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independence2 unconnected · 2 more authors in those circles
applies to

b2b, no audience needed

mixed results

confidence

high

evidence

11 claims · 9 articles · 4 receipts

window

2016-04-23 → 2024-03-03

2 builders who never spoke to each other

Assemble the first version out of what exists

Wire the first cut together from off-the-shelf tools, a boilerplate or a design framework so the time goes into finding out whether anyone wants it. Any idea whose first step is finding a developer or paying five figures is an idea to drop, because that step is where these attempts stall indefinitely.

The method

  1. 01

    Clear the buildability test by assembling a bad version of the app with no code at all, rather than waiting for a developer to appear.

  2. 02

    Reject any idea whose first build step is finding a developer or paying five figures for someone to make it.

  3. 03

    You can now open a software business with no code at all by wiring together off-the-shelf tools for the page, the forms and the automation while people quietly perform the service.

  4. 04

    You do not need to be a strong programmer to ship the first version, but plan on building and launching it yourself rather than hiring out, because the odds are considerably better that way.

  5. 05

    Start the MVP from a boilerplate or a no-code platform, so the time goes into validation and marketing rather than into authentication and payments.

What it returned

  • The author observes that most people with one great app idea stall indefinitely because they cannot code

  • Uses the example of an idea starting with hiring someone to build facial recognition and machine learning, which the author says never actually happens

  • Names Unbounce, Typeform and Zapier as the stack that lets customers sign up and pay

  • The author had been coding for only nine months when he built the first Storemapper, and says he has met few non-developers who bootstrapped a SaaS

Sources

the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

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the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

963 corroborated plays to draw from · 3 a week

One email a week. Unsubscribe in one click, and the address is used for this and nothing else.