How to start building with no-code tools and scale into more robust tools

Building an eCommerce site with no-code

What is it:

Roaster List - Find New Specialty Coffee

What did I learn:

1. Product Strategy - Start as small as you can and build iteratively until you validate. Start as small as possible. This product by Noah is a great case study at why. Noah started with an idea of making it easier to find specialty coffee. Because of his knowledge of no-code tools, he used Sheet2site to get the first version created in under 3 hours.

As he launched it iteratively and validated. Once validated he then spent the time and investment into creating a new version of the concept with a new set of no-code tools. His product was mature for going from Sheet2site to Webflow. Often times I see Makers start off using Webflow, when they don't have any experience using Webflow or you have not validated your product yet.

Your biggest risk is creating a product with no audience and spending too much time building an unvalidated product in a tool that requires a much higher learning curve.

To remove as much of that risk as possible, be a digital hermit when building products. Start with smaller learning curve tool, get it created quickly and use your saved time to build an audience. Learn and iterate. Then when you your product has matured that stage of the make and launch process, it is worth your time to invest in a larger no-code tool that can offer more flexibility in design, functionality and scale.

I write about this extensively in guide The Lean Side Project.

Summary:

Start using no-code tools with almost zero learning time then like a hermit grow into a bigger solution that you can scale and have more flexibility in design.

2. No-code tool feature: Sheet2site - allows you to create your own website using only Google Sheets. You can build a fully functional website with pictures, text, filters and links without writing code.

This tool is perfect for quickly building informational listings, directory style, video listings, upvoting ability, ecommerce configurations and more.

There is an ability to submit information onto a form and you could dynamically have it update your listing website by connecting zapier to the form and then sending that data to the backend of your Sheet2site sheet.

The value here in using a tool like Sheet2site, is that your speed to produce something is reduced down to hours. The reason why is this product leverages google sheets. Your time to learn a new platform is drastically reduced because high chance that you already have good familiarity with Google Sheets.

Competitors to Sheet2site are Siteoly.com that is currently a lower price, However, Sheet2site is more established and I would advise to check out both to see which one best meets your needs.

A third option to check out would be Pory.io. The backend for this product is a little bit different as you have to use Airtable base.

3. No-code tool feature: Webflow is a great tool to use if you are building a higher end version of Sheet2site. It's learning curve is much higher than Sheet2site. The backend CMS of information for your site takes a bit of learning compared to a google sheet.

However, with this complexity comes great benefit. The flexibility you have in design, scale and additional functionalities is much higher and customizable.

Thats the tradeoff.

Webflow may be a perfect tool for you if you already are proficient in front end technologies like CSS and HTML or even photoshop. The tool feels like photoshop in ability and complexity to learn. But if you are able to pick it up its ability to create amazing front end experiences is limitless. There are Makers like Sako who have recreated Apple iOS note feature and even simulated high end video games within it to almost pixel perfect precision of the real thing.

But you have to make the judgement of what is the best tool for the job? It depends on where you are in your skill level, validation stage of your idea, and complexity of your product. But in a case like this product, RoasterList it's best to start small, validate, and then grow into larger and higher learning curve tools to scale your product.