Rogue Startups

In this episode, Craig sits down with Francois Brill, Head of Product at Castos and longtime design collaborator, for an honest and entertaining conversation about what it really takes to build great-looking products in the age of AI. Using Outlier as a live case study, Francois walks through the marketing site and product UX in real time, calling out the small but costly design mistakes that make AI-built tools look generic. From embarrassing mismatched button styles to cognitive overload on ideation pages, this episode is a must-listen for anyone vibe-coding their next SaaS app and wondering why it just does not feel polished.

Highlights from Craig and Francois’ conversation:

AI-generated design is the new "tell" that your product was built without a designer

Picking one mode, light or dark, is almost always better than trying to do both

Rounded inputs paired with square buttons is one of the most common and fixable design mistakes

Color should guide user action, not decorate the interface

UX is how something works; UI is what it looks like, and they require different thinking

Cognitive overload kills conversion, especially on feature-rich pages like ideation tools

A Design MD file can teach AI your brand system so every output stays consistent

Code is cheap now, so the value has shifted to vision, taste, and design thinking

Building fast and iterating beats trying to get it perfect the first time

If everyone can prompt the same thing, standing out requires taste and a real system

Resources and Links from This Episode:

Clearly Design: https://www.clearly.design/ 

Francois on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fbrill/ 

Outlier: https://outlier.so/ 

Castos Free Tools: castos.com/tools

Email me: [email protected] 

Find me on Twitter: @TheCraigHewitt

If you feel like Rogue Startups has benefited you, and it might benefit someone else, please share it with them. If you have a chance, give Rogue Startups a review on iTunes. 

Do you have any comments, questions, or topic ideas for future episodes? Feel free to reach out to me:

Twitter: @TheCraigHewitt

LinkedIn: Craig Hewitt

Email: [email protected] 

Chapters

(00:00:00) - Francois Brill on Design & UX
(00:01:26) - How To Design SaaS Companies' User Experience (
(00:04:04) - Light and Dark
(00:07:08) - Mixed Bag: Round vs. Square On Mobile
(00:09:24) - Kanban 2.8: Color
(00:13:19) - Taste Design: The Future of AI
(00:16:08) - Onboarding to YouTube
(00:20:52) - Ideas in the Pipeline
(00:27:25) - Ideation: A Chatbot Interface
(00:33:56) - How to Build a Ui with a Human Interface
(00:38:48) - Design Systems: The Need for Verification
(00:40:45) - How To Build a Design System?
(00:49:08) - Top AI Tooling Tips
(00:53:08) - A Taste of Hard Work

This week on the Rogue Startups, Craig gets roasted. He brought in experienced software engineer Brandon Hancock after building the AI-powered SaaS app Outlier largely through “vibe coding,” so Brandon could audit the entire codebase live during the episode. The result? An honest but useful breakdown of what happens when non-technical founders ship fast with AI tools. 

Brandon digs into real security risks, common architecture mistakes, and the best practices every founder should follow when building AI-driven products. If you’re launching SaaS with tools like Next.js, Supabase, and Claude, or simply adding AI features to your existing product, this episode offers practical lessons on building faster without accidentally breaking everything.

Check the episode out on YouTube to see Brandon dig through Craig’s code onscreen.

Highlights from Craig and Brandon’s conversation:

What “vibe coding” looks like when building a real production startup

How a single exposed Supabase key can create major security risks

Why row-level security is critical for protecting user data

Using AI to audit code and uncover vulnerabilities in minutes

Simple fixes that dramatically improve SaaS security

Why many AI code review tools miss critical issues

The danger of exposing backend clients in frontend code

How server actions can replace many API endpoints

Best practices for managing database migrations with Drizzle ORM

Why staging environments save founders from catastrophic production mistakes

The difference between moving fast and building responsibly

How to structure AI documentation for better development workflows

Using task templates to teach AI your coding standards

Practical lessons for founders building SaaS products with AI tools

Resources and Links from This Episode

Shipkit.ai: https://www.shipkit.ai/ 

Brandon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-hancock-ai 

Brandon’s website: https://brandonhancock.io/ 

Brandon on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@aiwithbrandon 

Rogue Startups on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@roguestartups 

Castos Free Tools: castos.com/tools

Email me: [email protected] 

Find me on Twitter: @TheCraigHewitt

If you feel like Rogue Startups has benefited you, and it might benefit someone else, please share it with them. If you have a chance, give Rogue Startups a review on iTunes. 

Do you have any comments, questions, or topic ideas for future episodes? Feel free to reach out to me:

T...

Chapters

(00:00:00) - Getting Roasted: AI Security Best Practices
(00:01:42) - What I Learned From Working On EMS Soap
(00:04:40) - loading pandas in C#
(00:05:04) - How to hack a Supabase client with a single code
(00:06:51) - How to compromise a C# project with a phishing
(00:10:17) - Code Reviewing in the Cloud
(00:15:10) - Migration workflow in C#
(00:20:45) - Creating a second branch in the Supabase project
(00:23:31) - Choosing the right API for your app
(00:25:59) - Brandon: How do we structure AI Development?
(00:32:35) - Seeking Compound Engineering in the Code
(00:33:41) - How to max out Claude Code in 2019
(00:38:38) - Building a Software Startup With Claude Code
(00:44:04) - Shipkit AI Announcement

In this episode of Rogue Startups, Craig sits down with Jesse Hanley, founder of Bento, for a wide-ranging conversation about building and growing SaaS businesses in the age of AI. From vibe coding and AI-assisted development workflows to product strategy, business ceilings, and the existential shifts happening across the tech landscape, Jesse and Sandy share candid insights from their own experiences as founders navigating a rapidly changing environment. If you're a bootstrapped founder, indie hacker, or SaaS entrepreneur trying to figure out how to stay relevant and move fast, this one's for you.

Highlights from Craig and Jesse’s conversation:

Testing and QA are still the unglamorous bottleneck nobody talks about enough

The founders who stay close to the code sleep better at night

Opus 4.5 in Cursor is the closest thing to having a full dev team on speed dial

Build your foundation like a brick house, and everything else can be Play-Doh™

AI is making founders fall back in love with parts of their business they used to dread

Shopify can now build custom apps on demand, and that should make plugin developers nervous

If your whole product is basically one feature, it might be time to rethink things

Sometimes the ceiling you're hitting is the category, not your effort

The best side projects either pay for themselves immediately or swing for the fences

Building through AI disruption takes the same stubborn optimism it took to survive COVID

Resources and Links from This Episode

Jesse Hanley: https://jessehanley.com/ 

Connect with Jesse on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessehanley/ 

Bento:  https://bentonow.com/ 

Castos Free Tools: castos.com/tools

Email me: [email protected] 

Find me on Twitter: @TheCraigHewitt

If you feel like Rogue Startups has benefited you, and it might benefit someone else, please share it with them. If you have a chance, give Rogue Startups a review on iTunes. 

Do you have any comments, questions, or topic ideas for future episodes? Feel free to reach out to me:

Twitter: @TheCraigHewitt

LinkedIn: Craig Hewitt

Email: [email protected] 

Chapters

(00:00:00) - Testing New Ideas
(00:00:54) - Bento on Testing in AI Software
(00:09:18) - How to Start a Startup: Plan Your Startup's Future
(00:11:06) - Flows: Things are moving fast
(00:16:18) - Reveal: Learning To Optimize Your Website With Nano Banana
(00:21:45) - "It'll be hard to get a job in 2021."
(00:22:12) - How's your team adapting to the AI revolution?
(00:24:16) - Podcaster on the Future of Podcasting
(00:27:23) - Shopify's AI Announcement
(00:34:43) - Bento CEO on His Strategic Plan
(00:38:12) - Gemini 3.8: Using AI to Make Better Design
(00:43:08) - Cursor: We're Not Using a CMS
(00:48:51) - What is the bottleneck in the WordPress vs. Blog?
(00:50:57) - Have You Got Time for Side Projects?
(00:54:34) - Custos vs. Riverside: How Big Is the Podcast Market
(00:59:38) - How Castos is changing the way we edit videos
(01:01:15) - Bob Dylan on His New Direction

What does it mean to be a SaaS founder in a world where AI can build features faster than we ever could?  In this conversation, Craig sits down with Arvid Kahl to unpack the shifting reality of software, competition, and the craft of SaaS in 2026. They talk about code velocity, discernment, marketing in an AI-saturated world, and why SaaS is not dead, even as the software part becomes commoditized. Listen in to find out what actually matters these days, if you want to build something that lasts.

Highlights from Craig and Arvid’s conversation:

AI is shifting the founder’s role from building to judging quality and making decisions

Code velocity now matters more than perfect architecture for most SaaS products

Replacing junior developers entirely with AI risks creating a future talent gap

Your real competition increasingly includes general AI tools, not just other SaaS companies

AI has leveled the marketing baseline, making differentiation and brand more important than ever

Standing out requires taste, point of view, and clear positioning, not just tactics

Acquiring legacy SaaS and refactoring with AI could be a major opportunity

The service part of SaaS still matters most, because AI generates products but not businesses

Resources and Links from This Episode

Podscan: https://podscan.fm/ 

Castos Free Tools: castos.com/tools

Email me: [email protected] 

Find me on Twitter: @TheCraigHewitt

If you feel like Rogue Startups has benefited you and it might benefit someone else, please share it with them. If you have a chance, give Rogue Startups a review on iTunes. 

Do you have any comments, questions, or topic ideas for future episodes? Feel free to reach out to me:

Twitter: @TheCraigHewitt

LinkedIn: Craig Hewitt

Email: [email protected] 

Chapters

(00:00:00) - What Does It Mean to Be a SaaS Founder in 20
(00:01:04) - What's the Next 3 or 4 Steps in Your Career?
(00:10:01) - Building an AI-ready database in minutes
(00:17:18) - Code Review: The Need for Continuous Development
(00:21:09) - SaaS vs AI: Buy, Integrate, Arbitrage
(00:23:45) - Are We Ready for AI in Medical Applications?
(00:25:32) - Bill Gates on AI and Growth
(00:30:31) - Marketing: The Challenge of Standing Out
(00:34:42) - SaaS as a Service
(00:38:52) - Agents and the agentic loop
(00:42:00) - Will Agents Be Autonomous in the Future?
(00:47:19) - Will Salesforce Give Marketing a Full API Access?
(00:48:39) - Agile Coding: How to Keep Up with Everything
(00:55:24) - An Optimistic View of the Market

Craig is back! Today, he welcomes fellow podcaster Colin Gray back to the podcast. They dive into the ever-evolving world of podcasting, reflecting on how much the landscape has shifted over the last decade and what people are craving now more than ever: genuine human connection. From the tug-of-war between YouTube and podcast growth, to what it really means to build an AI-first product, they explore the trends shaping creators, customers, and the platforms that connect them.

Highlights from Craig and Colin’s conversation:

How podcasting has changed over the last 10 years 

The more we’re pulled toward AI, the more we crave genuine connection

Is it easier to grow a YouTube channel or a podcast?

Content integration and becoming a centralized hub

Spotify’s role in the evolution of podcasting

Monetization: ads, donations, subscriptions, and more

Balancing and prioritizing feature requests

How AI is shaping customer expectations

How to make your product AI-first

Resources and Links from This Episode:

The Podcast Host: https://www.thepodcasthost.com/ 

Colin on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/colinmcgray?originalSubdomain=uk 

beehiiv: https://www.beehiiv.com/ 

Kit: https://kit.com/

Creator Hooks: https://creatorhooks.com/ 

Castos Free Tools: castos.com/tools

Email me: [email protected]

Find me on Twitter: @TheCraigHewitt

If you feel like Rogue Startups has benefited you, and it might benefit someone else, please share it with them. If you have a chance, give Rogue Startups a review on iTunes. 

Do you have any comments, questions, or topic ideas for future episodes? Feel free to reach out to me:

Twitter: @TheCraigHewitt

LinkedIn: Craig Hewitt

Email: [email protected] 

Chapters

(00:00:00) - Rogue Startups: 100 Days of AI
(00:00:48) - How Podcasting Is Affecting AI
(00:05:14) - How To Integrate Podcasts into Your Business
(00:09:18) - Is Podcasting The Most Popular Media Format?
(00:14:18) - Steve Bartlett on Spotify and Video
(00:18:11) - Podcaster on Separation of Podcasting and Editing
(00:22:19) - Podcasts: How Do They Monetize?
(00:23:20) - Has Alitud added advertising to our Episode Builder?
(00:25:24) - How to Make a Living on Podcast
(00:27:45) - How is AI Affecting Your Company's Business?
(00:32:24) - How To Make a Chatbot Like a Human Being
(00:34:08) - 100 Days of YouTube
(00:37:43) - How to Grow a Podcast on YouTube
(00:40:53) - PODCAST: A Chat With Craig