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A product I vibe coded myself is being used by a lot of people. That’s the first joy. It made it out of Taiwan, and there are steady subscribers here and overseas every month now. Second joy. Overseas users go out of their way to write me thank-you messages on Reddit. Third joy. Three joys at once, wonderful.
The product has made tens of thousands of US dollars so far, but all of it was stuck in the Stripe / Mercury US business account. A few days ago the debit card finally showed up, so I can actually spend the money.
Some scattered thoughts.
1. Don’t vibe code for the money
Don’t vibe code for the money. You’ll end up broke. Or maybe I’m just the guy who never figured out how to make fast money.
2. And don’t build for the sake of building
Don’t build for the sake of building, don’t go hunting for a pain point just to have found one. There’s a phrase for this from mainland China that nails it: 屎上雕花, carving flowers on a turd.
3. What helped me find my lane
Looking back, roughly these four things:
- Years in one industry. Fifteen of them.
- Taking the work extremely seriously and loving it. I haven’t taken a vacation in at least ten years.
- Being angry at the state of the industry, unsatisfied with how it refuses to move.
- Being harder on myself too. I always think whatever I built a week ago was stupid.
4. The idea has to be one you genuinely believe in
The kind where you wake up every day and doubt yourself, and after a whole month of that it still hasn’t cracked.
My idea is simple:
Teaching is a labor-intensive industry. Teachers trade time for money, forever. Most teachers’ ideals and creativity drown in routine work.
Students always feel the teacher doesn’t give them enough time. And routine work is exactly what students need.
So let AI catch the students most of the time, while the teacher reads the AI-student conversations from the side and delivers the key insights and guidance only a senior teacher can give. That’s my product.
5. Don’t be stingy about sharing
Fifteen years of free resources I’ve piled up turned into my best marketing channel.
Make no mistake, Taiwanese people love buying three things: courses, insurance, and Japanese appliances. My own courses run tens of thousands of NT dollars, and they’re at nearly a thousand students by now.
6. Push it to the whole world
When you genuinely believe in your idea, push it to the whole world. It sometimes sells better abroad. Really.