In our latest episode of What the Tech from Boast we sat down with Vladimir Leytus, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of AirDev, the global leader in no-code and Bubble.io development. Vlad shared how AirDev enables customers to build powerful custom web apps in a fraction of the time, cost, and effort of traditional agencies. He also discusses how R&D tax credits have been critical to their growth as a bootstrapped, US-based company serving hundreds of clients from one-person startups to Fortune 100 enterprises.
The mission: Make software development faster, cheaper, and more accessible—without requiring coding expertise.
The approach: Treat software development like an industrial process. Standardize what can be standardized, modularize what's common, and customize only what's unique.
The result: A San Francisco-based company that's been growing for 10+ years, bootstrapped entirely on revenue, now retooling for the AI era.
And they're doing it all while claiming R&D tax credits to fuel continued innovation in their development framework, project management tools, and assembly-line approach to custom software.
The Problem: Custom Software Was Too Slow and Too Expensive
Vlad and his co-founder met at Harvard Business School. Both were working on startup ideas. Both hit the same wall: They didn't know how to code.
"We were both in the same position of, 'Do we find co-founders? Do we try to raise money and hire developers?' Because developers are very expensive."
They discovered Bubble, a no-code builder that allows you to build software without coding, in its very early days (just a few months after the company launched). Both spent nights and weekends tinkering, building products for their own startups, and launched them within a few weeks.
"We never learned the language of code, but we still had that kind of… we just liked doing that kind of work. Bubble was this unlock where, 'Oh, now we can do this stuff that we couldn't do before.'"
The insight: There might be a better way to build software—a cheaper, faster way than coding from scratch.
That premise became AirDev.
The Solution: An Assembly Line for Software Development
AirDev was founded on the idea that you can create software in a more industrial way—almost like making a little factory for creating software.
But there's a challenge: when you build custom software, every product is different. It's not like a factory creating widgets where every widget is the same.
"That's a very hard thing to scale. It's really hard to scale something where every engagement and every product looks different."
AirDev's approach:
- Standardize the foundation– Figure outwhat's common to every product and build a development framework on top of Bubble that provides that foundation automatically.
- Modularize common features– Create reusable modules that some products need (but not all) that can be pulled in as needed.
- Customizewhat'sunique – Layer completely custom development on top for features only this specific product needs.
The result: "A totally custom product that's built in a much simpler way than if you're building the whole thing from scratch."
Turning software development into an assembly line:
AirDev built custom project management software oriented around this question: How do you turn software development into an assembly line?
"You're gonna have a bunch of people. People are gonna have tasks that they need to do. Those tasks need to be assigned at the right time. We need to make sure they're completed in the right way. We need to have a bunch of systems talk to each other and make sure nothing falls through the cracks."
Those systems facilitate building things in an easier, faster, cheaper way.
The R&D: Building the Framework and Tools That Make It Possible
To build AirDev, Vlad and his team first had to build a lot of products to facilitate the process.
Key R&D investments:
- A development framework built on top of Bubble
- Custom project management software that facilitates the entire process from start to finish
- Modular component libraries
- Standardized workflows and quality assurance systems
"All of that was in the spirit of: How do we make this thing as cheap and as fast as we could possibly make it?"
This is exactly the kind of R&D that qualifies for R&D tax credits.
AirDev has been a Boast customer, claiming R&D tax credits in the United States to continue developing applications and solutions for innovators worldwide.
Bootstrapped on Revenue: The Power of Happy Customers
AirDev has never taken outside funding. They've bootstrapped entirely on revenue.
"The nice thing about a business that looks like a service business is that your clients tend to spend larger amounts of money. So you can potentially use that to fund your innovation and your development. That's what we've done—basically use revenue to fund our growth."
Who they serve:
Historically, most clients have been early-stage startups (ie. one person, multiple people, bootstrapping, or with some funding) who don't have technical backgrounds or lots of venture funding.
"Cheap and fast appeals to early-stage entrepreneurs trying to get something off the ground who don't have the technical background to build stuff themselves."
Over time, the customer base has expanded to larger clients, enterprises, and even government work—but the principles remain the same: How do we make software in the cheapest, fastest way possible?
Working with Boast: Outsource What Somebody Knows Better
When we asked Vlad about working with Boast, he emphasized a core business principle:
"When you're running a business, you wanna worry about as few things as possible. There are things critical to your business that make your business unique—and then ideally not worry about too much else that does not make your business unique. That is just a thing to keep the lights on."
"Services like Boast are very helpful in that if you can just outsource the thing that somebody knows better than you and you don't really need to know, it just makes it a lot easier. Boast has allowed us to do that in a very easy way."
The horror story AirDev avoided: Pulling someone from the dev team and someone from the finance team (which might be teams of one) to spend 50-100 hours getting claim details right—then adding another 100 hours if audited.
The Boast approach: Stakeholders spend maybe an hour annually. The process is passive. The results deliver. The money extends runway and funds more R&D.
What's Next: Retooling for the AI Era
When we asked what's next for AirDev in 2026, Vlad was clear:
"We're retooling for the AI world. Everything in the software development world has changed in the past literally six months."
Tools like Claude Code and the latest AI models mean no software development business is the same as it was six months ago.
"We're working through that and figuring out what does that mean, what does that look like for us. But I imagine in a year, we probably will look very differently than we looked a year ago because of that transition."
Also on the roadmap: New products AirDev is building themselves. "We're working on a couple exciting products we're excited to release. A lot of things happening, but all of them centered around AI."
Key Takeaways
Solve problems you felt acutely: Vlad and his co-founder didn't know how to code. That personal challenge became the premise for AirDev.
Standardize, modularize, customize: Not everything in custom software needs to be custom. Build a foundation, create reusable modules, customize only what's unique.
Turn software dev into an assembly line: Use frameworks, project management systems, and standardized workflows to make development faster, cheaper, easier.
Bootstrap on revenue when you can: Happy customers paying for a valuable service can fund your growth without outside investment.
R&D tax credits extend runway: AirDev uses US R&D tax credits to fund continued innovation in their development framework and tools.
Outsource what somebody knows better: Don't pull your dev and finance teams away for 100+ hours on R&D claims. Partner with experts who can get it done passively.
AI is changing everything: The software development world has transformed in six months. Companies need to retool for the AI era.
Worry about as few things as possible: Focus on what makes your business unique. Outsource everything else to people who know it better.
Listen to the Full Episode
Want to hear Vlad's full story about discovering Bubble at Harvard Business School, how AirDev built a factory for software, and why they're retooling for the AI era?
Listen to the full episode of What the Tech from Boast.
About What the Tech from Boast.AI
What the Tech features conversations with brilliant minds behind new and exciting tech initiatives. Hosted by Paul Davenport, Boast.AI's Head of Content.
Learn More About R&D Tax Credits
If you're a US-based company building innovative software, development frameworks, or tools and want to access R&D tax credits to fuel your growth, Boast.AI can help.
AirDev is a Boast customer. We've helped them claim US R&D tax credits so they can focus on what makes their business unique; not spending 100+ hours on claims and audits.
Ready to extend your runway with R&D tax credits? Contact Boast today
