Tech entrepreneur Dennis Xu, known for previously launching the AI note-taking application Mem—one of OpenAI’s earliest investments—is back again with a new venture called Adaptive Computer. Xu, who candidly admits he’s not a programmer himself, aims to redefine how personal computer software is created, especially for those without any coding expertise.
Adaptive Computer’s ambitious vision is to enable anyone, even those with absolutely no programming skills, to build robust, full-featured web applications simply by typing a text prompt into their no-code platform called “ac1.” To support this ambitious idea, Xu and his co-founder Mike Soylu have secured a $7 million seed funding round. The round was led by Pebblebed with contributions from Conviction, Weekend Fund, Roblox CEO Dave Baszucki, Jake Paul’s Anti-fund, and several others. Pebblebed is a newer seed fund co-founded by former Stripe engineer Pamela Vagata and former Slack chief architect Keith Adams.
Previously, Xu explained, creating digital products typically involved a lengthy collaboration between designers and programmers, something he experienced firsthand when building Mem. The rapid rise of large language models (LLMs) encouraged Xu to imagine a new approach. Rather than recruiting a team to translate ideas into reality, Xu envisions providing a powerful yet simplified platform enabling everyday users to directly create personalized software.
Despite its name, Adaptive Computer doesn’t focus on hardware at all; the startup exclusively produces web-based applications. Its platform automatically manages essential back-end tasks, such as database creation, user authentication, file management, payment integration with Stripe, and even AI-powered capabilities like image generation, speech synthesis, and content analysis.
Demonstrating the application, Xu entered a simple text prompt requesting a logging app for bicycle rides. Within moments the platform generated a fully functional JavaScript web application, complete with a database system already set up. Without any additional configurations needed, the app supported basic features such as logging bicycle rides, tracking cumulative distances, comparing rides and sharing the finished site with other users—all without revealing personal information.
While Adaptive Computer offers an engaging and effortless approach, the “vibe coding” market—the process of writing code through natural language prompts—is already becoming crowded. Long-standing platform Replit has surged past 30 million users by recently shifting its marketing focus toward non-programmers. Similarly, the rising Sweden-based startup Lovable claims its vibe coding tool has surpassed Figma as a design tool and quickly jumped to a $10 million annual recurring revenue within just two months of launch.
However, Xu insists Adaptive Computer is distinct, specifically designed for purely non-technical users. Unlike existing competitors, whose roots stem from simplifications meant originally to aid actual programmers, Adaptive Computer requires no technical understanding whatsoever—no API keys, no configurations, just straightforward, natural language commands. The platform even allows different apps created by a user to seamlessly connect—an approach Xu likens to an integrated operating system, not standalone individual web apps.
Early users have already created an intriguing set of deployed products on Adaptive Computer, including storytelling generation tools, a coffee bean e-commerce platform, and a text-to-speech reader designed specifically for PDFs.
Adaptive Computer currently offers users three pricing tiers: a limited free plan to let people explore the platform, a $20 per month standard plan, and a Creator/Pro plan priced at $100 monthly.
