Bubble Developer Spotlight: Gregory John

You might know Gregory John from Bubble’s Getting Started YouTube series, How to Build Day, or even BubbleCon — in fact, it’s pretty hard to miss him around here. When he’s not busy running his own Bubble education company, Buildcamp, he spends a lot of time right here with the Bubble community, helping others learn the no-code ropes.

But like many Bubble Developers, Gregory didn’t start out thinking he’d pursue a career in no-code development — in fact, he was working on photography and videography projects when he was motivated to learn Bubble to solve a real-life pain point. 

That was nearly ten years ago. The rest, as they say, is history.

Tell us your Bubble story.

​​In 2012, I joined the brand department at an experiential postgraduate school headquartered in London. Their focus was delivering MBAs where students would rotate between international campuses based in major cities, and my job was to help capture and market this benefit through lifestyle photography and videography. I was working with modeling and creative agencies to find talent for these shoots at these various global locations. The school was also pioneering an internal educational platform, which raised my interest in all things tech and startups. 

During this time, I became increasingly frustrated with the hefty commissions that creative agencies charged — sometimes up to 40% of the talent’s fees. The booking process was cumbersome and it seemed like these agencies had too much control. This experience gave me the idea for a platform that could streamline the hiring of creative talent, similar to how Uber simplified transportation. The vision was for a platform where talent could be booked directly.

By 2014, before discovering Bubble, I was dedicating my evenings and weekends to learning how to code and developing a basic but functional MVP for this idea. Despite its initial bugs, the concept was strong enough to earn me a spot in an accelerator program, which helped refine the idea. However, given my limited developer experience, I struggled with building a reliable enough payments experience to build trust with my users. 

I discovered Bubble during a Google search for solutions to integrate Stripe payments. Within six weeks, I had rebuilt the platform on Bubble, quickly bringing over 250 creatives on board, securing venture capital, and starting to build a dedicated team. Although we later encountered business and funding challenges that prevented us from continuing, the journey was eye-opening and full of lessons.

What made you start Buildcamp?

Bubble resources were scarce in the early days. The forum was great and supportive, but the educational content was thin. After my startup wound down, my wife, Zoe, suggested that no-code platforms like Bubble were on the brink of gaining popularity. She encouraged me to share my knowledge and experience with others, potentially through consulting and teaching. Taking her advice, I began consulting and started releasing instructional videos on YouTube as well. The initial feedback was, to my surprise, quite positive — and this ultimately led me to establish Buildcamp.

What does your career look like today?

Today, my career is centered around Buildcamp, through which I’ve taught a fairly large cohort of non-technical founders how to leverage Bubble to build SaaS, marketplace, AI, and productivity apps. Many of these students have successfully transitioned into developer roles, launched their own startups, or established Bubble agencies. A pivotal moment for me was at BubbleCon, where hearing personal success stories from people I’ve helped was incredibly moving.

When I returned to the UK, I reached out to Bubble co-founder Emmanuel to express my gratitude for the speaking opportunity and explore how we might further align our goals. This conversation sparked the creation of the Getting Started series, aiming to guide users in their initial steps with Bubble.

From a career perspective, it’s been exciting being early in a developing technology sector. I wouldn’t say I’m overly ‘career orientated’, I’m just really curious and love learning and tinkering. I’m very much a student as much as I am a teacher.

How have you seen Bubble and the Bubble community evolve?

When I first participated in an accelerator program, I felt overwhelmed by imposter syndrome. Many of the other teams had developers who were skeptical about my choice of technology and the absence of a “traditional” developer on my team. Back then, the term “no-code” was barely recognized. Fast forward to today, and it’s hard to find an accelerator program that doesn’t feature a large proportion of startups utilizing no-code tools.

Similarly, the Bubble community’s mindset has transformed as well. Initially, many of us were solopreneurs with modest ambitions, quietly working on small projects. Now, we see teams and agencies collaborating with ambitious startups, solopreneurs launching apps with a fraction of the usual time and cost, and traditional developers embracing Bubble as they move away from syntax-heavy programming. 

How many Bubble apps have you built? Which one was the coolest?

I’ve been involved in numerous Bubble projects, but the first app I ever built holds a special place. During the marketplace boom of 2015–2018, I created one of the first platforms to directly connect brands with models and creatives. This marketplace was disruptive in a traditionally conservative industry, and it has since paved the way for other startups to bring innovation to this space.

Since then, I’ve collaborated with many entrepreneurs and startups, either building new apps from scratch or transitioning their existing technologies to Bubble. One notable project was a nationwide careers platform, which presented unique problem-solving and UX challenges. I learned a lot from that one.

What excites you most about no-code and the future?

I’m incredibly excited about the growth of solopreneurship and how no-code is facilitating this trend. It’s wonderful to see individuals moving from uninspiring traditional jobs to becoming Bubble founders. The stories shared within the Buildcamp community are a constant source of motivation for me to keep advancing my educational efforts.

Looking ahead, I’m also keen to see how AI will intersect with no-code technologies. I anticipate that AI will significantly enhance the no-code mission by creating even more opportunities for non-technical founders. Just as no-code tools were pivotal for me in 2016, AI promises to expand these possibilities further.

What’s your favorite Bubble hack or little-known tip?

A repeated theme that often trips students up is that workflows run in parallel when they can, unless we explicitly force the order — Bubble does this to increase the speed of execution. As an example, if you have a seven-step workflow, step seven will run before step one ends, unless step seven is referencing the result of step one.

This means that if you need to force the order of a workflow, you should use a custom event as they run sequentially.

Do you have any recommendations for aspiring Bubble content/education creators?

Authenticity and personality are key. Think back to your early school years: Which teachers do you remember? Combine personality with storytelling and speak from experience.