App Development

Building apps as a solo maker in Korea: what worked, what failed and the numbers behind it.

Vibe Coders Are Striking Gold Inside a Payment App: Korea’s Toss Mini App Gold Rush

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Teheran-ro in Gangnam, Seoul's startup and tech corridor

Korea’s vibe coders aren’t going to the App Store. They’re building mini apps inside Toss, a 30-million-user payment app: 17,000 apps in 15 months, two in three partners solo, some earning $9,800 a month.

“Don’t Hire Juniors, Buy More AI Tokens”: Korea Cut New Developer Hiring by 47%

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Pangyo Techno Valley, the cluster south of Seoul where Korea's biggest tech and game companies are based

“Don’t hire juniors, give us more AI tokens.” In 2025 Korean software firms hired 47% fewer new grads and 128% more experienced developers, as Claude Code and Codex moved in.