A potential client wrote us last week:
"I'll vibe-code the app myself first to get quick user feedback. Let's talk again in 3 months."
As a product studio, the easy answer would have been: "Sure, hit us up when you're ready."
Instead, we wrote back: Don't build anything yet.
The process we recommend:
User interviews β extract insights β understand the problem β product concept β THEN vibe-coding.
Why that order? Because users react to what they see, not to what they actually need. With a prototype, you get feedback on the prototype, not on the problem.
He didn't cancel the call. We talked.
Within 40 minutes, something became clear that he hadn't seen so sharply himself: his idea was trying to solve three problems at once. The actual core problem was just one.
He's going out now to talk to his target audience. No prototype. We'll talk again after that.
Sometimes the best sales move is to say: don't buy anything yet.