Ed #6 | Building apps with off the shelf tools

🧰 Toolkit to built consumer apps • Resources & No Code tools to help you build your app

I recently launched a consumer app, dinnerfy.com, and achieved great success. What's fascinating is that we built it in just 6 months on a shoestring budget and still attracted thousands of users along with amazing reviews.

Check out the blog about it 👇🏻

We didn't build this using pre-made tools because we didn’t know how to code, but rather because it offers many advantages:

  1. Less prone to bugs and breaking in production, since these technologies are well-tested.

  2. Allows focus on actual user needs without worrying about technical issues.

  3. Helps in launching and iterating faster since nothing needs to be added to the development roadmap—just the integrations.

  4. Even non-technical team members can make changes, reducing dependency on developers.

  5. It is usually cheaper and faster than building our own tech stacks.

Obviously, this is not a long-term solution and has some serious long-term problems, such as customization limitations and vendor lock-in. But I see building anything as having different life cycles in itself. You have to rebuild the entire tech stack when you move from 10k to 100k users. Hence, don’t be afraid to try a well-tested tool and focus on solving the actual unique problems. One stage at a time.

Build half products, Not half assed products.

Jason Fried - 37 Signals

🧰📲 Consumer App Launch toolkit

Pre-built tools can be extremely useful for launching consumer apps quickly while focusing resources on building valuable features for users. However, it's important to have a plan to transition away from these tools over time to gain more control over the full tech stack as needs evolve. Starting simple with pre-built solutions is a low-risk way to validate ideas and learn what users need most. Then the experience gained can inform a more customized long-term architecture. I hope these recommendations provide a helpful starting point for efficiently turning your app ideas into a reality.

Regards
Aman Sharma
( ✍🏻 @ LA )

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