Building tech is often one of the biggest barriers between having a great idea and getting it off the ground. The financial cost of building software is one of the reasons we believe that the startup landscape has struggled with diversity and inclusion: Black founders receive less than 1% of venture capital investment, and female-founded companies raise only around 2% of total VC funding.

Bubble’s no-code platform allows startup founders to build custom web apps starting at $29 a month, without engineers or expensive hosting infrastructure. Bubble’s large ecosystem and community of builders can also be a great way to break into tech, as a growing number of companies and enterprises are looking for people skilled in building apps with no-code tools.

We caught up with several members of the Immerse program, one of Bubble’s founder inclusion efforts, on how Bubble and #nocode have allowed them to break into tech and accelerate their careers.

The Immerse program for Black founders is accepting applications until March 13, 2022! Learn more about how you can apply.

How Milan Ball became a full-time tech developer

Some thoughts from Milan:

Following Immerse, I was fortunate enough to be hired as a Full-Time Bubble Developer at Momentum Tech Group. It is a remote role with an agency based in Australia that offers me the flexibility to continue bringing my startup Philan to life. I get to work with fellow founders of Bubble apps and help them realize their vision in the way Immerse helped me shape mine.

What opportunities have you discovered with Bubble?

Bubble’s Immerse program brought an abundance of opportunities from start to finish: Halfway through the program, I was casted for the marketing run of an incredible company called Secfi. They flew me out to Los Angeles, where we shot a digital campaign about their service educating early founders on creating equity options for employees. The casting agent found me through Bubble's network and the promotion of Immerse. One of the many perks of the campaign was five hours of free consulting, which I considered invaluable.

What are you currently working on?

Philan is a consumer-impact platform transforming the power of the socially motivated consumer to close the wealth gap globally. We expose consumers to charitable brands around the world to shop in line with their values, and our impact index measures the true influence of every purchase. Right now, we are working with advisors to roadmap our pre-seed raise for Philan. It has been overwhelming to receive an abundance of interest even in our pre-revenue state. Since Immerse, we have had the pleasure of connecting with several VCs by way of the extended network and those who attended on Demo Day. We went offline to give our branding a refresh, but we are excited to announce the launch of our beta program this Spring!

Follow Philan on Instagram and LinkedIn, and keep up with Milan on LinkedIn. Learn more about Momentum Group Tech on the Momentum Blog.

How Jordana Wright turned her small business into a tech platform

Hear from Jordana:

Being an Immerse alum has opened up a ton of opportunities in the tech world that I never could have imagined. It all began on Bubble’s big Demo Day, the last official day of the Immerse Program. At Demo Day, I pitched my Bubble-built MVP for Activate Space, an "Airbnb-style" marketplace of affordable commercial space rentals located in churches worldwide, including performance venues, meeting rooms, gymnasiums, kitchens, and more.

Prior to the program, I operated a small Canadian business that helped churches with big, old, underutilized buildings transform into vibrant community hubs by providing affordable spaces to local emerging businesses. I could only take on a handful of projects a year because each hub-building process was time intensive.

By Demo Day, my small business became a tech platform that could take on thousands of spaces at a time worldwide, 24/7. That day, I won "Fan Favorite" with the most votes across the board from everyone tuning in around the world, and I received a great deal of interest in my work from the Bubble community and others in the tech world.

What opportunities have you discovered with Bubble?

One amazing result from all of the interest in my MVP at Demo Day was the opportunity to help others bring their app ideas to life as a Bubble Developer. I’ve been approached to build Bubble apps for aspiring startup founders and established ventures, as well as to consult on business development strategy and to provide private Bubble instruction. It has been incredible to deepen my involvement in the growing Bubble ecosystem.

This has created a new career path for me in tech. To expand opportunities to help others build on Bubble, I launched No Code Courses. No Code Courses helps you improve your Bubble skills through fun, gamified Bubble challenges where you compete weekly against other challengers within the community. It’s an incentivized and creative way to help you stay on track with your Bubble development goals, and you also have the opportunity to connect with other Bubble developers within the community. It’s open to absolute Bubble beginners as well as more advanced Bubble builders.

The opportunity to work as a professional Bubble Developer and Bubble Challenge Coordinator has contributed to my ability to bootstrap Activate Space in its earliest stages. I can work flexibly within my tech role at No Code Courses thanks to the Bubble skills I learned through Immerse, while also taking on the adventure of being a startup founder at Activate Space.

What are you currently working on?

I’m currently welcoming my first set of users on the Activate Space platform. I’m excited to be able to provide so many people around the world with access to affordable spaces in their own neighborhoods. Cities are becoming increasingly unaffordable, and millennials like myself are often getting priced out of the market with little access to the spaces they need to launch their businesses. Activate Space provides an opportunity for us all to access needed, welcoming spaces without taking on the risk of a costly multi-year commercial lease. I can’t wait to see all of the cool ways my users activate their new spaces with their innovative ventures.

Learn more about Jordana’s ActivateSpace and NoCodeCourses.