NoCode: A Game Changer for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs have been building web applications since the late 1990s when the Internet started to gain popularity. Traditionally building a web application meant you needed to hire a developer or learn how to program yourself. In the past 10 years though, as browsers have evolved, a new breed of companies have created tools that let people build applications without needing to write code. These NoCode tools are basically web applications that let you build other applications through a visual interface that doesn’t require coding. Most of the NoCode tools are focused on building web applications but a few let you build progressive web applications or native applications (applications that can be installed on an Android or Apple tablet or phone).

To say this is a game-changer is an understatement. NoCode has made it so that anyone with an idea can build and launch their app without having to pay a developer. The learning curve on using a NoCode tool is exponentially lower than learning a language like PHP or JavaScript. Entrepreneurs no longer need to pay tens of thousands of dollars to build an application and this has meant a surge in the number of applications that have been brought to market.

Traditionally one of the biggest risks with building applications has been that the entrepreneurs idea doesn’t get properly conveyed to the developer. The developer then builds something that doesn’t match what the entrepreneur wanted. This then leads to the developer having to spend more time modifying the application or the entrepreneur finding a different developer who can hopefully better understand the requirements. NoCode addresses this risk by allowing the person with the idea to actually build the application themselves.

NoCode doesn’t just let entrepreneurs bring products to market. It also allows for managers or anyone with an idea to build an application. NoCode allows domain experts to build applications that help improve processes and workflows. These applications, often called microapps, are highly focused and often perform tasks for just a few users.

While NoCode makes it easier to build applications it does have some risks. While NoCode is much easier than writing code they do have varying learning curves. Entrepreneurs can sometimes find NoCode tools to have a higher learning curve than they expected. Additionally, many freelancers and agencies have started offering NoCode development services and there’s a varying range of competence among these NoCode practitioners. NoCode tools are also still evolving and they often have a stigma of being great for a minimum viable product but not suitable for scalability. This stigma is well founded but the reality is that the vast majority of the applications that are built using NoCode will not need to scale, either because they have a small audience (as is the case with microapps) or the entrepreneurs building them will not find product-market fit and thus won’t have many users. For the few that do need to scale, well, that’s a good problem to have!


NoCode Guides is a marketplace for finding NoCode developers and mentors. Get one-on-one mentoring on your NoCode application or post a project and receive proposals from our vetted mentors.