What CEOs Should Learn From The Dramatic Liftoff Of Clubhouse And Roblox
Low-code and ‘citizen developer’ technology strategies are enabling far-tinier-than-you’d-ever-expect teams to achieve stunning success stories—and CEOs across industries (b2c and b2b alike) need to be paying attention.
Arguably the hottest example of this right now is Clubhouse, which grew into a $900 million company in a single year…with just 12 employees. A similar strategy is playing out behind the skyrocketing popularity of online gaming platform Roblox. Now played by over half of kids under 16 years old in the U.S., Roblox added 80 million users in 2020—driven almost entirely by word-of-mouth virality. With Roblox, very young ‘citizen developers’ using low-code techniques can create, market, and monetize their own games on the platform. (For example, the Roblox game Jailbreak, a $1 million/year hit on the platform, was developed by a small remotely-distributed team of teenagers). Enabling these opportunities positioned Roblox for its recent $30 billion IPO.
Clubhouse and Roblox have hit the zeitgeist in 2021, but it wasn’t by accident. CEOs across industries need to be paying attention to how these companies got where they did as fast as they did, and here’s why.
Because citizen developers have low-code (or no-code) capabilities at their disposal, development starts to become as simple as content creation. Developers still years away from a driver’s license are able to build their low-code skillsets by watching YouTube tutorials and discussing techniques over Discord (two more network orchestrator platforms).
But make no mistake about it: enterprise CEOs have as much opportunity to gain from citizen development as independent creators do. Low-code development, enabled by open source and freely available code libraries, multiplies speed and agility when it comes to launching (and quickly iterating) enterprise applications. Enterprises can now utilize their existing teams—those without computer science degrees and budget-limiting salaries—as ‘citizen developers’ to create software levels more affordably than was possible only 1-2 years ago.
It’s not just the cost gains. Development is also far faster; enterprises taking a low-code tack tell me that projects that would take eight months are now completed in just three weeks. The tools are mature enough now that low-code’s advantages are there for the taking, whether you’re a billion-dollar B2B enterprise or a gaming ecosystem for kids.
With a low-code strategy, citizen developers can drag-n-drop blocks of pre-written code, ready to be assembled, Lego-like, into new applications. These blocks can be used as they come, or customized to suit an application’s particular requirements. Done right, low-code development also taps myriad APIs and modules that democratize access to technologies that would otherwise require expensive expertise to wield.
For citizen developers—whether operating independently or on enterprise teams—low-code development offers a low barrier to entry. The culture shift might very well prove the biggest hurdle in adoption. Once implemented, however, a low-code strategy shows what’s now possible, with rapid application testing effectively future-proofing enterprises through lower-cost agility. Enterprises can even enhance legacy systems with flexible low-code add-ons, further accelerating modernization and preparedness for whatever comes next.
Microsoft predicts that 500 million new apps will be built over the first half of this decade, surpassing the number of apps created in all of the previous 40 years. To meet this anticipated appetite for applications, Microsoft estimates that 90% of those new solutions will need to be built using low-code tools. There just isn’t enough hard-coding expertise (or budget) to go around, but that doesn’t need to be a problem. Enabling less-technical citizen developers to leverage reusable code libraries, and rapidly prototype and deploy solutions, will be increasingly essential to enterprises from a competitive standpoint.
Low-code is a seismic transformation on par with the shift to the cloud. The operational efficiency gains are too big to ignore; enterprises will be able to develop, launch, and iteratively optimize applications with ease, and at an unprecedented pace. In tandem, they will incorporate the power of network orchestration as well, encouraging customer creators and citizen marketers. Considering the speed with which this transformation will arrive, the time to lay the cultural groundwork and begin a low-code strategy is now, if not yesterday.
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Over 70% of Executives Surveyed Agree: Many Strategic Planning Efforts Lack Systematic Approach Tips for Enhancing Your Strategic Planning Process
Executives expressed frustration with their current strategic planning process. Issues include:
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Female leaders face the same issues all leaders do, but they often face additional challenges too. In this peer session, we will facilitate a discussion of best practices and how to overcome common barriers to help women leaders be more effective within and outside their organizations.
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General’s Retreat at Hermitage Golf Course
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