How Comet Built a Marketplace and Raised $12.8 Million Without Writing a Single Line of Code

Dipak Barkale
3 min readJan 20, 2024

And Yes, you CAN also do it…

Most startup founders or businesses invest lots of time & money in building a product from scratch or hire expensive developers.

But, you can do it with ZERO dollars.

Firstly, let’s understand how Comet did this at the first stage.

So, Comet is a marketplace for IT talent to find freelancing jobs.

Comet’s founder, Charles Thomas is a godfather of no-code development because he used no-code to build Comet in 2017 when the bubble wasn’t as advanced as it is today.

Bubble is one of the top & no-code full-stack software builders.

Charles didn’t have any coding experience, but still he built the product.

What set Comet apart from competitors like Fiverr and Upwork was Charles’s unique process to filter the top 1% freelancers.

Charles built out this app using Bubble within weeks and quickly released an MVP to the market.

After a couple of months, Comet was generating over $800,000 in MRR.

This attracted the attention of venture capital firms to invest in Comet.

So, how you can also build a marketplace like Comet for IT talent to find freelancing jobs using No-Code?

No worries, I will show you the step-by-step process:

  1. Pick Your Flavour: Decide what kind of IT gigs you want your marketplace to be known for. Web dev for startups? Data analysis for doctors? The sky’s the limit!
  2. Must-Have Features: Think job board with fancy filters, secure payments, ways to chat and video call, and a rating system to build trust. Make it awesome for both sides!
  3. Data, Data, Data: Design a storage system for all the info, like users, jobs, skills, and even those juicy reviews. Make sure it’s organized and ready to grow.
  4. Look & Feel: Bubble’s your UI design playground. Create a landing page that wows, dashboards that guide, and listing pages that make jobs jump off the screen (mobile-friendly, of course!) with simply drag-and-drop features.
  5. Welcome Squad: Roll out the virtual red carpet with easy signups and logins. Let folks create profiles that showcase their personality and skills. Plus, give them search tools that help them find exactly what they’re looking for, fast!
  6. Recruiter’s Paradise: Empower your recruiters to create eye-catching job listings with drool-worthy images, set requirements that make them happy, and keep track of their applicants like a boss.
  7. Make It Sweet: Add some juicy extras like whispers (internal messaging or potential video calls), star ratings to build trust, and tracking tools to keep everyone in the loop.
  8. Test Drive Time: Before you open the doors, gather feedback from your early birds, tweak those features until they sparkle, and get ready to launch!
  9. Keep It Thriving: Celebrate your wins, listen to your users, add new features, figure out how to make money and build a community where everyone feels at home.

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Dipak Barkale

Design • No-Code • Marketing • Co-founder & COO at WillStar Media #StriveForImpact