How Wabi is Building “YouTube for Software” with a Platform for Creating Mini Apps

In this episode

• After Eugenia unexpectedly lost her dear friend, Roman Mazurenko, to a hit-and-run in November 2015, she gathered thousands of text messages, fed them into a neural network, and built a chatbot that replicated his personality. This deeply personal project became the inspiration for Replika, one of the world’s first AI companions.
• Replika experienced immediate product/market fit, launching to a waitlist of 1.5 million people. Over the course of a decade, Eugenia and her team grew Replika to over 40 million users, helping people overcome loneliness, depression, anxiety, and recovery from breakups, divorces, and abusive relationships.
• Recently, Eugenia decided to launch a new AI startup called Wabi that aims to usher in the era of personal software with a platform that allows anyone to create their own mini apps in minutes with nothing but a simple prompt. Users can also follow other creators and “remix” their creations into mini apps that meet their own unique needs.
• While Wabi is extremely flexible in what it allows users to create, its platform offers a secure environment and standardized UI/UX elements that help overcome the pitfalls faced by many vibe-coded apps built by non-developers who don’t have the technical expertise required to ensure a high-quality finished product.
• While Eugenia has many ideas for how to grow Wabi through viral word of mouth and ultimately monetize the platform - including revenue sharing agreements for successful creators - she is keeping her team laser-focused on retention right now, given it is all that matters until they’ve demonstrated strong product/market fit.