From Failed Startup to Category Creator: How Xano is Pioneering Citizen Developer-Led Software

Statistics can tell powerful stories. “There are effectively 27 million developers in the world today of 8 billion people. That’s less than half a percent of people to create software that all of us use,” shared Prakash Chandran in a recent episode of Category Visionaries. This stark reality helped Xano identify an opportunity that would shape not just their product, but an entirely new category.

Learning from Failure

The journey to category creation began with failure. “As a failed startup founder, my first startup, the constraint was the engineering resource, and I spent a lot of time and money in trying to build my own product,” Prakash revealed. This experience highlighted a fundamental market gap that existing solutions weren’t addressing.

While the no-code space was growing, Prakash observed a crucial limitation: “There was always kind of this stigma where no code could only do so much. You should only build your MVP. You have to hire custom developers when you want to build something of consequence.”

Identifying the Real User

Instead of trying to compete in the crowded no-code space, Xano identified a distinct user profile they called “the Citizen developer.” As Prakash explained, “You can think of them as like a product owner of some sort that is a systems thinker, but doesn’t know the syntax of software creation.”

This insight led to a crucial realization. While most no-code tools focused on making development easier for developers, Xano saw an opportunity to enable an entirely new class of builders – people who understood systems but weren’t traditional developers.

Creating the Category

Rather than positioning themselves as just another no-code tool, Xano began speaking about “citizen developer-led software creation.” As Prakash noted, “You know, this is obviously still being formed by us, but it’s citizen developer led software creation. Right? Where Twilio, for example, when they first started, it was non consensus that developer led would be a thing.”

This wasn’t just a marketing angle – it was a fundamental bet on the future of software development. “I think that we live in a world today where we are saying citizen developer led is going to be a thing. And a lot of people are like, what are you talking about?”

Building Category Credibility

To establish credibility in this new category, Xano took a methodical approach. “We’ve been really capital efficient. We’ve really been engaged with our customers, and we’ve taken things slow,” Prakash shared. “And we kind of always sought the truth in whatever decisions that we made.”

They focused specifically on backend development rather than trying to build everything. “We’re not trying to boil the ocean and build a complete product,” Prakash explained. This focus allowed them to solve one crucial problem exceptionally well, building credibility for the broader category.

The Enterprise Evolution

The category creation strategy proved particularly valuable when approaching enterprise customers. “It’s like a cultural objection that I think we have to overcome in that some CIOs and people within IT will say no code, no way,” Prakash noted. By positioning themselves as enabling “citizen developer-led software creation” rather than just offering another no-code tool, they could have a different conversation with enterprise buyers.

The Vision Behind the Category

Today, with over 40,000 developers using their platform, Xano’s category creation effort has evolved into a broader mission “to empower the world to create scalable, world class software.” The emphasis on “scalable” and “world class” is intentional – it’s about legitimizing citizen developers as creators of serious, enterprise-grade software.

For B2B founders, especially those building innovative technology, Xano’s experience offers a valuable lesson in category creation. Sometimes the biggest opportunity isn’t in competing within existing categories, but in identifying and legitimizing new ones. As Prakash noted about their approach, “We’ve really been able to separate ourselves and be taken more seriously, even by traditional developers by doing that.”