Episode 810 | The Best A.I. Coding Stack, Shipping Fast, and More Listener Questions (With Derrick Reimer)

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Dec 9, 2025

In a lively discussion, Derrick Reimer, founder of SavvyCal, dives into the best AI coding stacks like Windsurf and Cursor, revealing how they enhance development workflows. He shares insights on balancing speed and polish as a solo founder and smartly utilizes reusable UI components. They explore how AI is shifting startup risks—from market fit to feasibility—and discuss practical security measures like rate limiting and IP bans. Derrick's expertise provides a fresh perspective on navigating the ever-evolving tech landscape.

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ADVICE

Adopt An AI-First Coding Editor

Try an AI-first editor like Windsurf or Cursor and integrate Claude Code for agent-powered edits.
Use editor tab-completions and plan-mode to accept iterative edits and run tests automatically.

INSIGHT

First-Party Integrations Improve AI Reliability

Providers that build first-party model integrations get better access and reliability with those models.
Tools like Tidewave add higher-fidelity code knowledge by indexing functions and package docs for smarter edits.

ADVICE

Choose Which UI Surfaces Matter Most

Decide which UI areas require high polish and which can be 'good enough' to save time.
Prioritize main user surfaces for higher quality and accept lower polish on peripheral pages like settings.

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How much design polish is really enough?

In this episode, Rob Walling is joined by fan favorite Derrick Reimer for a new round of listener questions. They dig into the best AI coding stacks right now, how to ship fast without losing polish, whether AI is changing the kind of risk founders face, and when to start taking security seriously.

Episode Sponsor:

Are you a non-technical founder with solid revenue and real traction, but your technology is holding you back? You should check out today's sponsor, Designli.

They specialize in helping founders like you who are stuck with messy code, unclear roadmaps, or a dev team that just doesn’t get it.

And for listeners of the pod, Designli is offering their Impact Week completely free. That’s a one-week, no-obligation audit where their team dives into your code, your design system, and your product roadmap to show you exactly what’s working, what’s broken, and what needs to happen next.

If it’s a fit, you can move on to SolutionLab, a three-week sprint where Designli takes over your codebase and architects a real roadmap for growth, led by a full-time, cross-functional team.

If your tech is the bottleneck to your next stage of growth, check them out at https://designli.co/fortherestofus.

Topics we cover:

(2:03) – What’s the best A.I. coding stack for developers right now?
(11:14) – How can solo founders ship fast without sacrificing polish?
(21:55) – Is A.I. shifting startup risk from market fit to feasibility?
(31:44) – When should SaaS founders start worrying about security?
(44:30) – SavvyCal’s latest product expansion

Links from the Show:

Call for Speakers – Apply to speak at MicroConf US in Portland
Claude Code
Windsurf
Cursor
GitHub Copilot
VS Code
Visual Studio
SavvyCal Appointments
Derrick Reimer | LinkedIn
Derrick Reimer (@derrickreimer) | X

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!

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