There were 2 big types of internet P2P economic models before:
- The gig economy → hands-for-hire (Uber, Fiverr, TaskRabbit)
- The creator economy → audience-building (Patreon, Substack, Skillshare)
Let’s look at what changed:
- AI tools and vibe coding. You can turn any idea into software. This unlocks infinite monetization possibilities, but it’s easier to start from scratch than to debug
- Distribution platforms (TikTok, X) reward novelty and explosive reach. It’s easier to make a video with 500M views than 500 videos with 1M views. This turns virality into a skill.
So what now?
-> The vibe economy
It is Storytelling-as-software. Software-as-a-feeling. Feeling-for-money.
This is a new model focused on one-time, explosive “make-it-big” revenue.
You can literally monetize anything: luxury software, funny games, viral memes.
All made possible by AI-aided creativity + exponential distribution
This economy favors:
1. Creators who treat virality as a skill, on discovery-driven platforms like TikTok, X, YouTube
2. DIY tools — anything that turns ideas into products fast
What’s next?
-> Open-ended vibe-native creation tools, Cursor for X — where X = storytelling, shortform video, 3D, games — will do very well.
If you are building such platform:
Your job is to give users maximum agency without overwhelming them with cleverly designed constraints
Think of constraints like physics in a game. You want to give users freedom to explore, with some form of goal and reality checks
-> Those who are good at catching trends to go viral over and over again will do extremely well. As someone at YC said, “Autists had a great run, the AI future belongs to ADHD”
If you are vibe coding something:
A word of caution on “vibe revenue”: sporadic explosive one-time revenue, result of some viral stunt. Repeatable and scalable virality is the real skill.
Cringe is the new cool. The goal is to grab attention through any means. If you see a cow on the road, you’ll probably drive past it — but what if you saw a purple cow?
🌶️ Prediction
I think crypto will play a big part in this economy. Not just for memecoins or NFTs, but as the invisible infrastructure behind every vibe app.
Thesis: All vibe apps need monetization. Most creators just want to ship something fun and get paid.
We still haven’t had the Stripe moment for crypto — a free, plug-and-play payment layer that actually scales.
(Think: one line of code to get paid. No API keys. No setup. Just vibe code.)