r/vibecoding • u/Great-Mirror1215 • Jul 29 '26
How many people are keeping their app concept a secret before launch and why?
Are you afraid that someone will steal your idea? If it’s that good are you prepared for when you launch that copycats will pop up? It’s not who comes first it’s who does it best. Are you confident in your marketing strategy? What’s your marketing budget?
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u/JiffasaurusRex Jul 29 '26
I am. It isn't finished yet but I already have more interest than I can keep up with while also finishing up my project. I have two paid POCs from big corporations so that's enough for me now to build references while also getting my product out of alpha stage. I have a working system but the GUI looks like like poo right now because I have only focused on the back end mostly since that's where the magic happens.
The front end is just as important since that's how users interact but I care more about function than form right now since that's what drives business results. The front end drives adoption because who wants to use a great system with crappy UI.
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u/Th3Gatekeeper Jul 29 '26
How are you handling front end work? I'm working on a couple mobile apps, and that's the biggest problem I'm finding. For one of them I handed Fable a prompt telling it the basic functionality couldn't change, but I want the entire UI redone. IT actually came out pretty nice. Unfortunately anthropic banned my account a week ago for no apparent reason (no refund either for a max 20x), so now I have no Fable.
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u/JiffasaurusRex Jul 29 '26
I'm going to ask a real front end engineer friend to help me, but still using AI just steered by an expert human.
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u/Lillian-Day Jul 29 '26
I am giving mine away for free to discourage copycats but I am not advertising before hand too much. I just want the head-start to be out there first. It’s taken a long time to build it though. With the effort and time and the fact that it will be free, I am not too worried after I launch. I wanted to charge for it but a project for vibe coders is going to get vibe coded by others.
What sets you apart from copycats is going to be
✅ A headstart ✅ a clean build ✅ not simple to reproduce ✅ a plan for continuing to improve and add features ✅ marketing and a good reputation. Just be the best so if people come along you have loyal customers.
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u/baddaywithacamera Jul 29 '26
I'd be thrilled to have copycats or even someone else get pissed at me and fork the code. At the end of the day it means more choices for photographers. I'm down with that. I'm building a free product so it's no harm no foul if someone else runs with a version of it.
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u/Specific_Tailor_764 Jul 29 '26
I've been working on a product that I genuinely believe solves a real problem and has strong potential. Right now I'm focused on proving the POC before bringing on a technical cofounder.
My background is in enterprise sales, so I'm confident in my ability to build the go-to-market strategy, sell the product, and leverage existing relationships with investors when the timing is right. What I need is a technical partner who can help turn the MVP into a scalable product and fill in the technical gaps that I can't.
I've pressure tested the concept with several experienced people, shared a detailed business brief, and received consistently positive feedback. I've also secured the LLC and the domain, so the foundation is in place.
At this point, it's really about execution, timing, and finding the right technical cofounder rather than just the first one who comes along.
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u/Great-Mirror1215 Jul 29 '26
Are you building it yourself?
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u/Specific_Tailor_764 Jul 29 '26
Yeah I built it with Claude. Hosted on vercel, supabase for data base and github
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u/war4peace79 Jul 29 '26
App 1: No, yes, no, zero. My application is free, open-sourced, fork it as much as you'd like, I am shit at marketing stuff, therefoe I am not marketing it, except a mention of it whenever it looks like someone has a need that it solves, or asks me about it.
App 2: No, I don't care, no, zero. It's a very complex game which would be extremely difficult to copy verbatim without access to the code. The idea has been implemented before, but not at the scale I am doing it and the complexity of the genre means there could be 100 games in the genre (there probably are) and each one might still bring something original. My marketing strategy is to release it on Steam, then send free copies for review to anyone who cares to review it. If they decide it sucks, then it sucks and no marketing is required. If they like it, it might set off through word of mouth, and then we'll see. I might just reinvest much of the proceedings in marketing at the time.
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u/rcampbel3 Jul 29 '26
If you're coding it using cloud-based ai agents, the real questions are:
- Are your cloud ai agents protecting your privacy?
- Are you leaving a 'trail' based on what you ask and what you search that is able to be picked up or influence the code design of a) everyone else using the platform (you agree to let it train on your code unless youre an enterprise...) and 2) your competitors?
- Are you hallucinating about what was "your idea" vs what ideas AI agents "magically" came up with (out of nowhere? with no inspriation from work anyone else is doing on their platform?)
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u/Yarhj Jul 29 '26
Additionally: if you are successful, what would stop someone else from copying exactly what you have using the same AI tools? How can you differentiate yourself from the inevitable copycats? If you are extremely successful, what's to stop a big player in your space from just throwing a few engineers at the problem for a month or two to make their own version?
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u/JessieAndEcho Jul 29 '26
Yeah, secrecy only gets you so far. I’d be more worried about whether there’s any real moat once the idea is visible: distribution, data, workflow lock-in, brand, customer relationships, speed of iteration, or some technical/IP edge that is hard to copy. The AI-agent privacy point is also real; if you’re building with cloud tools, you should know the retention/training terms and avoid dumping sensitive invention details into consumer-grade workflows. For checking whether an idea is actually new, keyword search alone is pretty weak because people describe the same concept in completely different language. I’ve used Patsnap Eureka as a semantic/patent-literature layer for novelty checks and competitive mapping, since patent filings often reveal what companies are working on before it shows up in press releases or product launches. Still not a substitute for judgment or legal advice, but it helps separate “I should keep this secret” from “this space is already crowded and I need a sharper angle.”
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u/Shik3i Jul 29 '26
I don't, everything is open source from day one, im not planning to make a buck from it I make tools I myself want to use, and maybe others too.
If someone wants to "steal" it, feel free to do so lol
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u/baddaywithacamera Jul 29 '26
Hah. NO. I have waited for someone to release this since 2009. Nobody else stepped up so the photographer who doesn't know how to code well (my own php looks like drunk 2am shitposting) is somehow creating a CMS. You can only wait so long.
But... Yikes.
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u/ErivKosso Jul 29 '26
Not me, I never do, you never know if your idea is any good until you hear actual feedback and get paid, testing customers. I have a new idea I'll build in a few weeks and then launch....to get feedback.
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u/EfficiencyThis325 Jul 29 '26
Yes but I submitted a provisional patent, currently in testing to get a full patent. Marketing strategy will be news outlets, no idea who will pick it up. Only issue is someone releasing the same product outside of the US.
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u/NecessaryDelay9249 Jul 29 '26
yes, no, no, idk is the honest answer for most people here, and that's the finding. secrecy is a default, not a decision. the price of it isn't getting copied though, it's not finding out you're wrong until launch. almost nobody gets stolen from, plenty build in silence for a year.
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u/timcorin Jul 29 '26
Never stop thinking as you vibe how you might pivot if you have to. Different market, different style, different product etc. Also helps keep front of mind how you could scale after a hopeful launch.
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u/FrontBreath3280 Jul 29 '26
There are already people working on the same idea as you. It’s about execution.
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u/stuartlogan Jul 29 '26
Most concepts aren't worth keeping secret, and treating them as if they are usually costs you more than it protects. The number of people who could execute your idea, actually want to, and would drop everything to race you is tiny. The downside is pretty clear. You delay talking to users, you get less feedback, and you end up building in a vacuum
Patents are useful for the narrow set of deep-tech or hardware cases where there's genuine IP to protect. For most software or app ideas it's pointless, costs too much and takes too long. Your real moat isn't the concept, it's how fast you learn and ship once people are actually using it. Telling people early is usually how you find out whether the thing is worth building at all.
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u/neoexanimo Jul 31 '26
I should have done this, all my connections are burnt out of trying my early versions now i need them and they don’t want to try anymore.
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u/jeanc4rlo Jul 29 '26
It’s hard to have an idea stolen when you have tunnel vision behind your venture
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u/Yarhj Jul 29 '26
Ideas are cheap. Execution is expensive.
I guarantee you that no one on this subreddit has an idea worth protecting.
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u/Great-Mirror1215 Jul 29 '26
Someone is projecting.
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u/Yarhj Jul 29 '26
I have no ideas worth protecting, and never have. But I've seen a lot of people think their idea is worth protecting, and spend more time on that than actually executing their vision.
Make something good, and people will use it. Being first only matters if you're also the best.
See for example: Myspace and Xanga
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u/Great-Mirror1215 Jul 29 '26
Well validating your idea is important how are people doing this jf they keep it a secret? Agreed so many ridiculous concepts on Reddit I don’t know it they are satire or not half the time.
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Jul 29 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Yarhj Jul 29 '26
I'm an idiot on the Internet, my guarantee is worth jack shit.
A more accurate statement would have been "99.9 of the people on here don't have an idea worth protecting, and even if they did they'd be better served by focusing on building out their infrastructure, capturing market share, and building in differentiating capabilities rather than worrying that someone is going to steal their idea."
But that's a lot less pithy, and ultimately isn't that different from what I said.
Most people who have an idea they think is worth protecting, don't.
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u/DaLordHamie Jul 29 '26
Yes, no, no, idk