Webflow and Friends with Janne Parri

EP 72. In this episode I talk with Stephen Wise, founder of Demandflow, a design and Webflow studio that builds marketing sites for scale-up and enterprise marketing teams. After years of building almost only on Webflow, Demandflow now also builds with Astro, Sanity and Next.js, and Stephen explains why the hardest part is still handing a site over to non-technical marketers.

We talk about why knowing a tool is no longer much of an advantage, what an agency actually sells when AI can build the site, the AI tools his team really uses, and whether all this helps freelancers or agencies more. We also get into Source by Webflow, why the builders have to come first, and why credit-based pricing worries him. Before that, Stephen shares how he went from dropping out at 18 to running a team of close to 20.

Check out Stephen Wise:
https://www.demandflow.co/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-wise/
https://x.com/stephen_wise_
https://www.youtube.com/@demand-flow

Also mentioned:
Timothy Ricks: https://www.youtube.com/@timothyricks
McGuire Brannon: https://webflow.com/people/mcguire-brannon
Ran Segall (Flux Academy): https://www.flux-academy.com/
Kyle Lambert on Webflow and Friends: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is4oiGtMI4A
Punit Chawla on Webflow and Friends: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppm0fAlsu2A
Source by Webflow: https://webflow.com/source
Conductor: https://www.conductor.build/
Ship Studio: https://www.ship.studio/
Paper: https://paper.design/
Agentation: https://agentation.dev/

Chapters
00:00 Has Demandflow moved beyond Webflow?
02:11 Handing a coded site to non-technical marketers
04:35 Looking for the missing interface
06:30 Intro
07:31 From dropping out at 18 to a team of 20
10:55 Design and development as a means to an end
11:58 Should freelancers be scared of AI?
17:19 Knowing the tool is no longer the advantage
19:42 Paper and the new design tools
21:34 Conductor, PostHog and the tools they actually use
26:46 AI on the design side
30:07 Will designers and developers merge?
34:58 Does AI help freelancers or agencies more?
39:08 Source by Webflow and the gap it is going after
44:44 Who is Source for? Marketers, builders and the keynote
52:18 Source pricing, credits and bringing your own agent
56:19 How AI changes running an agency
59:53 Design systems, and selling software along with service
01:06:25 What's next for Demandflow
01:10:17 The Finnish Line

Check out Alex Iglesias:
https://x.com/alexiglesias_me
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexiglesias93/

Also mentioned:
Timothy Ricks: https://www.timothyricks.com/
DHH: https://dhh.dk/
Kyle Lambert: https://www.imkylelambert.com/
Finsweet: https://finsweet.com/
Consent Pro: https://consentpro.com/
Astro: https://astro.build/
Lumos for Astro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYP_stf0VlU
Source by Webflow: https://webflow.com/source
EmDash: https://github.com/emdash-cms/emdash
Ship Studio: https://www.ship.studio/

Timestamps
00:00 Is Finsweet moving beyond Webflow?
01:51 One tool, or many
02:58 Intro
04:00 From mechanical engineering to Finsweet
09:40 What the CTO of Finsweet does
10:34 Consent Pro, the agency, and where the effort goes
14:23 Why everyone is excited about Astro
18:53 The downsides, and who should try Astro
24:04 Client editing on Astro sites
26:10 Could Source fill the gap?
28:41 Which clients suit a code-based site
32:21 Astro vs Next.js
35:04 Source, and why AI agents prefer code
38:59 Guessing Source pricing, and bringing your own agent
41:58 Are frameworks still a thing?
48:07 Open source maintainers and AI agents
50:59 Where Webflow is heading
56:01 Will AI take our jobs?
01:00:43 Where to find Alex
01:01:08 The Finnish Line

In episode 70 of Webflow and Friends, I talk with Kyle Lambert, a senior staff product designer at Webflow who has worked on Source since the start. We begin with the question many people had after Webflow Conf: is Source only for marketers? Kyle explains who it is really for, how you design malleable software where every user can have different views, and why the plan is AI for the first 80% and visual tools for the last 20%. We also talk about starting a new site in Source, what happens to existing Webflow sites, the new headless CMS, extensions, and what he can and can't say about pricing and timelines. Before that, we cover his path from branding designer to Webflow, and why empathy matters when you design tools for developers.

Check out Kyle Lambert:
https://www.imkylelambert.com/
https://x.com/imkylelambert
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyleslambert/

Also mentioned:
Timothy Ricks: https://www.timothyricks.com/
Jon Saxton: https://jonsaxton.com/
Nathan Huening: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-ftw/
Source by Webflow: https://webflow.com/source
Astro: https://astro.build/
Next.js: https://nextjs.org/
Sanity: https://www.sanity.io/
Loom: https://www.loom.com/
Cursor: https://cursor.com/
Claude Code: https://claude.com/claude-code

🙋‍♂️ About Janne
I'm Janne, a freelance Webflow developer and podcast host based in Finland. On this channel, I talk to agency owners, award-winning designers, and experienced builders about the business and strategy side of creative work. I also try out new apps, exciting features and share what I learn from my journey.

🎙️ About Webflow and Friends
Webflow and Friends is my interview show for the Webflow community. Every episode I talk to a different designer, developer, or agency owner about how they actually work: what they build, how they price it, what they've changed their mind about, and what's annoying them in the tooling right now.

Timestamps
00:00 Is Source only for marketers?
04:53 Webflow Conf, and stitching a stack together
09:35 Intro
10:10 What a senior staff product designer does
13:09 Side projects, and a Loom extension
15:28 The paper cut room, and designers shipping fixes with AI
17:50 Designing for developers
21:52 Empathy, and where it ends
26:17 Back to Source: designing malleable software
30:50 Designing rule sets instead of screens
35:47 First-party views in Source
38:02 AI for the first 80%, visual tools for the last 20%
39:16 Starting a new site, and moving a Webflow site to Source
43:50 Components across Astro and Next.js
46:04 Pricing and timelines
50:30 The new headless CMS
54:23 CMS-backed pages and one unified publish
58:49 Standalone products and extensions
01:03:46 Where to find Kyle
01:04:34 The Finnish Line

My guest this time is Sandeepsingh Sisodiya, co-founder and CEO of Appsrow, a Webflow Premium Partner agency in Ahmedabad, India. Sandeep started Appsrow in 2018 as a general branding and web agency and went all in on Webflow about four years ago. Earlier this year he started the first official Webflow community chapter in India, and at Webflow Conf in Boston he won Builder of the Year for that work.

We talk about what it takes to start a local meetup and keep it running, and what a community gives back to an agency. Then we get into sales: why nobody wakes up wanting three CMS collections, how to move from pixel pushing to diagnosing the client's problem, how to find international clients from a small country, and what AI has changed in sales and what it hasn't. We finish with pricing, and whether outcome-based pricing is a realistic step away from hourly work.

Check out Sandeepsingh Sisodiya:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandeepsisodiya22/
Appsrow: https://www.appsrow.com/

Also mentioned:
Source by Webflow: https://webflow.com/source
Webflow Cloud: https://webflow.com/cloud
Webflow MCP: https://developers.webflow.com/mcp
Webflow Conf: https://webflow.com/conf
ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/
Claude: https://claude.ai/
Figma: https://www.figma.com/
Fiverr: https://www.fiverr.com/
Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/

Timestamps
00:00 Winning Builder of the Year at Webflow Conf
01:57 A first Webflow Conf, and the start of the India chapter
03:36 Intro
04:22 From general IT agency to Webflow agency
07:51 What Source by Webflow means for agencies
09:01 Moving from pixel pusher to strategist
11:18 Webflow branding, and picking the stack for the client
13:02 Is there still room for a Webflow-only agency?
16:03 How Appsrow uses AI and builds its own tools
19:04 The first official Webflow chapter in India
22:21 How to start your own meetup
24:04 What running a community gives back
29:05 Sales advice for builders who hate selling
31:59 Finding international clients from a small country
34:54 Are conferences a good way to find clients?
37:58 What AI changed in sales, and what it didn't
42:21 If AI can build a website, why hire an agency?
44:49 From hourly to outcome-based pricing
49:40 Where to find Sandeep
50:21 The Finnish Line

For the past two years, I have done almost nothing but Webflow development, and Webflow is clearly building for marketers now. That changes what the next few years look like for people like me.

I go through Ran Segall's video about the development phase shrinking and the responses to it, Timothy Ricks joining Webflow, and what Source by Webflow reveals about where the company is actually betting. I also get into what happens to the Webflow community, what is worth building when building got easy, and what I am going to do myself: more time on design, a first Astro build, and where this podcast goes.

I do not have clean answers here. If you are sitting with the same question, leave a comment with what you are about to do.

Videos mentioned:
Ran Segall / Flux Academy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHcW2D3WGEI
Timothy Ricks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qedt6elNsAM
Cmd+AI commentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0UdMsMP3EI
Linda Tong on a podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB3-qJ5j5T4
No-Code Supply Co. Ep. 11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7LnDYjh5Hs
Finsweet Spot on Astro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3Ahtz5-Pds

People mentioned:
Ran Segall: https://www.youtube.com/@FluxAcademy / https://www.youtube.com/@ransegall
Timothy Ricks: https://www.youtube.com/@timothyricks
Samuel Gregory: https://www.youtube.com/@0x5am5 / https://www.youtube.com/@cmdAIshow
Kabarza: https://www.youtube.com/@Kabarza
Nelson Abalos Jr: https://www.youtube.com/@pixelgeek
Matthew P Munger: https://www.youtube.com/@matthewpmunger
Joe Krug: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joekrug/
Alex Iglesias: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexiglesias93/

Timestamps
00:00 The pressure to make a decision
00:18 No guest today, so this is a solo one
01:28 Ran Segall's video: the development phase is shrinking
02:42 Has AI already solved front-end development?
03:45 Timothy Ricks: there is still a place for a technical person
05:47 Can you still be a Webflow-only developer?
06:39 Going deeper into development, the option nobody listed
07:24 Design or marketing: which one pulls you?
08:40 Webflow is moving towards marketers, and the conf showed it
10:11 The opening for anyone who likes marketing
11:13 What Source by Webflow reveals about the bet
13:05 Astro and static builds are a real option now
14:34 Will Webflow Classic still have a use case?
15:03 Brand yourself as a website person, not a Webflow person
16:54 Three scenarios for the Webflow community
19:16 What is worth building, with an AI twist
21:30 What I am going to do
22:54 Why design pulls me more than marketing
25:24 Practicing design, and my first Astro build
27:05 What happens to this podcast

Webflow Conf just wrapped in Boston, and I wanted to talk to someone who spends as much time building the Webflow community as he does building on it. My guest is Rick Bossenbroek, a Webflow Global Leader for Amsterdam and the founder of Uncode. He was also a Builder of the Year nominee at this year's Conf. We talk about what Source and the new marketing features mean for the community, whether the Global Leader program has a future now that Webflow's community team has shrunk, and how years of unpaid community work turned into real client trust. Rick also runs Day 42, a builder community for people with day jobs, and RunClubs.nl, a directory for Dutch run clubs that he is quietly trying to turn into a Strava competitor.

Check out Rick Bossenbroek:
https://www.instagram.com/rickbossenbroek/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-bossenbroek/

Also mentioned:
Timothy Ricks: https://www.timothyricks.com/
Chris Skitch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cskitch/
Sandeepsingh Sisodiya: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandeepsisodiya22/
Uncode: https://www.uncode.nl/
RunClubs.nl: https://runclubs.nl/
Day 42: https://day42.co/
Mollie: https://www.mollie.com/
Strava: https://www.strava.com/

🙋‍♂️ About Janne
I'm Janne, a freelance Webflow developer and podcast host based in Finland. On this channel, I talk to agency owners, award-winning designers, and experienced builders about the business and strategy side of creative work. I also try out new apps, exciting features and share what I learn from my journey.

🎙️ About Webflow and Friends
Webflow and Friends is my interview show for the Webflow community. Every episode I talk to a different designer, developer, or agency owner about how they actually work: what they build, how they price it, what they've changed their mind about, and what's annoying them in the tooling right now.

Timestamps
00:00 What Webflow Conf means for the community
02:30 How Source could open Webflow to new builders
04:32 Intro
05:53 From introvert to community builder
07:28 Starting the Dutch Webflow community
09:03 Becoming a Global Leader and running watch parties
11:51 What he'd fix about the Global Leader program
13:41 Day 42: unlocking builders' potential
19:01 Partners, Mollie, and the Build House plan
22:13 Boston, the watch party, and the Builder of the Year nomination
24:54 Favorite Webflow Conf announcements
28:18 Webflow Optimize, Analyze, and the cookie banner rant
33:46 Has community building actually grown his business?
36:53 Building communities: the secret sauce
40:32 Just do it: starting something in Helsinki
44:14 RunClubs.nl: how it started
46:58 Building the run club platform with AI
52:17 Ads and monetization, carefully
56:26 Where to find Rick
57:20 The Finnish Line

I got Ollie McMillan on the show to go through everything that was announced. The big one is Source by Webflow, a new workspace built around code as the source of truth, and we spend a good chunk of the episode trying to work out who it's actually for and why nobody said a word about pricing. We also get into Timothy Ricks joining Webflow, the AEO updates, MCP 2.1, and the smaller quality-of-life changes from the Builders Keynote. Ollie was there in the room for all of it, so this is his read on the actual event, not just the announcements.Check out Ollie McMillan:https://www.olliemcmillan.co.uk/https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivermcmillan/https://x.com/olliemcmillanWebflow Announcements:Source by Webflow: https://webflow.com/sourceAnnouncement blog: https://webflow.com/blog/webflow-conf-2026-announcementsAlso mentioned:Timothy Ricks - https://www.timothyricks.com/Utkarsh Sengar - https://www.linkedin.com/in/utsengar/Dennis Snellenberg - https://dennissnellenberg.com/Ilja van Eck - https://www.iljavaneck.com/Nathan Huening - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-ftw/Episode with Nathan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2HJxWPc02YNate Parrott (Claude Design origin story) - https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/nate-parrott-2Cursor - https://cursor.comGSAP - https://gsap.comAstro - https://astro.buildNext.js - https://nextjs.orgTimestamps00:00 What Source by Webflow actually is5:40 Meet Ollie McMillan6:34 Vibe check: previous Webflow Confs and Boston 20267:20 How the community responded to the announcements9:03 The missing aha moment, and why the Builders Keynote landed better11:36 No pricing announced. Is Source enterprise only?12:42 Guessing how Source will be priced17:29 Which frameworks Source will support21:08 Visual development, GSAP, and contextual UI inside Source26:36 When Source actually ships28:15 Timothy Ricks joins Webflow34:40 Is Webflow moving fast enough38:48 Is Webflow becoming an advertising platform, and pricing for campaigns42:57 The new assets panel, explained50:12 Releases and page branching52:42 AEO, and who it's actually for59:36 MCP 2.1, IX3 animation, and building agent skills1:06:46 Components in rich text1:09:59 Rating Webflow Conf 2026, and whale watching in Boston1:12:18 Where to find Ollie1:13:42 The Finnish Line

Punit Chawla has been teaching design online since 2015, and today he runs Designwings, makes videos full time and hosts design events across India. He gave up client work about five years ago. We talk about what he calls parallel skills, the idea that a designer should add something next to their niche instead of branching away from it, and why that is not the same as giving up on specialising.

We also get into what designers actually do with AI day to day, where Figma is heading and what the smaller tools are doing better, how the lines between designers, developers and product managers have thinned out, and why he thinks every designer is already a content creator. Near the end he explains how his events started, and how you could run one in your own town with 25 people and a small room.

Check out Punit Chawla:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/punitweb

https://www.instagram.com/punitchawlaofficial/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkfdb6tUwVoGXPPzY7H6hUg

https://designwings.in

https://medium.com/@punitweb

https://www.behance.net/punitweb

Also mentioned:

Punit's ebook: https://punitchawla.gumroad.com/l/magnet

https://www.figma.com

https://lottiefiles.com

https://maze.co

https://zeplin.io

https://codepen.io

https://bubble.io

https://www.sketch.com

https://affinity.serif.com

https://dribbble.com

Timestamps:00:00 Teaser00:30 Parallel skills, and why one direction is a risk02:57 Does that break your niche?04:50 Intro05:46 From a first meetup to giving up client work09:21 What designers actually do with AI13:55 Are clients asking for AI?20:29 Where Figma is heading26:45 Design tools that output production code30:30 Motion, slides and no code35:13 Designers, developers and product managers doing each other's jobs38:30 Every tool now looks like Figma43:11 Webflow, the alternatives and micro tools45:18 Hate comments, and what is behind them47:42 Should every designer make content?52:20 Posting every small experiment53:42 Choosing your first platform59:16 Why he started running events1:05:24 Starting an event in your own town1:09:53 The Finnish Line

Nathan Huening is back on the podcast. He is a principal solutions engineer on Webflow's Enterprise team and works with some of the largest clients Webflow has. We start with the Webflow desktop app and why a local file system matters once code becomes the source of truth. From there we get into malleable software and the idea that you could shape Webflow around your own workflow and around your client's, instead of handing them a fixed set of modes. Nathan also talks about openness and portability, and what it would mean to use Webflow tools like Optimize or localization without moving your whole site over. A big part of the conversation is about where the value goes now that building a site has become easy. Most of a website's life happens after launch, and that part has been underserved for a long time. We also cover WebflowConf and the pressure to deliver, agents running on production sites, what happens to Wix and Squarespace, and why niching down is still some of the best business advice out there. The episode ends with art, design, and what all of this is actually for.

Last episode with Nathan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4SjwOYYps8

Also mentioned:
Utkarsh Sengar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/utsengar/
Ollie McMillan: https://www.olliemcmillan.co.uk/
Mason Poe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/masonpoe/
Matthew Butterick: https://practicaltypography.com/
Dan Foster (last episode): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZX8nv9Y73w
Webflow Optimize: https://webflow.com/feature/optimize
Lovable: https://lovable.dev/
Vercel: https://vercel.com/

Timestamps
00:00 A quick note instead of a teaser
00:30 The Webflow desktop app and what is actually known
02:46 Malleable software, and bending the tool to your workflow
06:00 Most of a website's life happens after launch
09:17 Intro, and Nathan's update
13:32 Getting to the source, from the inside
15:38 2013 and 2026, another explosion of tools
18:40 A magnet, not a moat
22:03 Openness, portability, and owning your code
23:57 Optimize and localization without replatforming
30:37 WebflowConf and the pressure to deliver
35:09 Art asks the questions, design answers them
41:12 Speed, quality, and choosing your clients
44:57 Shoot more, show less
49:24 Campaign sites and Rafael Nadal, two ways niching works
55:30 Agents running on production sites
58:48 Moving your business up market
01:01:00 Balancing the build with what comes after
01:04:31 What happens to Wix and Squarespace
01:09:52 What is all of this for
01:14:01 The Finnish Line

In this episode I talk with Dan Foster, co-founder and technical director at MakeBuild, a Webflow Enterprise agency based in London. We get into Webflow's recent announcement about making code the source of truth for the platform, what that could mean for designers and developers, and why it might matter most for agencies working with bigger clients. Dan shares how MakeBuild has grown from two freelancers into a team of twenty, what their design, build, and grow model looks like in practice, and how they used Webflow Cloud to build a full production web app for Sky. We also cover AEO and why SEO specialists are suddenly getting more attention, how AI is changing the pace of experimentation and optimization, and what the design engineer role means for people who already wear multiple hats in this space.

Check out Dan:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/danfoster29/
https://www.makebuild.studio/

Also mentioned:
Timothy Ricks - https://www.youtube.com/@timothyricks
Tim Janes - https://www.linkedin.com/in/timrjanes/
Typeform project - https://www.makebuild.studio/work/typeform
Sky project - https://www.makebuild.studio/work/sky
Webflow MCP 2.0 - https://webflow.com/updates/introducing-mcp-2-0
Webflow Cloud - https://webflow.com/feature/cloud
Webflow Optimize - https://webflow.com/feature/optimize
Optibase (Webflow App) - https://webflow.com/apps/detail/optibase

Timestamps
00:00 Teaser
00:33 Webflow's Re-Architecture Announcement
06:46 Introduction to Dan Foster and MakeBuild
10:48 Services Offered by MakeBuild
14:06 Are People Using LLMs to Edit Webflow Sites?
20:03 Utilizing Webflow Cloud
29:40 The Evolution of Webflow Features
35:25 AI Integration and Code Manipulation
41:55 AEO and SEO: The New Frontier
50:55 Optimization Tools and Strategies
57:59 AI's Impact on Website Optimization
01:01:38 Future Directions for MakeBuild
01:03:26 The Role of AI in Design
01:06:57 The Evolution of Design Roles
01:12:00 The Future of Webflow and Its Value Proposition
01:15:09 The Weird Finnish Thing