Many people in tech think that no-code tools are limiting and that only simple applications can be created with this technology.
However, there are documented cases where a founder with no technical experience and little financial backing was able to scale their startup to millions of dollars in revenue. Some even received investments worth hundreds of millions from venture capital firms and angel investors.
If you’re thinking about creating a no-code application and need some inspiration, here are the 10 most impressive examples of startups that reached millions of dollars using no-code technology:
Comet: The most famous no-code case
Dividend Finance: Raised 365 million dollars from investors
Plato: Community for engineering leaders
Teal: Simplifies the job search process
Hello Prenup: Featured on Shark Tank
Flexiple: Freelance hiring platform
PayTable: Reached 50 monthly clients in two days
LifeLegacy: The easiest way to leave a legacy
Beelango: Speak like a local
(your startup here)
1. Comet: The "OG" successful no-code story
The first no-code startup is Comet, a marketplace for IT talent to find freelance jobs. We like to think of Comet’s founder, Charles Thomas, as the godfather of no-code startup development because he built Comet in 2017, when Bubble was not as advanced as it is today.
Charles had no programming or coding experience, so he had to rely on Bubble’s functions and some tutorials he found online.
What set Comet apart from competitors like Fiverr and Upwork was that Charles interviewed freelancers and subjected them to a rigorous vetting process. So, unlike Fiverr, where anyone could join, employers had the peace of mind that all freelancers on Comet were qualified.
Charles developed this application using Bubble in a few weeks and quickly launched an MVP to the market. After a couple of months, Comet was generating more than $800,000 in monthly revenue. This attracted the attention of VC firms like Otium Capital, which invested $2 million. And this was in 2017, when Bubble had scalability issues and only a fraction of the features it offers today.
A year later, in 2018, Charles raised an additional $12.8 million in funding from other VCs.
2. Dividend Finance: Raised 365 million dollars from investors
Dividend Finance raised more than $365 million from investors since 2013 and processed over $1 billion in sales.
Dividend Finance is a solar energy and home improvement company that provides homeowners with financing options to install solar panels and other renewable energy sources.
The founders used Bubble to create their onboarding portal, offering a simpler registration process for new customers. This shows that even if you are onboarding tens of thousands of customers and handling millions of dollars, Bubble remains a quick and secure option.
The founders recently signed a deal with Credit Suisse and CitiBank to provide them with an additional $350 million in financing.
3. Plato: Community for engineering leaders
Plato is a startup focused on connecting engineering companies with freelancers and full-time employees.
After a few weeks of development on Bubble, the founder, Quang Hoang, launched the first version of his application and was soon accepted into Y-Combinator, one of the most prestigious accelerators that invests in early-stage startups. After joining Y-Combinator, Plato raised $13 million from investors and VCs.
Quang did this without writing a single line of code and built the entire platform using Bubble and a few other no-code tools.
4. Teal: Simplifies the job search process
Founded by David Fano, Teal helps people achieve better results in their job search. The platform allows people to organize their job search activities and find better jobs.
Teal’s founder admits they considered developing with no-code from the start and used Bubble to launch the platform.
Choosing a no-code platform gave Teal better control over the design and helped them iterate faster. Teal started with Bubble for the main product, then used Typeform for surveys and Airtable for database management, connecting everything through Zapier. They used Webflow for the website.
The founder says traditional wireframes are a great solution, but they don’t help validate if there’s demand for a product. A no-code MVP allows companies to speed up development, test quickly, and iterate rapidly to find a product-market fit.
Teal has raised over $11 million from investors and continues to improve the platform with a small team. No-code helped the company perfect the product and focus on helping people make the most of their career paths.
5. Hello Prenup: Featured in Shark Tank
Julia Rodgers y Sarabeth Jaffe founded Hello Prenup using Bubble and a few other no-code tools.
Hello Prenup is a web application that helps couples obtain prenuptial agreements easily and without exorbitant legal fees. It appeared on Shark Tank in late 2021 and received investments from Kevin O'Leary and Nirav Tolia.
The founder and CTO, Sarabeth Jaffe, has a background in software development, so she could have created the web application with full code if she wanted. However, she saw the value of no-code (faster development times and lower costs), so she decided to build Hello Prenup with Bubble.
Today, more than 5,000 couples in over 30 U.S. states use Hello Prenup to simplify the prenuptial process.
6. Flexiple: Freelance hiring platform
Flexiple is a popular alternative to Toptal that helps companies hire pre-vetted freelancers. Flexiple generates $3 million in revenue, and the company is built using a no-code stack that costs them only $60 a month.
In the theoretically competitive space of freelance hiring platforms, the key to their success was a simple business model, a strong focus on organic growth, and frugal innovation.
It took Flexiple four years to reach one million dollars in annual revenue, during which they tested several models. Since then, Flexiple has been growing at 25% month over month. Flexiple's no-code tech stack includes Unicorn Platform, Airtable, Bubble, and Webflow.
According to the blog of one of Flexiple's side projects, Buildd, the company:
Created over 100 subpages on the Unicorn platform
Launched side projects like Scale and Founder Origin Stories on Webflow
Managed dynamic flows using Zapier or Integromat
Built internal tools for business management using Bubble, saving them 160 hours each month
Flexiple's founder, Karthik Sridharan, regularly shares insights about the power of no-code in building a startup.
7. Paytable: Reached 50 monthly clients in 2 days
Founded by Joel Rosen, Paytable allows Airtable users to sell curated content from Airtable and conveniently collect payments from clients for this content. It also offers analytics features so users can track client logins and sales.
Joel created Paytable with Bubble and even documented the entire process, from building Paytable within Bubble to launching it and acquiring his first client. If you're interested in learning more about how Joel launched an MVP, you can watch his interview with Side Project Stack here.
In this interview, Joel talks about how he could change his product and add new features a few hours after talking to his customers. This immediate feedback loop allowed Paytable to pivot more quickly around customer feedback than the competition.
8. LifeLegacy: The easiest way to leave a legacy
LifeLegacy allows users to create a last will and testament, advance healthcare directives, and a financial power of attorney for $119 without leaving the comfort of their homes. The entire process takes less than 15 minutes, making it much cheaper and faster than hiring a lawyer.
The founders, Spencer, Jordan, and Austin Cassidy, created LifeLegacy after their father's passing. They wanted other families to be prepared when the inevitable happens.
The only problem was that they had no software development experience nor the capital to hire an in-house software development team.
So they turned to no-code and used Bubble to launch an MVP. Once they knew there was demand for their product, they started adding more features to the point where LifeLegacy's first users pledged over $14.3 million.
9. Beelango: Speak like a local
Beelango is a language learning app that generates around $300,000 in annual revenue and has over 100,000 users worldwide.
The founder, Jonathan Menashe, had a limited budget when he came up with the idea for Beelango. He didn't want to invest too much money in the app because it might not generate returns, so he created a quick and cheap MVP with Bubble.
Soon, thousands of users joined, and Jonathan used Bubble to launch new features like pre-recorded videos, exercises, and quizzes. This resulted in a more interactive experience for users, increasing their loyalty.
More examples of successful no-code startups
Swapstack: Created with Bubble, crossed $500k in GMV as a marketplace.
Scribly: Helps businesses with their content needs through a no-code facilitated website service.
Aware Health: A musculoskeletal health app built with Bubble. Currently generates over $30,000 in monthly revenue.
Bloomtech: Accessible education for all.
10. (your startup here)
You don't need to write a single line of code to create your tech startup, raise money, or even sell it for millions of dollars.
No-code has many benefits that surpass traditional development, and it is becoming more comprehensive and relevant every day for startups and established companies of all sizes.
Once you enter the no-code world, you won't want to leave.
At Sierra Labs, we develop software and applications using these no-code technologies to accelerate the launch of your MVP to market without sacrificing functionality or resources.
If you are looking to launch your own SaaS, build an app, or implement a tool for your business, book a call with us and let's discuss your project.
What are you waiting for?