6-Week Challenge: Zero to Revenue-Generating Product (with AI)

Vibe coding is here. AI dev tools like Replit, Cursor, and Lovable are letting people build real software without writing a single line of code.

Twitter is full of people sharing apps and games they’ve built this way. Pieter Levels hit $87K in monthly revenue with a flight simulator game he built with AI. It all seems so easy from the outside looking in…

But is it really? These tools are unreal for prototyping. But can you use these them to build a product that people will pay for?

I thought I’d find out!

The Challenge

Over the next six weeks, I’m going to try to go from zero (no idea, no coding skills) to a working software product that makes at least some revenue.

I’ll be using AI every step of the way, especially for development. I can’t code, so the tools will have to do it for me.

I’m almost definitely going to regret this. 6 weeks is tight. I fully expect to hit dead ends, change ideas, switch tools - all that.

But my goal here isn’t to build a successful startup. It’s to learn by doing. Instead of just writing about AI, I want to get hands-on and see how far these tools can take me.

The Plan

• Week 1 (next week): Come up with the idea.

• Weeks 2-5: Build the product.

• Week 6: Launch and try to get customers.*

The only real constraint: It has to be a software product. Not a website for a service business or anything like that. I’ve also got clients and a life. So, time will be a constraint. I’d say I’ll be able to spend about 15 hours a week on this.

*That plan seems linear but I’m not that naive. Once I pick a direction I’ll also start trying to get customers and users for early validation.

Follow Along

I’ll be posting here every few days. Things like:

• Updates on my progress (or lack thereof).

• How I’m thinking about ideas, customers, MVP etc.

• The AI tools I’m using—and whether they’re actually useful.

Like I said, this could all go belly up. But that’s half the fun!

Wish me luck. And if you’ve got any ideas for a product to build, please send them my way!