No-Code is Hitting an Inflection Point. Are You Ready?
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📓 Articles
KP - AKA the 'Build in Public' guy, wrote this great piece alongside Talal on the inflection point of no-code. Back in 2016 when I launched nocode.tech the term no-code wasn't a thing. There were some "no-code tools" but they were limited and full of constraints. At times I could have over 10 different products all hacked together which was a nightmare to manage. However, in 2021 this is beginning to be no longer the case. As KP mentions "We’ve approached the point where ‘there’s a no-code tool for that’ is the new ‘there’s an app for that’." Exciting times eh! (7 min read)
🎁 Bonus Read: No-Code Cheatsheet on Notion
One year ago Filip and Marie launched their MVP form building tool, Tally. In this post, Marie documents their journey across a series of milestones and provides insightful tips on how they managed to reach each one. 5k MRR is a fantastic milestone to reach as two bootstrapped founders (and partners in life) competing in a crowded space and managing to carve out a fantastic product and business in the process. (8 min read)
Side note: I personally use Tally and would recommend trying it out as an alternative to the pricy TypeForm. P.S they aren't a sponsor.
Anne-Laure Le Cunff - Founder of Ness Labs was recently featured in a fantastic post on IndieHackers discussing her journey to $100k ARR as a solo bootstrapped founder. It's hard to believe just two years ago Ness Labs was just a small newsletter. Anne-Laure kickstarted Ness Labs by setting herself a challenge - to write 100 articles in 100 days and share her learnings in public across social media. This challenge later opened up a number of huge opportunities and ultimately lead her to establish a lucrative business and community. (5 min read)
🎁 Bonus Read: As a self-diagnosed productivity nerd this post by Anne-Laure really helped me find a system that worked for me and reminded me to not mimic others productivity systems, habits or routines.
🔗 Links
Just 4 years ago Sam Bankman-Fried hadn't even bought his first Bitcoin, flash forward to today and he's one of the wealthiest crypto billionaires and 32nd wealthiest person on the planet at the age of 30. However, the really interesting part is he's apparently not even a crypto evangelist and stands by a philosophy of “earning to give” in which he looks to earn as much as possible to give away as much as possible to causes that contribute to humanity. In this post, Mario Gabriele wrote a fascinating 3 part profile series of Sam's short but incredibly successful journey so far.
🎁 Bonus Read: Check out his desk setup. Too much?
The building in public strategy is being increasingly adopted by means to acquire customers, validate ideas, gather feedback, evoke conversations and teach others in the process. As Steph Smith points out in this deck "it's like pulling back the curtain" and inviting others to view your progress. However, what seems like a relatively straightforward concept can have mixed results and isn't as easy as it might appear. This deck documents Steph's personal experiments, results and learnings in fantastic detail.
Talk about a star-studded cast of guests on this packed episode of The Tim Ferris Show. In this episode, Tim's joined by Chris Dixon and Naval Ravikantdiscussing the wonders of Web3 and they couldn't have been better people to talk about this particular subject. But I know what you're thinking, "more web3 stuff Sam? it's all you talk about now" - and I get it, but it has huge potential upside for the creator economy and that's why we are all here right? Anyway, they also deep dive into how to pick the right hill to climb in your career, finding the right amount of Crypto regulation, friends with benefits case study, and the untapped potential of NFTs. Give it a shot and let me know what you think.
📱 Products
When Cam Sloan reached out to me and shared his product Hopscotch with me, my ears instantly pricked up. As a PM I have spent countless days/weeks in past wireframing and designing user onboarding journeys from scratch. And don't forget the development time spent building these natively. However, it seems now it doesn't need to be that way. Hopscotch allows you to create an onboarding with interactive product tours in literally minutes using no-code. Seriously, if you don't believe me check this 2 mins demo out.
I recently noticed someone using Kinopio during a webinar and had to have a shot of it myself. Unlike other similar products this seemed like a ton of fun to use. Kinopio is a spatial thinking tool for new ideas. Think of it as a big canvas for brainstorming, planning, creating mood-boards and journaling. Basically for figuring stuff out – by yourself or collaboratively. Pirijan has done a incredible job as a solo maker and has continued to iterate and improve the product. Give the demo a shot, you won't be disappointed.
Hardware Showcase
This month I found 3 aesthetically pleasing new hardware pieces to discover.
1. Nothing Ear: £99: stunning transparent veneers to highlight and celebrate the craftsmanship. Built-in noise cancellation.
2. Computer-1: £195: a build it yourself a flat pack, sheet metal PC computer case. Shame I'm a mac guy.
3. The Light Phone: $299: A phone without distractions. Includes alarm, a calculator, directions, a simple music player, and a podcasts tool. The phone also supports hotspot tethering.
⭐️ Community Showcase
This month I want to share an awesome newsletter I've been reading called 'Jungle Gym' by Nick deWilde. Jungle Gym is a bi-monthly newsletter that helps you build a more fulfilling career by integrating your work and life. This past issue is one of the most inspiring posts I've read in a while, where Nick explains why he left his job to "go independent" despite a great career and newborn.
🐦 Tweet of the month
Andrew Gazdecki - founder of Micro Aquire posted this tweet that really resonated with me. It's a strategy that has worked pretty well for me in the past launching side projects. Writing content about the problem and solution really helps you formulate and articulate your idea, but also allows you to validate the concept through your writing and learn from what is resonating with your readers. It's a simple but yet effective strategy.
⚡️ Flashback
I'll leave you with BusinessWeek’s 1996 assessment of Apple.
“There was so much magic in Apple Computer in the early ’80s that it is hard to believe that it may fade away. Apple went from hip to has-been in just 19 years,” wrote the publication at the time. And Fortune said, “By the time you read this story, the quirky cult company…will end its wild ride as an independent enterprise.”
Apple’s CEO at the time, Gil Amelio, split the company into 7 separate divisions, each responsible for its own profit or loss. In just the first quarter, Apple saw a $740 million loss. That loss led to analysts and journalists predicting it would perish.
The company ultimately turned it around by Q3, which saw a $30 million profit, and by Q4, had brought back co-founder Steve Jobs, who had resigned 12 years earlier. The rest is history.
That's it for this month!
If you made it this far, hit reply and tell me what you thought of this newsletter. What did you love? what didn't you like so much? I read every response 👀
Until next month,
Sam | @thisdickie 👨💻
P.S you can view all my past content in this Notion repo 🗄