Founder-facing analysis on where app building, vibe coding, and AI-mediated discovery are heading - strategy and ideas from 15+ years launching and building app companies.
By Jarrah Robertson, Chief Strategist, 44Degrees Limited
No - AI is not killing SaaS or apps. It is killing thin software without moats. Here's what that means for founders deciding whether to build in 2026.
What makes an app business valuable to acquirers in 2026? Durable revenue and moats - not metrics alone. Here's five "buyer tests" founders can build towards right now.
Anyone can ship an app with AI in a weekend. Validation, MVP design, go-to-market strategy, and deliberate build discipline still separate apps that win from apps that merely exist. Here is the foundation-first sequence.
Successful apps are created when users talk about you - not when you talk about it yourself. Better, not louder = trust, remarkability, and metrics that matter when anyone can copy your features.
When anyone can vibe code an app in a weekend, the bottleneck moved from code to judgment. Five filters to pick an idea worth validating before you burn six months of runway.
When frontier models ship your feature natively, thin AI wrappers collapse. How "unhobbling" kills wrapper apps - and why invisibility in AI search makes it worse.
WWDC26 Creative Assets, Google Ask Play, Play Shorts, StoreKit subscription changes, and open-internet UA budgets - the June roundup for app founders who need signal, not noise.
Google Ask Play and Apple Creative Assets change how users find apps before they ever see your screenshots. Here's a practical playbook for ASO and discovery teams.
Viral solo-founder wins hide distribution, timing, and supply chains the headline forgot. What miracle app stories skip - and how to protect your runway from survivorship bias.
Flutter, React Native, or separate native builds? When cross-platform saves cost on v1, when native wins, and red flags if an agency pushes dual native too early.
AI tools made building apps faster than ever. Validation, product, retention, and distribution still decide who wins - and what vibe coders need to build a profitable app company.
If your ASO strategy looks the same as it did in 2024, you're optimising for a discovery landscape that no longer exists. Here's what's changed - and what to do about it.
A step-by-step audit you can run today to see exactly how your app appears across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews - plus the quick wins to start fixing it.
There's a narrative building that AI agents will make app stores irrelevant. Having spent 15+ years in this industry, I think the truth is more nuanced - and more interesting - than the headlines suggest.
App buyers now screen for moats before any deal. Six AI-era defensibility tests, a buyer's-eye stress check, and how to score your app before you scale.
App development in Australia and New Zealand typically costs between $25,000 and $500,000+. But that range is so wide it's almost useless. So we did something different.
The Meta Andromeda update is significant, but 20-creatives-a-month advice assumes seven-figure budgets. What lean app and SaaS teams should do instead in 2026.
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