By Mike Pnematicatos, Merlin Software CEO & Chief Architect
Back in the ’70s, a savvy investor told me: “When your barber starts talking to you about which stocks are hot, it’s time to get out of the market.” Not because barbers don’t know anything about investing. But because when everyone piles into the market, demand drives prices sky-high, stocks get overvalued, and—boom—the crash comes. It’s classic supply and demand.
Now, why am I telling you this?
Because just as demand pushes prices up, supply pushes them down. And right now, the world of software is about to feel that exact squeeze.
Enter the Buzzword: Vibe Coding
I know, I know—I hate buzzwords too. But here it is, Vibe Coding. What’s that? Well, my Copilot tells me this:
Vibe coding is a fresh, AI-powered approach to software development where the focus shifts from manually writing code to guiding AI tools through natural language prompts. Instead of obsessing over syntax and structure, developers describe what they want—and let large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, or Replit do the heavy lifting.
So, instead of sweating over every semicolon, developers describe what they want in plain English, and AI tools like ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, or Replit turn those ideas into working code.
Or as Replit puts it: “Go from Idea to App, FAST.” And when they say fast, they mean FAST. In a matter of hours, you can design, build, and launch an app that could make you a living.
Don’t believe me? Consider this:
- Replit jumped from $10 million in revenue at the end of 2024 to $100 million by mid-2025.
- YouTube is packed with videos promising you can make $30K a month cranking out apps.
Translation? The “barbers” are back—and this time, everyone, everywhere, is building apps.
So What?
Let’s say you spent ten years building your app the hard way—endless coding, testing, late nights, and capital investment. Finally, you’re profitable. You’re ready to put your feet up and enjoy the rewards.
But not so fast. Right now, there are 100 kids in basements (okay, not just kids) rebuilding your app, except they’re doing it 100 times faster and 1,000 times cheaper.
Take a restaurant table booking app. You’ve spent years refining it. But suddenly, everyone has one. Supply explodes, prices collapse, and your once-solid business? Burnt toast.
Good news for consumers – bad news for businesses.
If you’re just using apps, this sounds great. More apps. Lower costs. More choice. But here’s the catch: with hundreds of apps in your business, none of them talk to each other.
- Your PMS doesn’t see the table bookings.
- The table booking app doesn’t connect to your POS.
- Your accounting package doesn’t know what’s happening in your restaurant.
You’ve got apps everywhere, but no ecosystem.
Where This Ends
Here’s my prediction: we’ll see an explosion of stand-alone apps, many built by entrepreneurs with brilliant ideas but little coding background. Then? The crash.
Why? Because integration will become the real currency. The winners won’t just have apps. They’ll have ecosystems. PMS, POS, accounting, bookings, mobile guest apps—all working seamlessly together.
That’s not easy to build with vibe coding. Not yet. But give it time.
And while the market works through its supply-and-demand curve, we at Merlin Software are already building that ecosystem for you. So, you don’t have to juggle 100 disconnected apps from 100 different basements.
Oh—and yes, we’re vibe coding too. In fact, we’re already doing it.
To find our more about Merlin Software for your resort of HOA, contact Mike Ashton for a demo.
