'Insight, taste, and distribution': How to turn vibe-coded apps into cash

Vibe coding makes developing an app as simple as describing your idea.

With barriers collapsed, it is easy to assume that app monetization is dead.

Stan Marchand disagrees.

As CEO of Paris-based app publisher Rocapine, he has proved that vibe-coded apps can still generate real revenue – but only if builders focus on the 20% of app development that moves beyond the code and into human craft.

I spoke with Stan to unpack what separates a buyable product from an empty gimmick in 2026.

Vibe coding has made it easier than ever to build apps, but are these apps actually generating revenue? Building is now the easy part.

The scarce skills are insight, taste, and distribution.

A few are, but most aren't, and most often it's because people assume building a functioning app is the hard part.

It isn't anymore.

Vibe coding has collapsed the cost of building an app to almost nothing.

But 80% of the work can now be automated, and more than ever it's the remaining 20% left to humans that decides whether an app makes money: finding a value proposition that genuinely resonates, crafting a product with human taste, and telling its story efficiently.

The apps generating real revenue got those three things right.

The flood of apps that look finished but never find a market got none of them.

Building is now the easy part.