The Idea
Roughly 1.5 years ago, I had the idea to launch my own startup. I thought the idea was great, so I went on google to check for competitors: there were none (at least that’s what I thought). Once I convinced myself I started to look into how I can build a first version of my product. The first version was supposed to be a simple directory of individual listings, with the ability for users to create a profile, submit a listing and edit their profile.
Shouldn’t be too hard right?
The first thing I did was to go to Tech meetups in my city. I was so convinced of my idea, that I thought it should not be too hard to convince any coders to partner up with me to build this product. I started approaching every coder I could find and tried to convince him/her of my product.
Unfortunately I did not have any success so I started contacting development agencies and asking how much it would cost to build out my idea. I was quoted prices ranging from 20,000 - 60,000 Euros which was not within my Budget.
My Discovery
A few months had passed and I had not made any progress. I had enrolled in various online coding classes, however with my coding skills I was not yet ready to build a shippable product. One day I randomly discovered the nocode web app Builder bubble.io.
I started looking at their landing page, templates that where offered and products that were previously built and could not believe what I saw. Is it really that easy? Can I really build my own web app without any coding skills? It sounded too good to be true.
Therefore I quickly registered with Bubble and created my first application, which consisted of a simple search bar that searched for GIFs using GIPHY. I managed to build this application without watching ANY tutorials or reading documentation in less than 30 minutes!
I was completely blown away and knew that I just made a great discovery.
In the course of the next few weeks I started building out my startup idea using Bubble. At the end, I managed to build my product in 3 weeks (part time) and was ready to launch with a fully built and functioning version of my product.
Becoming a "Nocoder"
After this experience I started to become addicted to building and launching products. It felt as if someone had suddenly removed a huge barrier that had prevented me from realising all those ideas in my head. I had become a passionate serial maker and was able to build websites, webapps, mobile apps, chatbots, alexa skills, automations and more using the various nocode tools available.
Fast forward a year and I have built and launched multiple nocode products, created my own nocode agency and launched Nocode HQ - an online platform offering nocode tutorials and templates. Even though I have learned how to code now I still prefer using nocode tools to create a quick MVP which I can then use to validate my idea.
Using nocode tools will not replace developers and will not make coding obsolete, however they do give non developers the opportunity to build their own products which is absolutely astonishing. I am looking forward to all the nocode products that are yet to be build!
Here is a list of some of my favorite nocode tools: