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  2. As a non-technical founder/maker, how do you develop your...

As a non-technical founder/maker, how do you develop your app's backend?

Mohamed Abdel-Maksoud
4 replies
I'm working on a product which solves this problem, drop a comment here if you'd like to try it for free.

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Fábio Krauss Stabel
I tried once hiring developers to do it for me... monumental failure. I can't tell you if this is the formula for success as I haven't struck gold yet but my approach now is: use nocode tools as much as possible to get something out and only then hire someone to do your thing. I'm validating a couple ideas and meanwhile since the first bad experience I've learned much more about backend architecture (not coding itself) that I think it won't be that big of an issue when I need it.
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Mohamed Abdel-Maksoud
@fabio_krauss_stabel Thanks for the feedback Fabio! Sorry for the failure! could you share how/why it didn't work with developers? I agree the time to market is crucial and low/no code tools are useful. Frontend tools are quite mature already. I'm working on a low code tool for backend. I'd appreciate your input if you are interested: https://www.producthunt.com/upco...
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Fábio Krauss Stabel
@m0ham3d sure thing: Many reasons why it failed: * Freelancer -> he only wanted to get the job done and get his upwork rating and move on to the next gig * I wasn't clear/sure how the deliverable should have been (in terms of what are the endpoints I need and how should they behave. 4 years later I can specify that) * I didn't have a clear understanding of what should be backend and what should be front-end * I didn't have familiarity running the app (all the npm installs, npm starts and so on were a surprise for me), even though it was on the environment I requested him to use (Google Cloud) Overall I got all the code and I believe the guy did an ok job I just wasn't able to express what I needed and didn't have the skills to handle what I specified as a deliverable (some basic Devops/ server baby sitting skills via the command line). About the code machine, I've read that many times over. The only way is to really get to try it out. I think today all nocode tools promise you pretty much the same thing but in the end you need to try them all and figure the one that works with exactly your usecase. For the same app that I had hired a developer back then (paid him 1k USD for that). I managed to build a similar app using Carrd & Memeberstack. It lacks some customization that was available in the app he coded but, like I said, better to validate the market first rather than have bells and whistles that no one wants :)
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Mohamed Abdel-Maksoud
@fabio_krauss_stabel great to know you found a solution :) I believe the code machine is different, basically it makes my experience in backend development accessible to non- and semi-techies, and it does not lock a user in within an (overpriced) modules eco system. You'll see with the launch next week :)
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