I learned this after our company wasted 144+ man months creating a web app no one wanted to purchase, while this nearly computer illiterate person built a profitable SaaS in only 3 months with no coding skills. Eventually he scaled it to $50,000 MRR and beyond. He explained how he did it, and his secret was marketing. When I say "marketing," in this context I mean a special type of marketing that focuses on the user.
I can't find the original presentation slides, but this is the business Dane described building: https://www.paperlesspipeline.com
No coding skills. Just marketing.
- You will almost certainly need sales/marketing to sell your product/service.
- Marketing will tell you if an idea is worth building, even before you start development.
- (Job search/hiring is just another form of marketing.) You can use marketing to hire the best developers to build both a web app and mobile app.
- Marketing (market research) will tell you which to build (app vs. web app)
Even marketing isn't a silver bullet, but I think it maximizes your chances of success. Dane Maxwell developed the most risk-free way to start a business (based on marketing). He currently teaches his method here: https://startfromzero.com
https://30x500.com is a very similar course, geared more towards techies.
And this is like a "greatest hits" collection of the best marketing lessons compressed into a single book: https://expertsecrets.com