Imagine a software development agency, but for nocode software. At $99/month, you get unlimited nocode small tasks, to build anything you or your organisation needs. A working prototype, a minimum viable product, or an internal dashboard or productivity tool. 

This idea was prompted by this tweet by @tylertringas who shared how they hired a part-time but in-house nocode developer who can ship software for business uses so fast, that’s it’s five times the productivity of a fullstack developer, but using only tools like Airtable, Zapier, Memberspace, Webflow, Makerpad and Integromat. The important caveat is knowing what’s possible with what nocode tools, and what’s not and scope things within what’s possible. 

If an enterprise can find nocode tools sufficient for most business cases, then it goes to show how far nocode tools has come. Gone are the days just informational websites made on Wordpress, the original nocode. And the speed to market is attractive for enterprises – imagine how much savings on manpower, time, and effort they can save from the speed. 

So I wonder when we’ll start seeing a nocode productized service in the market. In productized services, especially for design, there’s been a proven model of “unlimited tasks at a fixed monthly subscription”. You see this for Design Joy, offering unlimited design and revision at $999/month. Similarly for development, you see WP Buffs providing 24/7 Wordpress website maintenance from $70/month onwards. Once you’re able to scope down what kind of tasks you can do efficiently and cheaply, streamline your processes, you can offer unlimited nocode small tasks at a much more competitive rate than a run-of-the-mill developer. 

Makes me wonder…is there a market opportunity for one? Should I start one (even though I still want to continue to learn how to code!)? I’m already experimenting with specialist web design services using only nocode tools like Carrd and Sheet2site, so this feels like a natural extension. But there’s a wide spectrum of nocode tools available out there in the market, and you can’t be proficient in everything. So focusing on some of the main ones will be needed, like the WAMZstack (Webflow, Airtable, Memberspace and Zapier).

Hmmmm! ?

If it only costs you $99/month to have access to unlimited nocode small tasks, what would you build?

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24 Jun 2020

A tweet by nocode maestro @tomosman got me building on the idea in the previous post about a unlimited nocode productized service:

How to land automation work:

- Make a list of ideal clients

- Enter domains into builtwithdotcom

- Pick two tools they use (e.g. CRM + Email Provider)

- Go to Zapier

- Create a Loom video of you connecting Tool 1 with Tool 2

- Send Email

- Repeat

A large % won’t have it setup.

It’s so simple a marketing hack, but so elegant. Just one recurring task that they have to do, the more frequently recurring and more time-consuming, the better. Automate with nocode, using the two or more tools they use for this task. Make them jealous with the screen recording. Tell them how much manpower, time or costs they can save using that tiny automation.

Makes me wonder, what kind of industries or jobs out there are doing these time-consuming, morale-sapping routine tasks which can and should be automated? Brainstorming some examples:

Designers designing open graph images: Airtable for holding text and link for each post scheduled > Bannerbear to auto-design open graph images > Zapier sends image back to Airtable > marketer downloads image and post to social media

Social media marketers: Intergate Zapier from Twitter account to Telegram channel, Facebook page, Instagram > post once on Twitter, send to all other channels  

Professionals offering appointment-based services like dentist, consultant, salon: Airtable to create form with fixed time slots > link one column’s record field to another sheet with a form > create form to book appointment > embed form on website > customer books appointment > Zapier emails confirmation to customer and you 

What other frequently recurring tasks would benefit from nocode automation?