Tag: Business

• A Swedish startup is making a low-cost interceptor to counter drone swarms.
• The single-propeller Kreuger-100XR, designed to loiter in the sky, costs just a few thousand dollars.
• Nordic Air Defense was recently selected by European authorities to compete in a contest.

Sleek, black, and sporting foldable wings, the footlong Kreuger-100XR looks almost like something you'd find in a toy store aisle.

The rocket-shaped device is what a new Swedish startup hopes will be the future of point air defense against drones.

The Kreuger-100XR, with XR standing for Extended Range, is Nordic Air Defence's debut product. It's a mostly carbon fiber interceptor that weighs about a pound and is meant to be deployed in large numbers as an inexpensive, no-frills way to hunt down and destroy uncrewed aerial systems.

European authorities are taking notice. NAD is barely two years old, but was one of four finalists selected this year to compete in a counter-drone contest held in Portugal by Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency.

Startups like NAD are one of the many ways Europe is rebalancing to face Russia's ability to mass-produce long-range attack drones. They'll compete with leading contractors that have long dominated the market, such as the French-headquartered MBDA, which is making its own eight-motor interceptors to be rolled out at scale.

The startups have an edge up their sleeve. Defense primes, though more established and better connected, typically charge a premium and are often seen as large, cumbersome organizations. NAD has about two dozen employees, while MBDA and US-headquartered Lockheed Martin, for example, have 18,000 and 121,000, respectively.

Fastest in class, NAD says

NAD says the Kreuger-100XR's propeller can push the craft to speeds above 220 mph, and that its optimal range is about two miles at an altitude of around 3,300 feet.

That distance is relatively short for typical air defense, but NAD is banking on low cost as a selling point.

The firm declined to disclose the exact price of the interceptor, saying it costs a few thousand dollars each. Traditional short-range intercept missiles, by comparison, can typically cost anywhere from $400,000 to millions of dollars each; the shoulder-fired Stinger, for example, costs $480,000.

Jens Holzapfel, NAD's director of business development, told Business Insider at the company's Stockholm office that the interceptor is designed with simplicity in mind.

A police officer should be able to easily carry several Kreuger-100XRs in a backpack and then launch them from a handheld device.

"In testing, we can either throw it like a dart or use a catapult," Holzapfel said, balancing a prototype on his fingers.

He added that only someone with an exceptionally strong arm can hurl the interceptor fast enough for an effective launch.

Making cheap counters to drone swarms

Holzapfel said the Kreuger-100XR's main cost goes toward two key components. The first is a camera that enables the interceptor to autonomously acquire its target, while the second is an optional 250-gram explosive warhead for destroying larger aircraft such as the Shahed-136 attack drone.

A cheaper version with a laser seeker, in lieu of a camera, is also planned. It will require a laser designator, whether operated by a human or an autonomous device, to track its target.

"With the XR, its wings also allow us to loiter, so we don't need a straight-shot scenario," Holzapfel said. With a radio connection, the interceptor is designed to remain airborne for at least 20 minutes before acquiring a target.

In that sense, the Kreuger-100XR can act like an autonomous drone — and that's NAD's long-term vision. A cheap, fire-and-forget interceptor could become a fundamental defense against enemy drone swarms, an anticipated threat for which militaries around the world are preparing.

"The economy of war is at such a point that it's about scalability," Holzapfel said. "If we are being attacked by a swarm of drones, we need a swarm of counter-drones."

Ukrainian drone manufacturers have also been developing their own interceptors: quadcopters capable of flying fast enough to catch the Shahed.

"But they tend to be slower or more expensive," Holzapfel said.

While many interceptor drones use four motors, which can be more costly, the Kreuger-100XR uses a single prop engine, helping NAD drive down costs and increase the device's speed, he said.

Yet it may be some time until a Kreuger-100XR counterswarm becomes a reality. Holzapfel said NAD is still working on friend-or-foe programming to prevent multiple interceptors from targeting each other.

Shaheds and recon drones

The firm is positioning the Kreuger-100XR to fight the Shahed, which Russia has been using in droves to bombard Ukrainian cities and overwhelm air defenses.

Kyiv also needs more defensive options against unjammable, small drones that use cable connections, as well as medium-range reconnaissance drones like the Orlan.

NAD plans to conduct trials in Ukraine soon, but has yet to test its product in battle. An operational altitude of 1,000 meters will also be a challenge for the Kreuger-100XR, because many Russian Shaheds and Gerbera decoys are known to cruise at 2,000 meters or above before diving down at their targets.

But Holzapfel said the Kreuger-100XR's "fastest-in-class" speed of 220 mph can still give it an edge against the Shahed-136, which typically flies at speeds around 115 mph.

"We are aiming toward the Shahed scenario for sure," he said. "And that's why we're also considering the air trail scenario, where we'll be chasing Shaheds from another airborne platform and attack them even from above."

Or the Kreuger-100XR could intercept the drones during their terminal attack, though it would be harder to accurately strike the Russian drone in that scenario because of their higher speeds.

To build an interceptor

Holzapfel said NAD is completing its prototyping phase and moving toward mass production. Although most of the Kreuger-100XR's manufacturing should be automated — particularly for the fuselage and wings — it will still require humans for some assembly tasks, such as mounting the explosive warhead.

NAD aims to establish initial manufacturing operations in Sweden, but anticipates that it may be asked to build the Kreuger-100XR on-site for foreign clients.

"If we're in Britain, they probably want to have Brits assembling these," Holzapfel said.

The startup is planning for its supply chain to have as little dependence on China as possible, sourcing off-the-shelf components from manufacturers in Europe, North America, Japan, or South Korea.

For now, NAD makes its interceptors on the ninth floor of an office building in Stockholm, where its team of 23 sits among a mix of 3D printers, prototypes, and workshop tables.

Nestled in the corner of a room is one of the startup's test-launch catapults: a few metal poles and some string.

After its founding in March 2024, NAD initially worked on another interceptor. The Kreuger-100XR's predecessor, the Kreuger-100, is a propeller-driven, wingless device designed to eliminate drones solely by hitting them in flight.

However, it's ideally suited for smaller, commercial drones, such as the hobby drones that Ukrainian and Russian troops face regularly on the front lines today.

Holzapfel said prospective clients were more interested in capabilities for fighting larger targets, such as Shaheds, and so the firm pivoted toward the XR variant during the summer.

So far, NAD has raised about $4.4 million and is looking to begin another seed round early next year, he added. Afterward, the firm hopes to recruit software engineers to train artificial intelligence that can manage a defensive swarm.

Despite pressure in the industry for startups to send their products to Ukraine as soon as possible, Holzapfel said NAD is waiting until it's sure that the Kreuger-100XR can deliver.

"Everyone is saying: 'You've got to be in Ukraine, you've got to be in Ukraine.' But we don't want to just be tourists and waste anybody's time," he said. "We weren't going to be there until we were really confident in our product."

• LingGuang, Ant Group's vibe coding app, got so popular that its function briefly crashed.
• The Chinese AI coding assistant surged to over 2 million downloads in six days, the company said.
• The app hit its first million downloads faster than OpenAI's ChatGPT and Sora.

When Chinese tech giant Ant Group released its new AI coding assistant tool last Tuesday, it didn't expect the app to break under its own popularity.

LingGuang, an AI app for vibe coding and building apps using plain-language prompts, reached over 1 million downloads in four days. By Monday, the app had crossed 2 million downloads, the company said in a press release.

On Monday, LingGuang ranked first on Apple's mainland China App Store for free utilities apps and sixth overall for free apps.

Ant Group, an affiliate company of the Chinese conglomerate Alibaba Group, said on Thursday — three days after LingGuang's debut — that the app's system buckled under heavy traffic. LingGuang's viral feature, its flash program tool, temporarily crashed after excessive usage and was soon restored.

The flash program function allows users to create personalized, interactive apps using natural language prompts in 30 seconds. The company said that users have created apps like kid activity generators and car cost savings calculators.

"LingGuang is bringing every user their own personal AI developer: someone who can code, create visuals, build programs, and turn complex ideas into simple solutions — right in your pocket," said the chief technology officer at Ant Group, He Zhengyu, in a Tuesday press release.

The company said on Monday the growth milestone is a sign that LingGuang is "a key player worth following in the quickly evolving global AI race," adding the app hit its first million downloads faster than OpenAI's ChatGPT and Sora.

Beyond its flash program function, LingGuang is pitched as a multimodal AI tool that can generate 3D models, interactive charts, animations, and other illustrations to help users understand abstract concepts. It also includes an "AGI camera" that can understand scenes in real time and help users analyze or edit images or videos on the fly.

LingGuang is available internationally on the Apple App Store, major Android app stores, and the web.

Ant Group, founded by Chinese businessman and billionaire Jack Ma, has been ramping up its AI push this year. In June, it launched its AI-powered healthcare app, AQ. A few months later, the company unveiled R1 in September, a humanoid robot positioned as a rival to Tesla's Optimus.

• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's comments helped spark concerns about an AI bubble.
• Mark Cuban says he doesn't see similarities to the dot-com bubble.
• There's disagreement, even among business leaders and tech CEOs, around the existence of a bubble.

The AI boom shows no sign of slowing down. Some top business leaders are concerned that a bubble is about to burst.

In August, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman gave voice to those fears about the future of AI. Since then, other CEOs, including Nvidia's Jensen Huang, have dismissed concerns of an AI bubble. Wall Street is also worried about the increasing circular nature of Big Tech's spending spree.

Here's what leading tech CEOs and business leaders are saying about what's ahead.

• Max Altman urged tech workers to prioritize joining the fastest-growing companies.
• He criticized tech's past focus on mission over business growth.
• Today's tech companies emphasize efficiency, lean teams, and rapid growth.

Max Altman's career advice: Focus on picking the fastest-growing company.

On an episode of the "20VC" podcast published on Sunday, Altman said that tech once became too focused on prioritizing mission over "winning."

"I say, don't care about the product. Don't care about anything, just go work at the fastest growing company," the venture capitalist said. "Because winning feels great. It feels amazing."

Altman is the cofounder of Saga, a $125 million venture fund that launched last March. Its investments include defense tech startup Anduril, Reddit, and Rippling. He is the younger brother of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and the older brother of Jack Altman, also a VC.

On Sunday's podcast, Max Altman said that tech lost its way in the last few years before 2020. Before becoming an investor, he worked at Microsoft, Zenefits, and Rippling.

He said that everyone in tech was making their company about their mission and "saving the world."

"We're doing on-demand dry cleaning and on-demand dog walking, but it's gonna help the world this way, and you should feel good about yourself," Altman added.

"I'm like, just go build a great business," he said. "Winning's the most fun thing here. And I think we really lost our way for a little a bit."

In the last two years, tech has largely moved in the direction Altman says he prefers. The industry has been prioritizing growing quickly and doing more with less.

Companies have cut middle-level management in favor of more streamlined teams and fewer tiers of hierarchy, which they say should lead to less bureaucracy.

Across the industry, execs are sharing memos filled with words such as "efficiency" and "scrappiness and frugality."

In April, Intel's CEO Lip-Bu Tan detailed his plan for the company's culture: more time in the office, less admin, and leaner teams.

"The most important KPI for many managers at Intel has been the size of their teams," Tan wrote, referring to key performance indicators. "Going forward, this will not be the case. The best leaders get the most done with the fewest people."

"We want to operate like the world's largest startup," Amazon's Andy Jassy wrote in a September 2024 letter. "That means having a passion for constantly inventing for customers, strong urgency (for most big opportunities, it's a race!), high ownership, fast decision-making, scrappiness and frugality, deeply-connected collaboration."

Late last month, Amazon laid off 14,000 corporate employees, citing AI's rapid advancement.

• Elon Musk is urging engineers to apply to Tesla as the company ramps up efforts for its AI chips.
• Tesla's open jobs on its AI hardware team include design engineering roles.
• Musk said he's "deeply involved" in Tesla's chip design and meets with engineers twice a week.

Elon Musk isn't just talking about AI chips. The Tesla CEO is now asking engineers who are interested in a job to email the company, and he's personally running twice-weekly design meetings.

In a post on X on Saturday night, Musk called for job applicants for Tesla's AI chip engineering team. He asked candidates to send an email with three bullet points proving their "exceptional ability" to Tesla.

"We are particularly interested in applying cutting-edge AI to chip design," he said.

Musk said in the post that the company aims to "bring a new AI chip design to volume production every 12 months."

"We expect to build chips at higher volumes ultimately than all other AI chips combined," he added.

The current chip in Tesla cars is known as AI4, and the company is "close to taping out AI5" while work is starting on AI6, Musk said.

"These chips will profoundly change the world in positive ways, saving millions of lives due to safer driving and providing advanced medical care to all people via Optimus," Musk added. Optimus is Tesla's humanoid robot project.

Musk has been ramping up Tesla's chip ambitions. In July, the company signed a $16.5 billion deal with Samsung to manufacture Tesla's A16 chip at its new plant in Texas.

Tesla has posted Palo Alto, California-based engineering roles for its AI hardware team, including openings for physical design engineers and signal and power integrity engineers.

The physical design engineer job requires candidates with 10 or more years of experience in designing and building integrated circuits, also known as chips. The role involves designing, constructing, and integrating the building blocks of Tesla's AI chips. The listing said the position pays about $152,000 to $264,000 a year, plus cash and stock awards and benefits.

The signal and power integrity engineer role helps develop next-generation AI chips and systems for Tesla vehicles and Optimus robots. The position is focused on testing and validating the chips. The listing said the job pays about $120,000 to $318,000 a year, with cash and stock awards and benefits.

Musk is 'deeply involved' in chip design and meetings

Musk said in the post on X on Saturday that he is "deeply involved in the chip design" and meets with the engineering team "every Tuesday and Saturday."

"The Saturday meetings are short-term and will no longer be needed in a few months when AI5 is taped out," he added.

Musk has long been known for inserting himself into the day-to-day work at his companies. Musk said in July he would personally oversee Samsung's new chipmaking plant in Texas. The plant, located in Taylor, Texas, is expected to open in 2026.

"This is a critical point, as I will walk the line personally to accelerate the pace of progress," Musk said on X, adding that the fab is "conveniently located not far from my house."

During Tesla's Model 3 ramp-up in 2018, Musk said he slept on the company's factory floor. After taking over Twitter — now X — in 2023, he renamed the company and rehauled its entire structure.

• Ciara, 40, says her biggest parenting fear is where her four kids get their information.
• "This world is like bananas, and so I think you've got to be locked in even more now because the access is so high," she said.
• The singer also described herself as a "partial" helicopter mom who likes to "be up in the mix."

Ciara, 40, says motherhood keeps her learning every day.

During an appearance on Friday's episode of the "Angie Martinez IRL" podcast, Ciara spoke about staying connected to her kids and what it takes to keep up with their world.

"I think my kids also keep me young, too. You know, mama's got to stay tapped in," Ciara told podcast host Angie Martinez.

The singer is a mother of four. She shares a son with her ex, rapper Future, and two daughters and a son with her husband, New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson.

Staying current helps her better understand her kids and the challenges they face at their ages, Ciara said.

"I want to be, like, aware of what's happening in their world," she said.

She added that she often reflects on what life was like when she was their age, so she can better understand what her kids are experiencing now.

"I want them to feel comfortable with me, but I also want to make sure I'm like, thinking about what I could have done better to serve them better," she said.

Ciara also described herself as a "partial" helicopter mom, and said she likes to "be up in the mix."

"This world is like bananas, and so I think you've got to be locked in even more now because the access is so high," Ciara said. "And my greatest fear is that the world tells my kid information that shapes them when I could be the one telling them."

As her kids get older and start talking at school, they can pick up and sometimes make up all kinds of things, she said.

"I feel really proud sometimes when you beat the world to telling your kids something," Ciara said. "I feel really proud of those moments, like having real conversations with them. So you're just only empowering them, you're only armoring them for the world."

In March, Ciara told Parents that she wants her daughters to learn to create their own self-worth.

"I want my girls to know that they're not limited by their gender or the color of their skin," she said.

Speaking to Vogue in August, Ciara said becoming a mother changed how she saw her career and herself.

"When I first began, I'm in an industry where it was taboo to have a child. The moment you had a child, you were automatically labeled as older or not focused. So having my babies and being on this journey to go after all that I'm trying to achieve has just been one of the coolest things," she said.

• X announced that the platform will display the region in which an account is based.
• The information is visible under the new "About This Account" section.
• On Saturday, X removed the feature for some accounts.

Elon Musk's X played a starring role in another weekend internet kerfuffle.

It began when Nikita Bier, X's head of product, posted on Saturday that the platform had rolled out a change intended to increase transparency: an "About This Account" page that, among other things, reveals the country or region where a user's account is based. The company announced plans for the feature in October.

"This is an important first step to securing the integrity of the global town square. We plan to provide many more ways for users to verify the authenticity of the content they see on X," Bier wrote on X.

It turns out that not everyone was eager to reveal the origin of their accounts. Users in places that limit freedom of speech could face political repercussions. Some users called it forced doxxing. Others pointed out that if a user created an account using a VPN routed through another country, the location information may not be accurate.

On Saturday, X removed information about where some accounts were created. Bier said the data "was not 100 percent," especially for older accounts, and that the company plans to "bring it back by Tuesday."

Five hours later, he posted again: "I need a drink."

X users started tapping into the about pages of their online rivals to discover anything they might deem amiss.

Several prominent X accounts that promote MAGA talking points, for instance, appeared to be based in places far from the United States.

The account MAGA NATION, which has some 400,000 followers and describes itself as "America First" is, according to the new feature, based in a non-European Union country in Eastern Europe. Another account called America First — which was created in March, has close to 70,000 followers, and posts things like "Thumbs up if you're a Trumper who loves God" — appears to be based in Bangladesh.

The examples go on.

Some users started making memes, of course.

It should come as little surprise that many accounts are perhaps not what they seem. Fake profiles, disinformation, and coordinated efforts to sow discord online have long been a problem on X and other social media platforms, and the threat has only worsened with the advent of AI.

MAGA NATION, for its part, has not addressed its location and continues to post at a healthy clip. The account has changed its name five times since its creation in April 2024, according to X. One of its most recent posts asks if its followers think Hillary Clinton should be arrested. The people behind the account could not be reached for comment.

• After retiring early, Katie and Alan Donegan share their tips for Gen Zers chasing financial independence.
• They emphasize the importance of compounding, mindful spending, and building savings accounts.
• The couple advises prioritizing health early and committing to lifelong learning.

This as-told-to essay is based on conversations with Katie and Alan Donegan, who retired at the ages of 35 and 40, respectively. The couple is originally from the UK and has been nomadic since 2020. The essay has been edited for length and clarity.

Katie: Alan and I retired in 2019 after running our own separate businesses for several years. We heard about financial independence, retire early, after we got married, and we wanted that freedom and lifestyle for ourselves. We started our savings and investing journey in 2015.

Alan: I didn't earn very much in my 20s. I was a bit of a mess — I had lots of different jobs and eventually started my own entrepreneurship consulting business at 28. I spent my early 30s figuring out my business, and it wasn't until my late 30s that I started to make a good living.

When you're in your 20s, a year feels like a lifetime, but you have so much potential, and there is so much opportunity coming for you. We tell 20-year-olds that they are not even anywhere close to their best earning years.

Here are five things we tell Gen Z'ers who are looking to become financially independent or retire early.

1. Compounding is your friend

Katie: In the FI world, there is this idea that you have to have a million dollars invested, and people often say, "I will never earn a million, there's no way."

We keep telling them that they don't have to earn a million. Compounding will earn at least half of it for you. At this young age, if you can just invest a little money and let it grow over the years, it is phenomenal.

2. Learn how to spend

Alan: Another piece of advice is to get the spending balance right. When people discover FI at such a young age, they are excited about the idea of retiring in their 30s. They think: let me pin my expenses to the floor and do things like ditch a friend's wedding to save. Don't do that — enjoy your life.

Katie: Equally, your enemy is lifestyle inflation, trying to keep up with your friends, and societal expectations. You have to stand up to pressures such as acquiring a larger house or another status symbol when you secure a certain promotion. Most people increase their spending when they start earning more.

Alan: Happiness doesn't have to cost money. It could be cooking dinner with friends, or playing board games, going for a run, or arm wrestling the neighbor.

Work out where you get your happiness from and invest your time, energy, and money there. I get zero happiness from expensive watches or expensive random things, but I love Marvel, and I invest my resources there.

3. Have these four accounts

Katie: Build three to six months of your basic expenses in case things hit the fan, such as losing your job. Have another account with a little bit of cash for planned spending over the next couple of years, such as a car, money saved for a holiday, or other short- to medium-term expenses.

Alan: Everything else should go into tax-advantaged accounts. And after you've used your tax-advantaged allowance, invest the rest in a brokerage account.

4. Don't stop learning

Alan: 20-year-olds out there don't spend enough time learning on their own. The mindset is: I've done education, education was done to me at university, and I'm now educated, and that's it.

Traditional education will earn you a wage, but lifelong learning will earn you a fortune. Reading books, studying, taking courses, learning from people who are excellent at what they do, and modeling them, will really help you. Ask people how they got their current job or what they would do if they were your age.

Education shouldn't stop when you leave school. It should start.

5. Focus on your health

Katie: Another thing you should learn, which we are learning now, is about health and things like vitamins and mineral supplements, eye masks for better sleep, and water.

You don't have to optimize for everything, but try to follow the 80-20 rule: eat well, sleep well, move your body 80% of the time, and enjoy yourself the other 20% of the time.

• After 22 years as a military wife, Bryanne Salazar's marriage ended after her husband retired.
• After moving to Hawaii, she booked a solo trip to Thailand and Vietnam to conquer her fears.
• The journey taught her how to live on her own terms.

For 22 years, I was a military wife, putting aside my needs to support my husband's career — all for the promise that after retirement, when our children were grown, we'd travel the world together.

In 2018, retirement finally came, and not long after, our nearly 25-year marriage crumbled. When his military career ended, it felt like he lost his sense of purpose. I tried to hold things together, but the unhappiness and bitter fights left me drowning, too.

It wasn't love that kept me there, but fear. I came from a toxic home and no longer had contact with my family, so I worried that without my husband and children, I'd have no one. That fear kept me complacent until the pain of staying was greater than the fear of leaving.

Our divorce was finalized in February of 2022, and just before, I had moved to Hawaii to stay with a recently widowed woman.

I gave myself a year to heal

It was time to figure out who I was on my own. I walked for exercise, but over time it became an act of penance.

Some days I covered more than 12 miles, each step bringing realizations about my marriage and myself. I realized that I'd been a people-pleaser who sacrificed my own needs for others, only to resent them for it.

During that year, I dove into therapy, read voraciously, leaned on female friendships, and stayed close to my sons through video calls and visits. I worked hard to unlearn the habit of putting everyone first, but me.

Near the end of 2022, I was fulfilled but restless — ready for something new.

First stop: Thailand

On December 31, I booked a solo flight to Bangkok. I had little savings but wanted to see the world.

When I told friends and family, everyone — including my adult sons — asked if I was afraid. I was nervous, but fear was no longer in the driver's seat of my life.

"You're so brave, Mom," my oldest son told me. I may not have felt it then, but I promised I would be what he saw in me.

Two days before my 43rd birthday, I landed in Bangkok. I was consumed by the food and temples, and by the freedom of being entirely on my own.

Six days later, in Chiang Mai, I visited a massage studio that employed former female prisoners. My late mother had once been incarcerated, and I felt drawn to the place. After the massage, my masseuse asked if she could braid my hair — that small act of kindness made me cry.

In Thailand, I felt free. Some days I slept late and ate too much; others I explored sacred sites. It was the first trip I'd ever taken where I didn't have to conform to someone else's desires.

I was living for me.

Second stop: Vietnam

Eleven days later, I flew to Hanoi and was struck by the city's chaotic yet charming atmosphere. Crossing the streets felt like an act of courage — all it took was confidence and a steady pace forward.

One afternoon, I hopped on the back of a motorcycle with a kind man named Lee, who offered to show me his city. Instead of landmarks, he took me to the sites where bombs had struck during the Vietnam War. He told me that his family had fled to Cambodia during the city's destruction.

"Hanoi people are strong," Lee told me. He was right. They had lost everything and rebuilt. I realized the city's vibrant pulse came from determination and grit — from picking up the pieces and starting over.

In a small way, I was doing the same.

Ready to start over

I ended my trip with a cruise and some kayaking on Ha Long Bay, where the quiet and gray skies gave me time to reflect. I hadn't just dreamed of adventure; I made it happen and proved my son right.

Once home in Hawaii, I decided to bring my gap year to a close and restart my career as a freelance writer and book editor. It was time to get back to the business of living — but this time, on my terms.

Do you have a story about taking a gap year that you want to share? Get in touch with the editor: akarplus@businessinsider.com.

For non-technical people, vibe coding is opening doors.

When vibe coding took off earlier this year, many saw it as the domain of developers tinkering with tools. For a growing number of non-technical people, it's become a way to finally bring an idea to life, improve their work processes, or carve out a creative side hustle.

Four people told Business Insider how they built their apps after hours of work and parenting, and the lessons they learned along the way.

The product designer who vibe coded a dog ID app

Cynthia Chen, a product designer, had dreamed for years of an app to catalogue dogs spotted.

In her free time over about two months, she built Dog-e-dex: an iOS app that lets users snap pictures of dogs, identify the breed, and save their profiles.

The San Francisco-based designer with no formal engineering training had turned to platforms like Replit, ChatGPT, and Cursor. It wasn't until she discovered Anthropic's Claude in January that things started to click.

She copied the code generated from Claude into Xcode — a tool for building apps on Apple devices — even when she didn't fully understand how it worked. "It was like magic," she said.

"Every time I pressed the preview button, it was an exciting little gift opening," she added.

Chen said people who want to vibe code should treat prompting AI like "gentle parenting."

"You have to be very intentional, very specific, and I think you have to be very nice," she said.

Sometimes, AI needs to be "babied," she said. When Claude got stuck, she broke down instructions step-by-step until it understood.

The mother who built an app to help others emotionally reset

When Karima Williams felt herself spiraling emotionally, she turned to Claude, which she said helped her process emotions she wasn't ready to share with others.

The 34-year-old mother from Maryland told Business Insider that talking to AI also helped her become a better parent. AI was her reset button, helping her decompress before stepping into mom mode.

Seeing how useful Claude was for her own venting, Williams vibe coded a web app to help people offload and regulate their emotions.

What worked was telling Claude to talk to her like she's 10 or 15 years old, Williams said. As she didn't know how to structure a product or set up a backend, Claude would walk her through what needed to be done.

"I also tell it to tell me one thing at a time, because it can be overwhelming," she added.

Williams also said speaking to AI worked better than typing.

"It makes it 10,000 times easier for me to say what I need to say and then get the context out," she said, adding that she dictates to AI about 90% of the time.

The accountant who vibe codes after his kids are in bed

For more than 18 years, Wei Khjan Chan worked as an accountant, a profession often considered vulnerable to automation.

To stay ahead of the curve and make a bigger impact in his field, the audit partner at an accounting and advisory firm in Malaysia picked up vibe coding after attending coding workshops in June.

"It'll be great if I get to know AI earlier. At least I replace myself rather than let other people replace me," the 39-year-old told Business Insider.

Chan built a web app to speed up filing expense claims after business trips. Using AI-powered optical character recognition, it scans receipts and automatically exports them into the right files for his company's finance teams.

He also used AI to automate his workflow, such as generating invoices. "Without the vibe coding tools and the skill set, an accountant is unable to do this," he said.

Chan said that when he first started experimenting with AI, he was advised to write long, detailed prompts. But experience taught him that smaller, iterative steps work better.

"The initial prompt is very important to set everything right," he said. After that, when changes are needed, it's more effective to adjust one small part at a time instead of piling on an entire wish list.

For debugging, Chan watches if the error message changes — a sign that the AI is working through the issue. If the same error persists, he resets the chat and reframes the request with fresh examples.

Chan also said vibe coding doesn't require endless hours of grinding. The father of two usually vibe codes after his kids go to bed, adding a feature here or refining a function there. Over time, it builds up, and the pieces eventually come together.

"It's like playing a game," he said.

The HR professional who said AI acts like a 'young, over-enthusiastic intern'

Laura Zaccaria, a Singapore-based HR professional, taught herself to build an AI-assisted web app while on maternity leave.

The new mom signed up for a coding class in June and created a family meal planner.

She vibe coded mostly in the evenings or when her baby was napping. On weekends, her husband took care of the baby while she worked.

Zaccaria told Business Insider that learning vibe coding gave her confidence she could keep evolving as both a mother and a professional.

When she was vibe coding, Zaccaria said she sometimes got stuck in a loop. AI can be like a young, over-enthusiastic intern, she added.

"You need to know when to pause and ask yourself: Where was I not clear?" she said. "Sometimes it's OK to scrap the whole conversation and start afresh."

"I realized I hadn't phrased things properly, or I had asked for something too big. Then I'd have to break it down again," she added.

Do you have a story to share about vibe coding? Contact this reporter at cmlee@businessinsider.com.