The Moment Everything Changed
This wasn’t just a project. It was the proof point that transformed my career from management consulting to building products. Before this, I advised on digital transformation. After this, I became someone who ships.
The Challenge
Build and deploy a production-ready mobile application in 30 days—significantly under typical development timelines and budgets. No prior mobile app development experience. No traditional coding bootcamp. Just visual development tools, rapid learning, and relentless focus on core features.
The Approach
I chose FlutterFlow, a visual development platform, betting that the right abstractions could compress the learning curve without sacrificing quality. Instead of spending months learning Flutter and Dart from scratch, I focused on:
- Product thinking: What’s the minimum viable feature set?
- User experience: How should this actually feel to use?
- Rapid iteration: Ship, test, fix, repeat
Learning by Shipping
Rather than tutorials and theory, I learned by building the actual product. Every feature was a new challenge:
- Authentication flows → learned state management
- Database integration → understood backend patterns
- UI polish → mastered responsive design
The constraint of 30 days forced ruthless prioritization. Every decision was “Does this ship the core value faster?”
Timeline: 30 Days from Zero to Production
- Days 1-5: Learning FlutterFlow, building basic UI structure
- Days 6-15: Core feature development, backend integration
- Days 16-25: User testing, iteration, bug fixing
- Days 26-30: Polish, deployment, production launch
What I Learned
Visual Development is a Legitimate Production Approach
Before this project, I wasn’t sure if no-code/low-code tools could deliver real products. After shipping a working app in 30 days, I knew they could. The key is understanding when abstraction helps and when you need to drop down to code.
Rapid Feedback Loops Drive Quality
Thirty days meant I couldn’t overthink. I shipped rough versions, watched users interact, fixed what broke, and repeated. This tight feedback loop produced better UX than six months of isolated development would have.
Constraints Create Focus
Limited time forced me to cut everything that didn’t directly serve the core value proposition. The result was a cleaner, more focused product than I would have built with unlimited time.
Career Impact
This project opened the door from management consulting to actual product building. It proved—to myself and others—that I could:
- Learn new technical skills quickly
- Ship real products under tight constraints
- Combine strategy thinking with hands-on execution
From here, I went on to build LMS platforms, AI-powered applications, and eventually SessionBridge. But this was the origin point. This was where I became a builder.
The Broader Lesson
Your career transformation doesn’t require years of preparation. It requires one project that proves you can do the thing. This was mine.
From never having built an app to shipping in 30 days. From advising on digital transformation to actually executing it. From consultant to Developer Advocate and AI engineer.
It started here.