Hi. If I am validating a product idea in Weweb as a ‘solopreneur’ without any VC funding, I would need to persuade a first potential customer (in the first instance with videos/screenshots etc) to signup up before my product can be made live in WeWeb? (That first customer would need to pay at least $39/month in order for me to break even)
Is this a common commercial path for products on WeWeb to evolve into real world apps/products?
There aren’t many tools out there where you could have this low of a cost of entry to validate a concept, so yes $39 Minimum + Backend Cost (Xano). Good thing is, if your idea doesn’t work you are only out a couple hundred dollars rather than thousands…
If your idea is simple enough there are other tools that have integrated backend and lower cost, but lower configurability that might be worth exploring to start.
Your question is really getting to a theory of how you invest in building a startup company or product. First, the cost of your time will swamp the outlay on tools, especially these widely-available ones. I’ve spoken to many people who bend over backwards to find the “free” way to build these apps. (For example, building in Vue.js rather than using weweb). But really what they are doing is spending time to save a little money.
I would ask what your implicit hourly rate is and what the value is of getting to market faster. If both are low, perhaps you take a slower route of doing things yourself because that means comparatively cahs is dear.
The core economic proposition of no-code is that time is worth a lot. Both your time on an hourly basis, and the opportunity cost of not getting to market yet to validate your hypotheses.
We all pay - the question is in what coin (time vs money) and how dearly. For me, tools like weweb, xano and others let me validate faster and for orders of magnitude less labor investment.
This is a common path for many. Takes money to make money.
Super interesting topic!
@hughg, I think the fact you’re asking yourself this question is a sign you’re thinking about business in the right way because you’re already realizing how hard it is to get your first paying customer, which a lot of solopreneurs underestimate.
I agree 100% with @raydeck’s time vs money proposition. It’s definitely something we all have to contend with when buying any type of service or product, online or offline. After all, in theory, I could buy fabric and make my own T-shirts provided I learned how to do it 
That said, to get back to your conundrum, and I type this trying to be as unbiased as possible but sharing some marketing experience, I would say:
Step 1: try to get 100 people on your landing page (lots of free and inexpensive tools for this)
Step 2: try to get 10 people to signup for the beta
Step 3: try to get 1 person to pay you
Step 4: get more people to pay you
For step 2 to work, I think it’s helpful to you build the app in WeWeb and record a 2-3 minute video showing the value it brings to the table.
That said:
If you wanted to, you could publish the WeWeb app during step 2 to allow more users to beta test it:
Ok maybe I’m rambling a bit so I’ll stop here. Love the topic too much! 
In any case, good luck with your project Hugh! Don’t hesitate to reach out if you decide to try it on WeWeb and need some help 
very interesting topic…
I understand the problem you are having (already in love with weweb.io but the subscription fee is not suitable)? Things that I often experience, including myself as a novice developer, choose a low-code framework with lots of features, for example building web applications faster, running high-performance apps, all in one place. scalable, extensible, affordable, lowcode BUT the price is cheap…he…he… “Everywhere, good stuff is usually expensive”
Based on the product roadmap, this platform continues to innovate in developing the latest features so that it can compete with other platforms. Have you ever thought that Raphael Goldsztejn (CEO of the web) must provide funds for employee salary requirements? what about infrastructure costs?
Some alternative lowcode frameworks that might suit your needs: backendless, drapcode, webflow, Jet Admin, Dashibase… What is clear is that the features offered are also different, each has advantages and disadvantages…
Thanks @Joyce. So the key thing is funneling prospects into the best beta version I can get up and running. Definitely will build it and shoot some videos to show the pain points being solved. For Step 3 (and 4) maybe a one month free trial? (Seems fairly standard for online/saas products?