Start Architecting: Why Your AI-Generated App Breaks at 80%

#vibe #coding #future

We are living in a wild era of "one-person unicorns." For the first time in history, you don't need a computer science degree to build software; you just need an idea and a chat box. But as the initial dust of the AI boom settles, many founders are hitting a invisible wall.

This post is a deep-dive based on a recent interview between Angel Poon, a leading voice in the AI creator space who focuses on bringing the latest tools to entrepreneurs, and Yaokai Jiang, the CEO and founder of Momen—a platform designed to help non-technical builders create professional-grade apps. Together, they discuss the rise of "Vibe Coding" and why the future of AI development isn't just about better prompts, but better architecture.

The Day the Magic Stops

Angel: Yakai, it feels like we’re in a "honeymoon phase" with AI. People are opening tools like Cursor or Bolt, typing in a few sentences, and watching an app appear. It’s being called "Vibe Coding"—building software based on the vibe of your description. But lately, I’m seeing founders get stuck. They get to 80% of a finished product, and then... everything breaks. Why is that?

Yakai: (Laughs) I call that the "80% Wall." Vibe coding is incredible for speed. If you want a landing page or a simple form, AI is like a wizard. But software isn't just a "look"; it’s a series of logic gates. When you try to add the "boring" but essential stuff—like complex user permissions, payment logic, or a database that doesn't collapse—the AI starts "hallucinating."

Angel: Because it doesn't actually know what it's building, right?

Yakai: Exactly. AI is Probabilistic. It’s basically a world-class guessing machine. It predicts the next line of code based on patterns. But software needs to be Deterministic.

💡 Concept Spotlight: Guessing vs. Knowing

Probabilistic (The AI): Like an autocomplete that guesses the next word. It’s right most of the time, but "most of the time" isn't good enough for your users' credit card data.

Deterministic (The Logic): Like a calculator. 1+1 must always be 2. In your app, a "Subscribe" button must always trigger a specific set of events. AI guesses can't guarantee that 100% of the time.

The "Prompt Purgatory" Trap

Angel: I’ve talked to so many founders who are trapped in what we call "Prompt Purgatory." They ask the AI to fix a bug, the AI writes 500 lines of code to fix it, but that fix breaks three other things. It’s a circular nightmare.

Yakai: That’s the danger of a "Black Box." If you can't read the code the AI wrote, you don't own your app—the AI does. You’re just a passenger. As soon as the "vibe" gets too complex, the AI’s memory (its "context window") gets cluttered. It forgets the logic it wrote ten minutes ago, and your app starts cannibalizing itself.

Transition: From "Vibe Coding" to "No-Code 2.0"

Angel: So, if the "Vibe" isn't enough to get us to the finish line, what is? I’ve seen you talking about "No-Code 2.0." How is that different from the simple drag-and-drop tools we’ve seen in the past?

Yakai: No-Code 2.0 is about Visual Programming. Instead of asking an AI to write a hidden wall of text (code), you map out your logic using a visual canvas. We call this Context Engineering.

Angel: "Context Engineering"—that sounds fancy. Explain that to me like I’m a non-technical founder who just wants their app to work.

Yakai: Think of a Lego manual. Instead of describing a castle to someone over the phone and hoping they build it right, you have the instructions and the pieces right in front of you. In Momen, you see the "Bricks"—one brick is your user list, another is your payment flow. You connect them visually.

Angel: So, if a connection breaks, I can literally see where the line disconnected?

Yakai: Exactly. You aren't searching through 10,000 lines of code. You’re looking at a map. You give the AI the context (the map), and it helps you fill in the details. You stay the architect; the AI stays the assistant.

The Big Question: Can It Actually Scale?

Angel: The biggest fear for non-technical founders is: "If my app goes viral, will it break?" No-code has a reputation for being "low-power."

Yakai: That’s why we built Momen on a professional BaaS (Backend-as-a-Service). We had a founder build a soccer card app—a hobby project. It went viral and hit 120,000 active users in a single morning.

Angel: That’s more traffic than most startups see in a year! Did it hold up?

Yakai: It didn't just hold up; it cost him less than $500 for the entire month. We call this Frugal Engineering. Most AI-generated code is "bloated"—it’s messy and uses too many server resources. Because Momen is architected properly, it’s lean, fast, and cheap to run, even at massive scale.

Conclusion: Why We’re Talking About This Now

Angel: We’re at a turning point. The world is moving away from "How do I write this code?" toward "How do I design this system?"

Yakai: Exactly. The "vibe" is the spark, but the architecture is the engine. If you want to build a real business, you have to move out of the text box and into a structured environment. The AI is the best intern you’ll ever have, but you have to be the one holding the blueprint.

Angel: "Stop prompting, start architecting." I think that’s the mantra for 2026. Thanks for sharing the blueprint with us, Yakai.

Ready to Break the Loop?

Don't let your dream app die at 80%. If you're tired of "Prompt Purgatory" and ready to build something that actually scales, it’s time to try a different approach.

Explore Momen for Free – Build your app's "Brain" with No-Code 2.0

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