Thomas Vo

Shawn (swyx) Wang wrote last week: “RIP Vibe Coding. [Feb–Oct 2025]” I don’t think it’s dead. I think it’s evolving. > #VibeCoding was great for simple greenfield projects and proof-of-concepts. > #ViableCoding is the next step, making AI useful for real, heavy-duty codebases. In my talk at AI Eng World's Fair 2025, I shared posts from industry leaders exploring this shift: How to move from vibe to viable by • using AI across the entire SDLC (e.g. AI code review, testing, RCA) • tightening integrations across diverse, orthogonal tools (you’ll see more and more of these) • and leveraging a strong context engine to make it all work accurately (critical).

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Your team isn’t slow. Your systems are. ⚙️ Most performance gaps aren’t caused by a lack of talent — they’re caused by inefficient processes, disconnected tools, and outdated infrastructure. At Entwy.io, we design intelligent AI systems that eliminate friction at its core. Not to replace people — but to amplify their potential. 🤝 AI agents. Neural networks. Intelligent automation. 🧠 These are not trends. They are the backbone of scalable, future-ready enterprises. Because sustainable growth isn’t about working harder. It’s about building smarter systems. 🚀 #Entwy #EntwyAI #ArtificialIntelligence #EnterpriseAI #DigitalTransformation #IntelligentAutomation #Leadership #TechInnovation #ZuntraDigital

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Quality over quantity. Always. I've been speaking with a few early-stage founders recently, all making the same mistake. They’re hiring their first engineers. Big hires, high stakes. But using multiple agencies to “cast the net wide.” 🎣 The logic makes sense, of course. More reach, more CVs, more options. But there's a big reality check that needs addressing. Your actually damaging your brand as an early stage start-up. Using 3-4 agencies doesn't get you more 'CVs', it:- 1. Floods the market with duplicate outreach. 2. Candidates get hit up by 3 agencies with the same vague pitch. 3. Your brand looks messy, uncoordinated, and unclear. When you’re making your first hires, the early perception matters. A lot! Hiring in the early stages isn’t just about speed or coverage. It’s about control, consistency, and credibility. If you're building something serious, you don’t need 4 agencies racing to send CVs. You need one partner who actually gets what you’re building, how your team operates, and who fits technically and culturally. Trim the fat, narrow the channels and offer a great candidate experience. You'll get the results and your future-founder-self will thank you. #Hiring #Startups #EarlyStage

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Toronto SaaS firms are effectively killing the local hiring model by turning to global talent to slash recruitment costs by 60% and bypass a "bottleneck" that is squeezing smaller teams out of existence..

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It's always interesting looking back at 2025 and what's been built. In 2021 I started building apps and proprietary tech for Buro using no-code tools. I quickly figured no-code has bottlenecks, and took the leap in February 2025 into vibe coding with Cursor. Having built websites and apps sporadically since I was 11, I knew some about architecture and structure. But diving into this fully to build the long term vision of BURO, I've learned even more. Security, scaling and more. Since then I've built more than 10 tools, apps, and systems from skratch. Some of the tools that's been built this year (mostly for fun): 1. An internal tool to track posting on LinkedIn and post performance 2. A tool to roast your website's positioning and message clarity 3. A platform to write viral LinkedIn posts 4. A platform to create, test and optimize prompts 5. A platform to write ads 6. A platform to test objections your market may give you based on your pitch and product. 7. A tool to calculate the value of your leads 8. A modelling tool to forecast your growth trajectory 9. A tool to calculate your project hourly rate to identify unit economics 10. A simulation tool to test how your market will respond (at scale) on your marketing. These are excluding our core IP of autonomous go-to-market engine we're working on as the main infrastructure. Today I recorded the video for day 21 of our Christmas Calendar, which was sharing my full vibe code process - building a tool in <60 minutes. And fun reviewing all the apps built, and how I today would do several of them completely different. Looking forward to what 2026 will bring. Have you tested or considered vibe coding?

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When I asked a visually impaired developer to review the accessibility of four popular iOS apps, he made a surprising discovery. All four were making the same big accessibility mistake… They built interactive elements without telling blind users what they are - or even that they exist at all. This was the finding of Diogo Melo, a mobile app developer who is himself blind, who I engaged at Welldone Consulting to undertake a research project to analyse the accessibility of four popular UK not-for-profit apps. For each of the four, he found that custom-built buttons and interactive components were never assigned the correct accessibility trait (iOS accessibility specialist Rob W. has also previously written about how critical these are!). Why is this a problem? To a sighted user, a button can be made to look like a button with the help of graphic design. That type of visual motif doesn’t benefit a visually impaired user. It’s vital that instead, accessibility software like Apple’s VoiceOver is given the necessary context to indicate an interactive element accurately. Without it, visually impaired users don’t know a button is there, and aren’t able to interact with it. In my last post on this research I mentioned a terms and conditions tickbox at the outset of using an app, which Diogo was unable to interact with. This was an example of a missing accessibility trait. But the problems stretch deeper across all four apps - with accessibility traits missing from… - Donation method options - Text fields (meaning they can’t be completed) - Buy buttons - Back buttons (a significant barrier to basic navigation) - Event listings …and many more. What’s intriguing is that in principle, the fix here is simple - assign the correct trait. Yet all four apps are missing these. It’s a must that they’re implemented. Without it, the work done throughout the rest of the app to optimise for accessibility is wasted. For me, it points to a systemic gap in how accessibility is considered during development. So often that gap presents as a lack of consistency. For accessibility optimisation to be effective, consistency is key. When the consistency isn’t there, any good work that might have been performed to make an app accessible is so quickly undone. But when it is, a rising tide raises all ships - a clearer, more flexible design that improves the experience for everyone. . . . Image alt text: Two smartphone screens are shown side by side. On the left hand side smartphone screen, large text reads ‘What sighted users see’. Underneath this text is: 1) A turqoise-coloured button with text reading ‘Donate now’ 2) A white text entry field with light grey text reading ‘Enter email address’ 3) A smaller dark blue coloured button with text reading ‘Sign up’ On the right hand side smartphone screen, large text reads ‘What a blind user’s screen reader hears’. Underneath this text are four small grey buttons, each with a question mark overlaid. 

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Stop burning engineering cycles on integration plumbing. Your team should be working on your core product, not auth, logging, and retry logic for integrations. Prismatic handles the heavy lifting of integration infrastructure so you can ship a first-class integration UX. Leverage AI-powered building tools to clear your integration backlog and get back to solving real customer problems. #SaaS #DevResources #ProductStrategy #API #Integrations

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Stop buying Outsourced Code. Start investing in Architectural Sovereignty. The biggest fear for a CTO when hiring an external team isn't the cost. It’s the Black Box trap. You pay for 6 months, get a working product, but the moment the contract ends, your internal team has no idea how to turn the key. At Southville Solutions, we are killing the Black Box model. We don't just provide Staff Augmentation but we deploy Embedded Engineering Pods that work in Synchronous Integration with your cultue. The Sovereignty Framework we follow: 1. You don’t just own the code; you own the full documentation and the why behind every architectural decision from Day 1. 2. We build systems of record like Ledger-based wallets that are designed for eventual handover, not vendor lock-in. 3. We focus on the high-impact MVP like core disbursement rails to prove the logic before scaling the bells and whistles. Software should be a company asset, not a monthly liability. If your vendor isn't training your team to eventually replace them, they aren't a partner. They are a landlord. Does your current tech partner prioritize your IP Independence, or are you locked into a Maintenance Trap? #SouthvilleSolutions #StaffAugmentation #EngineeringTeams

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Clutch control: I’ve been having so many conversations with clients lately who complain about the same market trend - the market feels "strange" right now. There are loads of projects being scoped, planned, and discussed. Clients are reaching out saying, “We're working on this project and we need consultants, we need a team, we’re kicking this off.” But then… the project stalls. It gets put on hold because funding isn’t signed off, planning isn’t ready, or priorities shift. From my perspective, it’s like watching a car with bad clutch control. There’s that jerk forward, pause, jerk forward, stall. There’s energy, there’s intent, but momentum just isn’t building... And I'm curious why that is? For consultants and contractors, this is frustrating because opportunities appear to be there, but the actual start date keeps moving. For clients, it creates uncertainty because talent is interested and available now, but won’t wait around forever. That’s why getting project planning and approvals aligned before going to market is becoming more important than ever. Otherwise, you risk losing the exact skills you’ll need when the project finally does start. My question is, are you seeing the same “stop-start” effect in your market? And how are you navigating this - waiting it out, or pushing to get things moving regardless? #JobMarketSA #Recruitment #Contracting #ProjectDelivery #SASkills

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Top 3 things start-up founders look for... (For Software Engineers) 𝟏. 𝐎𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 & 𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐞𝐭 ↳ Founding engineers are builders, not just employees. 𝟐. 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 & 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 ↳ Ability to build end-to-end, not just one layer 𝟑. 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 & 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 ↳ In early startups, culture fit is survival Anything I've missed?

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