Lovable: How Europe's Fastest-Growing AI Startup Hit $10M ARR in 2 Months

Lovable, an AI startup from Europe, has achieved remarkable growth:

• $4 million ARR in just 4 weeks after launching on November 21, 2024.

• $10 million ARR within 2 months.

• Currently adding over $2 million ARR per week.

• Started with just 15 team members, now at 18.

Today, Lovable serves 300,000 monthly active users, including 30,000 paid subscribers.

Growth has been driven largely by organic word-of-mouth rather than heavy marketing spend.

English Prompts to Working Software in Minutes

Lovable is an AI-powered tool that lets anyone create software simply by typing English prompts. No coding skills are required.

• Users type descriptions of the software they want.

• Lovable generates fully functional products in minutes.

• It targets non-technical users (parents, small business owners) frustrated by the lack of affordable developers.

Lovable's Opinionated Tech Stack

Lovable is unapologetically opinionated about its technical stack, leveraging tools like @vite, @bun, @shadcn, @supabase, @stripe, @resend, and more. This deliberate choice enables 3 key advantages:

1. Visually editing a React codebase—a touch of wizardry that simplifies development.

2. An AI fine-tuned for the specific tech stack, ensuring seamless integration and performance.

3. Full runtime <> AI integration for effective debugging.

Constraints breed innovation, especially in AI tools. This focus on a handful of popular tech stacks, backed by tons of examples, sets Lovable apart from competitors like Bolt, which spreads itself too thin.

Creators are switching en masse from Bolt to Lovable because of this laser-like focus. More tech often means more problems—Lovable avoids that trap by doubling down on a few core technologies.

As Vista, a billion-dollar private-equity firm, advises, focusing on one type of customer pays off.

For Lovable, that’s non-technical users who don’t need—or want—to understand complex tech.

One-Click Backends and Visual Tweaks: Lovable's Secret Weapons

Lovable stands out from competitors like Bolt and Replit by offering:

• Visual editing: Users can instantly tweak designs visually (e.g., changing buttons from "book now" to "buy now") without retyping prompts.

• Backend integration: Supports easy setup of backend features (login, listings management) via SuperBase and Cloudflare hosting—activated with one click.

Currently, Lovable doesn't support existing codebases but plans to add this feature soon.

The company is building for the 99%, empowering non-coders to become entrepreneurs.

Lovable targets non-technical creators, unlike Bolt and Replit.

PLG Flywheel: Make Users Money → Retention

Lovable's growth strategy revolves around a simple yet powerful flywheel:

• Users enter a prompt → AI instantly builds a working product → users launch quickly and start making money.

• This immediate value creation leads to exceptional retention: 85% month-one retention, significantly higher than ChatGPT.

• Users who profit from their creations naturally stick around, forming a self-sustaining growth loop.

Instant "Aha" Moment = High Conversions

Lovable skips traditional landing pages entirely. Instead, new visitors immediately see a blank prompt box ready for input.

• No friction, no forced signups—just immediate interaction with the product.

• Users instantly experience the magic of turning their ideas into working software in minutes.

• This frictionless onboarding creates an immediate "aha" moment, driving high conversion rates from casual visitors to active users.

Users and Influencers as Product Ambassadors

Lovable's growth is driven by enthusiastic users and influencers like Greg Isenberg and Allie K Miller, who naturally become product ambassadors:

• Users excitedly share their AI-built products on social media.

• Organic word-of-mouth marketing eliminates the need for heavy advertising spend.

• Countless satisfied users actively promote Lovable online, fueling rapid adoption and brand awareness.

This user-driven marketing strategy amplifies Lovable's reach exponentially.

Lovable Launched - A Mini Product Hunt Clone

Lovable encourages users to showcase their product demos on launched.lovable.dev by offering 100 Lovable credits as an incentive.

In just one week, starting March 9th, 291 people launched a Lovable site. It's likely that even more people built a Lovable app during this period.

From GitHub Experiment to $1M Weekly Revenue

Lovable began as GPT Engineer, an open-source experiment inspired by ChatGPT.

Founder Anton Osika tested whether AI could build real software from basic prompts. The project quickly gained popularity on GitHub (50,000 stars), proving AI-driven coding was viable.

After partnering with co-founder Fabian, they transformed GPT Engineer into Lovable—a user-friendly platform for non-coders. Launching without fanfare on November 21, 2024, the platform immediately took off, hitting $1 million ARR within its first week.

Beyond Usable: The "Minimum Lovable Product" Philosophy

Lovable's name reflects its philosophy: build products people genuinely enjoy using ("minimum lovable products" to "absolutely lovable products"). Every feature prioritizes user delight and simplicity over complexity.

The team discovered a key principle ("scaling law"): more effort directly improves product quality. They continuously measure and solve AI coding issues through rapid iterations and user feedback.

The One-Week Challenge: Becoming a Power User

To get the most from Lovable:

• Use clear prompts: Be precise about what you want.

• Leverage "chat mode": Ask questions like "How does this work?" to understand the logic behind the tool.

• Spend dedicated time (a week) solving a personal project end-to-end to master the platform fully.

Why Versatile Polymaths Outperform Specialists in AI Companies

AI tools like Lovable shift valuable skills toward ideation, product discovery, design taste, and adaptability across disciplines. Technical skills remain important but primarily for understanding constraints rather than execution.

Lovable emphasizes hiring generalists who can handle architecture, design decisions, product judgment, and communication effectively.

"Cracked Engineers" and the Shackleton Approach to Hiring

With only 18 employees (12 coding part-time), Lovable carefully selects talent:

• Looks for passionate individuals ("cracked engineers") who deeply care about product quality and user experience.

• Inspired by Shackleton's expeditions—long hours and high pace attract ambitious candidates.

• Uses practical work simulations (lasting one day to a week) rather than relying solely on resumes or interviews.

Zero Marketing Budget, 30,000 Paying Customers

Lovable's explosive growth comes from delivering an excellent product that users love—not heavy marketing spending.

Their strong brand emerges naturally from satisfied users sharing their experiences organically.

"The Last Software You'll Ever Need": Lovable's Ambitious Future

Lovable aims to become "the last piece of software" anyone needs by enabling near-instant creation and modification of products. Upcoming features include:

• Agentic AI: Autonomous systems that fix errors or write tests independently.

• Custom domains and improved team collaboration.

• Seamless integration with existing systems and tools (like OpenAI chat).

Their ultimate goal is making software creation as easy as speaking your ideas aloud.

Credits to Lenny Rachitsky, Harry Stebbings, Jonathan Svens, and Growth Minds.

Top Tweets of the day

1/

Such a genius idea.

Buy eyeballs from Facebook for $0.0003 and redirect it to your website.

And then sell those eyeballs back to Google for $0.5 using Google Display Ads.

So if you put $1 in, you get $1666 back. That's an insane stat. Obviously, the numbers might be half-accurate and they will drop at scale but even if its $166, that's still lot of money. Certain niches work really well on Facebook.

Currently, AI videos that look AI to my eyes but not to old people's eyes are popping off on YouTube.

2/

Lovable did exactly this. Found the very best tech and just reinvented the UX.

3/

Elon's principle are GOATed. If you listen to enough Founders podcast by David Senra, you'll realize Elon is mostly mimicking those who came before him. The entrepreneurs of 2 centuries ago that went heavy on industrial revolution.

Every successful entrepreneur follows the blueprint of those who came before.

Rabbit Holes

1. How To Use AI to Write Viral Reel Scripts - Claude Projects Tutorial by 100x Engineers

2. How Clay quietly became a $1.25B company in 7 Years by Shounak Banerjee

3. Winner Takes it All: How Markets Favor the Few at the Expense of the Many by Shane Parrish

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