Want to build your own app? Glide will guide you!
Glide is a website that let you “Build an app from a Google Sheet in 5 minutes.”
If you know how to use Google Sheet, then you can build your own app with Glide!
For small business without a developer team, Glide may help you build a nice-looking, easy-to-use app.
For individuals, you can also build a fully-customized app that solve your problems and fulfill your daily needs.
WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get)
To build an app in the past, you need expertise in a certain program language. (Such as Objective-C and Swift for iOS, Java and Kotlin for Android.)
But nowadays, Glide can help you build an app without writing any line of code.
Glide is basically a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor for app.
For the frontend of your app (user interface, buttons, images, text fields, … etc), you can simply design the layout through drag-and-drop. Selecting the components that you need, and then place it on your screen. Adding new pages. Adding navigations between tabs and pages. All of these stuff could be as easy as making a powerpoint slide.
For the backend of your app (database to store data, algorithm for certain needs, membership system, …etc), you can design it by adding columns in the Google Sheet. Connecting the sheet with the user interface that you just built, you can easily manage the input and output of your app.
What Makes Glide Special?
Create an app without a line of code
As above mentioned, the main features of Glide is that it empower everyone to build an app without writing a line of code. For an app with common basic functionalities, you don’t need to hire a developer team to make it anymore. You can build it by yourself, and maintain it by yourself too.
Start with a template to build faster
Besides building an app from scratch, Glide also provides various templates to help you build even faster. HR, CRM, product demo, finance, tracker, planner, … you can choose a suitable template to start with.
Cross-platform
Apps on different platforms are using different coding language. (Objective-C and Swift for iOS, Java and Kotlin for Android.) If you want to make an app on different platforms, in most cases, you need to build the apps two times. After writing thousands of lines to make an iOS app, you need to write another thousands of lines in another coding language to make it available on Android. But don’t worry if you are building apps with Glide. Glide is cross-platform, which mean you can build once and use it on iPhone, Android, iPad and even on computer.
Ready to use, always up-to-date (No install, no update)
Glide is a web-based app. To use the app that you build with Glide, you don’t need to buy a developer account on Appstore (which cost $99/year) and upload it. Instead, you just copy the link of the app and open it on any phone. You don’t even need to install it on your phone, since it is web-based. You also don’t need to worry about the updating issues. Every time you open the app, it will be the up-to-date version of it. You don’t need to wait for days for Appstore to approve the change you make on the app.
Co-building online
Just like Google Sheet, Glide also offer the availability for you to collaborate with your teams. You can edit the app with your team members together online, and make changes to it simultaneously.
How did they build Glide?
Here’s an overview of technologies and tools that Glide use:
- Website – Webflow
- Framework – Next.js, Webpack, React
- Hosting – Amazon, Fastly
- Domain – Google Domains
- Support – Intercom
- Documentation – Gitbook
- Analytics – Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Hubspot, Amplitude, Fastly
- Payment – Stripe
How did they do the Marketing?
Glide was a startup team of Y Combinator Winter 2019.
They built up the website and shared their launch on Hacker News.
Afterwards, they raised funding rounds from Y Combinator, Dylan Field, First Round Capital, … etc.
Glide was also introduced in various media, including TechCrunch, Business Insider, Hacker Noon.
What can we learn from Glide?
Create an easy-to-use tools for everyone
Glide is not the first company to build a tool to let people build an app without writing codes. But Glide is probably the first one to make the whole process really simple and intuitive. The whole experience is very magical when seeing your app working lively on your phone in such a short time.
The no-code trends
Since the birth of computers and smart phones. More and more codes are written to replace various kind of tasks to make our world better. Our lives are surrounded with various programs and apps. Thanks to Github and various coding language libraries, developers are able to build better apps in faster paces. Nowadays, you don’t even need to master in different program languages to make your own apps. With the help of no-code tools, everyone has the chance to be a maker and makes the world better.
Make a quick MVP with Glide to test your business idea
To start a startup, we always think of building a MVP (Minimum viable product) to test out whether the idea works out before spending lots of hours and money into building a whole app. With the help of Glide, we can make a MVP even faster. When you have a business idea, you can use Glide to build a prototype and share it to the market immediately. You can then listen to the market and adjust your business in quick pace with the help of Glide.