Episode 850 | How Not to Screw Up When Hiring Your first Developer and More Listener Questions (with Derrick Reimer)

Episode 850 | How Not to Screw Up When Hiring Your first Developer and More Listener Questions (with Derrick Reimer)

Author: Rob Walling September 15, 2026 Duration: 51:23
How do you onboard a hire onto a codebase you built alone? In this episode, Derrick Reimer joins Rob to tackle four listener questions. They cover hiring and onboarding your first developer as a bootstrapped founder, then move into the temptation to build features just because AI makes them cheap to ship, getting past social anxiety as a founder, and whether it's worth trademarking your product name. Topics we cover: (3:59) – How do you hire your first developer?   (5:14) – Qualities to look for in a first developer hire (13:37) – Onboarding a new hire into your codebase with AI (16:49) – Reducing hiring risk: pairing, reliability, recruiters (22:50) – The temptation to build features just because AI makes it cheap (30:43) – Getting over social anxiety as a founder (35:25) – Is trademarking your product name worth it? Links from the show: TinySummit | December 5–7, 2026 · JW Marriott, Cancun MicroConf US | April 18–20, 2027 · Austin, TX Partnerships: sponsors@microconf.com Idea to Traction: Stop Building SaaS Nobody Wants (book wait list) Rob Walling Newsletter Remote First Recruiting  SavvyCal Derrick Reimer | LinkedIn If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you'd like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We'd love to hear from you! Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify

Rob Walling hosts Startups For the Rest of Us, a long-running conversation focused squarely on the realities of building a company without massive venture funding. This isn't about Silicon Valley fairy tales; it's a practical, ground-level view of entrepreneurship. Each episode delves into the specific journeys of founders who are starting, acquiring, or growing their SaaS businesses, emphasizing the path of bootstrapping. You'll hear the unvarnished details-the strategic decisions, the unexpected obstacles, and the hard-won victories that define the daily life of a founder. The discussions are built on real stories, offering tangible lessons from both struggle and success. For anyone who has ever felt that the typical startup narrative doesn't reflect their own resource-constrained reality, this podcast provides a necessary and relatable perspective. It’s a deep resource for actionable advice and genuine camaraderie, connecting you with the experiences of those navigating the same challenging terrain. Tune in for honest conversations that cut through the hype and focus on building sustainable businesses.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 50

Startups For the Rest of Us
Podcast Episodes
Episode 844 | Building a $1M+ ARR SaaS for Laundromats [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:47
What does it take to build a seven figure SaaS in a market almost no one thinks about? In this episode, Rob Walling sits down with Brian Henderson, co-founder of Wash-Dry-Fold POS, to walk through the 10-year arc of buil…
Episode 843 | Success Patterns of $1M+ SaaS Founders [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:37
Are you building systems for your team, or are you still the system? In this episode, Rob Walling talks with Julien Marzouk, a former SaaS founder and coach who has worked with hundreds of seven and eight figure founders…
Episode 842 | What is the Future of SaaS in an AI World? (Rob Solo) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:44
Is SaaS dead now that AI can build an app in a weekend? In this solo episode, Rob Walling gives his most definitive answer yet to the question flooding the internet: what's the future of SaaS now that AI makes it easier…