
How To Launch A Startup Without Writing Code - Rulero
http://onstartups.com/tabid/3339/bid/102728/How-To-Launch-A-Startup-Without-Writing-Code.aspx
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gmays
Great write up. This is how I built my company, Just Add Content
([http://justaddcontent.com](http://justaddcontent.com)), all on open source.
Sure, it's no Dropbox but it's doing some pretty neat things. For example,
it'll have front-end editing in the next few weeks, which makes content
management incredibly easy.

This strategy was my only option. My BA is in Psychology and my MS is in
Finance. I'm 29 and I spent the last 8 years in the Marine Corps (just got out
in October as a Captain). I had no technical background, but on my last
12-month deployment to Afghanistan (returned in April 2013) I spent my free
time building the first version on a $300 duct-taped laptop while teaching
myself to code. For me it was a mental escape. I was on a small Marine advisor
team living with Afghans. So sure, it's not revolutionary, but I did the best
I could with what I had. And to this day I'm still a self-funded single
founder and my costs are so low that even if I never got another customer I
can stay alive indefinitely. I even have investment and acquisition interest
from some companies in the space. Luckily I'm in the financial position to
turn it down to keep focusing on my long-term vision.

When I started working on this in early 2012 I never imagined it'd be this
hard, but I also never imagined I'd get this far. Even two years later I
absolutely love it every day. I'm still passionate about the industry and have
massive plans for the future. I want to change the way small businesses work
and how they use websites. And look how it all started, just some dumb Marine
that had an idea in 2012 a few weeks before deploying to Afghanistan for a
year.

~~~
qhoc
I enjoy reading this comment and can feel your enthusiasm. I was too in the
Navy years ago and ended up coding when I had free time in the machine shop
(enlisted ;)). People look at me like alien and thought I was some kind of
genius... lolz

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semerda
This wont work for tech focused startups. Google could never exist without
writing a single line of code. Nor could Dropbox. etc...

Yeah maybe a retail/ecommerce website sticky taped using off the shelf parts
with glue, but definitely no tech startup. A landing page offering something
which isn't built yet might also work using wordpress et al. However you still
need some tech knowledge to get this setup.

Being in a position to build an idea is a lot more powerful then raving on
about not needing to write code to build a startup. For those that have read
Founders at Work will know that ideas change. This means iterations. Many many
iterations. Very fast. Testing the waters with a MVP... usually that requires
writing code. Unless of course you want to move slow then yeah don't write
code and hope for the best with the glue.

~~~
spamizbad
Didn't dropbox start life as a slide deck on Drew Houston's laptop until he
got matched up with some (very skilled) programmers from MIT? I seem to
remember him pitching it before he even had a tech team assembled.

~~~
sebg
Drew Houston coded the first version by himself. From
[http://www.wired.com/business/2013/09/dropbox-2/](http://www.wired.com/business/2013/09/dropbox-2/)
\- "Houston started coding a version of what would become Dropbox’s signature
folder, the portal to an app that magically holds and syncs the same files on
every computer and mobile device where you install it...."

Also, if you look at his YC application, it is clear that he had written the
first version. -> YC application =>
[https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27532820/app.html](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27532820/app.html)

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atmosx
> They're getting their first customers with minimal technology, and often no
> code at all. Instead of building fancy technology from the outset, they're
> hacking together inexpensive online tools such as online forms, drag-and-
> drop site builders, advanced Wordpress plugins, and eCommerce providers.

In order to _hack together inexpensive tools_ and make your website look
decent, guess what, you need to KNOW a couple of things such as HTML/CSS/PHP
(wordpress) or Ruby (octopress), Python (Django) or whatever.

The examples described offer kind of services that can be build with wordpress
plugins right? Okay, but even to make these plugin work properly together, you
need at some point someone who knows how to _write code_.

Knowing how to write code, is a standard knowledge for startups, because is
what turns ideas into products taking away one of the biggest expense:
Development. If you have enough money, or investors you could outsource that,
but for me makes not much sense. Being leader and developer at the same time,
gives you a unique view top-down and down-top of your product. You can
understand the dynamics of the entire operation.

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leknarf
Even with two technical co-founders (we're both developers), we're still
following this strategy with Lambda
([http://getlambda.com](http://getlambda.com)). With the exception of our
homepage (which is a Jekyll site), we haven't written any code and don't have
any immediate plans to start coding either. We've been able to bring in >100k
in sales in one month and expect to be able clear over a million next year.

We've discussed some ideas we could start developing, but in each case, we've
always been able to come up with a quicker/cheaper way to test the relevant
concept without development work. Sticking to a "no code" strategy has been a
good way to focus our efforts on activities that actually matter. We both like
to code and would probably be happier spending a week hacking instead of
taking sales calls, but the latter is more important to our company right now.

Just because you can write code doesn't mean you have to.

~~~
andy_boot
Looks like a good business and if you are able to bring in that many sales it
looks like an excellent business. How do you find your consultants and your
customers?

I'd guess: consultants: hackathons, personal network, customers: personal
network, conferences

~~~
leknarf
That's right for the customers side: it's a lot of personal networking and
referrals.

For consultants, we've had a lot of resonance with various social media
channels. It's really nothing fancy or surprising, just making a consistent
effort to engage with various communities (like HN) has been fantastic.

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qhoc
I think the right balance is to at least have some kind of prototype to show
off. The initial phase of "not having to write code" is pretty short. You are
more likely to figure out who are the customers and who are not. You will also
exhaust all options to get email / signup quickly... If you spend way more
time into this phase and still don't want to write code, you will start losing
people's interest. So when I said the "right balance" is to code in 2-weeks
timeframe. That's what my buddy and I did with this TV social site with show
casts/celebrities [http://www.tivify.com/](http://www.tivify.com/). It is
something raw, brutal but works!! We at least could take it to Meetup and show
off to people. That's easier to sell than slidedeck or launchpage.

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0xdeadbeefbabe
Sounds like how to succeed in business without really trying
([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwjL_erNSbc&list=PL22F92A9225...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwjL_erNSbc&list=PL22F92A922575136C))
so they could be on to something.

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conjecTech
For a second I thought this was going to be about hardware startups, or
perhaps about some of the other goods and services that aren't websites.

