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  • How I built a social network platform for (aspiring) entrepreneurs/startups with no code

    Julien Meyers
    4 replies
    I always thought I needed a technical cofounder to execute my web related business idea. My goal here is to show that even without any technical skills, one can build very cool websites. As a non technical guy, I unsurprisingly chose wordpress. There are are actually several social networking plugin for wordpress: https://www.peepso.com/ https://www.buddyboss.com/ I think that they would have both worked out for me but I eventually opted for Peepso. I started with the free version and then upgraded (199$) to be able to add useful features to the website: - A job board, - A marketplace, - A built-in messaging app. Concretely: - I watched plenty of Youtube tutorials. For example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPduBmmvz4U - I checked the videos on peepso Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@PeepSo - I searched through their documentation. For example, to override the text of some of their pre-built pages. - I contacted their online support when I was stuck. The plugin is not perfect and not 100% flexible but I always found some workarounds and after 2 weeks I got an operational website I was happy with. I worked on this early in the morning or late in the evening. https://ideaness.org/ is a platform where (aspiring) entrepreneurs and startups can: - Publish and explain their business projects; - Share their entrepreneurial journey; - Give updates about what they are working on, their progress and difficulties; - Connect with a community of like-minded entrepreneurs; - Look for other motivated persons with a complementary skillset; - Sell their products/services on our built-in marketplace. The idea is that it is difficult to start out a business and in many cases one is not surrounded by a supportive entourage. One needs to overcome many obstacles during a project and it can be tough to remain motivated. I am convinced that many entrepreneurs go through this process and that it would be useful if they could have a platform where they could connect with like-minded individuals.

    Replies

    Erick Philbert
    Very nice idea Julien, it seems promising.
    Julien Meyers
    @erick_philbert Thanks for your kind words! All the best
    Barry Zheng
    GPTBLOX-ChatGPT Save Data
    GPTBLOX-ChatGPT Save Data
    Massive kudos to you for taking the no-code route and proving that there are efficient ways to bring an idea to life without a tech background! Your platform sounds like an invaluable resource for budding entrepreneurs. Out of curiosity, how do you plan on driving traffic and encouraging active participation on the platform?
    Julien Meyers
    @barryzheng568 Thanks for your nice comment and the relevant questions. Here is my high level plan for driving traffic with a low marketing budget: - Writing posts while respecting the rules about self promotion on: the relevant subreddits, cofounderslab, product hunt, quora,... - Launching on other platforms. Unfortunately I had not prepared enough before launching on product hunt. - Contacting brick & mortar startup incubators in my region. - Improving my SEOs. - Running facebook ads => in last resort. - Looking for a digital marketer as a cofounder. So far I got around 1000 unique visitors and 60 registered members. Here is my high level plan for engaging the users: - Some kind of gamification where users get points for being active and rewarding the early adopters with a small share of equity. - A marketplace where early adopters can sell their products/services without commission forever. - I share my own journey on ideaness.org and ask the members for feedback. - I ask the current members what they like and what they would like to see in the future. - I send a weekly mail digest with the highlights. - Posting valuable content that make the members react. Let me know if you have other ideas :) If more people are interested, I share my journey here: https://ideaness.org/groups/?ide... Cheers