What 300 Builders Taught Us at BTS About the Future of App Building
After three long days at the Bangalore Tech Summit, one thing became obvious.
People aren’t just looking for faster tools. They’re looking for complete tools.
We kept hearing the same reactions again and again:
“Can I build a full app without coding?”
“I’ve never seen UI and automations in one tool.”
And the big one
“How is this different from n8n?”
The crowd wasn’t just curious. They were bringing their teammates to the stall. Lines were forming. Students wanted to build real apps. Developers said this would save hours every week.
The common pain points were the same across founders, devs and students:
- Current tools feel slow and limited
- Too many apps needed to build one simple thing
- No real ownership or visibility
- Automations are easy, but building a usable product is not
What excited them the most was also clear:
- A drag and drop UI that non devs could use
- One click deployments
- And the promise that what they create is fully theirs
If anything, this event proved that the market is shifting.
People want creation, not just automation.
They want ownership, not just speed.
And they want to build real software, not stitched workflows.
I’m curious to hear from this community too:
Do you feel today’s tools are limiting you?
What’s the biggest bottleneck when you try to build something fast?
The next wave of tools will be shaped by these answers.
I wish I could have been there to tell how easy it is to deploy software to AWS cloud with Lime Boost. I'm aiming to get there next year.
Would’ve been great to have you there, Lea. If you ever want to see how we handle one click deploys on our side, happy to run you through it.
Great! I want to see.
I've seen tremendous interest in such a tools from people on WebSummit. Guys like you had a booth nearby and had many visitors. Good luck
Thanks, Jozh. The interest surprised us too. If you’re ever curious how people were building full apps at the booth, I can show you a quick walkthrough anytime.
Insightful lessons from 300 builders at BTS reveal emerging trends and the evolving future of app development.
Thanks Barry. The patterns were pretty clear this year. If you ever want to see how these insights shaped what we’re building, I can walk you through a quick demo.
Spot on, Dr. Kumar. We’ve mastered the art of automation, but we kind of lost the art of 'ownership' along the way. The reliance on third-party platforms for core functionality is a massive risk for founders.
Seeing UI and logic come together in a single environment is definitely the next wave. I’ve been covering this shift towards 'real software' ownership in my recent writings—it’s a game-changer for non-technical founders.
Love how you framed that. This shift toward real software ownership came up a lot at BTS. If you ever want to see how UI and logic sit together inside Simplita, I can walk you through a quick build.
Appreciate you sharing this. The shift toward full creation tools feels real. Curious to see how the space evolves as more people ask for ownership and simpler workflows.
True. People want more control and fewer moving parts. If you’d like a closer look at how we’re solving that, I can give you a short tour anytime.
My question for this community:
For those managing rentals or building tools for "boring"
industries — what's your biggest pain point that software
hasn't solved yet?
I'm always looking for the next feature that would make
landlords' lives easier. The best ideas so far have come
from real conversations, not competitor research.
Interesting question. A lot of builders at BTS raised similar pain points around visibility and control. If you ever want to see how Simplita helps teams build custom tools for these “boring” industries, I can walk you through a quick demo.
Love this breakdown. The shift you’re describing is something I’ve been seeing everywhere too: people don’t want pieces of a tool anymore—they want the whole workflow in one place. Not just automation, not just UI, not just deployment… but the ability to actually create something end-to-end without duct-taping five platforms together.
The reactions you got at the summit make total sense. Most “no-code” or automation tools still stop short of letting users build a real product. They’re great at workflows, but not at ownership. Great at speed, but not at visibility. And a lot of them break the moment you try to go beyond toy projects.
What resonates with me is the idea that creation is becoming the new bottleneck. People can automate tasks all day—but building something usable, launchable, and theirs is still way too hard.
Curious to watch how this next wave evolves. Tools that combine UI, automation, and deployment in one place are going to reshape what non-developers (and even devs) expect.
You captured the pattern perfectly. Most tools still split the creation flow into too many pieces. That’s why so many people at BTS wanted to see everything come together in one workspace. If you ever want to try a small end to end build, I can show you how teams were doing it live at the booth.
If anyone needs help improving their brand colours or layout, i can share some tips. I create brand kits for small businesses.
Great1
Thanks Kevin.
Really insightful — it’s clear the next wave of app building is all about speed, autonomy, and removing the gap between idea and execution. Loved the builder-first perspective.
Thanks Kevin. Glad it resonated. If you ever want to see how we close that idea to execution gap inside Simplita, I can walk you through a quick demo.
The BTS builders revealed that the future of app building is collaborative, decentralized, and highly focused on AI integration.
Absolutely. Collaboration and AI were the two biggest themes we heard. If you ever want to see how they come together inside Simplita, I can walk you through a quick demo.
This really resonates! It’s clear from BTS that the future isn’t just about faster automation—it’s about full app creation with ownership and simplicity.
Many builders struggle today because they juggle multiple tools just to get one product working. Drag-and-drop UIs, one-click deployment, and real ownership solve that pain, especially for non-developers who want to build something meaningful without stitching workflows together
Well said. Builders juggling multiple tools was the biggest pattern we saw. If you’re curious how Simplita solves that end to end, happy to show you anytime.
Powerful insight: Builders at BTS aren’t just automating — they want full app creation, drag‑&‑drop UIs, one-click deploys, and real ownership.
Thanks Barry. That’s exactly what we heard at the stall. If you ever want to see how those pieces come together in one flow, I can walk you through a quick demo.
Insights from 300 innovators revealed faster workflows, AI-powered development, no-code flexibility, and smarter user experiences shaping a more efficient, scalable future for app creation.
Thanks for sharing that. These were the exact themes we heard at the booth too. If you ever want to see how AI and no code flexibility come together inside Simplita, I can walk you through a quick demo.
Sravan, thoughtful post and touches an important topic in the AI world.
Previously writing code, scripts and documents gave job satisfaction which I think everyone agrees is no more the case.
Slowly that is changing and we are also questioning current processes and tools. Even the business models as Customer has high expectations in the AI era.
Bottleneck is ability to collaborate and brainstorm with existing tools and communication mechanism to figure out what customers/users really want
Thanks for sharing that. You’re right, expectations have shifted fast and the old way of building doesn’t match the pace anymore. If you’re curious how teams were collaborating and testing ideas quickly at BTS, I can walk you through a short demo.
Absolutely—this captures the shift from automation to true creation perfectly!
Thanks. That shift kept coming up in almost every conversation at the stall.
“What 300 Builders Taught Us at BTS About the Future of App Building” is an inspiring read. It offers valuable insights, trends, and lessons from top developers, highlighting innovation, collaboration, and the evolving landscape of app development. Highly insightful!
Glad it resonated. Seeing builders connect the dots across UI, logic, and automation was the real eye opener.
At BTS, 300 developers made it clear: the future of app building is not just about speed, but real ownership. People want no-code platforms with drag-and-drop UI, automation, and one-click deployments — all in a single tool. The shift is toward creation, not just stitching workflows.
Exactly. People aren’t asking how to automate more, they’re asking how to build without juggling ten tools.
"Excellent read! This post provides valuable insights from 300 builders, offering a clear glimpse into the future of app development. Inspiring and full of practical takeaways for creators and innovators alike."
Thanks. The best part was hearing the same pain points repeat across founders, devs, and students.
Great vision! One quick question: are you integrating any AI automation for content suggestions?
If you want, I can share a setup that helps newsletters grow faster.
We are exploring it. Happy to hear what you’re using. Always curious about setups that actually move the needle.
“Fantastic insights! Hearing from 300 builders highlights key trends in app development—no-code tools, faster iteration, and collaboration. Exciting to see how the community shapes the future of building apps efficiently.”
Well said. The energy at BTS showed how quickly builders are moving toward unified creation environments.
“Great insights from BTS! Hearing from 300 builders really highlights the evolving landscape of app development. Trends like no-code/low-code, collaboration, and speed-to-market are shaping the future. It’s exciting to see how innovation and community-driven learning are empowering creators to build smarter, faster, and more impactful applications.”
Appreciate it. The community angle stood out the most. Builders were teaching each other right at the stall.
The pain points you captured are things we see every day. Internal tools take too long because we end up stitching APIs, dashboards and workflows across multiple products. If a platform can handle UI and backend automation together while still keeping things transparent, that’s a real shift.
Totally agree. Every team ends up stitching things just to get basic workflows running. Our goal is to remove that overhead so builders can focus on the actual product instead of the glue work.
Coming from a core IT environment, I can relate to many of the points you highlighted. Our teams often hit bottlenecks because UI, automation and deployment sit in different systems with different owners. A platform that brings these layers together can reduce a lot of cross team friction and shorten delivery cycles. Interested to see how this evolves for larger tech teams.
You put it perfectly. The split ownership across UI, automation and deployment slows teams more than people admit. We’re trying to remove that cross team friction so delivery feels more direct and predictable.
What you observed at BTS is accurate. Most automation platforms help with tasks, but they don’t help teams actually build usable software. When UI, logic and data sit in different tools, everything slows down. A unified space makes sense, especially for small teams trying to move fast.
Exactly. Automation alone doesn’t give you a usable product. Once UI and logic sit together, things move faster and teams stop context switching between tools that were never built to work in sync.
The reaction from students and developers doesn’t surprise me. Beginners want a quick way to build real apps, and experienced devs want more control without fighting black box systems. If one tool can balance both, it usually signals the direction the ecosystem is heading.
This is the pattern we noticed too. Beginners want speed, experienced devs want control. If one platform can serve both without hiding how things work, it opens up a new way to build.