The Rise of the Solo Founder

Why 2026 is the year to build your own AI-powered business

Hey there,

Welcome back to NoCode SaaS. I’m kicking off 2026 with a fresh approach to this newsletter.

This year I’m going to be focusing on solo founders using AI to orchestrate agents to run a SaaS business as an independent operator. I believe we’re at an inflection point where a single person can build and run software businesses that would have required entire teams just a year ago.

But first let me tell you about what I’ve been up to.

Where I’ve Been

Last year I met founders building with AI all around the world at our Create With AI Meetups - from London to Bangkok!

The one thing that everyone I met had in common was they were high agency people actually getting stuff done using AI. Whether it’s building their app, making marketing materials or even managing their schedules.

I also visited Singapore for the AIMX conference which was a totally different vibe. This was all about real-world AI. Humanoid robots, physical automation, AI in manufacturing and logistics.

Whilst in this newsletter I’m largely going to be focussed on AI that helps you build and run a business it’s important to remember the coming wave of ‘embodied AI’ in robots, cars and just about everything else.

The Rise of the Solo Founder

I believe 2026 is going to be the year of the solo founder.

We’re seeing more and more people going independent. Quitting their jobs, particularly product managers and operators, and learning to build and orchestrate their own software using AI.

And they’re running these businesses super profitably because they don’t have a huge salary bill, office costs, or any of the traditional overhead.

The economics have completely flipped. What used to require a team of five or ten people can now be done by one person orchestrating a team of AI agents.

Kieran’s a great example of this. Back in July he wrote a blog post saying he wasn’t sold on vibe coding. It wasn’t stable enough, too many bugs, he was sticking with nocode.

Fast forward to December and he finally gave Claude Code a proper try. Now he’s completely converted.

He’s rebuilt all his static websites, replaced a $39/month blog platform with his own custom solution hosted for basically nothing on Vercel, and even built his own course platform to replace Podia after they sent him a bill for $900 for the year. The whole thing just works and he built it himself.

And that’s the mental shift I think is really important here. You’re not replacing yourself with AI. You’re becoming a conductor of all these different agents.

You have different agents handling different things. Development, customer support, data analysis, content.

You’re directing the orchestra, not playing every instrument (not always easy if you struggle to delegate 😂)

The “self-driving startup” that I’ve talked about before in this newsletter isn’t a dream anymore. It’s reality.

What Claude Code Means for No-Code Developers

Let’s address the elephant in the room. If AI can now write code, and write it really well, do no-code tools still matter?

Right now I do think they still have a part to play.

For example, if I hadn’t starting building my own apps with Bubble there is no way I would have ended up being so comfortable making things using AI generated code, using APIs etc.

Using a no-code tools is still a great entry point for building things, because it’s a visual platform you can literally see everything (UI, workflows, db, files etc) and see exactly how everything is working.

No-code tools teach you how to think logically, how to build and structure a system. Right now, Vibe Coding often feels a bit like the Wizard Of Oz… you don’t really know who is pulling the levers behind the curtain or how anything acutally works.

Personally, I use Claude Code and Bubble together. Claude Code handles the backend of my app and the high-frequency services where I need performance and cost efficiency. Bubble controls most of the user interface and the core logic where I need visibility.

However I must admit I am finding myself increasingly frustrated when using nocode tools at how long it takes to do things manually - in particular building UI. I don’t want to waste an hour building a login page or dashboard when I know AI could do it in 30 seconds (and do a better job than me)

Visibility is actually the huge advantage that no-code tools still have.

Not just over traditional coding, but over AI-generated code too. Everything is visual.

You can see exactly how your app works. The data flows, the logic, the connections. It’s all right there on the canvas.

Whilst I think it’s inevitable all nocode tools transition to being primarily AI driven (or die), it’s also true that the Vibe Coding platforms like Loveable are moving to bring more visual editing into their apps too, so I suspect we will end up somwhere in between. Where you can describe your app in plain English, then visualise everything about how it works visually.

Here’s something I think about a lot though.

If you had a $20k MRR app, would you really be comfortable with it being 100% vibe-coded and having no idea how it actually runs today?

When something breaks at 2am, can you fix it? Do you even know where to look?

The DevOps angle with fully AI-generated code is tricky right now. Monitoring, debugging, understanding what’s actually happening under the hood. It’s a bit of an issue if you don’t really understand the codebase.

But I’m pretty confident this gets solved within six months.

I’ve already seen examples of people running Claude Code in YOLO mode on dev servers and having it do its own sysadmin. Would I do that in production right now? Absolutely not. But it proves the concept.

It shows us where this is heading. AI that doesn’t just build your software but deploys it, monitors it, and fixes it too. We’re not there yet but the direction is crystal clear.

The hybrid approach I’m using has been transformational for UserLoop. I’ve been able to build loads of new features, migrate older parts of the app into a completely new architecture, and radically reduce costs.

All while maintaining visibility into how everything works.

This week I decided to challenge Claude Code to build an entire new Shopify app from scratch. I used the Shopify Dev MCP which basically describes everything from the compliance rules to how the UI should be structured to how the API works. I went into plan mode, described the app I wanted in detail, let Claude go off and make a plan using the MCP to understand all Shopify’s requirements, then let it execute.

A couple of hours later I had a fully embedded Shopify app built to their “Built for Shopify” standards. Even with no-code tools that would have taken months previously, or not even been possible at all (UserLoop is not even an embedded app today!)

It’s honestly hard to overstate how much things have changed.

It did also get me asking - if it’s so easy to build software now, does it even have any inherent value? Some interesting times are coming for SaaS for sure.

AI for Marketing - where are all the tools?

Right now most AI content online is focused on building software.

And yes, Claude Code has made it incredibly easy to build. But building is only half the story.

What about marketing? What about operations? What about all the other stuff that actually makes a business run?

This is where I think the even bigger opportunity lies.

We’ve actually been doing this ourselves with Create With. Kieran’s been building out a custom internal dashboard that’s basically replacing a bunch of different tools we were using. Zapier, n8n, Google Sheets, Notion, all of it.

It watches all the AI news, ranks stories by relevance to our audience, helps us put together the newsletter. And we can just keep adding features whenever we need them. It’s becoming our own little operating system for running the conference.

You can use AI to orchestrate your entire business, not just your codebase.

Content creation, marketing campaigns, customer outreach, analytics, reporting. All of this can be handled by AI agents working together. The full picture isn’t just “build with AI.” It’s “build with AI and run with AI.”

I’m even using Claude Code to generate our marketing visuals for the conference (on brand right?)

This is how solo founders can now genuinely compete with funded startups.

You’re not just a developer anymore. You’ve got an AI-powered team handling development, marketing, and operations. You’re the founder directing all of it.

I’m going to be writing a lot more about using AI for marketing this year as I learn new things.

Looking Ahead to 2026

I’ve never been more optimistic about the future of building software.

We’re going to see a huge wave of independent operators launching profitable businesses this year.

People leaving traditional jobs to build their own thing. Product managers who understand users and problems, now able to build and ship solutions themselves.

The combination of no-code for visibility, AI for speed, and agents for operations creates a complete business engine that one person can run.

If you’ve ever thought about making the jump and building something of your own, now is the time. The tools have never been better, the barriers have never been lower, and the opportunity has never been bigger.

Create With Conference 2026

Speaking of where things are heading, I’m thrilled to announce that this year’s Create With conference is moving to the Brighton Centre!

It’s going to be much bigger than previous years and the theme is going to focus on exactly these questions. Live coding with AI, what it means for builders, and how to navigate this new landscape. More details coming soon but save the date.

This is going to be the place to be if you’re thinking about any of this stuff. Today is the final day for early bird tickets.

What’s Coming Next

This newsletter is taking a fresh approach for 2026. I’m going to be focusing on solo founders and how to build and run a SaaS business as an independent operator.

AI orchestration and using agents to handle development, marketing, and operations.

Real examples of what’s actually working, what isn’t, and what I’m learning along the way.

I’m really excited to take you along for the ride!

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That’s it for this week! I’d love to hear what you’re building or thinking about. Just hit reply and let me know.

Happy building!

James

P.S. Early bird tickets for Create With Conference are just £35 but they end TONIGHT at midnight! Grab yours here.