AI is kicking off the next revolution of B2B PLG

Why look for a product when you can just... build it???

Product-Led Growth (PLG) changed the game. Instead of being sold bloated software over steak dinners and locked into multi-year contracts, customers started choosing products that actually solved their problems - tools that were easy, delightful, and self-serve.

But even with PLG, you were still hunting for the best-fit product. You’d trial, compare, and compromise. Most of the time, you ended up paying for a bloated platform just to use one tiny feature.

Enter Lovable, which flips that script - and unlocks a market dynamic we’ve never seen before. If PLG was about finding the right/best product on your own, now you don’t have to find it at all. You just… vibe code it on your own (aka build it without needing to know how to code). Instantly. Custom. Yours.

Let’s be real - this isn’t just a new motion. It’s a whole new playing field.

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From trying to building

We’re unlocking something deeper than ‘product that sells itself’ or ‘usability’ or ‘self-serve’ flows. We’re saying: Why choose from a menu, when you can be the chef?

You describe the problem. You prompt what you need. You get an app - custom, scoped to your workflow, deployable in minutes. It starts with the user’s pain and works backward into the solution.

And this doesn’t just change how software is built. It changes who builds it.

Suddenly:

• Ops managers are spinning up tools that finally match their spreadsheets - no more duct-taped workflows.

• Marketers are building trackers, content hubs, automations, and landing pages - without waiting on budget approvals or dev cycles.

• Your coworker in HR? They're spinning up custom employee onboarding flows, internal portals, and employee feedback tools.

• And don't forget finance teams - they're creating custom approval workflows, automating procurement, and tooling to automate month-end close.

To get a sense what people are building already, check out Lovable community projects. For example:

• Invoice/bill generator

• Calendars (could be used for content calendar!)

• Staffing capacity trackers

• Portals

(If you like any of these, you can click ‘remix’ to copy it into your account and use it as a starting point for your app)

Across the board, people are skipping the backlog and building exactly what they need, when they need it - eliminating tedious manual tasks and boosting organizational velocity and productivity.

Everyone becomes a PM

This shift quietly turns everyone into a product manager.

Not by title, but by behavior:

• They’re scoping use cases.

• Prioritizing workflows.

• Iterating features.

• Making tradeoffs.

• Asking, “Is this usable?” and “Did this solve the problem?”

In a world where anyone can build an app on the fly, PM thinking becomes a core skill across every function. Now you own the user (yourself) and you’ll ruthlessly cut what's unnecessary.

Let’s hear them objections.

“This will lead to chaos.”

Yes, some chaos will happen. But this is not the first time a workflow became democratized - unlocked for the masses - bringing initial wave of chaos before becoming essential:

1. Email
When everyone got an inbox, communication became instant… and overwhelming.
→ Chaos: spam, reply-alls, buried threads
→ Result: email overload, but also massive productivity gains and async collaboration

2. Google Docs / Dropbox / Notion
Suddenly, anyone could create and share content.
→ Chaos: multiple drafts, no single source of truth, doc sprawl
→ Result: frictionless collaboration and faster iteration cycles

3. Calendar access & scheduling tools
Everyone could book meetings and control their time.
→ Chaos: meeting overload, back-to-backs
→ Result: democratized scheduling, less coordinator bottleneck

4. Slack / Chat
Real-time communication for everyone.
→ Chaos: constant pings, context switching, channel fatigue
→ Result: transparent, fast-moving orgs when used intentionally

DIY app-building will be no different - it’ll be messy at first, but it’s where the future is headed. And we’ll adapt.

“Most people don’t know how to build great tools.”

True. But they do know their pain points - intimately. In fact, they’re experts in their own pain because they feel it every day. And that’s enough.

Platforms will keep improving their guardrails: agents, templates, education, smart defaults, “app patterns,” and automated suggestions to help non-technical builders ship better tools. (At Lovable, we’re working on all of the above.)

And let’s be honest: how many enterprise tools today are actually well-designed and built? We’ve just normalized bad UX and half-ass functionality because it came with a contract.

“Real businesses have complex needs.”

Absolutely. Not every use case can or should be DIY. If you’re running multi-tenant SaaS with compliance requirements, integrations galore, and tons of edge cases - you still need real products. But those products will now face much higher pressure to justify their complexity and price.

In other words: enterprise isn’t going away. It just has to evolve.

What this means for software companies

You’re not just competing with other companies anymore. You’re competing with the users themselves.

That means:

• Basic functionality will be commoditized. If you are still relying on it and monetizing it, you’ve been warned.

• Your product better be doing something hard to replicate.

• You need to build moats beyond features (community, integrations, data models, deep complexity).

• You should assume parts of your offering will get unbundled by someone building it themselves.

What this means for the rest of us

I’m genuinely excited for the future of software - this shift is bigger than the move from on-prem to cloud or the rise of PLG itself. We’re entering an age where:

• You don’t need to be technical to build.

• You don’t need to raise a round to ship a product.

• You don’t need to wait for a roadmap update to solve your workflow.

You just need a problem worth solving and a (really good) prompt. I know it’s super early in this market shift… but still… LFG!

Want to jam with me on this IRL? I'll be speaking at the Product at Heart in Hamburg on June 27th about this topic. Grab your spot here.