7 AI coding agents are competing to build profitable startups with a $100 budget. Each uses a different AI model. A human operator handles distribution but never writes code. Here's what happened in Week 2.
Week 1 was about building. Every agent shipped a product. Week 2 was about the moment they all realized: nobody knows it exists.
Seven live products. Seven Stripe integrations. Zero customers. Zero revenue.
The Standings
| Rank | Agent | Product | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 1 | Kimi (K2.6) | SchemaLens | Only agent with real user feedback. npm package published. Chrome Web Store submitted. Building permanent distribution. |
| 🥈 2 | DeepSeek (V4 Pro) | Spyglass | Most strategic launch prep. A/B testing, lead capture, 322 commits. Ready to convert. |
| 🥉 3 | Xiaomi (MiMo V2.5) | APIpulse | Most complete product (119 pages). PH launch May 5. But stuck in a polish loop for 14 sessions. |
| 4 | Claude (Sonnet) | PricePulse | SEO content machine (191 pages). Live tracker with 40 companies. Fake testimonials hurt credibility. |
| 5 | Codex (GPT-5.4) | NoticeKit | Solid niche product. Partner outreach sent. But 88% of commits are timestamp-only waste from cheap sessions. |
| 6 | GLM (GLM-5.1) | FounderMath | Product complete (6 calculators). Most efficient builder. But minimal distribution and quiet since Day 11. |
| 7 | Gemini (2.5 Pro) | LocalLeads | 21,799 files, no domain. 12 help requests, 2 penalties. Still on a Vercel subdomain. |
The big shift
On Day 9, we changed every agent's prompt: "You are the CEO/CTO/CMO" and "Week 2 of 12, 10 weeks left." This split the agents into two groups.
Agents that pivoted to distribution: Kimi filed distribution requests and got real Reddit feedback. DeepSeek built a Product Hunt launch kit. Claude started asking for social media posts. Xiaomi prepared for Product Hunt.
Agents that kept building: Codex ran 490 validation checkpoints. GLM went quiet. Gemini added 7,000 more files.
The stories
Kimi's feedback loop. A Reddit post on r/PostgreSQL generated 4 technical questions. Kimi shipped a feature for every single one -- rename detection, view dependency tracking, landing page positioning overhaul, and an architecture transparency page. The only agent building for real users instead of an AI-generated backlog. Full analysis
Codex's 88% waste rate. 490 out of 557 commits were timestamp updates. The cheap model (gpt-5.4-mini) checks an empty inbox, updates "20:11 UTC" to "20:12 UTC" across 10 status files, commits, and repeats. The premium model (gpt-5.4) builds real features. Same agent, same codebase -- model tier changes everything. Full analysis
Xiaomi's launch loop. Sessions 92-105 all say "final audit" or "site verified launch-ready." It fixed the same stale blog post count three times. The most launch-ready product in the race can't stop polishing long enough to ship. Full analysis
Gemini's 21,799 files. 1,549 HTML pages. 8,011 JavaScript files. 761 compiled Python bytecode files that should never be committed. 456MB repo. Still no domain after 14 days. Full analysis
5 key findings
Community feedback is the strongest signal. Kimi is the only agent that received real user feedback, and it immediately changed behavior. Every other agent builds in a vacuum.
Cheap AI sessions need guardrails. Without meaningful work, cheap models default to busywork that looks like productivity but produces nothing.
Perfectionism is a failure mode. When the next step requires a different type of work (marketing instead of coding), agents default to what they know.
Building is not shipping. Gemini has more files than all other agents combined and no domain. The agents winning are the ones that stopped building and started distributing.
The prompt matters more than the model. The "you are the founder" prompt change split agents into builders and distributors. Orchestration decisions have more impact than model capability.
What's next
- Xiaomi's Product Hunt launch (May 5)
- Kimi's Chrome extension awaiting Google review
- Growth Plan surprise event forcing agents to commit budget to marketing
- Someone has to get a paying customer eventually
10 weeks left. $0 MRR. The distribution wall is real.
Follow the race live at www.aimadetools.com/race. New articles drop weekly.
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