Anyone else build on no/low-code?

claires·Jun 05, 2023

My cofounder and I recently met with @laceykesler of Fembase (a no-code community), which inspired us to share why we love building Topknot on Bubble. My cofounder wrote a blog to share how our dev process mirrors our members' journeys.

The narrative is often that people choose no- or low-code solutions because they lack technical expertise, but in our case it was a choice to iterate quickly and cheaply without over-building. We've always planned to move our tech eventually (and build out some of our backend with that intention in mind), but now I am less sure. Bubble has worked very well for us.

Anyone else build on these tools? What has your experience been?

sigridviaene·Jun 06, 2023

Hi @claires, great website and project. I had it already bookmarked to further investigate :)I've built my start-up Quiet Near Me www.quietnearme.com in no code. Using mainly Softr & Airtable. I can code but I'm not great/fast. I've chosen this way, same as you, with the idea that I would create a "proper" website eventually. Now I'm actually unsure if this needs to be done. The low code tools have evolved a lot in the last few years. I believe that unless you have a very original website/app structure you can make it work with the low-code solutions out there. Pro:- Fun :) I like building!!! - Speed- Cost (cheaper than hiring an engineer)- Not dealing & waiting on a developerCon:- Customization & some config limits of the tools you use (although less and less) - Cost (more expensive than DIY)- Platform dependent/locked in & data ownership: Unsure if this applies to you, I make backups of my data on a regular basis. - Scalability in the long term?- Security? - Speed : because you can iterate quickly your website can quickly become an inconsistent mess. What helps me is to have a defined design & brand guideline and work with a dev, staging and production environment. What are your concerns? Do you enjoy Bubble? I've played around with it but nothing serious :) A lovely week,Sigrid ps: looking for a new role in product :)

claires·Jun 06, 2023

I love the pro/con list — strong product vibes.Bubble has worked well for us over the last few years. My cofounder builds, so my exposure is comparatively less, but I do a lot of the scoping and spec-ing updates and I appreciate what you're saying about version management. We also use tools like Airtable to power much of our backend.My biggest concern with the no-code/low-code movement is that I think it claims to be more accessible out of the box than it truly is. I taught CS for 10 years and I know people are capable, but the learning curve can be steep and — at least in our case — we do a decent amount of coding to make things work as we'd like them to.Also, I love your startup. Both my stepfather and I are hard of hearing, and I cannot tell you the deep peace I feel when we step into a hip, but quiet restaurant. Noise level is not something typically shared in reviews. I appreciate you.

sigridviaene·Jun 08, 2023

"My biggest concern with the no-code/low-code movement is that I think it claims to be more accessible out of the box than it truly is. " True. Although it truly depends on what you need. If you just need a simple landing page it really is accessible. When you start to put some logic into it, it gets trickier. This makes me think of a friend who 10 years ago would go around asking businesses in his town (restaurants, garages, hairdressers) if they needed a website. He could charge ridiculous amounts for setting up a website with basic info (contact details, a description, a picture, a contact form, about section).The no code movement really took this over. He could not get away with it now. Thank you for your enthusiastic words. May I invite you and your stepfather to create a Quiet Profile on www.quietnearme.com? We would like to show that many people deeply value quiet places (restaurants, cafes, parks, ...) in the cities. In the hope that this inspires new businesses.

claires·Jun 08, 2023

Profile made! Excited to be park of the community.

Morgan·Jun 06, 2023

I built a no/low-code once with Retool, and it took me a month to build a simple app, because of a learning curve I have since overcome, and some of the demos they had were out of action, among other things they've straightened out.https://www.runtcpip.com/2023/03/building-breaking-and-building-crm-with.htmlIt was much better than having to design the GUI myself, even with that.

claires·Jun 06, 2023

It's so powerful that you've shared your design process (the highs and lows) with others. I think there's a lot of room for improvement in the no-code curricula — and that's why I am excited about what @laceykesler is doing!Congrats on your progress!

Morgan·Jun 06, 2023

Thank you! I'm glad I read your article -- I haven't heard of Bubble. I went to the Fembase page, and I never considered Canva no-code, but considering one can make landing sites, it fits!

sydneydahl·Jun 07, 2023

Hi @claires - love this question and topic! I am a semi-technical solo founder, so I looked around at a variety of different no code tools to build my company's MVP (a pet end of life products & services marketplace - named Coda). Just pushed our marketplace to prod recently and will be launching inventory by July: www.lovecoda.com. All built with low code :)We finally landed on using Sharetribe Flex, which I have loved using. Sharetribe is really only an option if building a marketplace and comfortable with some programming. IMO, Sharetribe Flex balances perfectly customization options with pre-built, high value features out of box and allowed me to get to MVP faster and cheaper than anything else I looked at.Before landing on Sharetribe, I tried Bubble quite a bit - did a bootcamp with Airdev and even started discussions on contracting Airdev for development to move things along faster. I also did some experimenting with Airtable and Softer, which I love for easier apps. Neither Airdev nor Softr+Airtable ended up meeting my needs in the end.HIGHLY recommend checking out 100DaysofNoCode (https://www.100daysofnocode.com/) for anyone starting out or thinking about which no code options will work for an MVP or application.

claires·Jun 08, 2023

This is awesome. Thanks for sharing so much of your journey. I find it super instructive.

lauraoppenheimer·Jun 08, 2023

Thanks so much for sharing! I work at Bubble and I loved reading your blog post.

nicolegallardo·Jun 08, 2023

Hey Claire - love what you're doing at TopKnot. I've been researching Bubble as well so your cofounder's blog post was very timely :) I collaborate regularly with startups to create no-code clickable prototypes in Figma. Have you explored this yet? It's essentially one step before building out the full MVP. The prototypes that I help founders build are used to either:1. test an idea or new feature with real users before investing any more resources into it for the full MVP2. take to investors when pitching to show they've already validated the product they'll be investing inI am 100% in agreement with you that the more optimizing we can do before handing over to a development team, the better! It's all about lowering risk. I am actually teaching a super affordable live course for founders who want to learn how to create no-code prototypes with Figma. I think you and your co-founder would get a ton of value from it since you're exploring Bubble already. If interested, you can learn more and enroll here: https://www.founderswhoux.com/program/bootstrapping-your-product

claires·Jun 09, 2023

We love Figma. Sounds like an awesome program!

samanthahu·Sep 11, 2023

You can build fully functional and scaleable software applications(not only MVPs) using Bubble. By saying that, you can design the frontend(or import Figma files to Bubble), build your own custom database, workflows and logic, connecting 3rd party plugins or tools using its API Connector. There are so much more possibilities.

alinalyn·Jun 12, 2023

Yes, no code or low code platforms are good choice to start and make POC.A few weeks ago we talk with founders of a startup who met a problem with GDPR . Previously they built an MVP on bubble io as well. They are going go to market and the issue with GDPR is stopping them.Sharing it with you coz it can be helpful on the first stages of your project.

claires·Jun 12, 2023

Thanks for flagging.

ToriHanson·Jul 24, 2023

Pretty much everything i have done to date is No-Code. (and hired a no-code coach to help me for a few months too - which i found really useful).Marketing websites webflow and caardBack end - airtable (database and interfaces), zapier / make.comExplored Bubble - but although i am relatively intuitive when it comes to Tech, i found it really tough to get going with, so gave up.

claires·Jul 25, 2023

That's super fair. I find Airtable to be the most intuitive, and I haven't played around with Webflow or Caard enough to comment. An important factor in choosing is how comfortable you are in the environment. Thanks for sharing your journey!