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

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:

1. Test if vibe coding (coding in flow, with AI as a co-pilot) can carry a whole project from idea to users.
2. 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:

1. Talk to fellow BBQ lovers – in chats, small communities, and over actual BBQs.
2. Watch behaviors – how people stored recipes (spoiler: badly).
3. 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.....

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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!