Founder: KP Best Place to Find Him: Twitter Project stack for Appeared On can be found here. Project link for Appeared On.

TL;DR – How KP used no code to scratch his own itch and develop a solution for a Podcast Problem

He shares this with you because he is a genuine guy that I personally know. He truly loves the no code movement. I think more so than me, and wants to see others have success. What you will get out of this are his notes on his tech stack, problems he came across, how he went around them and how he made and launched his latest project, Appeared On as seen on Product Hunt.

What did you make?

I built and shipped appearedon.com, which to put it simply, is like the IMDb for podcasts.

What problems were you trying to solve, your motivation, what is your why for this?

“Appearedon.com” was born out of a personal itch with regards to podcasts. As a podcast lover, I have noticed that there’s a tremendous rise in the number of new shows coming out daily. Due to this trend, it has become very noisy out there with roughly 80,0000 podcast shows distributed over at least 7 different apps/players. (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Breaker, Stitcher etc) The problem I kept running into was NOT being able to find out if my favorite speaker (let’s say someone like Naval or Nir Eyal) was on a new episode in any of the thousands of shows. Typically, I would’ve had to wait for him/her to post on their social media feed to learn about their appearance on a given show. The other option was to subscribe to countless shows and hope they “appear” on my selection. I saw the gap for a simple site that is focussed more on the interesting people and less on subscribing to endless shows/episodes. The closest example I had in mind was the “Filmography section” of an actor listed on IMDb. This seemed like a fun experiment so I built it using a set of no-code tools.The result is what you are seeing today, appearedon.com, a site where you can follow all the appearances of your favorite podcast guests and keep up with their latest updates.

What different tools did you use? Your Tech Stack.

I used a combination of Webflow, Google Sheets and Airtable to build the 1st version from scratch.

Can you talk specifically about why you chose those tools? And how did you figure out to use those tools? Were there any others you considered or failed with at first?

I already shipped a couple products in the no-code space so I knew what tools to use before I started this project. I chose Webflow as my key tool because it appeals to my design-minded nature in terms of products on the web. I am a huge Apple fan and quite naturally I tend to gravitate towards products/platforms that enable you to design beautiful user experiences. Webflow also has a robust CMS that can handle a lot of complexity if you can be patient and learn how to figure out the subtle things. I’ll be honest and admit that it wasn’t easy for me. I had to watch a few tutorials on Youtube and ask for a friend (Webflow expert) to help when I was stuck but overall loved the journey because I learnt a ton on the way. I used Google Sheets and Airtable as a transitory databases where I stored all of the podcast episode data before I reviewed and published to Webflow CMS. I learn a ton from Twitter daily where I follow and interact with lots of makers in the no-code space and I highly encourage you to be open-minded and patient with asking for help on Twitter. My product had a lot of complex flows where I hit roadblocks because I didn’t know how to code but I still managed to build the 1st version using completely manual (aka unsexy!) processes that I am actually proud of. I could have easily given up but I hung on.

Outside of the product, I spent quite a bit of time generating interest within my Twitter community. This was so important as I was quite literally guided by their feedback and encouragement during the slow weeks. I almost gave up shipping appearedon.com until my friend and accountability buddy (@5harath) gave me one last push to be brave and ship it.

What would you do differently building it or something valuable you learned you’d like to share with other makers? 

Over the last year going from a nobody to someone seriously invested in the no-code space, I have learned the art of asking is absolutely important. I used to be hesitant and suffered in silence when I didn’t know how to do a certain thing. This is childhood conditioning! If you want to be a creator, you have to ask a ton of dumb beginner questions and learn quickly to move upwards in your growth journey. As a no-code maker, I pride myself in asking lots of questions and somehow manage to find the right people that help me! I also have learned to be “doing-minded” and have several routines in my day that place me in action without dwelling too much. I am a huge believer in learning by doing so this is a key concept.

Please provide what links to your project website, your twitter, where can people return the love?

Here’s my home on the web: http://thisiskp.com/
Here’s where I share my thoughts: https://twitter.com/thisiskp_

Is there anything else you would like to share or some feedback/request/action that you’d like to ask the Side Project Stack Audience to do for you?

I’m so proud and happy for Michael in regards to this initiative and how he’s bringing so many passionate makers together. I respect his hustle for how he keeps trying and never seems to slow down. It’s an honor to be on this newsletter sharing my story!

Lastly, I love helping others and although it sounds corny I get the biggest high when I am able to convince someone to take a shot on their dreams. I am practically living my dream from where I started in a rural poor town in India with English being my 3rd language. Nobody thought I’d make it anywhere. We all have tons of talent and potential inside of us hiding under the layers of self-imposed judgement and disbelief. Once you slowly peel away those layers, you will find an inner child who wants to create. Today, with no-code tools, you can give that child a chance to express him/herself. Don’t let this jaded world to squash your inner curiosity. It’s never been a better time to take a bet on yourselves and build something small. I urge you to become a maker, not like me or like any other person but just HOWEVER YOU WISH TO BE. Please hit me up when you do build or ship something. I am Twitter as KP always be sending love and energy your way!