Standing in the Fire
Real Talk for Founders in the Heat of SaaS Growth.
Latest Episodes
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17: Nobody Needs the Tutorial Anymore
John is back from Rails World with a Cybercab epiphany and some sobering hallway news about consulting. Kris has hot takes on AI art and unchecked AI reports, ships real code with Codex, and Firesi...
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16: How Codex Fixed a Year and a Half of Bugs in Four Hours
Kris finally installed Codex, and couldn't sleep. John burned through a week of AI tokens in one morning with Astra. In between, they get into the Momentum Founder Fellowship, why vibe coders don't...
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15: Hot Takes: AI Art, Vibe Coding, and Why Codex Isn't All Bad
ohn finally figured out what was making him feel off. Kris is learning to delegate without losing his mind. Together they get into AI art ruining the print shop, surviving a Railway outage with Cla...
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14: Stop Fixing Every Bug (And Let Claude Handle the Rest)
John and Kris cover a lot of ground, from a health scare that rewired how John thinks about who deserves his time, to building an AI watchdog that redeploys servers in the middle of the night so he...
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Bonus Episode: Open Loops, Hiring Pains, and Not Quitting
A previously lost episode, finally found. John and Kris get into the real stuff: the mental weight of too many open loops, why hiring in person is harder than hiring online, and what it actually co...
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13: Running on Empty: Burning Out, Finding Margin, and Growing on Purpose
Kris and John get real about the chaos of mid-spring: juggling multiple businesses, hiring pressure, and zero mental margin. They talk about the surprising value of intentional growth limits, a cle...
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12: Chest Tight, Calendar Full: Finding the Off Switch in a Season of Growth - Ep. 12
Kris and John get real about the cost of relentless momentum: tight chests, no mental space, and the sneaky way AI enthusiasm can tip into burnout. They also share genuine wins: a South by Southwes...
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11: Ship It Fast, Fix It Later - The New SaaS Playbook
From a coworking space without water to shipping a feature before the customer expected it, this episode is a real look at what entrepreneurship actually feels like week to week.
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10: The Neo Moment
John goes all-in on Claude Supermax and discovers he can push 3-4 products forward at once. Kris recommends Opus for vertical video clips. Plus: Speaker Deck links finally ship after a year, Flippe...
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9: Back in the Studio: A Summer Break, Big Plans, and Momentum
John and Kris are finally back behind the mics after a long summer full of family time, construction dust, and launching a brand-new entrepreneurship hub in South Bend. They catch up on what the pa...
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8: The SaaS Checkup: What You Should Audit Every Year (But Probably Don’t)
John, Kris, and Garrett sit down for a deep dive into what a regular “SaaS physical” should look like. From onboarding emails to customer segmentation and pricing strategy, they break down the chec...
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7: Stop drowning in tasks, start buying back your time
In this episode, John and Kris dive into the lessons from the book Buy Back Your Time. They discuss why founders should focus on outsourcing, the power of playbooks, and how small changes can recla...
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6: The Art of Sharing Knowledge in Teams
John, Kris, and Garrett dive into the challenge of capturing, organizing, and sharing company knowledge. From technical documentation to internal playbooks and video walkthroughs, they explore the ...
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5: Tech Wins & Hiring Woes: How to Communicate, Celebrate, and Find the Right People
In this episode, John, Kris, and Garrett dive into the challenge of celebrating technical wins in a way that customers actually care about. They discuss strategies for communicating backend improve...
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4: Black Friday Reflections and New Year Opportunities
John, Kris, and Garrett reflect on Black Friday campaigns and explore how SaaS businesses can better align promotions with customer needs. They also dive into backend improvements, strategic priori...
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3: Mastering Prioritization in SaaS
In this episode, John, Kris, and Garrett dive into the challenges of prioritization in SaaS entrepreneurship. They share their personal experiences managing multiple businesses, navigating technica...
