No-Code World Radio

DISPATCH 24 · FRANKFURT
Yaokai Jiang, founder, Momen
FRANKFURT — A software engineer who started coding in 1998 sets out to build a no-code tool. He doesn't know Bubble exists. Six years later, his users are running businesses with 60,000 customers. I sat down with Yaokai Jiang at No-Code Week to talk databases, DSLs, and why AI needs tools — not prompts — to write reliable backends.
On the ground with
Yaokai Jiang is the founder of Momen, a no-code platform for data-intensive applications. A former early engineer at Medallia, he built large-scale real-time analytics engines before turning his attention to a question: why should you need four years of university to build a SaaS?
What we covered
00:00 The itch: why a coder builds a no-code tool
02:09 Full-stack from day one — and never abandoning the front end
08:04 Transactional semantics, types, and replacing Hasura
11:02 AI meets DSL: why tool use beats prompt engineering for backends
20:32 The sports card collector: 60K users, $800K revenue, one builder
29:51 China vs US: two AI worlds, one regulatory chasm
From the notebook
Momen — momen.app
Medallia — medallia.com
Hasura — hasura.io
Bubble — bubble.io
Xano — xano.com
FlutterFlow — flutterflow.io
Supabase — supabase.com
Figma — figma.com
Lovable — lovable.dev
GraphQL — graphql.org
Postgres
Stripe
Find Yaokai
LinkedIn — linkedin.com/in/yaokai-jiang-21894924
Next stop
A dispatch from another builder reshaping how software gets made.
No-Code World Radio is hosted by Alex. New dispatches from a new city, wherever you listen.

DISPATCH 23 · FRANKFURT
Artur Mkrtchyan, co-founder, Softr
FRANKFURT — A platform that started as a visual front end for Airtable is now a full-stack builder with its own database, workflow engine, and AI layer. Artur Mkrtchyan sat down at No-Code Week to trace that arc — and explain why business teams need platforms, not just prompts.
On the ground with
Artur Mkrtchyan is co-founder of Softr, the no-code platform he and Mariam Hakobyan launched in 2020. With 15-plus years as a software engineer, Artur built Softr for the teams engineering departments never had time to serve: marketing, sales, HR. The platform now powers internal and client-facing tools at companies from TED to MIT.
What we covered
00:00 The repeating patterns of software engineering
03:30 Why Softr: the Zalando origin story
10:56 From interface builder to full-stack platform
23:53 AI meets no-code: the Softr approach
26:13 Why vibe coding alone fails business teams
35:37 What's next: MCP, agents, and the roadmap
From the notebook
Softr — https://www.softr.io/
Airtable — https://airtable.com/
Make — https://www.make.com/
Zapier — https://zapier.com/
HubSpot — https://www.hubspot.com/
Notion — https://www.notion.so/
Salesforce — https://www.salesforce.com/
Snowflake — https://www.snowflake.com/
Cursor — https://cursor.com/
Claude — https://claude.ai/
Stripe — https://stripe.com/
Shopify — https://www.shopify.com/
TED — https://www.ted.com/
MIT — https://www.mit.edu/
No-Code Week — https://nocodeweek.com/
MCP (Model Context Protocol)
REST API, SQL databases, Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Excel
Google Tables, AppSheet (both discontinued/acquired by Google)
Find Artur
LinkedIn — https://de.linkedin.com/in/artur-mkrtchyan-27282b256
Softr — https://www.softr.io/
Next stop
Another city, another builder. Next dispatch drops soon.
No-Code World Radio is hosted by Alex. New dispatches from a new city, wherever you listen.
Get in touch with Alex on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexiskovalenko/) or by email at alex@hosakka.studio.

DISPATCH 22 · FRANKFURT
Darragh McKay, CEO and founder, Noloco
FRANKFURT — At No-Code Week, Noloco's founder traces an arc from 2021 to today: five years of building internal tools on top of other people's data. Along the way, the word "no-code" started to fray at the edges.
On the ground with
Darragh McKay founded Noloco in 2021 after working as a software engineer at HubSpot and a Dublin startup. He saw small and mid-sized teams drowning in spreadsheets and disconnected SaaS tools, unable to assemble the systems they actually needed. Noloco gives them an interface layer on top of existing databases — Airtable, Postgres, MySQL, Google Sheets — without writing code.
What we covered
00:00 Introductions at No-Code Week Frankfurt
01:19 From HubSpot engineer to founder: the thesis behind Noloco
05:46 How Noloco turns spreadsheets and databases into working apps
11:19 A US construction firm that runs CRM, ERP, and project management on one Noloco app
17:58 Five years of evolution — from web app builder, to data-first platform, to AI
23:25 NOLA, the AI agent that helps builders create apps from natural language
32:58 Why "no-code" doesn't hold up anymore, and what might replace it
From the notebook
Noloco (https://noloco.com)
Airtable (https://airtable.com)
HubSpot (https://hubspot.com)
Lovable (https://lovable.dev)
Make (https://make.com)
Zapier (https://zapier.com)
n8n (https://n8n.io)
WeWeb (https://weweb.io)
Bubble (https://bubble.io)
Glide (https://glideapps.com)
Softr (https://softr.io)
Claude (https://claude.ai)
Cursor (https://cursor.com)
Retool (https://retool.com)
GitBook (https://gitbook.com)
Find Darragh
LinkedIn: https://ie.linkedin.com/in/darraghmckay
Next stop
No-Code Week returns next year — whatever it ends up being called.
No-Code World Radio is hosted by Alex. New dispatches from a new city, wherever you listen.
—
Get in touch with Alex on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexiskovalenko/) or by email at alex@hosakka.studio.

DISPATCH 21 · FRANKFURT
Bart Veldhuizen, Community Lead, n8n
FRANKFURT — At No-Code Week 2026, n8n's community lead explains why handing your bank credentials to an AI agent is still a terrible idea — and how the company is racing to build an AI workflow builder that rivals what users already get from Claude.
On the ground with
Bart Veldhuizen has been building communities for over 20 years, starting with Blender in the early 2000s. He joined n8n as a user, then became community lead. Now he runs a team of six, with a seventh on the way. His view spans open-source culture, commercial community strategy, and the collision of no-code automation with AI agents.
What we covered
00:00 The arc of community building — from Blender to n8n
03:43 MCP server overhaul and the "Instance AI" workflow builder
05:58 Why builders are bypassing n8n and using Claude to write workflows
09:15 AI agents vs. traditional automation: observability is the difference
11:43 A self-learning Gmail assistant, vibe-coded in one weekend
24:31 From 35 to 175 ambassadors, and the path to 1,000
From the notebook
n8n: https://n8n.io
Blender: https://www.blender.org
Claude Code: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code
Model Context Protocol (MCP): https://modelcontextprotocol.io
No-Code Week : nocodeweek.io
Find Bart
LinkedIn: https://nl.linkedin.com/in/bartveldhuizen
Next stop
No-Code Week wraps with a hackathon. Results in the next dispatch.
No-Code World Radio is hosted by Alex. New dispatches from a new city, wherever you listen.
That's the dispatch from Frankfurt. I'm Alex. Talk soon.

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🗒 Brief summary
In this interview, Alex speaks with Tomas Halgas, a tech entrepreneur from Slovakia, about his journey from working at Facebook to founding Sutro, a no-code development platform that integrates AI to empower users in building applications without deep coding knowledge. Thomas discusses the evolution of AI, particularly language models, and Sutro's focus on combining creativity with reliable software development. He critiques the current no-code ecosystem for often prioritizing ease of use over security and reliability, especially in business applications. Tomas shares his vision for Sutro's upcoming launch, emphasizing enhanced user experience and invites listeners to join the waitlist. The conversation highlights the intersection of AI, coding, and the no-code movement.

📚 Resources
Tomas on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomhalgas/
Sutro: https://withsutro.com/

📖 Chapters
0:17 Introduction to the Interview
2:52 Tomas's Background and Experience
4:47 The No-Code Ecosystem
6:31 The Rise of AI in Development
9:12 Sutro: Merging No-Code and AI
12:35 The Role of Compilers in Sutro
13:33 Evolution of Sutro and LLMs
18:38 Challenges in Business Software
22:59 Sutro's Approach to Development
35:15 Future Steps for Sutro