Drunk Business Advice with Kristin & Jesus | From MVP Myths to Real AI ROI and Low-Code Success

In a recent conversation on the "Drunk Business Advice" podcast, Jesus shared the fascinating story behind his agency that's built over 330 apps without traditional coding, and the unconventional background that shaped his approach to business.

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The Grandfather Who Saw the Future

Jesus Vargas's entrepreneurial instincts trace back to his grandfather, a visionary who invented Mexico's first laptop computer and struck a deal with Bill Gates to bring Microsoft's operating system to Mexico for the first time.

Working alongside his grandfather taught Jesus two crucial lessons that still guide his business today:

1. Quick decision-making: "He was never afraid of making decisions," Vargas recalls. "You can't be worse than where we are now. So take that risk already and then we'll figure it out."
2. Culture consciousness: But perhaps more importantly, Jesus learned what not to do. Watching his grandfather's management style, he made mental notes about what he would do differently. "I was an employee, and it was very important for me to not forget those things when I was on the manager role."

This balance between decisive action and thoughtful leadership now shapes how his US-based company, LowCode Agency, operates with its 40+ remote employees worldwide.

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The WordPress Regret That Sparked an Empire

Jesus had an early taste of missing tech opportunities. As a teenager, he was deeply involved in WordPress, even creating the first Spanish translation for the platform. But when he went to college, he lost track of the project.

"Four years later, I look at WordPress. It was like this huge company powering half of the internet basically," he explains. "I was like, I liked this product. I understood it. I could have been here and I just missed the train."

That regret became his driving force. When he discovered Glide, a platform that promised to "build an app from a spreadsheet," he made a commitment: "I made a decision when I find the next tech thing that I can get into that I understand, I'll get into that train and not get off."

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Beyond the "Uber for Everything" Pitches

Running a no-code agency means fielding countless "I want to build the next Uber" pitches. Jesus has learned to spot the difference between dreamers and doers.

"It's not about the idea, it's about the vision," he explains. "We have been surprised with ideas that I thought didn't make a lot of sense and they end up being successful."

The secret sauce? Sales ability. "Our ideal clients are sales-driven individuals, whether B2C or B2B, who prioritize customer acquisition and entrust the technological aspects to us. We understand that even the most innovative app won't succeed without users. The solution isn't to abandon ambitious ideas, it's to understand the journey. Start simple, focus on core value.”

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The AI Reality Check

While everyone's jumping on the AI bandwagon, Jesus offers a refreshingly honest perspective. LowCode Agency has implemented AI solutions in over 100 projects, giving him unique insights into what actually works.

"The problem is not AI, the problem is the expectation of how AI will behave," he notes. "People don't know how to communicate with AI, so they don't give enough context and it screws up the answer."

His advice? Think of AI implementation as an ongoing investment, not a "set it and forget it" solution. "It's like an ongoing thing where you have to tweak and modify and give limitations."

Take a seemingly simple example: building an AI-powered recipe app for dieting. "You have to be very conscious about the user onboarding flow so that the AI knows your gender, your age, your food preferences, if you have any allergies, when do you eat, at what times of the day. If you just do a poor job and say 'I want the AI to give me recipes for my diet', how many calories are you eating? Do you eat nuts? Do you have allergies? What is your goal? AI can’t replace you… it can only enhance you."

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The Ongoing Investment Reality

Unlike automation tools that you can "set and forget," AI requires continuous refinement. "It's not a thing where you connect your Google Sheet to your Gmail, and then you automate a workflow and it always works. It's a continuous process of refinement, requiring constant adjustments and the setting of boundaries, such as defining what not to do or how not to respond…"

This is where LowCode Agency's approach differs from typical AI implementations. They build AI solutions that businesses can actually use and maintain, focusing on practical applications rather than flashy demos. "The ROI is great, but the expectations are too high when people don't give it the right context and training."

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Smart AI Integration

The key to successful AI implementation? Treating it as a strategic investment, not a magic bullet. Jesus's team has learned to guide clients through proper AI integration, ensuring the technology actually solves business problems rather than creating new ones.

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From 30-Employee Outsourcing to AI-Powered Efficiency

One of Jesus's proudest projects involved transforming a traditional outsourcing company run by a 60-year-old owner who was determined to modernize his business.

"Previously, he was calling someone in the office: 'Hey, can you give me a report in terms of how many employees we have in this state?' Everything had to be a manual report that someone had to pull up in a new Excel file, copy-paste data from 27 different sources."

Now? "He's just chatting with AI every day, asking super random questions or asking for actual valuable insights." The owner named his AI assistant "Estrella" (Spanish for star) and uses it to instantly access any business data he needs.

This transformation exemplifies LowCode Agency's mission: "We democratize software. We build enterprise-grade software for SMBs."

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The Mistake That Cost Tens of Thousands

Not every decision has been perfect. Early in his journey, Jesus made a costly error that taught him valuable lessons about scaling.

"I started at the very bottom in terms of price," he admits. "We were like the cheapest agency in the world. It's has been an uphill battle getting better clients, more qualified clients who have the funds to build, and scale, and be successful."

The lesson? "I wouldn't have started at the bottom. I wouldn't have started saying we're the cheapest."

This pricing mistake led to working with unqualified customers whose projects often failed to scale, a painful but necessary education in positioning and client selection.

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From Dev Shop to Strategic Partner

This painful experience led to a fundamental shift in how LowCode Agency positions itself. "We don't compete on price and speed anymore," Jesus explains. "We're not a dev shop. We're your product team."

Today, LowCode Agency operates as a comprehensive partner rather than just a development service:

• Define the right product strategy: We ask the tough questions, challenge assumptions, and map out a path that’s viable, scalable, and aligned with real business goals, either for enterprises or SMBs.
• Design for adoption and impact: From UX to UI, we create intuitive experiences that reflect the brand and actually get used.
• Build with performance and scale in mind: We use powerful no-code platforms like Bubble, Glide, FlutterFlow and Webflow to launch fast and evolve without tech debt.
• Integrate smart AI and automation: When it makes sense, we embed AI agents, dashboards, or custom logic that drive real efficiency and insights.
• Iterate and grow: Because success doesn’t end at launch. We stay for the next version, the next phase, the next big thing.

"We work with a select group of clients to deliver end-to-end solutions that fuel long-term growth, not just short-term results," Jesus notes. "We're invested in your success, from the first discovery call to post-launch work."

This approach means they say no to projects that aren't the right fit: a complete reversal from their early "take any project" mentality. 

The result? Clients who see real ROI and partnerships that last years, not months.

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The Future of No-code vs. AI-Generated Code

As AI coding tools proliferate, many wonder if no-code platforms will become obsolete. Jesus isn't worried.

"I think that communication thing, that people don't know how to speak with AI, will always be an issue, and businesses will always need help with that gap," he explains.

His prediction? "You still need someone technical. You still need someone who understands a database, how to build it, how to maintain it, how to debug it. And you still need someone that can translate those business needs into technology. And this is where we excel and this is why our clients love us. Recently, a client told us: You made me understand my business better. And that’s what we do. We just add tech on top of that, and magic happens."

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The Most Common Mistake

Despite the "low-code" name, clients often underestimate the complexity involved. "Because it's low code and because it's no code, then it's inexpensive and quick," Jesus observes.

His advice to business owners? "Let's take a step back and actually think through your process, your problem. That quick fix might not be what you actually need."

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Building a Business Culture That Works

Managing 40+ employees across the globe requires intentional culture building. Vargas prioritizes creating an environment where "people have to come to work happy every day because of who you work with."

This philosophy stems directly from his grandfather's lessons about employee experience and his commitment to building the kind of workplace he wished he'd had as an employee.

Jesus's journey proves that success often comes from the most unexpected places. His story reminds us that in the world of technology, sometimes the best advantage isn't technical expertise, it's the wisdom to know when to make quick decisions, when to learn from others' mistakes, and when to jump on the right train at the right time.

Ready to explore how no-code and low-code solutions could transform your business? LowCode Agency specializes in turning business challenges into scalable, digital solutions. Book a free discovery call and chat with us to figure out your next move.