No-Code: Smaller Firms, Competitive Advantages, Opportunity Costs

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The Trends.vc No-Code NFT (#0078) from the Meta Trends collection.

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“Software is eating software.”

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❓ What You’ll Learn

  • Who’s building a no-code agency?
  • What are 8 examples of web3, no-code tools?
  • How to show your work?
  • How to automate tasks and save time?
  • Why will no-code tools lead to more million-dollar, one-person businesses?
  • What are 8 examples of no-code communities?
  • Why is no-code a gateway drug to code?


💎 Why It Matters

No-Code makes building products more accessible


🔍 Problem

Duplicating work wastes time, money and energy


💡 Solution 

No-code tools help you automate work and build products faster, cheaper and better.

Without writing code.


🏁 Players

No-Code Tools

  • Zapier • Connect apps and automate workflows
  • WordPress • Build websites and blogs
  • Shopify • Build ecommerce sites
  • Webflow • Build websites
  • Bubble • Build web apps
  • Bildr • Web3 tools, templates and building blocks
  • Juicebox • Funding for people and projects
  • Aragon • Build a DAO

Apps


Who to Follow


🔮 Predictions

  • No-Code tools will give individuals more leverage. This leads to smaller firms and more million-dollar, one-person businesses. Newsletter writers, podcast hosts and course creators benefit from no-code tools.
  • No-Code tools will make web3 building more accessible.
    • Aragon helps you start DAOs
    • Juicebox helps you fund projects
    • Fractional helps you fractionalize NFTs
    • MintGate helps you sell token-gated content
    • NFTX helps you build liquidity pools for NFTs
    • Bildr will help you build sites to launch and mint NFTs
    • Thirdweb helps you build smart contracts without coding
    • Nifty Generator helps you build generative art NFT collections
  • The types of products that you can build with no-code tools will expand. Blogs, online stores and marketplaces are table stakes. SaaS, mobile apps, games, cryptocurrencies and DAOs are becoming easier to build.


☁️ Opportunities


🏔️ Risks

  • Platform Risk • What if a no-code tool shuts down, changes policies or gets acquired? Unlike open-source frameworks (such as Ruby on Rails and React), most no-code tools are closed-source.
  • Missing Concepts • No-Coders may not understand database design at first. This can lead to technical debt. Or is it non-technical debt?


🔑 Key Lessons

  • You don’t have to understand how everything works to use it. Most developers have not built an operating system or programming language. Yet they use them. You can use no-code tools without understanding every aspect.
  • No-Code gives you a competitive advantage. Why recreate the wheel? No-code apps are easier to build and maintain.
  • No-Code is a gateway drug to code. Building end-to-end products with no-code tools helps you become comfortable with code.


🔥 Hot Takes

  • The no-code movement will create more developers. Not less. No-code is on-ramp for those initially intimidated by code.
  • The best developers focus on outcomes. They don’t have not-invented-here syndrome. They embrace no-code tools, keep things DRY and understand opportunity costs.


😠 Haters

“There’s code under the hood. Why is it called no-code?”
There’s code. But you can build things without writing code.


“No-Code apps can’t scale.”
Most can. The need to scale is a good problem to have.
Most products don’t get that far. Solve it when you get there.


🔗 Links


📁 Related Reports


🙏 Thanks

Thanks Stewart Townsend, Prabhjot Singh Lamba, Ash, Dan Parry, Max Haining, Chris Strobl, Will Dyess, Philip Lakin, Yves Jean and Nile Frater. We had a great time jamming on this report.


📈 What else?

Trends PRO #0078 — No-Code has more insights.

What you’ll get:

  • 30 No-Code Tools (275% More)
  • 8 Apps (100% More)
  • 28 People to Follow (180% More)
  • 10 Predictions (233% More)
  • 12 Opportunities (140% More)
  • 6 Key Lessons (100% More)
  • 4 Hot Takes (100% More)
  • 10 Links (233% More)
  • 12-minute audio episode with exclusive No-Code stories, insights and opportunities.

With Trends Pro you’ll learn:

  • (📈 Pro) How to build a no-code productized service?
  • (📈 Pro) Which no-code tools are used to make games?
  • (📈 Pro) How to use no-code tools to generate leads?
  • (📈 Pro) How to get no-code versions of popular apps like Upwork and Product Hunt?
  • (📈 Pro) How to build a marketplace with no-code tools?
  • (📈 Pro) How do no-code tools help The Creator Economy?
  • (📈 Pro) Why are technical moats fading?
  • (📈 Pro) How does no-code affect fundraising?

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