Common Mistakes With Vibe Coded Websites

YC’s Aaron Epstein and Raphael Schaad (Cron/Notion Calendar founder) dissect six AI-coded startup landing pages, cataloging the design anti-patterns LLMs default to in 2026.

• Purple gradients, scroll-jacking, fade-in animations, and floating buttons dominate AI-generated landing pages because LLMs train on popular sites and instantly replicate their trends.
• LLMs add hover effects that hide or dim elements on activation — the opposite of standard UX, which should make targets more clickable, not less.
• Scroll-jacking and timed fade-ins can cause users to miss content entirely if they scroll faster than the animation fires.
• Raphael Schaad argues hiding critical functionality behind hover is an anti-pattern, especially since hover has no mobile equivalent and long-press never caught on.
• Six reviewed sites (Nunu.ai, Rosebud AI, Getcrux, Sphinx, Build0, Zarna) all show inconsistent visual languages across sections, suggesting different AI-generated passes were never reconciled.
• Epstein: founders who ship obvious AI-slop design signal to customers that the product itself may also be vibe-coded, damaging credibility.
• Recommended fix: define color palette and brand identity first, feed constraints into the AI tool, then use saved time to sharpen messaging — not to accept all AI suggestions by default.

2026-03-06 · Watch on YouTube