We built a fully native mobile app MVP in just 6 days using no-code.
This is important to share because the founder we built it for had been getting quotes from off-shore dev teams with a timeframe of 6 months and tens of thousands of dollars. When she told us the specs of her app, though, we knew it could be built entirely in no-code at a fraction of the time and money to get her to market ASAP.
We followed this process to get her from idea to launch in record time. Hopefully this can be helpful to any founders at the stage between concept validation and MVP build. The concept is a community and events-first take on the outdoors.
Scope the roadmap → The first step is to get crystal clear on what, exactly, to include in the MVP build or not. We used a Notion template I designed for 0→1 product roadmaps that helped us clarify the high-level user flows and spec features across the first 4 releases.
Pro tip: For an MVP build, stay laser-focused on ONLY the user flows / features that are core to your unique offering. Add everything else to future releases you can map out in a logical sequence. The goal is to ship ASAP to get talking with users.
Resource: The Product Management OS is a free template for non-technical founders to track their product vision, regardless of who’s building it. https://www.dreamlabs.pro/blog/product-management-fundamentals-for-your-mobile-app
Identify the right tool → The no-code ecosystem is maturing fast so there’s no shortage of tools to help you build what you want. Our founder wanted to launch on the iOS store this summer so we looked for tools with this feature. We tried out Glide & Thunkable before landing on Adalo, which was the best balance between usability and customization.
Pro tip: Most no-code tools have similar drag-and-drop interfaces to build the UX/UI easily. The trick to powerful functionality is in the backend. Knowledge on how to create robust relational databases with tools like Airtable are key to setting up the product engine quickly and effectively.
Resource: The No Code MBA is a great starting point for finding the right tool https://www.nocode.mba/tools
Bust it out → With the roadmap and tool in hand, the building is effortless as warm butter. This part took us 6 days, end-to-end, putting the initial estimates of 6 months from off-shore devs to shame.
Pro tip: Having a disciplined, clearly defined process is as important for QA testing as for building. This enables you to catch bugs, errors or glitches before your users.
Resource: The PM OS Notion template I built has a QA Unit Testing table fully integrated into the high-level User Flows, Features and Bugs/Fixes databases, so you can track your product from the highest level to the smallest granularity easily.
As a Fractional Product Team, we worked with the founder each step of the way, helping her strategically prioritize the roadmap, build the MVP, iterate the UI and catch the bugs. All in all, we’re now ready to ship the release to her first users, less than 1 month after we started.
Feel free to ask any questions if you’re working through a similar process and need help on the no-code ecosystem or 0→1 product management!