“I tell the three children that it is theirs and it’s their responsibility to get it done well,” Buffett said.
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For years, I wrestled with the website for my solo business. I’d reached the limits of what I could do myself and was perpetually frustrated by the built-in templates of most website tools. Yet I wasn’t quite ready to pay a website developer for a complete overhaul.
I’ve written previously about the decisions that solopreneurs face when they need a new tool or website. Do you pay for an off-the-shelf product, or hire someone to build exactly what you need?
But there’s a third option that didn’t exist a few years ago: Describe what you want and let AI write the code for you. It’s completely changing what solopreneurs can build on their own.
What you can actually build
Vibe coding is the practice of using AI tools to generate working code by describing what you want in conversational language. No coding knowledge required.
And it’s not limited to websites. Solopreneurs are using vibe coding to create:
- Custom dashboards that pull data from the tools they already use
- Internal tools like calculators or trackers tailored to their specific workflows
- Client-facing tools like surveys, intake forms, and resource pages—things you’d otherwise pay for or cobble together from multiple products
According to a Second Talent analysis, 63% of vibe coding users are non-developers. Any professional with access to an AI tool like Claude Code or Codex can vibe-code. Over the past few months, I’ve built my website, dashboards, and several little tools I use regularly.
How to get started
“Coding” sounds complex, but the process is more approachable than it might sound, especially if you do some prep work.
Gather inspiration first. Save screenshots of websites or tools you like. Having visual references makes it much easier to describe what you want to the AI tool.
Prepare your brand assets. AI will need your colors (hex codes), fonts, and logo. This saves a lot of back-and-forth tweaking later.
Start with one small project, like a “link in bio” page or a single dashboard. Don’t start with your primary website.
Expect iteration. AI rarely gets it right on the first try. The process is: Describe, review, refine. This is normal, not a sign that you’re doing something wrong.
Test on multiple devices. AI-generated code can behave differently on mobile versus desktop. Click every link and submit every form to make sure it’s working as expected.
And make sure you store your code somewhere safe. GitHub is free and the standard for developers. Claude Code or Codex can write your code directly to your GitHub account.
Know the trade-offs
The question for solopreneurs is no longer “Can I build it?” It’s “Should I?”
Vibe coding isn’t free. You’ll pay for the AI tool, which might be a nominal subscription compared to a website tool. But even though AI can give you a working prototype in minutes, a reliable tool you actually use takes much longer—and the process can be frustrating.
The real costs are time and iteration, not money. It’s worth doing the math and understanding that you’ll need to be patient before you start.
I didn’t take my own advice and started with a multipage website overhaul. I got through it, but it took weeks to work through each page. Now I can spin up something new very quickly, but I should have set my sights lower for my first project.
Vibe coding won’t replace developers or designers. But for solopreneurs who need something custom—something beyond templates or subscription tools that don’t quite fit—it’s a genuinely viable option. Give it a try, start small, and then expand.
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‘It’s not yet clear where the quantum Silicon Valley is going to be. It could very well be in Canada’
