Startup Hustle
by Startup Hustle
Latest episode
Just Because You Can Build It Doesn’t Mean You Should
Just Because You Can Build It Doesn’t Mean You Should
About this podcast
Startup Hustle is a podcast for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs. With the mission of telling the real story of startups and entrepreneurs, topics range from funding to failure and beyond. If you want to start, own, or build a business then you're in the right place.
Episodes
The newest 50 of 1,381 episodes
- Just Because You Can Build It Doesn’t Mean You Should · 32 min · Episode 1382“Building your own software is like adopting a puppy. Most companies don’t want to adopt a whole litter of them, they buy software to eliminate problems, not create new ones.” I…
- Building the Ramp of the Philippines: Fintech for the Underbanked · 24 min · Episode 1381"There are eight digital banks trying to build the Chime of the Philippines. No one's building the Ramp or the Brex. That's the opportunity." I talked with Zach Marks, founder…
- Nothing to Lose: What Really Drives Entrepreneurs · 26 min · Episode 1380"There's no magical growth lever. You just do a good job, every day, for 23 years, and the referrals do the rest." I talked with Matt Watts, founder of MWA Projects and author of…
- The 2026 State of IT Staffing: Trends in Hiring, AI, and Offshore · 48 min · Episode 1379"Both things are true. Software jobs are projected to grow 15%, and 74% of employers say they can't fill the roles. That's the whole story of IT staffing in 2026." This week on…
- Why AI Made Software Engineers More Human · 36 min · Episode 1378"AI scribes are just a feature. The record of clinical judgment is the moat." I talked with Kush Shah, founder and CEO of Noted Dent, on Startup Hustle this week. Noted Dent uses…
- LeadershipOS Decoded: Building Teams That Run Without You in the Room · 30 min · Episode 1377"Back in the 1900s when I was crossing the Great Plains in a covered wagon, programming in the back, the cover headline was: Software Development is Dead." I talked with Anthony…
- It's Not About the Code. It's About the Problem. · 29 min · Episode 1376I don't view engineers being out of a job. I view software engineers finally coming back to a real job." I talked with Adrian Gutierrez, co-founder of Ledgre, on Startup Hustle…
- The Speed of Context: Why AI Changed What Engineers Actually Do · 25 min · Episode 1375Most engineering teams are still optimizing for the wrong thing. They chase the speed of code when the real bottleneck is the speed of context. Matt Watson and Eban Bisong…
- AI, Protein, and GLP-1s: What's Actually Working in Health Tech · 29 min · Episode 1374Most people are already asking AI about their health. Almost none of them believe the answers. Around 40% use it to make wellness choices, but fewer than 5% trust what it says…
- Building Software Solo with Beth Epperson of Legacy Purposed · 32 min · Episode 1373Matt Watson sits down with Beth Epperson, founder and CEO of Legacy Purposed, here in the Kansas City area. Beth came up through marketing and branding, including the brand…
- Geothermal Energy and the Future of Data Center Power · 25 min · Episode 1372Data centers are multiplying fast, and the energy demands are staggering. Matt Watson sits down with Tim Tarver, founder and CEO of Exceed Geo Energy, to talk about one of the…
- From Excel Sheet to 13,000 Customers: How Sean Tepper Built Tykr · 28 min · Episode 1371Most retail investors don't know what to do after they open a brokerage account. Sean Tepper was one of them until he built a traffic light rating system for stocks and turned it…
- Eric Ries: Why Good Companies Go Bad · 36 min · Episode 1370Eric Ries wrote The Lean Startup. Sold 2 million copies. Helped hundreds of people build companies from nothing. Now he's back with a harder question: why do so many of those…
- The Non-Technical Founder Who Beat the Developers · 36 min · Episode 1369Most founders get the order wrong. They build for two years, then ask a marketer how to sell it. Connie Lund flipped the script. She started Zaboom with no dev team, no code…
- Stop Hiding Behind Process (You Should Own the Product Instead) · 30 min · Episode 1368Most product managers are just project managers with a fancier title. They make zero real decisions, answer to everyone, and wonder why nothing ships on time. Willis Jackson has…
- The Secret to Winning Venture Capital: What 2,000 Startup Investments Taught Dave Lambert · 34 min · Episode 1367Most founders think investors bet on ideas. They don't. Dave Lambert has funded over 2,000 companies through RightSide Capital, and he's seen this pattern play out thousands of…
- Are Software Engineers Really at Risk? Mohan Reddy Weighs In · 26 min · Episode 1366Matt Watson sits down with Mohan Reddy, serial entrepreneur and Chief Scientist at Cornerstone AI Labs, to explore how AI is fundamentally reshaping the way we think about work…
- How AI Is Disrupting Education with Katie Boody Adorno of LeanLab Education · 29 min · Episode 1365AI is changing how kids learn. But are schools ready? Katie Boody Adorno is the founder and CEO of LeanLab Education. She's spent 13 years trying to close the opportunity gap in…
- AI Isn't Killing Software Jobs: It's Changing Who Builds What · 36 min · Episode 1364Zach Klempf is back! He joined Matt Watson on one of the early episodes of the show. Now, Zach is president of AutoManager, a private equity group with five automotive software…
- From Personal Tragedy to Healthcare Innovation · 26 min · Episode 1363In this episode, entrepreneur Chris Jones shares his journey from personal tragedy to building MatchRite Care, a healthcare data integration platform. He discusses product-market…
- Matt & Mark Roberge · 38 min · Episode 1362In this episode of Startup Hustle, Matt Watson interviews Mark Roberge, a former HubSpot executive and current venture capitalist, about his journey from engineering to sales and…
- Revolutionizing Hiring with GitHired · 28 min · Episode 1361In this episode of Startup Hustle, Matt Watson interviews Krishna Oza, founder and COO of Git Hired, discussing the challenges of hiring software engineers, particularly for…
- Harnessing AI for Business Success · 26 min · Episode 1360In this episode of Startup Hustle, Matt Watson interviews John Morlan, founder and CEO of Smarter Risk, about the transformative impact of AI on startups. John shares his journey…
- Navigating Entrepreneurship: Insights from Matt Haycox · 23 min · Episode 1359In this episode, Matt Watson interviews Matt Haycox, an experienced entrepreneur who shares insights from his 25 years in business, focusing on capital raising, the challenges of…
- Creative Engineering at Scale What Big Companies Get Wrong and Right with David Mitchell · 33 min · Episode 1358What happens when you mix creative agency chaos with world-class engineering? You get teams that don’t just write code—they own the product. In this episode, I’m talking with…
- Engineering Clarity in the Age of AI with Seth Rosenbauer · 33 min · Episode 1357Engineering Clarity in the Age of AI: How Docs, Context, and Product Thinking Shape Better Software Seth Rosenbauer is the founder of a tool that uses AI to help engineers create…
- Fixing the Language Barrier Between Engineers and Executives with Karell Ste Marie of The Serious CT · 37 min · Episode 1356Matt is joined by Karell Ste-Marie, founder of The Serious CTO YouTube channel. Together, they tackle one of the biggest hidden challenges in software companies: the language and…
- Prompt Prototyping, AI Vibes, and the New Rules of Product Management · 29 min · Episode 1355Product management is being rewritten in real time, and AI is doing the editing. Matt sits down with Jerel Velarde, product manager at Full Scale Ventures, to discuss how AI is…
- Why Teams Lose Their Way at Scale with Randy Silver · 32 min · Episode 1354Matt is joined by product and leadership consultant Randy Silver to unpack one of the most frustrating problems in product organizations: everyone knows where they want to go…
- How AI Is Really Impacting Developer Experience and the Real Productivity Problem with Laura Tacho · 30 min · Episode 1353In this episode, Matt is joined by Laura Tacho, CTO at DX — one of the leading voices in developer experience research and tooling. Together, they unpack how AI is really…
- Why We Still Need Software Engineers in the Age of AI with Brian Jenney · 30 min · Episode 1352AI can scaffold an app in seconds, but can it refactor that thousand-line React file when the first bug hits production? In this episode, I sit down with Brian Jenney software…
- Simple Systems that Let CTOs Delegate Ownership—and Still Sleep at Night with Brittany Rastsmith · 33 min · Episode 1351If you’re running a startup, chances are you’re the bottleneck. Brittany Rastsmith joins Product Driven to talk through why founders constantly end up in this trap and how to…
- Technical Co-Founders are Startup Gold with Noah Lindner · 30 min · Episode 1350The 10X Developer Decoded: Why Technical Co-Founders Are Startup Gold 💎 In this revealing conversation, we unpack one of tech's most polarizing concepts while exploring the…
- CTO Levels and the Path to Strategic Tech Leadership with Kathy Keating · 34 minFrom Coding to Catalyst: The Evolution of Technology Leadership 🚀 Journey through the transformation of modern CTOs with industry veteran Kathy Keating, who shares battle-tested…
- Inside 'Product Driven': Why This New Book is Every Engineering Leader's Must-Read · 42 minProduct Driven: Building Software Teams That Ship Value 🚀 In this special book launch episode, we dive deep into the intersection of engineering leadership, product thinking, and…
- The Engineering Leadership Book That Actually Shows You How to Build Product-Minded Teams · 4 minProduct Driven: The Book Launch - A Software Leader's Journey to Creating High-Performance Teams 📚 After months of intensive writing and years of industry experience, Matt Watson…
- Rethinking Requirements When Engineers Are No Longer the Bottleneck with Chris Rickard · 31 minBreaking Through Requirements Hell: How AI is Revolutionizing Software Development 🚀 In this compelling exploration of technological transformation, host Matt Watson connects…
- How Boddle's Product-Driven Approach Built Educational Games That Kids Ask Parents to Buy with Clarence Tan · 29 minLearning Through Play: How Boddle Built Educational Games That Kids Actually Want In this insightful conversation, Matt Watson talks with Clarence Tan, founder and CEO of Boddle…
- How Feedback Loops Transform Development Efficiency with Ashley Davis · 29 minFeedback-Driven Development: Optimizing Your Software Engineering Process In this enlightening conversation with author Ashley Davis, Matt Watson explores the concept of…
- Product-Led Growth vs. VC Funding: Lessons from 25 Bootstrapped Startups with John Rush · 33 minBootstrapping vs VC: John Rush on Building 25 Successful Products 🚀 In this enlightening episode of Product Driven, host Matt Watson sits down with serial tech entrepreneur John…
- AI Adoption Strategies: Inspiring Developer Teams to Embrace Intelligent Tools with Senad Santic · 37 minAI and Agency Evolution: Navigating the Future of Software Development 🚀 In this thought-provoking episode of Product Driven, Matt Watson welcomes Senad Santic, owner of Zendev…
- Three Core Principles CTOs Use to Create an Engineering Culture that Inspires and Retains Top Talent with John Durrant · 29 minBuilding Human-Centric Engineering Teams: Culture, Motivation, & Purpose 🛠️ In this episode of Product Driven, Matt Watson talks with John Durant, founder of Human Centric…
- AI in QA Testing: How TestChimp is Revolutionizing Software Quality Assurance with Nuwan Samarasekera · 29 min🧪 The AI Testing Revolution: Reimagining QA in the Era of Generative Intelligence In this intellectually stimulating conversation, Matt Watson and Nuwan Samarasekera (Founder &…
- Solving the Hidden Challenges of Growing Engineering Teams at Scale with Gleb Braverman from HackerPulse · 23 min🔍 Engineering Visibility: Unlocking Team Performance at Scale with Hacker Pulse In this intellectually stimulating exploration, Matt Watson and Gleb Braverman (Founder & CEO of…
- How Full Scale Ventures Builds Product-Driven Startups with Craig Ferril · 31 minFull Scale Ventures Launches & The Power of Venture Studios 🚀 In this transformative episode of Product Driven, host Matt Watson introduces his exciting new venture with Craig…
- When Great CTOs Go Into Beast Mode with Ron Timoshenko · 26 min🦸♂️ Unlocking CTO Mode: When Technical Leaders Become Innovation Heroes In this intellectually stimulating conversation, Matt Watson and Ron Timoshenko (CIO of Rimbull Health)…
- The Best Startup Pitch Framework · 45 minIn this episode, Matt Watson interviews Rajiv Nathan, the Startup Hype Man, who shares insights on how to pitch a startup to investors and customers effectively. Rajiv discusses…
- Targeting the Midmarket, Growing with SEO · 42 minIn this episode, Matt Watson interviews Ben Taylor, founder and CEO of Soft Ledger, about his journey in creating accounting software. They discuss the challenges of building a…
- Starting vs Growing a Business · 44 minIn this episode, Matt Watson and Sean Beckner discuss the journey of entrepreneurship, investment strategies, and the evolution of business growth. Sean shares his experiences…
- Boutique VCs & The Effect of AI · 45 minIn this episode, Matt Watson speaks with Joseph Ruscio, a partner at Heavybit, a venture capital firm focused on investing in software development-related companies. They discuss…
