The Profitable Future of Building (and Belonging)
How one of the world’s fastest-growing companies built a global movement in 48 hours
In 48 hours, I experienced how a fast-growing tech company turns an idea into a movement. Here we break down why and how they did it.
See What’s Shifting
Lovable is expanding faster than most startups. To understand this, and for a crash course in vibe coding, I spent time with the company.
During the recent SheBuilds hackathon, the company invited women from around the world to turn ideas into functioning apps that were live prototypes built in 48 hours.
Lovable acknowledges that women start fewer apps than men - including on their platform, despite the barriers to building decreasing. The invitation involved access to the platform, the tools, and a global community.
Led by Elena Verna (Head of Growth), and Whitney Menarcheck (Community Team), the virtual event attracted around 200 participants across continents, selected from 3,000 applicants. From the start, a strong culture formed - it was global, generous, and fast-moving.
Every participant received unlimited Lovable credits and direct access to the dev team. Real-time support and collaboration was held on Discord (although the video function was unreliable, with poor audio and inconsistent settings). Expert product sessions anchored the experience.
In less than two days, apps were built. And a movement was born.
Setting the Context
Lovable is recognised as one of the world’s fastest-growing startups in 2025, holding the record as the fastest software startup to reach US$100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR). This was achieved in eight months.
This growth outpaces OpenAI and Perplexity and makes Lovable a standout in both global and European tech ecosystems.
Inside Lovable
Founded: Late 2023, Stockholm, Sweden, by Anton Osika and Fabian Hedin. It originated from GPT Engineer, an open-source project that showed how AI could convert natural language prompts into functioning code and software.
Product: An AI-powered no-code platform that lets anyone - from solo founders to large teams - build full-stack applications without writing code. Users describe ideas in plain language (or voice), and the platform outputs ready-to-launch software.
Business Model: A freemium structure with paid tiers, strong community support, and rapid iteration have driven exponential adoption. By early 2025, Lovable had millions of users, nearly 200,000 paying subscribers, and had closed one of Europe’s largest Series A rounds - US$200 million at a US$1.8 billion valuation.
Mission: To democratise software development by making it accessible to everyone, bridging the global gap between ideas and the technical ability to build them.
Lovable’s combination of rapid user and revenue growth, product-led innovation, and massive engagement has broken gowth records.
Why Lovable Matters
Lovable’s approach shows what happens when friction is removed.
There is no need to know how to code. There are no gatekeepers. There is no waiting for permission.
Growth comes from enabling creators. The powerful reframe is inclusion as design rather than declaration.
Designing to Include. Growing a Market.
Exclusionary systems restrict participation through selective processes and rigid criteria, often resulting in lost innovation and limited engagement. Conversely, inclusionary systems are intentionally designed for universal access and active input - unlocking a broader range of talent, creativity, and positive outcomes.
As noted by Culture Amp and Inclusive Economy, inclusive design in workplaces and digital environments directly correlates with higher engagement, retention, and innovation. Research published in ScienceDirect and examples from Skillstx and Culture Monkey show that businesses embedding inclusion in product or hiring design outperform those relying on legacy gatekeeping. The table below draws on this research base.
In today’s creator economy and tech ecosystem, inclusion-by-design is proving far more powerful than exclusionary legacy models. In particular, there’s a rebalancing of who gets to participate and who can benefit from growth.
The follow-up to the Lovable SheBuilds hackathon reinforced the tone set throughout the event. A short survey ended with a surprise thank you - a Lovable T-shirt being sent to each participant via Go Swag. It’s an example of them being true to their name - everything they do is Lovable.
In 48 hours, they showed that a virtual, globally diverse culture can be built through invitation, care, and connection.
Scaling Ambition and Agency
Lovable highlights how ambition and agency can compound. The Ambition × Agency Ladder maps how organisations evolve from awareness of global issues to creating scalable, systemic impact at the global level.
Why Global Matters
Global ambition and agency multiply impact, while leverage sustains it. Acting locally can solve problems; acting globally can reshape systems. Lovable’s model shows how strategic leverage - of technology, networks, and community participation - turns access into acceleration.
When opportunity and innovation cross borders, growth compounds into shared advancement, creating a positive-sum cycle that lifts the builders, their markets, and the systems they touch. Lovable thinks, acts, and achieves with global relevance - and global impact. The below table summaries this.
Lovable is a young company and, to a large extent, is operating at the Globally Impactful level. By climbing the ladder themselves - with deliberate action to maximise the positive-sum nature of their platform - they enable a global market of builders: anyone, anywhere, at any stage or age. And by helping more people climb, they reinforce their own position as globally influential.
The Lovable platform enables global participation, and the company is reshaping how widespread creation happens. Its growth model multiplies impact through every new builder who joins.
Lovable shows how real impact scales - through the success of the people in your market.
Acting Lovable
What if more organisations acted like Lovable for 48 hours?
Make an invitation to those who may not yet be engaging or are underserved.
Remove unnecessary gatekeepers.
Equip and trust people to build, solve a problem that matters, or 10x their agency.
Make support visible.
This could look like opening your own platform, process, or product for others to build on. It could mean turning tools into invitations, data into shared value, or expertise into open access. It’s about designing for participation, letting others create alongside you, rather than just consume what you make, do, or sell.
And when one of the world’s fastest-growing companies invites you in - jump at the chance. You’ll experience their growth strategy first-hand. If it’s through a hackathon or any kind of sprint, you’ll likely walk away with new capability, sharper insight, and a stronger network.
While the World Sleeps
The hackathon was a steep learning curve. It was the first time I’d built an app - next time, I’ll build better.
The time zone was US-centric, with most of the live sessions running between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. my time. For an event built on a global invitation, a more balanced time-zone spread would have strengthened the experience and better reflected Lovable’s global community.
Still, the energy was contagious. It was easy to stay awake through the night because it felt like being surrounded by people building what the world needs next - a generation of founders who see barriers as brief, and building as a shared act of progress.
For leaders, that’s the takeaway. The world’s most ambitious talent doesn’t wait for permission or perfect conditions. They gather, learn, and build - wherever they are, and often when the rest of the world is asleep.
What Comes Next
It’s yet to be seen what the metrics will show from the 200 participants - how many apps will move from MVP to viable ventures. Whatever the outcome, Lovable keeps the barrier to entry low.
Monthly subscriptions - for the Pro tier, from around US$25 - buy 100 credits. That’s enough to build, particularly when using generative AI prompts to give vibe-code instructions through tools like ChatGPT or Claude. Additional credits can be purchased when needed, which keeps app building continuous and affordable.
Low Barriers. A High-Set Bar.
The low barrier to entry matters. We need more founders to be successful around the world, beyond the initial build.
Lovable offers a glimpse of what leadership in this next era looks like - global in reach, inclusionary by design, and bold enough to hand the tools of creation to anyone willing to try. It sets a high bar.
Through Lovable, we see that global progress doesn’t have to depend on the few building for all. It depends on more of us building and creating - together.
This Ladder Has an Expiry Date
This is the Ambition × Agency Ladder. It’s not a solo climb to the top. It’s a collective journey, where progress multiplies as leaders move together. And it’s an easy ladder to join. The only entry ticket is a willingness to see beyond the immediate and act with intent. For a time, both ladders can be climbed in parallel - the familiar one for security, the new one for future relevance - until the moment comes to jump. Getting on the right ladder matters for leaders wanting to move beyond the status quo.