Founder here. Because of our first product ("design to code" platform) [1], we've been talking to customers (mainly web agencies and small business owners) about what would be the easiest way to build and launch websites. The goal was to question the whole software development process and value chain. We were getting one consistent answer: "I've always worked this way". For us this was an opportunity to dive deep on this problem.

Why should you have to design first in a specific design tool? Why go from "design to code" in the first place? Many startups have questioned this and built great tools to help solve the problem (Webflow, Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, etc etc).

This seems like a solved problem, right?

Well, it turns out people want something simpler... like the document tool they use everyday for virtually everything [2]. This was the moment we decided to focus 100% on a new tool, like an everyday document, that also allowed users to build and launch websites.

To be honest the product is still in an early stage. There are basic features that aren't implemented (like version history, multi-page websites or collaboration). Even at this stage I think this can help some people. Please let me know if you have any questions [3].

Also, the statement "the easiest way to build websites" is, of course, intended for non technical people. The high level goal here is to create a platform that helps non technical people to create software in an easy and familiar way.

Were you also surprised by the outcome of our customer interviews?

[1] https://www.designernews.co/stories/103636-turn-sketch-files-into-frontend-code-automatically

[2] We interviewed 63 customers. By the way, I was amazed and completely surprised about this conclusion.

[3] Start with a template: https://zecoda.com/templates