Our June meetup brought together an excited group of builders eager to explore what’s possible when AI meets rapid prototyping. Members shared progress on their side projects and gathered for a fun, high-energy live demo unlike anything we’ve hosted before.

Guest speaker, Michael Slater, delivered an engaging real-time demonstration showing how AI can dramatically speed up the path from idea to MVP. Using a “vibe coding” approach, he walked the group through planning, prompting, and iterating with AI tools to build functional app features on the spot — all while keeping the process playful and experiment-driven.

Key Takeaways from Michael’s talk:

• Start small to avoid overwhelm: Instead of aiming for a fully polished product, Michael emphasized beginning with a tiny, manageable feature to quickly validate ideas and reduce frustration.
• Use AI as a rapid prototyping partner: Vibe coding encourages a creative, improvisational mindset where intent matters more than exact syntax — letting AI help generate code, UI, and logic faster than traditional development.
• Communicate clearly and intentionally with AI: Every word in your prompt affects the output. Vision statements, aesthetic descriptions, and structured user stories help the AI build what you actually want.
• Break features into small, specific pieces: Explaining each feature as a bite-sized user story makes it easier for the AI to produce useful and coherent code.
• Expect to iterate — and restart when needed: AI-generated code won’t always be scalable or perfect. Sometimes the fastest path forward is to reset and generate a cleaner version.
• Leverage the right tools for the job: Michael showcased a stack of powerful resources — including Lovable (AI app generator), Uizard (UI mockups), ChatGPT, Supabase (backend), and the OpenAI API — to assemble an MVP in minutes.

Vibe coding showed everyone how accessible building can be when you combine creativity with the right AI tools. The session left the room energized — and more than a few members left ready to spin up their next MVP on the spot. 🚀