Growth & Strategy
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Short-term (< 3 months)
Last year, a potential client approached me with what seemed like a dream project: build a comprehensive two-sided marketplace platform using Bubble. The budget was substantial, the technical challenge was interesting, and it would have been one of my biggest freelance projects to date.
I said no.
Not because I couldn't deliver—Bubble's AI-powered features and template system could absolutely handle their requirements. But because their core statement revealed a fundamental misunderstanding about what MVPs should actually accomplish in 2025.
"We want to test if our idea works," they told me. They had no existing audience, no validated customer base, no proof of demand. Just an idea and enthusiasm for the latest no-code tools.
This experience taught me something crucial about the intersection of AI, no-code platforms, and MVP strategy that most founders are getting completely wrong. Here's what you'll learn:
Why building in Bubble (even with AI templates) can be the wrong first move
The real purpose of MVPs in the age of no-code and AI tools
A framework for validating demand before you build anything
How to use Bubble templates strategically (not as a shortcut)
When AI-powered development actually makes sense for your business
Let me share what I told them instead—and why this approach saved them months of work and thousands of dollars. Check out more SaaS strategy insights here.
Industry Reality
The no-code hype that's misleading founders
Walk into any startup accelerator or browse through Product Hunt, and you'll hear the same message repeated everywhere: "With AI and no-code tools like Bubble, you can build anything quickly and cheaply. Just grab a template and start building!"
The conventional wisdom goes like this:
Speed is everything - Get to market as fast as possible using templates
Building is validating - If you build it and launch it, you'll learn what works
No-code means no risk - Since it's "easy" and "cheap," just try everything
AI templates solve design - Let AI handle the UX and focus on features
Complexity equals value - More features mean more chances of product-market fit
This advice exists because it sounds logical and feeds into our desire for quick wins. The no-code revolution has genuinely democratized development, and AI templates can accelerate the design process. Tools like Bubble have made complex applications accessible to non-technical founders.
But here's where this conventional wisdom falls apart: it confuses the ability to build with the knowledge of what to build. Just because you can create a sophisticated platform in weeks doesn't mean you should. The bottleneck in 2025 isn't technical capability—it's market understanding.
Most founders using this approach end up with beautifully designed platforms that solve problems nobody has, or serve markets that don't exist. They've optimized for the wrong constraint entirely.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
When this client reached out about their marketplace idea, everything seemed perfect on paper. They'd done their research on Bubble's capabilities, found relevant templates, and even had mockups of how AI could enhance the user experience. They were ready to move fast.
But during our discovery call, I started asking different questions. Instead of diving into technical requirements, I focused on their market validation process. The conversation revealed some concerning gaps:
Their "market research" was purely theoretical. They had analyzed competitor platforms and identified feature gaps, but hadn't talked to a single potential user. Their entire business case was built on assumptions about what people wanted.
They had no distribution strategy. When I asked how they'd get their first 100 users on each side of the marketplace, their answer was essentially "we'll figure that out after we build it." Classic build-it-and-they-will-come thinking.
They were solving their own problem, not a market problem. The founder had experienced the pain point personally, which is often a good sign. But they hadn't validated that others shared this pain point or would pay to solve it.
This is when I realized we had a fundamental mismatch. They wanted to hire me to build a platform to test if their idea worked. But what they actually needed was to test if their idea worked before building a platform.
I could have taken the money and built exactly what they asked for. Bubble's templates would have made it relatively straightforward, and the AI-powered features would have impressed their stakeholders. But I knew from experience that this approach leads to expensive lessons and failed launches.
Instead, I had to have an uncomfortable conversation about what they really needed to do first.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Instead of accepting their platform build request, I proposed a completely different approach. Here's the exact framework I walked them through:
Week 1: Demand Validation Before Development
First, I told them to forget about Bubble templates entirely. Instead, create the simplest possible test: a single landing page explaining their value proposition. Not a functional platform—just a clear explanation of what they planned to build and why it would matter.
The goal wasn't to collect email signups (the startup vanity metric). The goal was to drive real conversations with potential users. I recommended they set up 20 customer interviews—10 on each side of their marketplace—within two weeks.
Week 2-4: Manual Process Creation
Next, I suggested they manually facilitate the connections they wanted their platform to automate. If people needed to find service providers, they should become the human matchmaker. Use email, WhatsApp, phone calls—whatever it takes to manually create successful transactions.
This manual approach accomplishes several things: it validates real demand, tests the core value proposition, identifies friction points, and starts building relationships with early users. Most importantly, it generates actual revenue without building anything.
Month 2: Process Documentation
Only after proving they could manually create successful transactions should they start thinking about automation. Document every step of their manual process. What questions do users ask? What information do they need? Where do transactions fail?
This documentation becomes the blueprint for what to actually build. Not what you think users want, but what you've proven they need based on real interactions.
When to Consider Building
I told them to only start development when they had three things: consistent manual demand (at least 10 successful manual transactions), a repeatable process they could document, and users actively asking for a more streamlined solution.
At that point, Bubble templates and AI tools become powerful accelerators rather than expensive experiments. You're no longer guessing what to build—you're automating a process you've already proven works.
Market Research
Actually talk to customers before building anything. Manual validation beats automated guessing every time.
Timeline Compression
Focus on proving demand in weeks rather than building features for months. Speed to learning beats speed to market.
Resource Allocation
Invest founder time in customer discovery rather than development resources in untested features.
Risk Mitigation
Failed manual processes cost hours. Failed platforms cost months and thousands of dollars.
The outcome of this conversation? The client initially pushed back, worried they'd lose their "first-mover advantage" by not building immediately. But I explained that first-mover advantage comes from understanding the market, not from launching first.
Three months later, they reached back out. They had followed the manual validation process and discovered something crucial: their original marketplace idea didn't have enough demand to sustain a business. But through their customer interviews, they identified a much simpler service that people were actually willing to pay for.
Instead of building a complex two-sided marketplace, they launched a simple booking service using existing tools. No custom development needed. They reached profitability in six weeks because they solved a validated problem for a proven market.
The tools that would have enabled their "quick" MVP—Bubble templates, AI-powered features, no-code automation—became the perfect solution once they knew what problem they were actually solving. They built their eventual platform in half the time because they weren't guessing anymore.
The real metrics that mattered: Six weeks to profitability instead of six months to launch. $15K in validated revenue instead of $25K in development costs. Clear product-market fit instead of beautiful platform with no users.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
Here are the key lessons learned from this experience:
1. AI and no-code tools amplify strategy, not replace it
Bubble templates and AI can build incredible platforms quickly, but they can't tell you what to build. Use them to execute validated ideas, not to test unvalidated ones.
2. Your constraint isn't technical anymore
In 2025, the bottleneck isn't "can we build this?" It's "should we build this?" Focus your energy on market validation, not technical capabilities.
3. Manual processes reveal product requirements
The features you think users want versus what they actually need become clear only through manual interaction. Let real user behavior guide your development priorities.
4. Revenue validation beats user validation
People will tell you they want your product, but paying customers tell you the truth. Test willingness to pay before you test willingness to use.
5. Templates work best with proven processes
AI-powered templates are incredible accelerators when you know exactly what you're building. They're expensive experiments when you're still figuring it out.
6. Distribution strategy can't be an afterthought
No matter how good your Bubble-built platform is, someone has to find and use it. Plan your go-to-market strategy before you plan your features.
7. Founder time is your most valuable resource
Spend it understanding your market, not learning development tools. Use your unique insights to validate problems, then leverage no-code tools to solve them efficiently.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
Start with customer interviews, not feature lists
Test demand manually before building automatically
Use Bubble templates to execute validated ideas, not test unvalidated ones
For your Ecommerce store
Validate purchase behavior before optimizing purchase experience
Manual fulfillment reveals operational requirements for automation
Focus on repeat customers over platform features initially