Vibe coding for CPOs: from a spec that describes the product to a build that is the product.
Product leaders spend their careers describing software for other people to build. Vibe coding collapses that. The prototype that used to be a Figma file and a document is now a working app you can put in front of a customer. Discovery gets faster, arguments get settled with evidence, and the spec becomes the thing itself.
Why a CPO’s build is different.
The trap is that a CPO's prototype is unusually convincing. It looks like the product, it works like the product, and it gets sold like the product. Engineering inherits it as a 'starting point' that was never built to be one, with decisions baked in that were only meant to test an idea.
This page is about vibe coding from the product seat: what CPOs build, how a prototype turns into technical debt, and how to keep discovery fast without handing engineering a mess.
What CPOs build first.
01The working prototype for discovery
A real, clickable, data-backed version of the feature to test with five customers this week instead of a mockup they have to imagine using.
02The feature engineering will not prioritise
The thing customers keep asking for that never makes the sprint. You build it, it ships as a beta, and now it is a feature with your name on the commits.
03The analytics and feedback tool
Usage, funnels, feedback and interview notes in one place, pulled from the product database and the support tool, shaped the way you think instead of the way the vendor does.
04The whole product, pre-engineering
At an early company, the CPO is often the builder. The MVP goes to market as vibe coded software, and the first engineer hired inherits it.
Where it goes wrong for a CPO.
The prototype is sold as the product
Sales saw the demo. A customer signed. Now the exploratory build with no error handling and no tests has a contract attached, and 'we will rebuild it properly' has no date.
Engineering inherits decisions nobody made
The data model, the auth approach and the third-party services were whatever the AI picked first. They are now load-bearing, and changing them costs more than the original build.
Customer data in the prototype
To make the test realistic you loaded real accounts. The prototype is on a personal hosting account with no access control, and it is a copy of production customer data.
The beta has no way back
You shipped the feature to real users. It has a bug. There is no rollback, no feature flag and no backup of what the data looked like before.
What changes.
A CTO in your corner draws the line between discovery and production, and helps you cross it on purpose. Prototypes stay cheap and disposable. The ones that are going to live get the ten things production needs before a customer touches them. When engineering takes over, it comes with a written account of what was decided and why. Discovery stays fast. The handover stops hurting.
Vibe coding for CPOs, by industry.
The rules change with the data. Pick the industry you build in.
What CPOs ask.
Not a CPO?
- Vibe coding for CEOs →
- Vibe coding for COOs →
- Vibe coding for CMOs →
- Vibe coding for CFOs →
- Vibe coding for CIOs →
- Vibe coding for CROs →
- Vibe coding for CHROs →
- Vibe coding for marketing managers →
- Vibe coding for social media managers →
- Vibe coding for purchasing managers →
- Vibe coding for operations managers →
- Vibe coding for customer service managers →
Talk to a CTO before your next build ships.
Thirty minutes, free, no card. What you built, what is going on with it, whether we can help.
In your corner.