The rise of no-code tools has made it easier than ever to get early versions of products into the hands of users for validation. What used to take months and a technical leader can now be done in a weekend by almost anyone. No-code tools are a founder’s friend for this part of the journey—but they can’t be relied on much beyond that.

I chatted with a founder who has a few enterprise customers paying to use a solution he built via no-code tools. He’s now looking to raise capital off this validation so he can scale. The challenge is that he doesn’t have a full-time technical leader on his team. I explained to him that his situation carries high execution risk that could hinder his fundraising. He hasn’t shown he can build a technical product. Nor does he have a technical leader with a track record of building products. Investors will give him credit for solving a valid problem because customers are paying, but there will be questions about technical execution. Can he build a technical solution and scale it?

No-code tools are great for validating the problem, but they aren’t the goal. If you’re a founder using or considering using a no-code tool, have a plan to start building your own proprietary product so you can remove concerns around execution and build something scalable.