AI & Product Colorado x Boulder Startup Week: From Vibe to Viable

Startups used to burn $150K–$200K just to get a first version out the door. Then AI walked in, flipped the table, and said: “What if you could build something real… this week?”

Welcome to the era of vibe coding. Yes, AI has collapsed the cost of getting something built. Non-technical founders are shipping MVPs in days for under $10K. That's real, and it's remarkable. But here's what nobody tells you: a vibe-coded MVP is a starting gun, not a finish line.

The hard part didn’t disappear. It just moved. Getting from prototype → product-market fit isn’t a clean, linear glide path. It’s messy, iterative and full of “wait, users actually want this?” moments. Vibe coding can get you surprisingly far, but those market-driven iterations still demand real engineering horsepower. And if you haven’t raised capital by then, the real risk isn’t building the product… It’s missing the market window while you scramble to keep up.

Together with our friends at Bobcats Coding, we’ll unpack what product development and go-to-market actually look like in the AI era, why costs have shifted (not vanished), and how founders should think about funding the critical stretch between prototype and product-market fit.

Your panelists: Barbara Fazekas -- CEO & Co-Founder, Bobcats Coding. Expert in scaling tech businesses globally through innovative development solutions. Jen Hanson -- AI & Product Leadership Team Member, Founder, Hanson Strategies. Fractional product leader who has taken 0-to-1 launches across AdTech, FinTech, EdTech, and Web3 from idea to market. Eli Wood -- Team Captain, Black Flag Design. Creative technologist specializing in AI-enabled prototyping and product experimentation.

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✨ You’ll walk away with:

• A clear mental model for what changes (and what doesn’t) in AI-native product development
• A realistic view of the “messy middle” between prototype and PMF—and how to navigate it
• A sharper funding strategy for bridging the gap without losing momentum

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Coffee and donuts provided by Bobcats Coding. Doors open at 8:15am. Program begins at 8:45am.

This is a Boulder Startup Week event. If you've got a vibe-coded app and you're wondering what's next, this room is for you.