The Vibe VC: Startup investing in the vibe coding era
25.04.2026
Most early-stage startups are still judged based on a pitch deck. This format has established itself for a reason: it creates order, enables comparison and brings complex ideas into a narrative form. And yet it is becoming increasingly clear that precisely this “pitch deck theater” only represents a part of reality in a world in which products are created in the shortest possible time and are iteratively developed.
From this observation is The Vibe VC developed. Intentionally not as a traditional fund, but as an experiment with a clear thesis: Early-stage investing belongs closer to where actual value is created today: in the product itself.
The starting point was a simple thought. More and more startups are no longer created from long planning phases, but rather from direct implementation. Ideas are built, tested, discarded and rethought, often within a matter of days. This change is fundamental.
At the same time, the way startups are evaluated has hardly changed. The pitch deck still dominates. This works in principle, but it ignores exactly those aspects that would be particularly meaningful today.
With The Vibe VC, we are consciously reversing the perspective
Instead of focusing primarily on narratives, we focus on what already exists: on repositories, on the current status of the product, on the shipping velocity and on the clarity of the value proposition - not just as a formulated statement, but ideally directly recognizable in the product.
Technically, this is made possible via MCP integration. Projects can be linked and analyzed with the aim of providing structured feedback in the form of an investor verdict. What is important is less the individual assessment than the dynamics that arise from it.
In contrast to the classic pitch process, which often takes place selectively and is heavily focused on preparation, here a continuous loop is created: build, analyze, further develop, re-evaluate. Progress is no longer primarily reflected in the quality of the presentation, but rather in the substance of the implementation.
This logic fits much better with the way many AI-driven projects are emerging today. The barriers to entry have fallen, the speed has increased, and with it the number of projects that generate initial signals very early on, even though they are still far from being “finished”.
It is precisely this phase that is particularly exciting from an investor's perspective, but at the same time difficult to grasp. Classic evaluation mechanisms are increasingly reaching their limits here.
What does this mean specifically for investments at The Vibe VC?
Despite the product-oriented approach, we consciously pay attention to a few meaningful signals: a sufficiently large total addressable market, a precise and understandable value proposition, the first signs of traction and the founder personality including their previous history.
At the same time, we explicitly see ourselves as the first investor. With small tickets we enable an initial proof of concept - and start exactly where classic models are often too early.
If you are curious, you can take the next step yourself: Integrate our MCP server into your own Vibe coding environment, and let your own project speak for itself.