Rather listen than read? This article is based on our podcast episode #122 - When & why should you change your no-code tool stack? Also a second time - with Jan from HalloPodcaster
Who is Jan Siebert?
Jan is an online entrepreneur with various websites, online platforms and software products. He runs these projects with a small team of co-founders. All of his ventures relate to digital business models. The project with which he has already been on our podcast twice is HalloPodcaster, a platform for podcasters.
HalloPodcaster - Jan's heart project
Jan already had a web agency in 2017. At the time, he launched a content project called "Digital Affin", a knowledge platform for software products. However, he also worked as a freelancer in online marketing. Through these activities, he developed various ideas and started different projects. One of these is HalloPodcaster. The idea for this came from his co-founder Anika. She has a podcast agency and has therefore been deeply involved in the subject matter. She was often asked by podcast hosts if she knew anyone they could interview on their podcast. On the other hand, she received requests via her network from people who had a new product, an exciting story and would like to tell it somewhere. Anika then matched these two requests using an Excel list and wrote to the people manually. This led to the idea for the platform. HalloPodcaster is a platform that connects podcast hosts and guests. Users can make appointments for podcast interviews and then record them for themselves. The project initially started as an MVP with a simple Jimdo website. As the project gained momentum and the user base grew, it became necessary to automate processes.
The first tool stack change
HalloPodcaster's first tool stack included Webflow, Make and Airtable. This stack made it possible to launch the MVP quickly and collect feedback from users. However, as the platform grew, the manual processes and lack of automation features proved to be a challenge. Jan decided to switch to a new tool stack to scale and improve the platform. At the time, Jan considered both Bubble.io and Bildr.com. His choice ultimately fell on the latter. He already talked about this with Lilith in episode 78. But it didn't stop there. Because with Bildr, Jan came up against plateaus and uncertainties. After careful research, he decided on WeWeb for the frontend and Xano for the backend.
Reasons for the second change
The most important criteria for switching to WeWeb and Xano were the improved scalability, the extended functions and the better control over the platform. Jan was looking for a tool stack that would allow him to develop and deploy his own products. The simplicity of the API connection was an important factor in choosing Xano.
Migration process
The migration process was also much easier the second time than the first, Jan tells us. This time he didn't have to "leave any data behind" and the migration - thanks to CSV export and a proper database structure - was completed in an afternoon. Wow! So Jan was able to migrate all the user data and ensure that the existing functions continue to work. He found that the choice of WeWeb made the move much easier due to the similar tool structure and the integration of Xano with the help of YouTube tutorials and the support of Perplexity.
Conclusion
Jan is very happy with the decision to switch to WeWeb and Xano. He considers the tool stack a good choice for no-code projects, especially for those that value scalability, flexibility and control. He emphasizes the importance of choosing the right tool stack for the project at hand and being ready to switch tool stacks when needed. But he has no regrets about choosing Bildr back then. Projects simply have different requirements along their lifecycle stages and no-code tools allow you to remain flexible with relatively little risk.
Do you have a story to tell?
If you have a topic that you would like to talk about in the podcast, then register with HalloPodcaster! Jan would love to hear from you. And if your story fits into our VisualMakers podcast, just write to me. You can find me in our Slack Community!
