Consultation on bubble development

roman.semin.business · 2020-07-18T20:27:20.083Z

Hey Bubblers,

I am fairly new to bubble, but I already built a basic MVP for my startup.
Our idea is similar to yelp but in a sports industry. We have listings of businesses and people who go on the website can can filter them out and click to check their profile and see contact information. Very simple at this stage.

We wanted to implement more features like messaging, booking, etc. and I was contemplating if I should either use a template or hire someone to build the whole thing from scratch as the application should be possibly good looking too.
Also, we would probably need a native app for messaging.

Does anyone have a remedy or a suggestion to this problem without spending thousands on custom app from an agency?
Can you recommend someone who can do a good job just developing the features that we need or even give a consultation on the whole development process in bubble and possibilities?

Highly appreciated!

Cheers,
Roman

CapiBalid · 2020-07-18T21:15:08.515Z

Hi, Roman!

If you already developed the MVP, first, I’ll suggest to start testing in a “controlled environment” (friendly early users that will check it out and give you feedback). Then you might have a better idea of what features are more important to build on your app soon.

Since you were able to get to the MVP level, then it is better if you build -by your own- the features you mentioned. It will makes you a better bubble developer, understand better your product (critically important at this point), and visualize future needs in the roadmap of your start-up.

If your problem is the UI/UX of the app (how it looks and feels good). Then after you get done with your development, you can hire one of the many agencies around only for that specific purpose, which will be less costly (time & money) than hire anyone to develop, either everything from scratch or taking over your app now.

In addition, when it comes to the templates, I usually recommend to use or buy them, only when you have pretty good level of development by your own. They could frustrate/limit you if you just “don’t get” what the template author intended to do or how you can improve it.

Just to prove my point, Bubble took years to allowed the publications of templates in the ecosystem, since they were scare people will not learn all the potential Bubble itself provides by taking the template-shortcut to accomplish their apps. That old announcement/post should be still around here in the Forum.

Good luck!

J805 · 2020-07-18T21:30:03.526Z

Hello ,

I just wanted to make sure you know about the services we offer at NoCodeMinute. www.NoCodeMinute.com offers virtual training and tutoring to help you with your project. This is one-on-one help to guide you through creating your project or debugging issues. If this seems like something you could benefit from, I encourage you to make an appointment. I would be happy to work with you.

I even have a native chat feature (completely built in Bubble) built into my site. You can see the functionality during my working hours. I can work with you to show you how to create something similar for your own site.

Hope to hear from you soon!
@J805

roman.semin.business · 2020-07-20T22:36:02.286Z

@CapiBalid @J805 thanks for the reply. Your points totally make sense.

Do you know if I buy a template, can “apply it” to the current from-scratch solution I have? Or the opposite, my application to MVP?
Because to some extent it does not make sense for me to develop messaging functionality if I has been done over and over in multiple templates. And I cannot spend too much time on development.
As I understand I cannot copy the workflows and that is probably the biggest challenge with migrating.

J805 · 2020-07-20T22:52:13.946Z

I have been able to copy from AirDev’s example: https://widgets.airdev.co/bubble-widget/stretch-to-fit-messenger-1496772972510x651241166982799700

They have the messaging set up already beautifully, you can copy their info over to your app. It is not too difficult to do. Check it out.

Hope that helps!