I am looking to create a marketplace for high school students to get coaching on college admissions from current college students. I'm bootstrapping my startup, so I don't have tens (hundreds) of thousands of dollars to develop a highly complex web/mobile app from scratch. I am looking to understand what other solutions exist for an MVP. Thank you for being generous with your time reading this. [Please keep reading for a features list, if you wish.] The features of the MVP would be simple. From the buyer (student) side, it would include: user registration, sign-up, browse, search, filter, view profile, save profile, select service to purchase, purchase service, chat with seller (college student), and maybe, built-in video call. From the seller (college student) side, it would include: registration, create service to sell, set price and details of service to sell, create multiple services, input payout options (paypal, and if possible direct to bank account or venmo), accept booking, chat with buyer, and video call. From the admin side, it would include all the perks of being admin including setting/changing commission. I am sure I have not covered all, but I don't want to inundate you with details for now. :-)
One of the best ways to code a MVP is a no-code platform.
No-Code platforms are visual tools that rely on a drag and drop interface and transform the interface, database structure and processes.
In my opinion the best tool for your idea is Bubble.io
You can start free and only pay when you go into production mode.
A few big advantages of Bubble (especially in regards to your idea) are:
*in-built sign up/ sign in /forgot password functionality (can be implemented in 10 minutes with few clicks)
*in-built database, easy to create necessary database structure
*automate basically everything with an "If this / then that"- editor
*dynamically insert content from database
*you own your customer's data and can export it
*marketplace of free and paid plugins
* payment processing via 3rd party provider
Of course no software is perfect so here some of the disadvantages to consider:
* there is a learning curve, especially when it goes beyond the basics
* the UI editor is outdated, as it works with absolute positioning coordinates and width/height instead of relative value for easy responsive design. There is a responsive module but it is not intuitive and a pain to debug
* the application will be slow with lots of users
* while it is easy to build so it works it is hard for non-coders to build processes that do not slow down the software, as it all depends on how you write and read data.
Overall if you do not have the budget and just need to start out I would definitely say the pros outweigh the cons. As you can build a MVP in a reasonable timeframe, get started, build your community and deliver a proof of concept to get the necessary funding.
If you need any help with that let us chat:
All the best
Gerd Tittel-Feller
Answered 3 years ago
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