Launch a Tech Startup — No Code Needed (seriously)
Modern-day software development is fewer algorithms, more integration. It’s evolved to the point that to build web or mobile applications, you don’t necessarily need to know how to code.
The name “no-code” is a bit misleading though. There’s obviously code being compiled and/or interpreted, but from your POV, it’s more of a visual plug-and-play with functionality. You’ll see my point in a bit.
Also, I should preface by saying this
“no-code” != “no-work”. It’s just a different type of work
Today, the discussion will be centered around the thread our friend Easlo authored on Twitter. I personally find that well-defined threads can help narrow the scope of discussions, which means a more engaging analysis that can compound each layer of the thread. Easlo is a popular digital creator, well known for his Notion — project management and note-taking platform — templates that leave his clients satisfied and productive.
Let’s get right into some “no-code” options that Easlo recommends!
Bannerbear standardizes video, image & document creation using reusable pre-built templates that you can choose from! Consistency is essential in any business because it’s a representation of your brand. Your typography, color palette, layout organization of your visuals. It all contributes to possessing the strong brand recognition that your customers come to expect. Here’s the problem: the process to create new content using a standardized format is repetitive and time-consuming. Sometimes, your assets are scattered all over the place! Your visuals could be stored remotely on one server. Your typography resource files could be stored locally on your co-worker’s laptop. Not to mention updates to the format need to be synchronized to the entire team (if you have one), for every update. I’m getting a headache just thinking about it!
Watch this
You can even create your own custom templates, store them on Bannerbear, then reuse, reuse, reuse! No code needed 😎 Templates and their associated assets are in one place — template updates are also centralized to Bannerbear.
If you’re a…
- Developer that wants to avoid routine work as much as possible
- Product owner that wants to reduce time-to-market
- Freelancer that wants to lower the costs of your services
- Startup founder that wants to test their business hypotheses
Directual is a great candidate for you! It’s a “no-code” platform that allows you to build full-stack web applications ⚡ fast, then test your idea with the market.
I’ll guide you through an example workflow
Start by creating a database — this is where you’ll store the data that your application will use. Want to create an application to acts as an online library? You’ll need a table to store information about the books you sell; here, you can specify the makeup of what attributes define a ‘book’. It’s got to have an IBSM to globally identify it, a title, and maybe an association to one or more authors. You get the idea. Rinse and repeat the process to store author information, and so on.
Build some API (application interface) endpoints so that you can create, read, update, and/or delete data you’re storing in the database from the previous step. This can all be done in the browser, so you never have to touch a piece of code. Let’s say that we want to catalog books, using data stored in the database: you would leverage an API endpoint to access this data!
The functionality looks good. Let’s worry about design now. Directual provides an intuitive visual drag-and-drop studio to build forms and organize layouts using their rich library of pre-built widgets and dynamic components. Design your entire application without ever having to leave the browser.
Now comes the business logic. Craft a visual flowchart outlining what actions to perform, when to perform them — what to display, when to display it. This is where design and functionality meet and the application starts to take a life of its own (not in the Terminator sense 😆)
Now comes the fun part: Deploying! Show off your application to your customers and get their thoughts.
One problem with making mobile apps is vendor compatibility — it needs to work on IOS, Android, Blackberry OS, Windows OS, etc. Learning the mobile development landscape is also a whole other beast in itself. By yourself, you’d need to worry about backward version compatibility with features, tuning performance, power-efficiency, ensuring you maintain platform compliance standards; the list goes on.
Flutterflow provides powerful drag-and-drop functionality with designing your mobile app, but goes even further — it integrates with popular 3rd party services like Stripe (payments infrastructure), Google Maps (navigation), and Algolia (search), to power your app with an experience that your customers will love! They also offer mobile platform cross-compatibility, which means your app can work anywhere, with no additional steps needed.
Not sure where to start with your design? They’ve got 50+ templates to get you started!
Thoughts? I’m curious to hear what you think 📝
Thanks to Easlo for the insightful thread!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/heyeaslo
Website: https://bio.link/easlo
