The New Build

Most founders build software first and a business second. Clément Llehi did it the other way around — and that sequence might be exactly why Makko works.In this episode, Abhinav sits down with Clément, the bootstrapped solo founder of Makko, a facility management company based in France. Starting with no co-founder, no outside funding, and no coding background, Clément spent his early mornings cleaning offices at 5 AM while consulting at Capgemini by day and designing what would eventually become a platform running operations for 300 employees and over 600 enterprise clients by night. He shares the moment he knew it was time to go all in, what it actually takes to earn the trust of major companies when you're a small, self-funded team, and why he restructures his company every six months on purpose.Topics covered:Leaving a consulting career at Capgemini to start a cleaning company — and why people thought he was making a big mistakeDoing the cleaning himself first, and why that changed every product decision he madeHow the pandemic forced him to pause and build the platform that now runs the whole operationThe moment winning his first big enterprise contract made everything feel realWhat consulting taught him about user experience — and why the FM industry still hasn't caught upBuilding enterprise trust as a small, bootstrapped, founder-led teamWhy he deliberately restructures Makko every six to eight monthsHow AI is changing Makko's internal operations, and what he's thinking about for clients nextThe competitor's comment that meant more to him than any client winFind this episode’s full show notes here:https://bubble.io/blog/the-new-build-09-makkoLinks:Makko: makko.frClément on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clementllehi/✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦Chapters[00:00:00] Why the early days of building Makko felt like the best and worst time of Clément's life[00:00:22] Introducing Clément, founder and CEO of Makko[00:02:23] Why Clément left a consulting career at Capgemini to start a cleaning company[00:03:38] The brutal early grind: cleaning at 5 AM, working 9-5, building the platform at night[00:05:26] Why Clément entered the industry as an operator first rather than building a platform from the outside[00:13:36] Discovering Bubble: How Clément found no-code and built an MVP in a month during COVID[00:15:51] From first clients to 600+ B2B accounts: What earning enterprise trust actually looked like[00:19:06] How a consulting background gave Makko a customer experience edge in a notoriously old-school industry[00:21:43] Overcoming skepticism: Why some people couldn't believe a tech-forward company could also be the best at cleaning[00:24:57] Why Makko deliberately restructures every six to eight months — and what that looks like in practice[00:31:03] Clément's playbook for building a bootstrapped business that enterprise clients can trust[00:33:13] Knowing when to leave your day job: Why you need both traction data and gut instinct[00:36:13] The micro signals most entrepreneurs ignore — and how one small complaint can signal a bigger cultural problem[00:40:16] The competitor compliment that told Clément he was building something truly different

Most impact-conscious businesses treat social good as a cost center‌ — ‌something funded by profits from the "real" business. EqualReach flipped that model: When refugee talent gets paid for dignified work, EqualReach gets paid too. The mission and the revenue are structurally the same thing.In this episode, Abhinav talks with EqualReach Founder and CEO Giselle Gonzales and Product Lead Olena Voloshyna about how they built a freelancing marketplace connecting displaced talent with businesses that need digital work‌, ‌and why the only way EqualReach makes money is when that talent gets paid fair rates. You'll hear how 10 years of research led Giselle to identify the missing piece in refugee employment (market access, not training), why Olena went from intern to product lead in 18 months through "trust as currency," and the specific platform features that make dignified work‌ — ‌not exploitation‌ — ‌the default.Topics covered:Why "dignified work" means the opposite of exploitationThe 10-year research journey that revealed the real gap: market access, not skillsHow EqualReach's fee structure aligns incentives with refugee talent getting paidBuilding the platform during Bubble's Immerse program with zero product experienceWhy Giselle hired a product lead before having a product"Trust as currency": How giving ownership unlocks 90% more potentialSmart contracting: Giving teams control over payment terms and pricingImpact reporting as a feature: Tracking jobs created, KPIs improved, stories toldWhy most people think "refugee" = "low-skilled person in a camp" (and how to change that)The compliance challenge: Perceived risk vs. actual risk for businessesOne Young World moment: 80% of the room commits to the visionHow a Palestinian marketing team used AI to deliver studio-quality training videosStarting with the "why," not the "how"Find this episode’s full show notes here: ⁠https://bubble.io/blog/the-new-build-07-equalreach Links:EqualReach: http://equalreach.io Giselle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisellegonzales/Olena on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olena-amina-voloshyna-49a571113/

Sam Rudy spent over a decade booking recording studios for major artists worldwide, a job that involved sending 50+ emails just to book a single session. He had zero coding experience, but his co-founder Ricky convinced him that Sam’s deep industry knowledge made him the only person who could solve this problem.In this episode, Abhinav talks with Sam about how he went from "this feels impossible" to building Pro Studio Time, a marketplace connecting artists with professional recording studios. You'll hear why studios don't advertise rates or availability (and how Sam designed around that), the specific moment he realized people actually wanted what he was building, and his framework for overcoming fear of failure when putting early prototypes in front of industry peers. Sam breaks down why "boring is back" in music tech, how he found early adopters willing to wait through delays, and why nobody cares about your imperfect product as much as you think they do.Topics covered:Why deep industry experience creates an unfair advantage over technical skillsThe 50-email problem: How recording studio bookings actually workMeeting your co-founder at the pub: From complaint to company in 24 hoursWhy "this will cost $500K to build" is almost never true anymoreOvercoming the fear that your industry peers will judge youGetting 130+ studios and 75+ profiles without launching publiclyWhy closed beta is often just founder fear disguised as strategyFinding early adopters who'll stick with you through delays"Boring is back": Why music tech investors want real problem-solving over cool ideasThe iteration playbook: Most things fail because founders don't stick with it long enoughFind this episode’s full show notes here:https://bubble.io/blog/the-new-build-05-sam-rudyLinks:Pro Studio Time: prostudiotime.comSam on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/amessagetourudyRicky (Sam’s co-founder) on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ricky-foran-238742317/Start building: bubble.io

Before he even launched the Turing app, Vai Singh grew his YouTube channel to over 45,000 subscribers in less than a year‌ — ‌while working full-time as head of strategy at a major European space services firm and raising a young daughter. The science education platform he built next proves you don't need to quit your job to build something real.In this episode, Abhinav talks with Vai about his distribution-first strategy: why he built YouTube audience before perfecting his product, how he knew which feedback to act on versus ignore, and the specific tools (Bubble, AI, Canva) that let him operate as essentially a one-person company. You'll hear why it took 15-20 videos before anything caught on, his framework for ruthless prioritization when you have limited time, and why he believes we're not far from single-person unicorns.Topics covered:Why YouTube came before the mobile app (distribution-first strategy)The 15-20 video threshold: What it actually takes to gain tractionHow to filter constructive criticism from noiseBuilding a native mobile app on Bubble in 4 weeks during summer vacationBalancing full-time work, family, and entrepreneurship through automationUsing AI to 10x output: Research, content creation, and task automationWhen "good enough to not frustrate users" beats perfectWhy passion gives you energy instead of draining itThe tools that make single-person companies possibleFind this episode’s full show notes here:https://bubble.io/blog/the-new-build-03-turing-appLinks:Turing App: theturingapp.comVai’s favorite science lesson: https://theturingapp.com/show_index/relativity--the-special-and-the-general-theoryDownload: iOS | AndroidStart building: bubble.io✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦Chapters[00:01:26] Introduction: Meet Vai, the strategy executive building Turing App on the side[00:02:44] The moment everything changed: How his daughter's birth triggered entrepreneurship[00:03:36] Discovering the content gap during late-night parental leave walks[00:05:25] Breaking free from finance's "golden handcuffs" to pursue passion[00:07:24] Why content comes first: Using YouTube to validate before building[00:11:00] The Special Relativity series that changed everything[00:13:00] Four weeks to launch: Building the first version on Bubble[00:15:00] The "not frustrating users" standard vs. perfectionist paralysis[00:19:00] The 15-video rule: Why persistence beats perfection on YouTube[00:21:00] Single-person unicorns: How modern tools are changing the entrepreneurship game[00:25:10] Life-changing advice from an Afghanistan veteran with a bullet near his heart[00:29:48] Bubble announcements & Outro

Six weeks before SXSW Sydney, Paloma Newton and Jackson Gritching made a decision that would define their startup: pivot their entire business strategy, build an MVP from scratch, and compete on one of the world's biggest stages.In this episode, Abhinav talks with the co-founders of Elita Blueprint about how they won their category at SXSW Sydney while simultaneously building their pet health platform on Bubble. Paloma shares her pitch strategy‌ — ‌from synthesizing a complex biotech story into 3 minutes to getting booed from the audience (in a good way). Jackson reveals what it's like building the product the night before launch. Together, they break down the new playbook for pitching under pressure.Topics covered:Why SXSW became their forcing function for the pivotChoosing Bubble with zero dev experience and a 6-week deadlineThe pitch strategy: Telling a human story in 3 minutesWhat actually happens when you win (and the judge who got booed)Their playbook for pitch competitionsFind this episode’s full show notes here:https://bubble.io/blog/the-new-build-01-elitaLinks:Elita Blueprint:elita.petSign up to be a Elita Blueprint Beta user herehttps://install.page/elitaFollow Elita on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/elita.pet/Follow Elita on Tiktok:https://www.tiktok.com/@elita.petFollow Elita on Linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/company/elitapet/Start building on Bubble:bubble.io* * * * *Chapters[00:00] Introduction to the episode and the Elita founders[01:59] The origin story: how a pandemic puppy named Edgar sparked a pet health startup[05:59] How stem cell banking for pets actually works[09:14] Why everything pointed toward building a digital platform — despite no software experience[14:09] The SXSW Sydney deadline and getting investor buy-in on the pivot[19:17] “Being the robot” — why Paloma manually handled the first 50 concierge requests[23:29] The Cindy Gallup moment: telling a hero “I’m about to quit my job and start a company”[30:51] The hardest part of crafting a three-minute pitch for a complex business[36:07] Pitch day nerves and why being anxious shows you care[40:56] The moment they knew they had won — when the audience booed a judge[45:52] The playbook for pitching: iteration before practice, and knowing when to play[52:57] Hot take: entrepreneurs aren’t paying enough attention to their customers[57:47] Most memorable career feedback: “You have an unhealthy bias toward action”[1:03:41] Bubble updates, Academy refresh, and Bubble Tip of the Week* * * * *The New Build is a bi-weekly podcast from Bubble exploring how solo founders and small teams are shipping real products to millions of users with modern tools. Subscribe for their playbooks — and start building yours.