We asked Roast or Toast founder, Daniel France, about building an app that provides a community for founders to receive actionable feedback from successful entrepreneurs. Daniel is a serial entrepreneur and full-stack developer. He founded Actovos Consulting Group about seven years ago. Daniel chose Bubble because the no-code platform enables him to understand no-code tools better and how they work.
Tell us about your app and what it does.
Roast or Toast provides a community for founders to receive actionable feedback from successful entrepreneurs. As a serial entrepreneur myself, I’ve been on the receiving end of endless feedback and suggestions. Everyone has something to say or some suggestion on how your app should look, or how to change it to gain appeal from users and customers; sifting through all that noise can be difficult. If everyone has advice, which occasionally contradicts, who should you listen to?
That’s what Roast or Toast does; it helps you sift through the noise and get actionable feedback, for free, from people who have succeeded. I’ve reached out to my network and built a growing team of Founders, Investors, Engineers, and more who all have a lifetime value of over $5M. These approved Roasters, and only them, are taking deep dives into products to give actionable feedback for you based on years of experience and success.
How does your app work?
As an engineer and a Founder, I strive to make products incredibly simple and to focus on 1 or 2 things. The Roast or Toast user experience is just that: simple. Once you create an account, you will be able to submit your application/product to our team for review. We will ask you some in-depth questions so that we can truly understand your product and your reason for building it.
Once you’ve done that, you can wait for your review by checking out other products and the reviews we’ve left them. You could get inspiration or maybe even find potential customers or partners.
It’s worth noting that only approved Roasters will be reviewing your product, not the general public.
Tell us a little about your background and how you discovered no-code tools like Bubble.
Like many founders, I suffer from imposter syndrome so writing about myself can be difficult. However, It’s important to outline a few of my successes so that other Founders know that the advice we give will be based on a lot of experience, some failures, and a few successes.
I’m a serial entrepreneur and full-stack developer. About 7 years ago I founded Actovos Consulting Group, a consulting agency that has built products for celebrities, the US Government, and Startups. Prior to ACG, I was one of the co-founders of FilmFreeway. Currently, while handling the day-to-day of ACG, I’m a US Patent holder and the Co-Founder of Voyage.
As someone who has helped startups from ideation to launch, I’m always cognizant of budget. I would try to train and develop the founders, rather than just charge them. I’ve kept an eye on the No-Code tools industry for a while and I feel that it’s at a point where it can change a lot of lives. People can spin up an MVP over a weekend rather than hire dev teams and spend tens of thousands of dollars.
Why did you build your app on Bubble?
I wanted to build Roast or Toast in Bubble because I wanted to understand the tooling better. I anticipate a lot of the submissions we receive will be built in No-Code tools, and I felt that it would be unfair of me and other Roasters to review apps built on No-Code solutions if we had zero experience with the tools ourselves. Now that I’ve got a little Bubble experience, I’ve got a few other ideas I’d like to build using Bubble!
What have been your milestones or successes so far?
After launching the landing page, we pretty quickly hit 50 sign-ups which I thought was really awesome, and even more cool is that we’re closing in on the 100 sign-ups mark. We’ve even begun receiving product submissions from our sign-ups which has been really amazing and humbling.
I’ve also been able to secure 4 VC groups, 4 founders whose products hit 8-digit ARR, and Product Managers from FANG companies. Considering we haven’t officially launched yet, I’m really excited about how this community will grow.
What are your next steps or future plans for your app?
I keep using the word “community” and that’s the direction I’d like to take Roast or Toast. I hope that in the near future, I can help give founders actionable feedback to build the best product they can. In the not too distant future, I’m hoping we can connect founders with their first customers, Mastermind groups with experienced founders in their sector, mentorship from VCs, and maybe even have our own pitch contest.
Learn more about Roast or Toast: Facebook | Twitter
About Bubble
Bubble is a leader in the no-code movement. Bubble offers a powerful point-and-click web editor and cloud hosting platform that allows users to build fully customizable web applications and workflows, ranging from simple prototypes to complex marketplaces, SaaS products, and more. Over 500,000 users are currently building and launching businesses on Bubble - many have gone on to participate in top accelerator programs, such as Y Combinator, and even raise $365M in venture funding. Bubble is more than just a product. We are a strong community of builders and entrepreneurs that are united by the belief that everyone should be able to create technology.
Do you want your app featured by Bubble? Reach out to us and tell us about your app. In addition to this series, we sometimes select our best apps to showcase on our website.
