We Hosted an Open Mic at the Market｜Vital Young

In the tech world, the concept of "Open Source" was born in 1998. In his essay The Cathedral and the Bazaar, Raymond shattered the siloed approach to software development, turning open source into a starting point for collaborative innovation. Entering the new millennium, the idea of "Build in Public" gradually entered the entrepreneurial lexicon. From product prototypes to iteration roadmaps, everything happened in broad daylight — each step of creation became something the public could collectively shape.

With the arrival of the AI wave, we're seeing more and more young people on X, Jike, and Xiaohongshu putting this open-source technical mindset and build-in-public ethos into practice, embodying a new era of innovation.

Innovation is no longer lonely and insular. Open source is no longer confined to the technical domain — it has evolved into a broader cognitive shift:

Share, collaborate, learn from each other, stop operating in closed rooms.

When ideas collide freely, when creative concepts are polished and brought to life in public, we believe even greater trends in innovation will follow.

It was with this conviction that we held the second Vital Young gathering.

The same soil where ideas can collide freely. The same relaxed space for exchange.

Over 40 entrepreneurs and users came together, tossing their still-forming aspirations and reflections into this safe space for expression, open-mic style.

"A responsible AI product developer must be accountable to users from the very first model call."

— Stain

"We used AI to generate 100 Bad Ideas. Some of them are definitely going to become Good Ideas."

— Patrick

"One interesting insight: guys actually need AI besties more than girls do."

— Tong Yao

"I'm a PM. Cursor saves my ass every single day — I genuinely want to hold its hand!"

— Kaito

From tentative first steps to roaring applause.

Kaito, the product manager, even delivered an impromptu rap on the spot, using lyrics and beats to express his attitude toward AI and his creative spark.

The collision of different ideas let more innovations and relationships begin to sprout here.

There was no preset agenda or theme, but as time went on, every person who showed up helped the event grow into something unique.

Open innovation in the AI era — on the surface, it's about making project progress and product growth trajectories public. At a deeper level, it's about the "open sourcing" of ideas.

Just as in technical open-source communities, where every line of code can be optimized and built upon by others, an open-sourced idea can, through continuous interaction, grow beyond its original form and burst forth with even more vigorous vitality.

At the next Vital Young, we hope you'll come to the market with your own ideas too!