DILEMMA: Clickable Prototypes into Functioning Apps
Hey all — this is my conundrum.
Sketch + Invision / or UXpin seem like a really smooth way to build beautiful app prototypes (MVPr - Minimum Viable Prototype / Clickable Prototype) however translating all that work into a functioning MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is the challenge. I have currently built a landing page for a mobile app with a validated pre-sale and I intend on running a pilot program intending to make the MVPr into a MVP within a 6-8 week timeframe with room for some iterations.
My dilemma is... Is it possible to copy and paste the design work from Sketch/Invision/Uxpin into Bubble and then begin to no-code develop the app ... is that possible... or does it defeat the purpose... or is the likelihood I will have go to developers? Besides a few indie made web bases sites (ie. Nomadlist for example) where the design and dev. quality is so high standard that it looks like a professional team of 8+ people built it, I fear doing a no-code mobile app as I am yet to see any gamechanging examples of apps on Bubble that are doing $1M+ ARR in revenue.
So a few questions:
- Can you copy work from Sketch/Invision/Uxpin in Bubble? Or would you just start in Bubble? (Ideally I start in sketch, I want to keep things simple with visual artwork at this stage before building anything high fidelity. I find Bubble too complicated at the minute. That obviously may change in 2-4 weeks when I am further along the journey and I have validated necessity to build further).
- Any example of no code apps above the $1M+ ARR?
- What can one expect to pay a development team for an app around the complexity of something like Tinder or the Kindle reading app? Are apps of that complexity even possible on Bubble? and a rough turnaround time if I went to dev team?
Grateful for anything here team!
NOTE: This is a powerful community. Just joined, first post. Reading Pieter Levels' Make: https://makebook.io/, stumbling upon Nomad List and discovering the underground world of independent making has seriously awakened my creativity like never before. Indie making / No-code is next level shit. I just imagine a 16 year old version of myself having access to this potential. I am 10 years out of high school now with a pointless law degree to my name. I know exactly how I want to educate my kids to be creative with this lean philosophy and if there is one thing they will be taught by me instead of the rote-learning nonsense I picked up in my schooling is pretty clear — the art of design and how to find oppurtunity in solving people's problems. Indie making = perfect for a post-Coronavirus world.
Much love ❤️
I think the closest thing to this is probably a service like AppGyver or Builder.ai. AppGyver is a no/low code native app builder and Builder.ai has a drag and drop builder where you can pay for development a la carte.
Hey, I'm a dev so haven't used Bubble, so can't help you there I'm afraid.
Why are you concerned with $1M+ ARR and no-code apps in particular? Whether it's bespoke dev or no-code, isn't it the problem you're solving that's important as opposed to it's delivery at the moment - especially for an MVP? You could use no-code to get something up and running at minimal cost and take it from there, rather than investing thousands in dev work.
If you're making $1M+ ARR you can worry about optimising the platform and delivery then, it would be a nice problem to have :D
Jamie, thanks for the response.
I guess at what point does a no dev MVP fail to meet the demand, bandwidth and resources needed to solve larger user needs... when does one need go custom and go to devs for a proper scaling build? Might sound like a dumb question but I don't know if no dev has the realistic ability to always stay no dev or limited to a one man band operation. My fear is that building no code for a mobile app that may actually have legs may lead to shakey grounds if one ever does get to scaling oppurtunities plus my the fear of being a one man band if one does crack the code on something. Teams are needed always to build big things and solve bigger problems in history, so does no dev re-write history in that sense? I don't want to explore no dev too merely be a cute side project conversation, but be a legitmate framework for solving large scale problems/build sustainable business models. Is no dev the end game or the the pathway to dev if one is succesful in validation and traction?
I guess I wanted to know if there are example of quality solutions to large problems in the no dev space that have the ability of punching well above their weight in a scalable manner. Pieter Levels' ability to outpace his Nomadlist competitors who raised venture money with big teams and failed to beat him is a bit of a David and Goliath story that inspires me and I think fuels the philosophy of this whole community. This is only one example though. So I guess my curiosity is, can David with a no dev operation provide a Goliath soloution, specifically with a mobile app instead of a one clear precendent set by Pieter with his peiecemeal MVP developed over 3-5 years that was built for desktop (ie. google sheet into slack community into niche social media network etc.). I guess i's unchartered territory, but I wanted to see the viability of this movement beyond a certain revenue threshhold of say $1M ARR. I am also personally torn between the fork im the road of building a lifestyle friendly remote operation that the no dev scene promises and larger scale company building which seem to be two different extremes. Maybe I am getting too far ahead of myself and maybe this defeats the whole point of indie making in the first place. But yes, solving the problem of potential users is the first and main point of call.
Just curious to get the conversation going. I am new to this, and precedents help as much as possible where possible.
@kristianmichail I will be able to offer you free access to an alpha platform in development that solves this dilemma. Contact me and I'll get back to you soon as it's available for alpha release.
Mm I think maybe you are getting ahead of yourself. An MVP is just that, the bare bones of your product to test the waters, and by no means a final working product. Just get something out and start getting feedback before thinking about the problem of scaling - a problem that many of us have yet to face, unfortunately! :)
Unfortunately, you cannot take a design prototyped in Sketch/Figma/Adobe and import it into no-code platforms (at least for all the ones that I know of).
But.. it's definitely helpful to have those designs. In bubble, you can quickly drag + drop the elements, and having the designs in hand, it shouldn't take too long to build them out.
Check out my post here: https://www.indiehackers.com/post/one-tool-design-build-deploy-anywhere-fast-responsive-native-html-js-site-app-how-valuable-1784448bf4
We're working on building this solution right now.