Summer 2025 Vibe Coding Workshop

We are hosting a workshop for students to develop functional versions of practical business ideas using “vibe coding” — a novel use of AI to code, a practice that has improved drastically over the past year. The workshop is in partnership with the Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship which will select 7 of the business ideas developed throughout the workshop to launch into an active business with Wolff entrepreneurs (details of the contractual agreement between workshop students and Wolff will be negotiated on a case by case basis). In addition to launching your product, the students whose ideas are selected will receive a $1,000 prize.

Participation is open to any active UH student. To register, please complete the following exercise which teaches you about business ideas and how to use AI to brainstorm, then fill out the required information in the sign up sheet at the bottom of this page. We will select up to 30 students to participate based on the quality of their business idea.

Workshop Timeline

  • Registration/Pre-learn (business ideas): A pre-learn exercise using AI to generate business problems (pains) and a novel solution (the business idea). Students interested in entering the workshop will complete the exercise and submit their name, pains, and business idea to register. Then we will select the 30 best ideas to enter into the workshop.
  • Vibe Coding Pre-learn (June 6-12): A pre-learn overview of the basics of vibe-coding. Takes place the week before the workshop.
  • LEARN (June 13): A brief lecture on developing pains into high quality business ideas and a guided exercise to refine initially submitted ideas. Another short lecture on the basics of vibe-coding covering topics that we cannot in the pre-learn (e.g., debugging) followed by a short group exercise, then the initial development of the business solution.
  • BUILD (June 14): A day focused on building the software for the business solution with guidance from expert coders and business experts (myself and a colleague from industry).
  • FEEDBACK (June 15-19): products from the 1st weekend will be reviewed and given feedback from a broader team of experts.
  • REFINE (June 20): Integrate feedback from experts and design mechanisms to protect the product from potential imitators. Dave Cook, the executive director of the Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship will talk about the connection with Wolff and give a lecture on how to negotiate a business deal as the students are encouraged to do with the business ideas that they develop. 
  • PRESENT (June 21): Wrap up anything needed in the morning, then present their business ideas in a mock pitch format. We will be recording these presentations for future reference.

REGISTER

Sign Up

Must submit both a business idea and the set of pains (or single pain, if significant) that your idea addresses. Register by June 5.

Generating Business Ideas with AI

What is a Good Business Idea?

A good business idea is not just about having a clever invention or a cool product. A truly powerful business idea does two fundamental things: it offers a clear solution, and that solution directly addresses an important customer pain point.

Think of it like a lock and key. The customer's problem, their frustration, their unmet need – that's the lock. Your business idea, your product or service, that's the key. A perfect fit means you've unlocked real value.

What is a Customer Pain Point?

A pain point isn't just a minor inconvenience. It's a significant problem, frustration, or unmet need that people experience. It could be:

  • Functional/Ancillary: Is a current process too slow, inefficient, or complicated? Are people wasting valuable time? Is something difficult to do, confusing, or frustrating to navigate?
  • Social: Is it hard to get help or answers when something goes wrong? Is communication ineffective? Does your customer feel embarrassed due to the lack of something?
  • Psychological/Emotional: Does something cause stress, anxiety, or a feeling of being underserved or ignored? Is your customer unable to capture a desired emotion?
  • Financial: Are people spending too much money on something? Is there a hidden cost they resent?

A strong business idea identifies a genuine pain point that a significant group of people experiences and is willing to pay to alleviate.

The Trap: "Solutions in Search of a Problem"

Now, it's easy to come up with a clever idea, something technologically impressive or personally exciting. But if that idea doesn't solve a real problem for anyone, or if the problem it solves is trivial or non-existent, then it's what we call a "solution in search of a problem." These are often fascinating concepts but rarely translate into viable businesses.

Why? Because if there's no genuine pain, there's no real motivation for a customer to adopt your solution, let alone pay for it. You might have the most elegant key ever designed, but if there's no lock it fits, it's just a piece of metal.

Examples of "Solutions in Search of a Problem”:

  • AI-Powered Shoelace Tyer for Adults: While tying shoelaces can be a fleeting annoyance, is it a significant enough pain point for most adults that they would invest in a complex, potentially expensive, AI-powered device to do it for them? The existing solution (tying them by hand) is generally quick and effective for the vast majority. This is a technologically advanced solution for a very minor, infrequent "problem."
  • A Social Media Platform Exclusively for Sharing Pictures of Your Left Sock: While niche communities can be successful, the premise here is so narrow and arguably absurd that it's hard to imagine a widespread "pain" of not being able to share left sock pictures. It's a solution (a platform) without a clear, compelling problem it's solving for a substantial audience.

What Makes a GOOD Business Idea? It Starts with Pain!

Conversely, think about some successful businesses. They almost always started by identifying and solving a clear pain point:

  • Netflix: The pain of late fees from video stores and the inconvenience of having to go to a physical store to get a movie. Solution: Mail-order DVDs, then streaming content on demand.
  • Uber/Lyft: The pain of unreliable taxi services, difficulty hailing a cab, and opaque pricing. Solution: A platform connecting riders with readily available drivers via a simple app with transparent pricing.
  • Airbnb: The pain of expensive and impersonal hotel stays, and for hosts, the pain of having unused space. Solution: A platform allowing people to rent out their spare rooms or homes, offering unique and often more affordable accommodation.
  • Google Search: The pain of finding relevant information easily and quickly on the rapidly expanding internet. Solution: A powerful search engine that organizes the world's information.
  • Local Meal Prep Service for Busy Professionals: The pain of many working professionals, especially those with demanding jobs or young families, who lack the time and energy to cook healthy meals every day. They resort to unhealthy takeout, expensive restaurant meals, or repetitive, uninspired home cooking. The pain is a combination of time scarcity, health concerns, and decision fatigue. Solution: A local business prepares and delivers fresh, healthy, pre-portioned meals. Customers can choose from a menu, and the food arrives ready to heat and eat.
  • Mobile Bicycle Repair Service: The pain of getting a bicycle repaired which often involves transporting the bike to a shop, waiting for days (or weeks) for the repair, and then picking it up again. This is inconvenient, especially for those who rely on their bikes for commuting or live far from a bike shop. Solution: A van equipped with tools and common parts that travels to the customer's home or workplace to perform repairs and maintenance on the spot.

Essential Elements of a GOOD Business Idea:

As you brainstorm your business ideas, I want you to constantly ask yourselves:

  1. WHAT: What specific problem does my idea solve? Be precise. "Making life easier" is too vague. How does it make life easier? For whom?
  2. WHO: Whose problem is it? Who is your target customer, and how significant is this pain point for them?
  3. HOW: How are they currently trying to solve this problem (if at all)? What are the frustrations with existing solutions?
  4. MVP: Is this pain point urgent and important enough that people would be willing to try something new and potentially pay for it? What is the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that could be used to garner support?

Don't fall in love with a solution before you've deeply understood the problem. The most successful innovations aren't just about new technology or a clever gimmick; they are about elegantly and effectively alleviating real human pain.

Most good business ideas solve pains from multiple categories.

Brainstorming Business Ideas and Pains with AI:

Now that we have discussed what we are looking for in a good business idea — a set of pains AND a solution — let’s use AI to create some of our own!

We will first generate business focuses around the following questions based on successful formulas from top start-up accelerators. Take some time and answer the following seven questions with 3-5 answers, create a document where you store both the questions and your answers. Use your gut instinct, do not disregard any answer you think of! That is an important trick to successful brainstorming.

  1. What are you especially good at?
  2. What do you wish someone would build for you?
  3. What would you be excited to work on for the next 10 years?
  4. What things have changed in the world recently?
  5. What companies have been successful recently?
  6. What problems do you or people you know for problems want to be solved?
  7. What industries seem broken?

Sometimes students find this phase difficult so I have developed my own AI testing persona “Steve Koolgi” to provide an example. Steve’s answers are below:

  1. What are you especially good at?
    • Networking, making connections.
    • Spotting new trends, especially online.
    • Explaining complicated stuff simply.
    • Organizing teams for projects.
  2. What do you wish someone would build for you?
    • Affordable, healthy meal prep for students.
    • A really smart AI internship matcher.
    • One app to manage all school group projects.
    • A Houston public transit app that's always right.
  3. What would you be excited to work on for the next 10 years?
    • Making Houston greener, more sustainable.
    • Helping small Houston businesses sell online.
    • Tools for online creators to make money.
    • Better, personalized education tech.
  4. What things have changed in the world recently?
    • AI is suddenly in everything (like, really in the past year or so, up to 2025).
    • More focus on where our stuff comes from (supply chains).
    • Hybrid work (part home, part office) is pretty normal now.
    • Climate change feels more urgent, more extreme weather.
    • Everything costs more; inflation's noticeable.
  5. What companies have been successful recently?
    • NVIDIA (those AI chips are everywhere).
    • Shein and Temu (super cheap online shopping).
    • Specialized energy tech companies here in Houston.
    • Cybersecurity firms (keeping data safe).
    • Liquid Death (made canned water a cool brand).
  6. What problems do you or people you know want to be solved?
    • The crazy cost of college and student loans.
    • Easier and cheaper access to mental health support.
    • Making Houston easier to get around without a car.
    • Less anxiety about finding a career after college.
    • Knowing what information to trust online.
  7. What industries seem broken?
    • College textbooks (way too expensive).
    • US healthcare billing (so confusing).
    • Customer service for internet/cable companies.
    • Event ticketing (all those fees!).
    • Finding and renting apartments in busy areas.

Now that you have answered those questions, we’re going to move on to brainstorm ideas!

To do this, I will walk you through training your own AI persona to help come up with ideas. It is important to note that this persona is not actually intelligent and requires double-checking at all steps.

First, you will find a real person to use as the basis for your AI persona. I recommend that you search on Google for a book author, in this case a business author or startup author. Once you have settled on an author that you like, you can copy their Wikipedia entry (or any biography that you prefer) into the following prompt that you will give to a large language model of your choice (LLM). In writing prompts to make an AI adopt a persona, using polite language as if you are talking to a real person helps significantly (please and thank you’s may cost OpenAI extra $$$, but it helps you substantially)!

PROMPT 1: Please adopt the following persona of the person who's biography is provided to help me generate business startup ideas based on questions that I have answered about my specific interests and talents. Biography:

“[PASTE THE BIOGRAPHY HERE]”

PROMPT 2: Thanks! I’ve answered the following questions and I wish to use the answers to focus on business ideas that I can pursue in the near future. Please help me come up with a few business ideas based on my answer; focus on the pain points that the business idea solves and avoid ideas that are too centralized on the college student experience. A bit about me first, my name is [NAME] and I'm currently a [MAJOR] student.

“[PASTE THE QUESTIONS AND YOUR ANSWERS HERE]”

Then the AI should generate several good ideas customized to you!

For this workshop, please select ideas that can interact with a primarily digital interface (e.g., software, digital services, apps). If you are still struggling to find a good idea, we recommend that you think along the lines of “Health and Wellness” which is the functional theme of this workshop. Below is a list of resources that can help you consider pains (courtesy of Kelly McCormick). Feel free to browse these and retry the AI exercise to generate new ideas that may be more informed and practical.

🌎  World Problems / Concerns 


🤖  Tech / Products 


🛒 Consumer Products 


📱 Insights: Social / Creators 


📈  Insights: General 


💡 Insights: Extras, Just For Fun 

Statement on Intellectual Property and Code of Conduct

  1. Ownership of Intellectual Property: Participants in this academic event (hereinafter "the Program"), hosted by the Human-Centered AI Institute and the Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship (hereinafter "the Organizers"), are the originators and owners of their respective ideas, concepts, business plans, software, and any other materials they develop and submit or present during the Program (hereinafter "Intellectual Property"). The Organizers explicitly acknowledge that all rights, title, and interest in and to the Intellectual Property created by a student or group of students remain with that student or group of students.
  2. Non-Use by Organizers Without Permission: Neither the Human-Centered AI Institute nor the Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship, nor any of their employees, agents, or affiliates, will use, reproduce, disseminate, or claim ownership of any participant's Intellectual Property for any commercial or non-commercial purpose unrelated to the direct administration and support of the Program, without obtaining prior, explicit, written permission from the student(s) who own that Intellectual Property. The act of submitting an idea for participation in the Program, or presenting it during Program activities, does not grant the Organizers any license or rights to the Intellectual Property beyond what is necessary for the educational and evaluative purposes of the Program itself (e.g., reviewing applications, providing feedback, recording presentations for archival and educational reference as stated in the Program guidelines, with participant consent for such recording).
  3. Respect for Fellow Participants' Intellectual Property: All participants are expected to uphold the highest standards of academic integrity and professional ethics. This includes a fundamental respect for the Intellectual Property of fellow participants. Students are strictly prohibited from appropriating, copying, or utilizing, in whole or in part, the ideas, concepts, business plans, software, or any other proprietary information shared by other participants during the Program without the express, written consent of the originating student(s). Any violation of this principle may result in disqualification from the Program and potential further action by the Organizers or the affected participants.
  4. Confidentiality and Public Disclosure: While the Organizers will strive to maintain a confidential environment where appropriate during feedback sessions, participants should be aware that some aspects of the Program (e.g., public presentations, networking sessions) are inherently public. Participants are responsible for determining the appropriate level of detail to disclose about their Intellectual Property in such settings. It is recommended that participants consider seeking independent advice on protecting their Intellectual Property (e.g., through provisional patents, non-disclosure agreements if collaborating with external parties) before extensive public disclosure.
  5. Acknowledgment: By participating in the Program, students acknowledge that they have read, understood, and agree to abide by this Statement on Intellectual Property and Code of Conduct.