logo
Build To Last: Why Founder Control Matters In Uncertain Times

Build To Last: Why Founder Control Matters In Uncertain Times

Forbes6 days ago
Josh Haas is the cofounder & co-CEO of Bubble, an AI visual dev platform that turns ideas into scalable apps—no coding required.
Let's say you have an idea—something simple but powerful. Maybe it's a travel app that adjusts itineraries based on real-time weather or a tool that helps small businesses manage invoices through voice commands. You open an AI builder, type in a prompt and, 30 seconds later, it's there—a fully formed app. It looks great. It runs. It even reacts to sample data. For a moment, it feels like you've skipped months of development in a single keystroke.
That moment is the illusion.
Over the past year, we've seen generative AI push into the world of software creation. And it's done something extraordinary: It's made prototyping accessible to anyone with an idea and a browser. That's not hype—it's real progress. But it's also where the progress tends to stop.
The Prototype Trap
Here's the part many AI development tools don't tell you: The thing you just created isn't a product. It's a prototype. It might look finished, but it's missing the depth, flexibility and control needed to turn your idea into something customers will rely on—and pay for.
Most founders don't hit a wall right away. That first version feels like 80% of the work is done. But try to add custom logic or get it to run on a mobile device as well as the Web. Or what about handling payments or scaling with real users? That's when the cracks start showing, and early speed turns into long-term drag.
You start tweaking prompts, hoping the AI will 'get it' this time. You bounce between tools. You spend hours debugging things you don't understand or burning money on specialists you thought you didn't need. And suddenly, you're back to square one—only this time, with less momentum and more complexity.
The Real Work Begins At 81%
That last 20%—the part AI can't generate out of thin air—is where real products are made. Things like:
• Adaptive UX that evolves with user behavior
• Custom workflows with conditional logic and integrations
• A data model that can support real-world complexity, not just a demo
• Performance that holds up under traffic
• Security, compliance and resilience at the foundation
Without those layers, your idea isn't ready to go to market. In fact, it's barely ready to leave the test lab.
Avoiding The 80% Trap: Four Focus Areas For Founders
AI can get you to the first draft—fast. But the leap from prototype to production isn't about speed; it's about substance. Based on my experience helping founders navigate this transition, here are four areas to prioritize:
Aim to build apps that can run natively across both the Web and mobile devices. A shared logic base, unified database and consistent design system help reduce duplication and technical debt. The goal is to meet users where they are, without having to rebuild from scratch.
Too often, startups bolt on security later—a mistake that invites risk. Instead, bake in infrastructure essentials from the start: SSL, audit logs, rate limiting, role-based access and protection against common exploits. It's an investment that will save you time (and headaches) down the road.
Great apps adapt to user behavior. Even without writing complex code, you can implement simple 'if this, then that' rules to personalize pricing, trigger reminders or adjust workflows. Prioritize this adaptability early—it's what makes apps feel dynamic and responsive.
AI can generate a button, but not the infrastructure behind it. Real products require real connections to payments, authentication, analytics and third-party services. Build these connections from the start so your product can evolve beyond a static prototype.
The Path From Idea To Impact
The future belongs to founders who understand the difference between a prototype and a product—and who are willing to do the hard work of bridging that gap. AI is an incredible spark, but the engine that drives long-term success is thoughtful architecture, real-world testing and a relentless focus on building something customers can trust.
Your idea deserves more than a demo. Build it like a business.
Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Cloudflare launches a marketplace that lets websites charge AI bots for scraping
Cloudflare launches a marketplace that lets websites charge AI bots for scraping

Yahoo

time5 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Cloudflare launches a marketplace that lets websites charge AI bots for scraping

Cloudflare, a cloud infrastructure provider that serves 20% of the web, announced Tuesday the launch of a new marketplace that reimagines the relationship between website owners and AI companies — ideally giving publishers greater control over their content. For the last year, Cloudflare has launched tools for publishers to address the rampant rise of AI crawlers, including a one-click solution to block all AI bots, as well as a dashboard to view how AI crawlers are visiting their site. In a 2024 interview, Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince told TechCrunch these products were laying a foundation for a new type of marketplace in which publishers could distribute their content to AI companies and be compensated for it. Now, Cloudflare is bringing that marketplace to life. It's called Pay per Crawl, and Cloudflare is launching the 'experiment' in private beta on Tuesday. Website owners in the experiment can choose to let AI crawlers, on an individual basis, scrape their site at a set rate — a micropayment for every single 'crawl.' Alternatively, website owners can choose to let AI crawlers scrape their site for free, or block them altogether. Cloudflare claims its tools will let website owners see whether crawlers are scraping their site for AI training data, to appear in AI search responses, or for other purposes. At scale, Cloudflare's marketplace is a big idea that could offer publishers a potential business model for the AI era — and it also places Cloudflare at the center of it all. The launch of the marketplace comes at a time when news publishers are facing existential questions about how to reach readers, as Google Search traffic fades away and AI chatbots rise in popularity. There's not a clear answer for how news publishers will survive in the AI era. Some, such as the New York Times, have filed lawsuits against tech companies for training their AI models on news articles without permission. Meanwhile, other publishers have struck multi-year deals to license their content for AI model training and to have their content appear in AI chatbot responses. Even so, only large publishers have struck AI licensing deals, and it's still unclear whether they provide meaningful sources of revenue. Cloudflare aims to create a more durable system where publishers can set prices on their own terms. The company also announced Tuesday that new websites set up with Cloudflare will now, by default, block all AI crawlers. Site owners will have to grant certain AI crawlers permission to access their site — a change Cloudflare says will give every new domain 'the default of control.' Several large publishers, including Conde Nast, TIME, The Associated Press, The Atlantic, ADWEEK, and Fortune, have signed on with Cloudflare to block AI crawlers by default in support of the company's broader goal of a 'permission-based approach to crawling.' The business model that many of these publishers relied on for decades is slowly becoming unreliable. Historically, online publishers have allowed Google to scrape their sites in return for referrals in Google Search, which translated to traffic to their sites, and ultimately, ad revenue. However, new data from Cloudflare suggests that publishers may be getting a worse deal in the AI era than in the Google Search era. While some websites cite ChatGPT as a major traffic source, that doesn't appear to be the case broadly. This June, Cloudflare says it found that Google's crawler scraped its websites 14 times for every referral it gave them. Meanwhile, OpenAI's crawler scraped websites 17,000 times for every one referral, while Anthropic scraped websites 73,000 times for every referral. Meanwhile, OpenAI and Google are building AI agents that are designed to visit websites on behalf of users, collect information, and deliver it back to users directly. A future in which these tools are mainstream has huge implications for publishers that rely on readers visiting their sites. Cloudflare notes that the 'true potential' of Pay per Crawl may emerge in an 'agentic' future. 'What if an agentic paywall could operate at the network edge, entirely programmatically? Imagine asking your favorite deep research program to help you synthesize the latest cancer research or a legal brief, or just help you find the best restaurant in Soho — and then giving that agent a budget to spend to acquire the best and most relevant content,' Cloudflare said in a blog post. To participate in Cloudflare's experimental marketplace, AI companies and publishers must both be set up with Cloudflare accounts. In their accounts, both parties can set rates at which they'd like to buy and sell a 'crawl' of the publisher's content. Cloudflare acts as the intermediary in these transactions, charging the AI company and distributing the earnings to the publisher. Cloudflare spokesperson Ripley Park tells TechCrunch there are no stablecoins or cryptocurrency involved in Pay per Crawl at this time, even though many have suggested digital currency would be perfect for something like this. Cloudflare's marketplace feels like a bold vision for the future that requires a lot of publishers and AI companies to get on board. Still, there's no guarantee publishers will get a good deal, and convincing AI firms to participate could be tough, given they're currently scraping content for free. Nevertheless, Cloudflare seems like one of the few companies in a position to make a marketplace like this happen.

Cloudflare launches a marketplace that lets websites charge AI bots for scraping
Cloudflare launches a marketplace that lets websites charge AI bots for scraping

TechCrunch

time6 hours ago

  • TechCrunch

Cloudflare launches a marketplace that lets websites charge AI bots for scraping

Cloudflare, a cloud infrastructure provider that serves 20% of the web, announced Tuesday the launch of a new marketplace that reimagines the relationship between website owners and AI companies — ideally giving publishers greater control over their content. For the last year, Cloudflare has launched tools for publishers to address the rampant rise of AI crawlers, including a one-click solution to block all AI bots, as well as a dashboard to view how AI crawlers are visiting their site. In a 2024 interview, Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince told TechCrunch these products were laying a foundation for a new type of marketplace in which publishers could distribute their content to AI companies and be compensated for it. Now, Cloudflare is bringing that marketplace to life. It's called Pay per Crawl, and Cloudflare is launching the 'experiment' in private beta on Tuesday. Website owners in the experiment can choose to let AI crawlers, on an individual basis, scrape their site at a set rate — a micropayment for every single 'crawl.' Alternatively, website owners can choose to let AI crawlers scrape their site for free, or block them altogether. Cloudflare claims its tools will let website owners see whether crawlers are scraping their site for AI training data, to appear in AI search responses, or for other purposes. Here's what website owners see in Pay per Crawl (Credit: Cloudflare) At scale, Cloudflare's marketplace is a big idea that could offer publishers a potential business model for the AI era — and it also places Cloudflare at the center of it all. The launch of the marketplace comes at a time when news publishers are facing existential questions about how to reach readers, as Google Search traffic fades away and AI chatbots rise in popularity. There's not a clear answer for how news publishers will survive in the AI era. Some, such as the New York Times, have filed lawsuits against tech companies for training their AI models on news articles without permission. Meanwhile, other publishers have struck multi-year deals to license their content for AI model training and to have their content appear in AI chatbot responses. Even so, only large publishers have struck AI licensing deals, and it's still unclear whether they provide meaningful sources of revenue. Cloudflare aims to create a more durable system where publishers can set prices on their own terms. Techcrunch event Save $450 on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Boston, MA | REGISTER NOW The company also announced Tuesday that new websites set up with Cloudflare will now, by default, block all AI crawlers. Site owners will have to grant certain AI crawlers permission to access their site — a change Cloudflare says will give every new domain 'the default of control.' Several large publishers, including Conde Nast, TIME, The Associated Press, The Atlantic, ADWEEK, and Fortune, have signed on with Cloudflare to block AI crawlers by default in support of the company's broader goal of a 'permission-based approach to crawling.' The business model that many of these publishers relied on for decades is slowly becoming unreliable. Historically, online publishers have allowed Google to scrape their sites in return for referrals in Google Search, which translated to traffic to their sites, and ultimately, ad revenue. However, new data from Cloudflare suggests that publishers may be getting a worse deal in the AI era than in the Google Search era. While some websites cite ChatGPT as a major traffic source, that doesn't appear to be the case broadly. This June, Cloudflare says it found that Google's crawler scraped its websites 14 times for every referral it gave them. Meanwhile, OpenAI's crawler scraped websites 17,000 times for every one referral, while Anthropic scraped websites 73,000 times for every referral. Meanwhile, OpenAI and Google are building AI agents that are designed to visit websites on behalf of users, collect information, and deliver it back to users directly. A future in which these tools are mainstream has huge implications for publishers that rely on readers visiting their sites. Cloudflare notes that the 'true potential' of Pay per Crawl may emerge in an 'agentic' future. 'What if an agentic paywall could operate at the network edge, entirely programmatically? Imagine asking your favorite deep research program to help you synthesize the latest cancer research or a legal brief, or just help you find the best restaurant in Soho — and then giving that agent a budget to spend to acquire the best and most relevant content,' Cloudflare said in a blog post. To participate in Cloudflare's experimental marketplace, AI companies and publishers must both be set up with Cloudflare accounts. In their accounts, both parties can set rates at which they'd like to buy and sell a 'crawl' of the publisher's content. Cloudflare acts as the intermediary in these transactions, charging the AI company and distributing the earnings to the publisher. Cloudflare spokesperson Ripley Park tells TechCrunch there are no stablecoins or cryptocurrency involved in Pay per Crawl at this time, even though many have suggested digital currency would be perfect for something like this. Cloudflare's marketplace feels like a bold vision for the future that requires a lot of publishers and AI companies to get on board. Still, there's no guarantee publishers will get a good deal, and convincing AI firms to participate could be tough, given they're currently scraping content for free. Nevertheless, Cloudflare seems like one of the few companies in a position to make a marketplace like this happen.

BofA's Hartnett Sees Risk of Stock Bubble on Fed Pivot, Tax Cuts
BofA's Hartnett Sees Risk of Stock Bubble on Fed Pivot, Tax Cuts

Yahoo

time4 days ago

  • Yahoo

BofA's Hartnett Sees Risk of Stock Bubble on Fed Pivot, Tax Cuts

(Bloomberg) -- The risk of a speculative stock-market bubble is increasing as expectations of US interest-rate cuts draw massive investment flows into equities, according to Bank of America Corp.'s Michael Hartnett. Philadelphia Transit System Votes to Cut Service by 45%, Hike Fares US Renters Face Storm of Rising Costs Squeezed by Crowds, the Roads of Central Park Are Being Reimagined Mapping the Architectural History of New York's Chinatown US State Budget Wounds Intensify From Trump, DOGE Policy Shifts With the US moving closer to trade deals with China and other partners, tariff wars and geopolitics are becoming less of a concern for investors. Instead, they are pricing a greater chance of Federal Reserve rate cuts and waiting to see if President Donald Trump's tax bill is passed in Congress next month. A 'pivot from tariffs to tax cuts/rate cut' could lead to a high risk of a bubble in the second half of the year, and a further weakening of the dollar, Hartnett's team at BofA wrote in a note. Already this year, $164 billion has flowed into US equities, on course for the third-largest annual inflow in history, the note said, citing data from EPFR Global. The S&P 500 index is within striking distance of a record high, while 10-year Treasury yields have slid more than 30 basis points off their May highs. Swap markets are currently expecting that the Fed will cut rates four times over the next 12 months. The 'best way to gain exposure is via 'long US growth/long global value' equity barbell,' Hartnett added, referring to an investment strategy that seeks to strike a balance between risk and reward. Yet absent a bubble in artificial intelligence, earnings growth acceleration is the 'most plausible upside surprise' for US and global stocks in the second half of the year, the team added. America's Top Consumer-Sentiment Economist Is Worried How to Steal a House Inside Gap's Last-Ditch, Tariff-Addled Turnaround Push Apple Test-Drives Big-Screen Movie Strategy With F1 Luxury Counterfeiters Keep Outsmarting the Makers of $10,000 Handbags ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store