FT: Bain is testing takeover targets by using vibecoding to rebuild rough AI-made copies of their software.
These replicas are not perfect clones, but they can expose whether a product’s interface, analytics, automation, or workflow logic is easier to reproduce than sellers claim.
The replicas help potential buyers assess how difficult it would be to recreate a software product and whether the company has a defensible competitive advantage.
Say a company is selling an analytics tool that takes sales data, cleans it, finds patterns, creates dashboards, and recommends what a sales manager should do next.
Bain may ask AI coding tools to quickly build a basic version that uploads sales data, generates similar dashboards, adds simple recommendations, and feels somewhat like the target product.
Bain says its teams have built hundreds of prototypes, and the tool has moved from specialist engineers to regular consultants doing AI diligence.
For investors, the Bain method is built to reveal where a software company’s value actually sits, from its code and workflows to customer relationships, data, distribution, or other business layers.
Using AI-made prototypes also lets buyers see how a product could develop in the years ahead as AI continues changing enterprise tech.
This strategy comes at a time when generative AI is making software development cheaper and challenging the strength of SAAS business models.
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