The No-Code Movement — Best practices for startups & non tech founders
Low-code and no-code tools are already becoming mainstays for development teams across the globe. They help ease the burden on developers by taking away some of the repetitive and mundane tasks that teams deal with on a day-in-day-out basis while also reducing the risk of human error. They also help startup owners with limited or no technical skills to bootstrap their vision into a viable prototype that helps them get funded faster and easier.
The idea is that anyone at an organization — from engineering and product to marketing, finance, legal and sales — can create automated tests quickly and easily without writing a single line of code, and all without any programming or automation expertise. Whether you’re building a website or a mobile app, you can use no-code tools to drag and drop to assemble things.
No-code removes the challenges of coding and opens up a world of possibilities. That’s why so many no-code tools launched in the past few years. Everything from website and app builders to tools that automate e-commerce processes. These are not just simple models, no-code is rapidly evolving to make it possible to build complex end-to-end products.
As most of these tools are designed intuitively, you can start building as soon as you know how the program works. There’s no need to learn HTML or watch YouTube tutorials of programmers explaining programming languages. So, you can spend more time honing and evolving your vision and innovative product or service rather than fiddle with software development.
The no-code movement is on the rise because it’s much faster, cost-effective and conveniently low-barrier to get your idea into the market. For example, designers can quickly build a prototype, startups can create a minimum viable product (MVP) and non-tech leaders can launch their own custom apps — all on their own.
For the longest time the tech industry has been criticized for its lack of diversity and inclusion.
Silicon Valley has bred a generation of founders who look like each other, talk like each other, and solve similar problems — and as these people gather further wealth through exits and investments, the cycle of sameness repeats.
Teaching people to code and funding different founders is creating slow change, but the no-code movement has the potential to exponentially change the face of tech. If you no longer need access to engineers or capital to launch a product, anyone can have a crack at their idea. Perhaps it is the demand for the democratization of tech that has catapulted the no-code movement into the now.
So where can you get started? Here is a short list of no-code tools you can start using today!
· Webflow — it allows you to create, test and launch websites without entering any code to create responsive and attractive looking websites with ease.
· Bubble — it allows you to create an app without needing to understand any coding languages or having to learn to code at all
· Airtable — spreadsheet-database hybrid and is often referred to as a management app due to its productivity features. Airtable gives you the functionality of a database, with the UI of a spreadsheet, which is excellent for beginners.
· Shopify — the ultimate no-code tool for building e-commerce sites to promote, sell, and ship your products. It’s easy to use and offers users templates to choose from to help get started quicker. Shopify is a reliable and proven performer with over 1,000,000 online businesses relying on the platform to power their online commerce.
· Carrd — a great option for entrepreneurs to create one-page sites systematically and easily allowing you to customize and build one pages sites in almost no time
· Glide — helps you make a mobile app in less than 5 minutes
If you’re trying to create the next Uber or Airbnb, no-code tools are great for the early validation phase — then when revenue is established and growing, you can go on to custom build and raise money. Markerpad’s Ben Tossell believes 90% of indie businesses (smaller teams turning over less than $10M/year) can be built and operated on no-code entirely.
If the future involves anyone being able to build technical products, where does that leave programmers? For starters, technical teams will still be needed for building the no-code tools. Additionally, Webflow’s co-founder and CEO, Vlad Magdalin, believes the no-code movement doesn’t replace coders and will create much more demand for great coders.
We’re still getting started with the no-code movement and will continue to see an influx of products and services in the area. Too much of the startup ecosystem has become focused on fundraising, investment, and networking — and the no-code movement helps bring it back to the sheer joy of making things again.
For more information on how you can create more with these no-code tools, join the WE Global Studios community and learn more -
