No Code MVP: Bring your idea to life in 3 days

As a kid, we used to get so excited and worked up when we wanted to try something new or even about our hobbies, we enjoyed them thoroughly.

Do you know why? We took action!

And you being a founder get ideas so often but the thought of getting technical restricts you.

In this article, we will move past the development block and get an actual roadmap about how to develop and deploy your ideas quickly with No-code MVP.

What is no code MVP?

Now, I am not a preacher but no-code is here to stay. And as a founder, you need to leverage it completely. 

The minimum viable product is your application's simplest version with only a few core features. MVP is a crucial step when building an application because you present it to the customers and gain their valuable feedback. As it is the very first of an app, this also gives you insight into the market demand, helping you validate your idea.

But you might be wondering, yes we get it, but building MVP is graced with high costs, expensive resources, and other factors.

No worries, here comes no-code MVP. 

No-code MVP is the basic version of an application that is developed on a no-code platform using pre-built templates and drag-and-drop features without employing a team of developers or taking much time. 

Importance of rapid prototyping

“If you're not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late" — LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman.‍

Reid Hoffman says that when you eventually build a successful business no one is going to remember how ugly your product looked and we advocate this mindset because it shows the importance of taking the call and here no-code helps you to take a step and prototype rapidly.

A prototype tests the design concepts, gives investors and test users a visualisation of your application, and gathers feedback. Once this is done, your development gets a direction that will help you move into the space where the demand is.

Once prototyping is done, a user-centric MVP is developed. 

Here are some of the most commonly used no-code prototyping platforms

Figma

Designers can iterate the design in real-time with Figma in a collaborative cloud-based tool.

Framer

Earlier Framer catered only to technical folks but today everyone can use it and it too is a collaborative platform. 

Miro

Miro is an adaptable tool, you can create wireframes or even interactive prototypes. 

Balsamiq

Balsamiq is a user interface design tool that helps to create low-fidelity prototypes. 

Understanding no code development

No-code development is a software development approach in which an application is built without using a single line of code. Developers use drag-and-drop features to build. This approach saves time and effort put in by the developers to write code from scratch. 

Why should you choose no-code development for your MVP?

No coding skills required

The developers do not need to have any technical skills, templates are used to design the application which are user-friendly and have an intuitive interface. It is made with non-technical users in mind. This is why most of the small startups, leverage the no-code platforms to avoid going all in with the budget and still get a fully functional blueprint of the application.

Cost-effective development

When building an application, a complete development team is set up and various resources are used. No-code is a cost-effective approach as it reduces the cost of hiring multiple individuals for different roles because of its versatility of being accessible for everyone, technical and non-technical folks. When building an MVP with no-code, you develop the application quickly without burning a hole in your pocket by going all in.

Speedy deployment

With no-code development, you get to see your application designed and deployed quickly. Due to its simple functionalities, the time taken to complete a project isn’t much.

Pivot easily

Just in case, at some point in your business’s journey, you want to change some features or maybe add new ones and eliminate the others based on the feedback received, then it can be easily achieved with no-code because of its flexibility. 

Swift fundraising

By developing the MVP quickly you can present it to the investors, in case they find your idea worthy you get funding to develop a customised application.

What are some limitations of no-code?

Limited customisation

There is only so much that you can customise on a no-code platform, it limits your creativity because of the resource constraints.

Restricted scalability

After a certain while, as customers start registering and traffic increases, you will need to scale to better and more advanced features which might not be possible with all the no-code platforms.

Integration consideration

Integrating third-party tools into your applications is the best way to provide your customer base with a wholesome experience. No-code helps you integrate several tools but you might need a little help as it might not be easy.

Tools for no-code MVP development

Airtable

Airtable helps you create databases quickly and you can integrate tools like Google Sheets and Slack into the application. It has startup templates and automation features to speed up your development process.

Webflow

Webflow is a bit advanced tool and but you can adapt to it quickly, once you get the hang of it. You can collaborate with your team to develop SEO-friendly websites and it can be integrated with tools like Zapier and Shopify.

Bubble

Bubble offers a wide range of built-in features and plugins to design scalable applications. The best part is that it allows you to create applications that adapt to different screen sizes.

Adalo

Adalo is one of the most renowned platforms that helps to build applications proficiently. Adalo offers a drag-and-drop editor to build MVP native applications for both Android and iOS. With Adalo you can customise everything including logos, icons, and colour palettes.

How to build a No-code MVP?

Conceptualise

Firstly, talk about your product idea and what you want to achieve with it. This step is all about figuring out what other companies are doing and if your business can make this idea a reality.

Market research

The next step is to do comprehensive research, check out all the different solutions that already exist, figure out how to market your idea, and see what your competition is up to. Then, you use this market-fit approach to decide if your product is what people want.

Prototype

The first step is to create a basic version of the product, kind of like a rough draft. This way, you can see how people react to it. It's like a test run to find out if people would be interested in signing up for your idea, prototype helps you reach the test users without putting in too much effort.

Develop & deploy

This step is the final one where you move to develop an MVP after you have received feedback from the test users and deploy it to the market.

Successful MVP examples

Buffer

• Buffer helps you plan and schedule all social media posts in one place. But before it became a real thing, the person who made it, Joel Gascoigne, wanted to see if people would be interested in it.
• So, he made a simple webpage that explained what the app could do. If people liked the idea, they could sign up with their email to be notified when the app was ready.
• Joel shared this webpage on social media and found out that there were lots of people who wanted to use his app. Then, he wanted to know how many people would be willing to pay for it. So, he added some prices to the webpage and saw how many people signed up for the paid versions. After doing all this research, Joel knew it was time to make the app. He made it simple and easy to use. 

Airbnb

• When Airbnb first started, they made a really basic website with just one page. It didn't have any fancy features like options or a way to pay for things. The whole point was just to see if people would use it. Surprisingly, they got three customers and made 0 from that first version. But they didn't stop there. They kept improving and changing the website until it became what we know today as Airbnb.

It is unbelievable that these popular names were just MVPs at some point and you wouldn’t know if your idea brings a change if you do not test it out. MVP marks the development of your full-fledged application. The journey to MVP might be a scary one but no-code makes it easy.

If you have an idea but are confused about how to proceed, let’s connect.