Created No-Code Experience Platform for New Entrepreneurs

Background

I have years of experience helping new business owners build their website in a client-agency model. I also have years of experience developing and teaching digital marketing fundamentals to new business owners in entrepreneurship programs.

New non-technical business owners have a series of barriers to overcome, and I created many workshops and mini-courses for them. Each course I designed was aimed to help them with one specific problem, but no matter what, some new business owners still struggled to build and release their first real website.

One important observation I always noticed — not only were new business owners getting stuck building their first website with complicated no-code editors, they frequently started these projects without proper readiness. I also noticed they were either getting stuck in a learning phase, or a building phase, and neither educators nor startups were meeting their needs

It eventually became clear to me that our participants needed a unique platform to actually learn the fundamentals whiled they build, release, and test. I felt there was nothing on the market to help new non-technical business owners overcome the challenges they faced in the real-world, so I built my own platform…

My Contribution

I build Orbit as a no-code platform in August 2019 to be the fastest way for new business owners to get experience building websites. It works to provide a simple, clear entry point for new business owners.

I build cohort based learning into the platform with the goal to help learners progress and share their learnings as a small community. I have heavily integrated the platform into my one-day workshop that is designed to help any non-technical new business owner build and test their website in one day.

Through a series of exercises I help my learners understand the web and what it means to build on it. I also help participants prepare for publishing their own business content in a step by step process that I call ‘content readiness’.

I developed the product Orbit and streamlined the no-code experience to explicitly tailor to new entrepreneurs. Together with my live instruction our participants build and deploy their first websites within an afternoon. The platform focused on core essentials:

• Clear headline
• Primary link and Call to Action (CTA)
• Compelling image with alt-text for accessibility
• Typography and colour branding decisions

This simplicity empowered users to clearly articulate their business concepts and immediately see tangible results. Orbit not only addressed immediate practical needs but also educated users in critical skills such as content creation, basic web technology, and URL management.

Project Outcome

Since its launch, Orbit has enabled over 100 new entrepreneurs to build, test, and deploy their first websites successfully. Participants consistently praised the practicality and simplicity of the experience, which significantly boosted their confidence and readiness for future website development.

Orbit continues to provide entrepreneurs with an accessible, educational experience, proving instrumental in teaching vital skills and fostering early success. I plan on taking my lessons learned to develop Orbit 2.0 for the future.