Jon Adair, a seasoned fintech professional, had noticed a widening knowledge gap in retail investing, especially in direct equity.
While trading platforms make it easy and cheap to buy and sell stocks, few offer the strategic guidance needed to make sound investment decisions.
“It’s easy for investors to buy and sell equities these days but the real challenge is knowing what to buy, when to sell, and why.”
This led to the idea for W4.0, a platform that helps investors go beyond basic stock picking and take full control of their portfolios.
But with traditional tools and the React/JavaScript stack, Jon used to need a 12-person team and nearly a year to finish a project.
This time, he set out to build the entire W4.0 app on his own and much faster, without sacrificing quality.
W4.0 gives investors direct access to Neil Woodford’s proven strategies, including his handpicked ‘Top 40’ portfolio:
Investors who subscribe can choose from four foundational strategies to track:
After choosing a strategy, investors get weekly updates on key market events and how they impact the companies in their portfolio:
They can also copy a strategy and adjust it to match their own investment goals.
“W4.0 is for anyone who wants to take control of their investments. We focus on strategy, which most trading platforms leave out, so users avoid doing all the research themselves and save time.”
With prior experience building Curated Capital with WeWeb, Jon decided to use it again for W4.0.
“Choosing WeWeb to build W4.0 was a no-brainer. Compared to other options, there simply wasn’t a competitor.”
For Jon, one of the best things about WeWeb is how quickly he was able to move from idea to execution. Work that used to take a whole team now takes him just a fraction of the time on his own.
“It used to take a frontend developer, a backend developer, and a project manager. With WeWeb, I can build a new feature in about 90 minutes. I just get it done between meetings.”
Having full control over logic, design, and backend structure was critical for Jon.
“I built W4.0 on my own. Aside from a bit of help with algorithms, I did it all. That kind of speed and independence was game-changing.”
This autonomy also allowed him to stay close to the product vision without delays caused by handoffs or coordination gaps.
Jon likes the way WeWeb integrates AI into the building process: without forcing builders to give up control.
“What sets WeWeb apart is that builders can still inspect, refine, and fully understand what the AI generates.”
He was able to build the entire W4.0 app — frontend, backend architecture, and integrations — in just three months.
“AI helped me with small, time-consuming things. I used it to build a toggle on the pricing page to switch between monthly and yearly views. That would have taken a while to code by hand, but WeWeb AI did it quickly.“
Based on his experience, Jon shared some practical advice for building apps with WeWeb.
Jon pointed out that one of the biggest challenges in building with any no-code platform is staying organized from the start.
He stressed the importance of naming conventions, folder structure, and workflow planning early in the building process.
“It’s easy to dive in and start building, but without planning how you’ll name variables and organize logic, it gets messy fast.”
Takeaway: organize early to avoid disorder and keep things clean.
One of his key tips was to build global workflows that can be used throughout the app.
“I don’t like to create one-off workflows. I make them global from the start since the one you think you’ll only use once almost always ends up being needed again.”
Takeaway: global workflows make your app more modular and easier to reuse.
While AI was helpful for UI elements, Jon emphasized the importance of oversight to prevent bugs and security risks.
What he liked about WeWeb’s AI features was the ability to use them selectively for small, repetitive tasks while still maintaining full control.
“Building proper web apps takes someone who knows what they’re doing, and I like that WeWeb lets you inspect and adjust everything yourself.”
The next stage of W4.0 will let users create and share their own strategies, add new stocks, and test ideas against existing models.
This will open the door to competitive and community-led investing.
“We’re building features that allow people to test their investment ideas against ours. It’s going to be fun, educational, and maybe even competitive.”
