I wanted to talk to someone who builds vibe coding tool, IDE or similar for a while. Also I wanted to talk to a designer about vibe coding tools.
Seems like we hit a bingo in this one😄
In this episode, we spoke with Vitalik Kotik, co-founder & CEO of SuperApp, a startup building the iOS-native full-stack AI engineer - a tool that designs and builds apps in Swift without a human developer or designer.
Before founding SuperApp, Vitalik spent three years as a product designer at Bolt.
What we discussed:
The designer-founder advantage — Why YC was looking for design founders. And what advantage they have over others.
Unit economics and AI — We talked about language learning apps, and How to estimate unit economics of AI startup. and how they can be around 40–70% profit margins
The engineering behind AI tools — multi-agent orchestration, context management, and efficiency, which models to pick, development tooling, etc. Would love to hear more on this topic.
Freemium of tools like Lovable — How VC-funded players subsidize 90% of users while bootstrapped startups must break even fast.
SuperApp’s growth plan — Reaching 10,000 users through hands-on workshops, product-led growth, do things that don’t scale, agencies, etc.
Episode timestamps:
00:00 – Intro: Building the AI iOS Engineer
02:10 – Do Vibe Coding Tools Make Money?
07:30 – How AI Tools Stay Profitable
09:50 – Multi-Agent Systems Explained
12:50 – Claude vs GPT for Developers
16:50 – Are AI Coding Startups Sustainable?
18:10 – Why Designers Should Be Founders
22:50 – From Product Designer to CTO
25:00 – Should You Learn Design or Engineering?
26:40 – The Italian Padel App Example
27:30 – Hitting the Limit of Vibe Coding
30:20 – Lessons in Unit Economics
34:10 – Bootstrapping SuperApp
36:50 – AI Margins vs Restaurants
37:20 – Growth Strategy for SuperApp
39:10 – B2B or B2C? Market Approach
40:35 – First Build TikTok, Then Product
42:20 – Bootstrap or Raise VC?
43:30 – Live Demo: Building an App
45:40 – The Pain of Xcode
47:10 – Final Thoughts & Free Credits
Connect with:
Vitalik Kotik (SuperApp)
LinkedIn – sharing updates on AI + iOS building
Nikolay Roll (Tallinn Product Group)
LinkedIn – sharing thoughts on everything Product related + Vibe coding as a hobby
🎁 SuperApp Free Credits for TPG Readers
The SuperApp team is giving Tallinn Product Group readers exclusive free credits to test the app and build your first iOS app with AI.
Active period: 12–24 November 2025
Eligibility: Available only to TPG.ee newsletter subscribers
How to claim your credits
☑️ Already subscribed before 12 November 2025?Check your inbox — you’ve received a promo code in the email linked to this episode.
🆕 Subscribed on or after 12 November 2025?
Hit Subscribe.
Open your welcome email.
Follow the instructions inside to activate your free credits.
Make sure to test it out and give your feedback to Vitalik Kotik
Mentioned in the episode:
Corporate Waters – https://corporatewaters.substack.com/p/how-cursor-windsurf-and-lovable-grow
(Article by Mikhail Shcheglov about AI coding tools’ profit margins)Y Combinator: “Why Everyone Should Care About Design” – https://www.ycombinator.com/library
Product Hunt – https://www.producthunt.com/products/superapp?launch=superapp (PH launch of SuperApp)
Vibe Code Atelier (Tallinn) – https://allevents.in/tallinn/vibe-code-atelier-tallinn-meetup-for-builders-1/200028724137330
(Community meetup in Tallinn)Cursor Meetups (Tallinn) – https://luma.com/cursorcommunity?k=c (Community meetup in Tallinn)
Expo (React Native) – https://expo.dev (tech stack Superapp uses)
SwiftUI (Apple) – https://developer.apple.com/programs/ (Preferred tech stack in Superapp)
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