Sergio Villaseñor

I believe that I've always been doing the no-code thing. Starting as an engineer, one of the things that I always tasked myself with was creating software and products that didn't require business operators to have to ping me all day for changes. So I believe as an engineer, no-code always stuck out to me from an architecture standpoint and a design and product perspective. So that way, technology can be more of an enabler. So I believe foundationally, I’ve had it since I started in e-commerce as an engineer dating back to 2009.

I believe no-code is just not having to actually add code to a repository and being able to create an application in a very visual way with maybe minimal scripting or creating the automation and workflows using something like Zapier. So I believe it's being able to work within tools, some lightweight scripting from a JavaScript perspective, but other than that, nothing.

The biggest component is, as a business owner or operator, the front line person using the software, no-code should allow them to execute any task without having to change the application that they're working in.

The no-code movement really took off once VCs got introduced to the marketing jargon that is no-code.

All good engineers want to create applications that enable the users to operate seamlessly within them. So I believe, if anything, it's intensified over the last three to five years with the rise of things like Squarespace, and Webflow and really great visual editing tools.

I'm just gonna roll with the dash.

We're kind of looking at coining a term like no-low, but you heard it first here!

For entrepreneurs, I believe that we're going to see a completely new type of entrepreneur because of the accessibility that no-code platforms give them to validating ideas. If anything, you're going to have smarter, more efficient entrepreneurs, and better ones.

For small businesses, I believe that no-code coupled with really powerful infrastructure behind it enables them to compete with essentially the next question, which is enterprises. So if anything, it's leveling the playing field for small businesses to compete with large market companies.

For enterprises, it allows them to act like a small business or entrepreneur in the sense that they can move more nimbly, they can test just as quickly and now they're not shackled to eight to 12-month builds where by the time you get something out the original idea is already outdated.

I would say recruiting for enterprise companies has been very difficult given, like the bureaucracy and timeline. So if anything, I believe having cooler technology within an organization will enable them to recruit really great talent and make enterprise sexy again.

For developers, I believe it's going to allow them to focus on building core technology that moves the needle and kind of freeing themselves. A lot of times when I was an engineer, I would want to create products or I knew the business owner would have to come back. So in order to do that, developers have to think through problems as much bigger or on a greater scale with better granularity. I believe it will make the software that they create much better.

For designers, I believe it's going to allow designers to focus more on the content itself versus the aesthetics and layout. So instead of trying to figure out how to mix and match puzzle pieces, I'm more interested in now as a designer on creating what the actual puzzle looks like versus trying to make it all fit together within that platform constraints.

I believe project managers and product owners are always the person juggling priorities, figuring out how to allocate resources to have as much of the core platforms done in a no-code way that will allow them to focus on prioritizing features and builds that help move top line and bottom line, not just kind of the, “Hey, we got to stay afloat type of initiatives.”

I believe the services that we see typically within this group, being like a design, web development shop is going to change. So I believe you'll actually see more traditional creative shops, or you're going to see technical dev shops that are more data driven, that help brands kind of take the data that they have within these applications and build out either product roadmap or data automation and workflows to third party software. So that way, they can do cool things like email and whatever.

For non-dev consultants, I believe we're gonna see a rise and I believe this goes back to entrepreneurs, too. I believe more people are going to become consultants and feel confident that they can actually not just create a strategy, but also execute on it. I believe non-dev consultants will be able to create better strategies that actually get executed and see an ROI much quicker.

I believe that no-code tools will give us back more time. So if anything, it's going to enrich our personal lives because we're going to spend less time building one off things that are highly custom to validating ideas with some type of underlying framework. And ultimately, to have time back I believe that's the most impactful thing that anyone can, can get.

The sky's the limit. As these tools become more robust, kids will be the future entrepreneurs and they're gonna have access to tools and I don't think they're going to be technically kids anymore. I believe what we're gonna see is the 18 year olds in the next 10 years operate at the business level very much like a 30 to 40 year old now. I believe what these tools are going to do for kids is enable them to kind of live a different life, not go down the traditional path. Kids are just going to be able to create their own path and lane and be able to make cool stuff at a very early age.

I believe these tools are going to enable financial inclusion. I mean, you're going to have a complete leveling of the playing field, people in third world countries are going to now have first world tools and what that does is it changes lives.

So it's already happening, like we live in that day and era now.

I see this is taking a little bit longer to be adopted. I believe the education system in the United States is extremely slow. However, what I do see is entrepreneurs starting companies that offer these courses as an alternative type of education.

I don't have to go to four years of college to know that I want to be a programmer, I can pick up a course at 16. I can be educated. I can become proficient in a technology. I can go get a job, if I want to. So that's now.

We're like two, three years away.

As no-code tools grow and evolve over the next, I would say two to five years, I believe that they're going to manifest themselves as pricing within the no-code tools and your basic tiers will basically be no-code, and you're gonna see enterprise tier being low code.

It's already happening, that's why we created Elliot.

This ties back to that concept of, you know, where does no and low code start and stop? I believe as no-code tools become more robust, and just as a company mature more to where they have not just the no end low code, but also the underlying growth infrastructure from a partner perspective, you're going to see freelancers, agencies and dev shops begin to adopt these tools. So I believe that that happens over the next one to three years as the no-code community and products within it become more mature.

I believe it's going to happen within the next decade, you're going to see entrepreneurs push the boundaries of what governments can control. You're going to see these platforms specifically no-code products enable a different type of entrepreneurship, enable entrepreneurs to scale much quickly, much more quickly than before.

And once, from like a socio-economic perspective, it begins to affect like, cross border trade, and selling goods across borders and governments aren't able to control those transactions, I believe that's when you're going to see global leaders begin to adopt them. start to talk about no-code, because it's going to impact how governments make money.

It touches on a lot of the themes that we talked about with regards to enabling entrepreneurship in third world countries and providing tools to creators of products that didn't have access to that just even maybe last year.

I think for me, that's the most inspiring thing because now the software, it's not just a platform, it's providing hope and opportunity. And both of those things are priceless. So when platforms, specifically no-code, can do that, I believe that's the real magic and secret sauce.