side tip - use an inline form so you don’t have to set up automations for those email captures to send out a confirmation. Something like Flodesk makes this super easy & how I do it.
That’s it. That’s an afternoon. Maybe less.
This is where AI genuinely unblocks you. It takes the things that used to sit in “waiting on someone else” & puts them in your hands. You can go from idea to live & selling in the same afternoon. & that’s powerful.
This is the part that needs more focus. You’ve built something. It’s live. But who knows about it?
Your product might solve a real problem. It might be exactly what someone needs right now. But if they don’t know it exists, it doesn’t matter how good it is. A solution nobody can find is the same as a solution that doesn’t exist.
Right now all the energy is going into “look what I built” & not enough is going into “here’s how people actually find & start using it.”
User acquisition. Getting people to use what you built.
This doesn’t just happen. It’s a combination of things:
1. Your marketing & distribution channels. Where are you actually showing up to talk about this? What platforms? What communities? Where does your ideal customer already hang out? If you’re not there consistently, they’re never going to find you.
2. Your sales funnel. The journey someone takes from hearing about you to actually paying you. That’s not one step. Someone who’s never heard of you needs to understand what problem you’re solving, see that you know what you’re talking about & experience your value before they ever open their wallet. That takes time & touchpoints.
3. Your messaging. What’s the narrative around your product that attracts the right people? What are you saying that makes someone stop & think “this is for me”? If your messaging is unclear, it doesn’t matter how many people see it. Clear messaging converts. Vague messaging gets scrolled past.
4. Your user experience. If your product is genuinely great, you’ll get net promoters - people who use it & love it so much they share it naturally. That’s the dream. But you can’t rely on that alone. Especially not at the start.
There’s this assumption right now that if you build something good enough, word of mouth will just kick in. People will find it, love it & tell everyone. & yes - that does happen. Eventually. But not on day 1. Not on day 30. You have to actively drive people to it first. You have to create the initial momentum before organic growth can even begin to compound.
5. Your consistency. You can ask AI to give you a marketing plan. It’ll give you a great one. Strategy, channels, content ideas, timelines - all of it. But actually implementing that plan? Actually publishing? Actually showing up & putting yourself out there day after day?
Thisis the part we are all avoiding!! & that’s exactly the part that needs the most focus.
The real issue isn’t a lack of ideas or products. It’s a lack of focus on the customer journey.
Instead of stepping back & asking “who is this for, how will they find it & why should they trust me” - most people are already onto the next build. Rebuilding apps they already pay for. Launching offer after offer. Staying busy in the build phase because it feels productive.
I’ve done this myself. Here’s what I built lately:
1. A SaaS Stack Audit - a full framework to help companies identify & cut the tools they don’t need. Productised. Priced. Ready to go.
2. An AI for Work Webinar - designed to teach people how to actually integrate AI into their daily workflow. Not theory. Practical, hands-on stuff.
3. A Branded AI Engine - got so excited about this one that I came up with multiple product names for it. The whole brand identity was mapped out.
All great ideas. All built out. All sitting there.
But have I posted a single thing sharing that these offers exist?
Maybe this one haha.
But honestly - not enough. Not nearly enough.
I was doing the exact thing I’m writing about right now. Building felt like progress. But nobody was seeing any of it because I wasn’t showing up & being consistent with it.
& I’m all about momentum through action. So how was I building all these things & not executing on the one part that actually matters?
So here’s what I’ve refocused on:
Publishing. Thought leadership on freedom with systems. Real perspectives, not content for the sake of content.
Sharing value. Giving away the thinking & the lessons. Letting people experience what I know before I ever ask them to buy.
Being visible. Showing up consistently. Not perfectly. Consistently.
Letting people get to know what I stand for before I ever ask them to buy anything.
Less building. More showing up.
That’s my personal lesson right now. Hold me accountable if you like - feel free to slide into my DMs with a “where’s it at.” And if you want an accountability partner just let me know, email me back & we can do it together.
If you’ve shipped something too - you’re probably in the same boat. Or maybe you haven’t shipped anything yet but you’re just not making enough sales on what you already have. Either way, the answer is the same.
Here’s what you should be focused on right now:
The build phase is done. Focus on distribution.
1. Content. Create content around the problem your product solves. Not content about the product itself - content about the problem. That’s what gets people to stop scrolling. Nobody cares about your features. They care about their problem & whether you understand it.
2. Distribution channels. Where does your ideal customer already spend their time? LinkedIn? Instagram? Substack? YouTube? Reddit? Pick 1-2 & show up there consistently. Don’t spread yourself across 7 platforms doing nothing well on any of them.
3. Messaging. Get clear on your positioning. What do you do, who do you do it for & why should they care? If you can’t say that in 1 sentence, your audience definitely can’t either. What is your USP!
4. Social proof. Get your first few users in even if it’s free. Let them use it. Get their feedback. Get a testimonial. That first bit of proof is worth more than any landing page redesign. Doing the work here!
5. Conversations. Talk to people. DMs, comments, communities. Not pitching - genuinely engaging with the people who have the problem you solve. That’s where your first customers come from. From conversations.
So now you know where to focus. Here’s how to start.
Step 1. Post about it. Literally your next post. What problem does it solve? Who is it for? That’s it. Publish it today.
Step 2. Go look at your last 10 posts. How many are about something you’ve already built & are actively offering? If the answer is close to zero - that’s your gap.
Step 3. Commit to talking about what you’ve built at least 2x per week for the next month. Not building anything new. Just showing up & making sure people know what already exists.
Step 4. Ask for feedback from anyone who’s used it. Publicly. Their words about your product are 10x more powerful than yours.
Step 5. Repurpose everything. That 1 post becomes a story, a thread, an email, a carousel. AI can help you do this in minutes. Use it here - not to build another product.
The world doesn’t need more products. It needs more people who know how to get the right product to the right person.
AI made building easy. It didn’t make selling easy. & the people who figure that out first? They’re the ones who win.
Stop building. Start showing up.
& if this resonated - share it with someone who’s been stuck in the build loop. They probably need to hear it.
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