I've Built 50+ MVPs - Here's How AI Changed My Game (And My Clients Are Using It Too)

Pieter Levels built a game that went from $0 to $1M ARR in 17 days.

With AI. No game dev experience. Just vibes.

Meanwhile, I’m over here spending 2 weeks on MVPs that make… less.

As someone who’s built 50+ MVPs the traditional way, I had two choices: ignore this AI revolution or embrace it.

I chose to dive deep. And what I found changed everything about how I build products.

Whether you’re a developer wanting to 10x your speed or a founder tired of $50K quotes, this guide shares exactly what’s working in 2025.

(Spoiler: It’s not just hype. People are making real money.)

The Vibe Coders Making Real Money (Not Just Twitter Fame)

Let me show you what’s actually happening while traditional agencies are still quoting 3-month timelines.

Pieter Levels (@levelsio)

Dude built fly.pieter.com in 3 hours using Cursor + Grok 3. THREE HOURS.

Hit $87K MRR ($1M ARR) in just 17 days. 320,000 users, 74 million impressions.

I watched his YouTube build process and my brain melted. He literally just prompted “make a 3D flying game” and accepted AI suggestions rapidly.

No perfect planning. No extensive testing. Just ship and iterate.

Prajwal Tomar (@PrajwalTomar_)

This guy runs Ignyt Labs agency - $78K revenue in just 4 months building MVPs with AI.

Built 17+ MVPs using these tools. Created “AI MVP Builders” community with 1.6K members.

His Bolt.new workflow thread broke down exactly how he goes from idea to deployed app in hours.

But here’s what got me - he’s teaching clients to build their own MVPs instead of hiring him. That’s confidence in the process.

CodeGuide (@CodeGuidedev)

10,544 users approaching 7-figure revenue. $31K MRR building simple apps for businesses.

99% AI-written code. Under $1000 in AI costs total.

The crazy part? These aren’t complex SaaS platforms. They’re solving real business problems with simple tools.

Vibe Sail Developer

$8K MRR ($96K ARR) multiplayer sailing game. 85% AI-generated code using Three.js.

Monetization through in-game ads and sponsored islands. Built by someone who’d never made a game before.

Look, I’ve been in this game for years. I’ve seen the “next big thing” come and go. But when multiple people are hitting $100K+ ARR with AI-built apps…

That’s not luck. That’s a pattern.

The Essential AI MVP Stack (With Pricing That Won’t Kill You)

After analyzing what successful builders actually use, here’s the stack that’s making money:

Bolt.new - The Rapid Prototyper

Best for: Quick MVPs, landing pages, proof of concepts
Pricing: Free tier, Pro $20-200/month (10M-120M tokens)

I watched Eric Struk (Bolt’s CEO) build a complete app in minutes. Thought it was marketing BS.

Then I tried it myself. 3 hours later, I had a working job board. Not perfect, but shippable.

Here’s what @PrajwalTomar_ discovered about token management:

Pro tip: Use Discussion Mode to save 90% tokens. Never spam “Fix Error” button - each click burns tokens like crazy.

But here’s the catch - I learned this the hard way. Burned through 2M+ tokens trying to fix one authentication bug. Cost me $200.

Best Practices to Avoid My Mistakes:

• Use Discussion Mode for planning (saves 90% tokens)
• Break changes into small chunks
• Enable error logging before debugging
• Lock files you don’t want changed
• Use revert instead of fixing forward

Real example: Built a competitor to Gumroad in 4 hours. Client is at $3K MRR now.

Lovable.dev - The Polished Builder

Best for: Frontend-heavy apps, beautiful UIs
Pricing: $16-50/month based on messages

This one hit £13.5M ARR in 3 months. When I saw that number, I had to try it.

Built a complete SaaS dashboard that impressed a Fortune 500 client. The UI was cleaner than anything I’d built traditionally.

Reddit success stories are wild - people launching full products in weeks.

Best Practices for Professional Results:

• Always use Knowledge Base file for context
• Chat Mode for planning (60-70% of time)
• One task at a time in Composer
• Mobile-first responsive approach
• Provide role context (Admin vs User views)
• Use “Try to Fix” max 3 times before manual intervention

Cursor AI - The Professional’s Choice

Best for: Complex logic, existing codebases
Pricing: Free tier, Pro $20/month

When I need to refactor a 10K line codebase, this is what I reach for. Refactored an entire client project in 2 days that would’ve taken 2 weeks traditionally.

Steve Oliver’s productivity setup thread changed how I use Cursor completely.

Best Practices for Context Management:

• Use .cursorrules file always
• YOLO mode for automated testing
• Context window limits: Free 200k, Paid 500k tokens
• Create instruction.md files for complex projects
• Use @ mentions for specific files
• Pre-PR commands for cleanup

UXPilot - The Design Accelerator

Best for: Non-designers needing professional UIs
Pricing: $9/month unlimited

Created 20 screens in 30 minutes. As someone who failed art class, this felt like cheating.

Prajwal’s UX workflow thread shows exactly how to go from ugly prototype to polished app.

Battle-Tested Workflows That Actually Ship

Here are the exact workflows successful builders use. I’ve tested all of these.

Workflow 1: The Prajwal Method (SaaS Speedrun)

This is pure efficiency. Prajwal documented this entire process:

1. ChatGPT → Detailed PRD generation
2. UXPilot → Wireframes from description
3. Lovable → Frontend with Supabase integration
4. Cursor → Custom business logic
5. Ship to Vercel

Time from idea to deployed MVP: 4-6 hours.

I tried this exact workflow last week. Built a project management tool for agencies. It works.

Workflow 2: The Pieter Levels Approach (Vibe & Ship)

Pure vibes. No overthinking:

1. Simple prompt in Cursor: “make a 3D flying game”
2. Accept AI suggestions rapidly
3. Deploy immediately (imperfect but functional)
4. Monetize through creative methods (ads, upgrades)
5. Fix issues as they scale

The key insight? Ship first, perfect later. Pieter made $1M before most people finish their wireframes.

Workflow 3: The Enterprise-Safe Method

For when you actually need things to work perfectly:

1. Traditional planning phase (don’t skip this for enterprise)
2. Cursor for backend APIs with proper error handling
3. Lovable for admin panels and user interfaces
4. Extensive testing with Playwright
5. Human review before production

Takes longer but necessary for B2B clients who care about reliability.

Mistakes That Cost Real Money (Learn From Our Pain)

Let me save you the expensive lessons I learned the hard way.

Token Management Disasters

I once burned $1000 in tokens in a single day. Here’s how:

Got stuck in an error loop in Bolt trying to fix authentication. Instead of stepping back, I kept clicking “Fix Error” button. Each click: 50k tokens. After 40 clicks, I was broke and the app was more broken than when I started.

The fix: Use Discussion Mode for debugging. Costs 10x less than automated fixes.

Security Nightmares

Saw a viral SaaS launch with exposed API keys in the frontend code. Their entire user database got scraped within hours.

AI tools don’t automatically secure your app. You still need to:

• Keep API keys in environment variables
• Implement proper authentication
• Validate user inputs
• Use HTTPS everywhere

The Hallucination Trap

AI confidently told me to use a JavaScript library that doesn’t exist. Spent 3 hours debugging before I realized the entire approach was made up.

The fix: Always verify AI suggestions, especially for critical functionality.

Scale Failures

Built an MVP that worked perfectly for 10 users. When it hit 1000 users, everything broke.

Database queries that seemed fine became slow. API rate limits got hit. User sessions expired randomly.

The lesson: Plan for scale from day one, even in MVPs.

When This Approach Falls Apart (Be Honest)

Look, I’m not gonna pretend AI tools solve everything.

Where They Struggle:

• Complex algorithms (recommendation engines, ML models)
• Real-time features (live chat, collaborative editing)
• Heavy data processing
• Custom performance optimizations

When You Should Hire Developers:

• Building the next Figma or Notion
• Enterprise-level security requirements
• Handling sensitive financial data
• Performance-critical applications

My Current Limitations:

I still don’t fully understand database optimization. My apps work but probably aren’t the most efficient.

Complex state management confuses me. I build around it rather than solving it properly.

When something breaks in production, I sometimes rebuild the feature instead of debugging. (Don’t judge me.)

But here’s the thing - for 80% of MVPs, these limitations don’t matter. You need users and revenue, not perfect code.

The Supporting Cast (Tools That Make Everything Easier)

Supabase - “Accidentally became the vibe coding backbone” Templates for everything. User auth, payments, database setup. Copy, paste, done.

Claude/ChatGPT - Architecture and planning I use Claude for breaking down complex features into simple steps. ChatGPT for quick code snippets.

Make.com/Zapier - Workflow automation Connect your MVP to everything else without writing integration code.

Vercel/Netlify - One-click deployment Deploy from GitHub with zero configuration. It just works.

Real Revenue Numbers (With Sources)

Let me be specific about what people are actually making:

• Pieter Levels: $87K MRR with fly.pieter.com
• CodeGuide: $31K MRR building simple business apps
• Prajwal Tomar: $78K revenue in 4 months (agency model)
• Vibe Sail: $8K MRR multiplayer game
• My client: $3K MRR with Gumroad competitor built in 4 hours

These aren’t outliers anymore. The Vibe Coding Game Jam had dozens of profitable apps built in 48 hours.

Getting Started (The Actual Steps)

You’re convinced. Now what?

Week 1: Setup and Learning

• Create accounts: Bolt.new, Claude, Supabase
• Watch Eric Struk’s getting started video
• Build something simple (todo app, calculator, whatever)

Week 2: Pick Your Battle

• Choose ONE specific problem to solve
• Talk to 3 people who have this problem
• Use Claude to break it into features
• Prioritize ruthlessly

Week 3: Build (One Feature at a Time)

• Start with authentication (use Supabase template)
• Add one core feature with Bolt or Lovable
• Deploy to Vercel immediately

Week 4: Get Real Users

• Share with the 3 people from Week 2
• Fix what’s broken
• Add the next most important feature

Don’t overthink it. Just start.

What I’d Tell My Past Self

If I could go back to when I was quoting 3-month timelines:

1. Experience + AI beats pure AI every time. Your years of building give you context AI lacks.

2. Start with ugly and working, not beautiful and broken.

3. Ship uncomfortably fast. Like, embarrassingly fast.

4. Token management is a skill. Learn Discussion Mode before Composer Mode.

5. Validate first, build second. AI makes building so easy you’ll skip validation.

6. Don’t learn every new tool. Pick 3-4 and master them.

Why This Changes Everything

We’re living through this weird moment where the barrier between “idea” and “working software” is disappearing.

Three years ago: Idea → Learn to code (6 months) → Build (3 months) → Launch
Now: Idea → Build (3 days) → Launch

That changes the game completely.

You can test 10 business ideas in the time it used to take to build one. You can iterate based on real feedback instead of assumptions.

Most importantly, you maintain control instead of explaining your vision to someone else.

Getting Real About Limitations

This isn’t magic. AI-built MVPs have limits:

• Code quality varies. It works but isn’t always elegant.
• Debugging is harder. When AI code breaks, figuring out why is tough.
• Scaling requires expertise. 10 users to 10,000 users needs real optimization.
• Security needs attention. AI doesn’t automatically secure your app.

But for validating ideas and getting to market fast? These tools are game-changers.

What’s Next

I’m still figuring this out, obviously. But here’s what I’m experimenting with:

• AI agents for more complex workflows
• Voice-to-code tools for even faster prototyping
• Multi-modal AI for design and development

The goal isn’t to become a better developer. It’s to build what my business needs without depending on anyone else’s timeline.

The Real Question

Not “Can AI replace developers?” (it can’t, fully)

But “Can non-technical founders build professional MVPs?” (absolutely)

And “Should experienced developers embrace these tools?” (if you want to 10x your output, yes)

Community Resources

Discord Communities:

• Bolt.new Official Discord
• Lovable Community
• Cursor User Group

Learning Resources:

• Ben’s Bites Bolt beginner guide
• Builder.io Cursor tips article
• Matthew Berman’s vibe coding videos

GitHub Repos:

• Cursor best practices
• Bolt automations extension

Anyway, that’s how AI changed my entire approach to building products.

Still feels surreal sometimes. Like, I’m the guy who used to spend weeks setting up deployment pipelines.

Now I ship MVPs before lunch.

The tools aren’t perfect. The code isn’t always clean. But the speed of iteration? Game-changing.

What’s your experience been with AI development tools? Any success stories or spectacular failures you’d share?

Still figuring this all out, and honestly, we all are. But the early results are pretty wild.

Time to build something.