First, A Quick Personal Update

After years of navigating the highs, lows, and weird acronyms of startup life, I’ve joined Venture Mechanics as a mentor, helping the next generation of founders build smarter, faster, and with a little less chaos (hopefully).

It’s an incredible community fueling venture-scale success in the Pacific Northwest with real support, sharp insights, and zero buzzword fluff.

Excited to be a part of this.

The Lean Startup is Dead

The Lean Startup methodology was built for the cloud era. When writing code was expensive and slow, it made sense to spend time validating ideas before building. The approach prioritized research, planning, and minimal viable products to avoid waste. And it worked. Thousands of successful products were born this way.

But that world is gone.

The New Reality: Code Is Cheap, Attention Is Priceless

Thanks to generative AI, building software is no longer the most challenging part of product development. Tools like Cursor, Replit, Bolt, and Claude Sonnet 3.7 have transformed software creation from a high-cost bottleneck into a near-instant capability. Many startups today can ship features within hours using AI-generated code.

Engineering time, once the most constrained resource, is now abundant, and as a result, the constraint has shifted.

The new bottleneck is user attention.

In B2B, especially, where every category is crowded and competitive, the companies that win are not the ones with the best tech. They have the clearest story, the strongest emotional signal, and the sharpest go-to-market motion.

Why the Lean Startup Falls Short in B2B Today

Lean Startup thinking is still embedded in many product orgs. But in today’s fast-moving AI-powered environment, it creates unnecessary drag:

• Too much time on validation: It is often faster to build and ship a working feature than to validate it through weeks of user interviews and mockups.
  

• Too focused on optimization: Lean methods favor incremental improvement, which rarely leads to breakthrough ideas or standout moments.
  

• Too little marketing muscle: The method treats marketing as a late-stage activity. But in today’s landscape, marketing is the product’s launchpad, an afterthought.

The Vibe Method: A Marketing-First Approach to B2B

The Vibe Method flips the script. It recognizes that how a product is positioned, presented, and launched matters just as much as what it does. In crowded markets, perception drives adoption. And marketing becomes the differentiator.

The New B2B Product Lifecycle

1. Prioritize features that spark curiosity or urgency
   Build around emotional triggers like novelty, FOMO, or simplicity. Features that feel urgent or surprising get shared. Features that check a box get ignored.
   

2. Build a basic version quickly using AI
   Scarcity builds desire. A waitlist, or DM-only beta, gives it mystique. People want in on what’s exclusive, bonus points if others are already talking about it.
   

3. Launch with story, not specs
   Frame your product as a response to a real, relatable problem. Make it personal. Make it bold. Make it funny if you can. Just don’t make it boring.
   

4. Test, measure, and amplify
   Use analytics to track engagement, then double down on what resonates. Run experiments constantly. Distribution is a system, not a moment.

This is not just about speed. It is about shaping perception at every stage. In this model, marketing is integrated from day one, not added at the end.

Why “Vibe” Is More Than Just Aesthetic

In B2B, “vibe” might sound like a soft concept. But it has real business value:

• Trust: Buyers adopt tools they believe in. A clear, confident brand builds trust before product benefits are even explored.
  

• Momentum: A strong launch narrative creates urgency, shareability, and internal buy-in among stakeholders.
  

• Differentiation: Most B2B products solve similar problems. Vibe is what makes one feel modern, insightful, or category-defining, while others feel generic.
  

• Retention and expansion: Teams don’t just use great products. They rally around ones that feel aligned with their identity or ambition.

Get Vibes to Get People to Care

The Lean Startup was built for a world where code was expensive and slow. That’s no longer true. In 2025, AI will handle the build. The hard part is getting anyone to care.

B2B teams that want to stand out need more than just good features. They need marketing deeply embedded into how products are imagined, built, and launched. They need to craft a narrative, spark emotion, and design for impact.

In a world of infinite software, the winners will be those who ship with precision and vibe.

Not because it looks cool. But because it connects.

Does Your SaaS Lack Vibes?

You can read all the growth playbooks in the world, but if you’re not turning these steps into real customers, you’re just spinning your wheels.

That’s why I created Vibe Your SaaS — a hands-on, tactical coaching program built for technical SaaS founders who want to stop guessing and start growing.

• I’ll help you define your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile)

• Build your first real marketing plan

• Launch a campaign that actually drives leads

• And stop wasting months “planning” without results

Spots are limited.
If you’re serious about growing your SaaS, book a free intro call here → Schedule an intro all now. Let’s vibe.