Lovable is a Stockholm-based AI platform that lets anyone build full-stack web apps and websites by describing them in plain language - a practice its founders helped popularize as 'vibe coding.' Grown out of the open-source GPT Engineer project, the company reached roughly 8 million users and $200M+ in annual recurring revenue within about a year of launch, making it one of Europe's fastest-growing software startups. In December 2025 it raised a $330M Series B at a $6.6B valuation.
In this keynote, Elena Verna—Head of Growth at Lovable and a 10-year veteran of growth teams at companies like Dropbox—argues that great products don't build great companies; distribution does. She explains why product-led growth was born from four market shifts, how AI is now collapsing the traditional distribution channels of SEO and social, and how vibe-coding tools like Lovable are letting customers rebuild simple SaaS functionality themselves. She lays out a new playbook for defensibility: product loops, shipping velocity, proprietary data, brand as a product function, ecosystem integrations, founder/employee socials, and the creator economy.

Elena Verna is one of Silicon Valley's most respected growth operators - a former SVP of Growth at SurveyMonkey, interim CMO at Miro, and current Head of Growth at Lovable (the AI app-builder that hit $200M ARR in under a year). Known for popularizing Product-Led Growth frameworks, she runs 'Elena's Growth Scoop' newsletter with 89,000+ subscribers and a 40% open rate, and is a Partner at Reforge. She immigrated from Russia at 14 with $100 and no English, and has built a career on the principle: 'I will figure it out.'