How I Turned My BBQ Passion Into a Side Project to Test 'Solo Company' Life in 2025

Roberto Nocera — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 15:57:50 +0000

Hey Devs! 👋

Ever wondered if you could create and run a whole product on your own—just you, your laptop, and a bit of AI magic? That’s exactly what I wanted to try in 2025. My BBQ side project is my personal lab to see if “vibe coding” and a one-person company can actually work today.

that's the result

https://mybbqrecipe.food

Why This Isn’t a Startup Story

Let’s get this straight: I’m not trying to raise VC money, build a unicorn, or get featured on TechCrunch.

This is a side project, built slowly, without the “quit your job” drama.

My goal is simple:

Test if vibe coding (coding in flow, with AI as a co-pilot) can carry a whole project from idea to users.
See if a solo dev can run a small but real one-person company in 2025.

This is more of a tech + lifestyle experiment than a business hustle.

The Spark: BBQ Chaos

It started with a Saturday BBQ. The grill was hot, friends were coming over, and I was trying to remember that perfect brisket rub I made last summer.

The problem:

Recipes scattered between notes apps and sticky notes.
No place to log grill sessions, wood type, temperature, and results.
Zero memory of what worked or failed.

It wasn’t a life-changing issue, but it was my annoyance. And in the side-project world, personal annoyances make great starting points.

The Vibe Coding Approach

“Vibe coding” for me means building based on flow, curiosity, and gut feeling—rather than strict roadmaps or over-planning.

Here’s how I kicked things off:

No Gantt charts—just a list of ideas in a backlog.
Jump into coding when I felt like it, not on a fixed schedule.
Use AI as my pair programmer to handle boilerplate, generate tests, and speed up research.
Let features emerge naturally from the vibe, instead of trying to “nail” a spec before touching the keyboard.

This keeps the project fun, and since it’s a side project, fun is the fuel.

Why I Chose to Keep It Solo

The “solo company” idea fascinates me.

Can one person—without a team—handle design, development, marketing, support, and business ops… and still have a life?

In theory, yes. In practice, I wanted to find out:

AI as leverage: Let ChatGPT write drafts, help debug, even suggest UI tweaks.
Low-overhead tools: Use modern SaaS to avoid running my own infrastructure.
Async everything: Work when I want, not when others are waiting.

This project is my sandbox for proving (or disproving) the model.

Validation Without the Corporate Playbook

Since vibe coding doesn’t love rigid validation phases, I kept it light:

Talk to fellow BBQ lovers – in chats, small communities, and over actual BBQs.
Watch behaviors – how people stored recipes (spoiler: badly).
Tiny landing page – a single page with the concept and a signup form.

Got 30+ signups in a week without advertising—enough to justify building the MVP.

Working With the Flow

Unlike traditional development where you grind through tickets, vibe coding lets you follow your curiosity:

One evening I’d design a logo.
Next weekend I’d wire up Supabase for data storage.
A random Tuesday I’d integrate Clerk authentication because I felt like it.

The trick is to keep shipping small chunks. Even if it’s not planned, keep pushing the project forward.

I just started.....

If you’re curious about trying vibe coding for your own project, follow along—I’m documenting everything, from the tech stack to the awkward marketing moments.

Happy coding (and happy grilling) 🍖🔥

Which is your first question for me?

P.S. Curious about the tech stack, the AI magic, or how I fought Apple to get on iOS? Those stories are coming soon—follow for updates!