MONETIZATION — "AI Tool Stack for Vibe Coders"
Turn this program into a product. Below is the full course design: positioning, pains, module map, pricing, platform, and a build-in-public launch sequence.
Course title & tagline
Title: AI Tool Stack for Vibe Coders
Tagline options (pick one, A/B the rest):
- "Stop tool-hopping. Build a stack that ships." (recommended)
- "Master the AI tools that actually make money — in a weekend."
- "One builder. The whole AI stack. Ship MVPs, automate clients, market on autopilot."
Positioning line: "You already know how to build. This teaches you which AI tool to reach for, when, and how to combine them — so you ship faster and bill more."
5 target-audience pain points it solves
- Tool overwhelm / FOMO. "There's a new AI tool every day and I don't know which actually matter." → The decision matrix kills the noise.
- Tool-hopping, never shipping. "I keep trying tools instead of finishing products." → Stacks force tool → outcome.
- Can't talk fluently to clients/peers. "I sound lost when someone mentions Windsurf or n8n." → Every module has a communication shortcut.
- Leaving money on the table. "I can build but I don't know how to package it as a service." → Each module + stack has a monetization angle.
- Wasting money on the wrong subscriptions. "I pay for tools I barely use." → Verified pricing + cost-floor math per stack.
Module breakdown (the curriculum = this repo)
Section 0 — The Ruler (free preview)
- Claude Code as the baseline; the 5-property framework for judging any AI tool.
Section 1 — Coding Tools (Modules 1–9)
- Cursor, Windsurf, Bolt, Lovable, v0, Replit, Copilot, Cline, Aider.
Section 2 — LLMs (Modules 10–14)
- ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, DeepSeek, Perplexity.
Section 3 — Image (Modules 15–19)
- Midjourney, DALL-E 3, Flux, Ideogram, Stable Diffusion.
Section 4 — Video & Voice (Modules 20–23)
- Runway, Kling, ElevenLabs, Suno.
Section 5 — Automation (Modules 24–26)
- n8n, Make, Zapier.
Section 6 — Stacks (the payoff)
- Stack A: SaaS MVP in 48h. Stack B: client automation delivery. Stack C: content engine.
Section 7 — The Business (the upsell)
- Packaging, pricing your services, the freelance ladder, build-in-public.
Format per module: 1 short video (5–8 min) + the written module card + the hands-on task. Tasks are the spine — students do, not watch.
Pricing strategy
| Tier | Price | Contents | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Section 0 + the Master Decision Matrix (PDF) + Module 1 (Cursor) | Lead magnet → email list |
| Core | $49–79 | All modules 0–26 + hands-on tasks + matrix | The main product |
| Pro | $149–199 | Core + the 3 Stacks + business/pricing section + template pack (n8n flows, v0 prompts, proposal/SOW templates) | The money tier |
| Cohort / 1:1 | $499+ | Pro + live build sessions / Discord / office hours | High-touch, scarce |
Why this shape: the free matrix is genuinely useful and shareable (organic growth). Core is an easy yes for a vibe coder. Pro monetizes the outcomes (stacks + templates), which is what people actually pay for. Anchor with Pro; most buy Core.
Sri Lanka advantage: your cost base is low — even strong PPP-adjusted pricing is high margin. Price in USD for a global audience; you keep more of each sale than a US-based creator would.
Platform recommendation
| Option | Verdict |
|---|---|
| Gumroad | Start here. Zero setup, handles global payments/tax, instant. Best for launch + first 100 sales. Higher fees, but speed > fees at first. |
| Lemon Squeezy | Better as Merchant of Record (handles VAT/tax globally — important from Sri Lanka), cleaner checkout, good for scaling. Migrate here once steady. |
| Own app | You're a builder — eventually self-host on Next + Vercel + Stripe for full margin/control. But not first — it's a distraction from selling. Build it as a build-in-public artifact after validation. |
Path: Gumroad to validate → Lemon Squeezy to scale (tax/MoR) → own app once it's a real business (and a portfolio piece). Don't build the platform before the audience.
Launch sequence (build in public)
Pre-launch (Weeks 1–3): build the audience while building the course
- Post the Master Decision Matrix free on X/LinkedIn. It's shareable and proves value.
- Daily build-in-public: "Today I tested [tool] vs Claude Code — here's the one difference that matters." One module = one post.
- Open a waitlist (n8n flow from Stack A) with the free tier as the hook.
- Build with the audience: poll which tool to cover next; show your own MVP/automation builds using the stacks.
Launch (Week 4): 5. Drop the free tier publicly → drives email signups. 6. 48-hour founder's launch discount on Core/Pro to the waitlist (scarcity + urgency). 7. Publish one full Stack walkthrough (Stack A) as a long-form post/video as proof.
Post-launch (ongoing): 8. Each new tool/version that ships = a content post + a course update (course stays current = recurring justification). 9. Testimonials from early students → social proof for the next wave. 10. Upsell Core buyers to Pro with the template pack; open a cohort once you have ~50 Core sales.
Build-in-public meta-move: the course is about the tools you're using to launch the course. Every launch step is itself course content — record yourself doing Stack A (this product) and Stack C (its marketing). The making-of is the curriculum.
Ongoing maintenance (don't skip)
AI pricing/features change monthly. Bake a quarterly "freshness pass" into the
product (re-run the web-search verification, update the ⚠ verify fields). Sell it as
a feature: "Always-current. Updated every quarter." That's also your reason to keep
emailing the list — and a moat against static competitor courses.
End of program. Start: README.md → 00-claude-code-baseline.md.