The Panel

By Justin Jackson, Brian Casel, Jordan GalBusiness Entrepreneurship Technology

The Panel episodes

January 16"What happens when engineering outpaces marketing?" – Jordan Gal
Jordan Gal joins The Panel to get some thoughts out about how software development feels like it's shifted since the holiday break, the lowering cost of making a mistake, how his team has to get ready for the new AI first workflow, marketing in the age of AI, and what happens to funding startups when anyone can build the app?
Timestamps:
(00:06) - Welcome
(00:20) - Introducing Jordan
(01:34) - The world changed over the holiday break
(12:17) - The cost of making a making a mistake used to be higher
(25:38) - Get ready. This is not optional.
(28:34) - Senior engineers have to adapt
(42:18) - How do organizations and teams adapt?
(47:59) - What needs to change so rapidly about Rosie?
(55:08) - How AI has averaged marketing
(01:22:23) - What happens to funding for startups in 2026?
YOU ARE THE PANEL – send us your thoughts 🗣️
🎤 Send us an audio or video message
📧 Email us: [email protected]
📺 Leave a comment on YouTube
🦋 Reply on Bluesky
Links mentioned in this episode:
✨ Rose AI
👤 Jordan Gal
🛠️ Langdock AI
🐦 Adam Wathan & Tailwind Sponsors
💡 DHH on AI Agents
🔨 Builder Methods (Build with AI)
🎙️ Transistor.fm (podcast hosting)
1 hr 46 min
January 092026: We Choose Hope
Now that the holiday break is over, how are we feeling about 2026? We're talking about the new ideas we have to build or work on, as well as predictions for 2026 in AI, building, normal tech usage, and social media.
Timestamps:
(00:07) - New year, new excitement
(01:40) - What has changed since the holiday break?
(06:18) - Is Justin going to republish Marketing for Developers?
(11:30) - Building a membership site in Ghost
(18:37) - How Justin might release the updated content and podcast
(24:42) - Focus on original instead of the average
(37:25) - How Brian used Claude to generate visuals for a course on Claude Code
(46:43) - If everyone is jumping on AI coding in 2026, how is Brian set up to meet the demand?
(01:00:56) - Prediction for 2026: Standing out from the crowd is going to be key
(01:05:31) - What's stressing Brian about social media in 2026
(01:09:36) - Partnerships are going to be very important in 2026
(01:11:01) - The new media will just become the media
(01:15:14) - OpenAI will fade from the lead position
(01:20:36) - AI adoption by normal people needs a better paradigm
(01:27:13) - AI in music and tv wont' be significant
(01:29:44) - The problem or the blessing of building even faster with AI in a year
(01:38:29) - Bootstrapping will become the norm again in 2026
(01:42:12) - Meta is going to have a big year in 2026
YOU ARE THE PANEL – send us your thoughts 🗣️
🎤 Send us an audio or video message
📧 Email us: [email protected]
📺 Leave a comment on YouTube
🦋 Reply on Bluesky
Links mentioned in this episode:
Marketing for Developers
Ghost CMS
Technical knowledge to build an app
Acquired 10th anniversary
Acquired sponsorship rates
Adam's morning walk episode
Adam's tweet
Brian's Claude Code course
Claude Skills / Design World
1 hr 44 min
December 19, 20252026: Panic or Hope?
We're looking back at what our thoughts were about 2025, and scheming ideas and plans for 2026. How do you hand over decision making in your business in an AI world? How does remote work first affect junior developers? And do you panic when sales slow down? Adjust? Rethink everything?
Timestamps:
(00:06) - Does Transistor get quiet around the Xmas holidays?
(02:08) - Dealing with insecurity in business
(05:34) - The Panel in 2026
(07:09) - Looking back on 2025
(12:54) - What kind of person is going to do well in 2026?
(20:51) - Figuring out how to hand over decision making to junior developers
(28:10) - Remote work vs local work
(32:35) - Every business is a people business, every problem is a people problem, every solution is a people solution
(41:03) - We can make requests and we can have boundaries
(45:08) - What do I want?
(48:29) - Should Brian diversify his marketing funnel away from YouTube?
(01:05:06) - Building a cloud service for my products
(01:24:04) - Building Inbox Summaries
(01:28:27) - Rewriting for Marketing for Developers for AI
YOU ARE THE PANEL – send us your thoughts 🗣️
🎤 Send us an audio or video message
📧 Email us: [email protected]
📺 Leave a comment on YouTube
🦋 Reply on Bluesky
Links mentioned in this episode:
Bootstrapped Web | 2025 recap & 2026 outlook
Design OS
Adam Wathan
Chris Enns / 🍋
Tuple
Taylor Otwell
Obsidian
Every
ONCE
Lars Lofgren
Marketing for Developers
1 hr 42 min
December 05, 2025Do you worry about getting crushed by the competition?
Justin shares his thoughts on competition crushing his business, Brian contemplates open sourcing an idea for front end AI tooling, and when should you run with a new idea vs knowing when to drop it.
Timestamps:
(00:00) - Get into it!
(00:47) - A founder has to worry about threats and opportunities
(17:55) - What got us here won't get us there
(28:42) - Why are trials increasing in 2025?
(34:20) - An update on Builder Methods
(40:11) - Deciding when to drop or maintain a project
(51:07) - People want AI on rails
(01:12:28) - 37Signals new product Fizzy
(01:15:52) - What's the benefit to open sourcing a project?
(01:32:59) - Leaving some value on the table
YOU ARE THE PANEL – send us your thoughts 🗣️
🎤 Send us an audio or video message
📧 Email us: [email protected]
📺 Leave a comment on YouTube
🦋 Reply on Bluesky
Links mentioned in this episode
Adam’s morning walk podcast
Brian’s personal site
Brian’s DesignOS announcement
37signals Fizzy
Nathan Barry “Leave some value on the table”
Tailwind CSS Insiders
Rework podcast “picking a price”
1 hr 41 min
November 26, 2025Filtering out bad ideas
Brian and Justin discuss the recent launch of Filterhawk, which Brian built to replace Gmail's built-in filters. They also talk about SaaS marketing strategies (which channels still work?). Justin shares some initial numbers from the Black Friday sale.
Timestamps:
(00:06) - Follow up on last week's Justin mystery
(02:51) - Brian launching Filterhawk
(13:29) - How did Brian build Filterhawk in a week?
(26:32) - The refinement phase
(34:59) - Transistor's Black Friday sales
(44:34) - BuilderMethodsPro Black Friday deal
(49:34) - Brian's entering phase 2 of Builder Methods
(01:06:28) - Thinking about where we have gaps in knowledge of our customers
(01:09:45) - Thinking about marketing to teams and larger companies
YOU ARE THE PANEL – send us your thoughts 🗣️
🎤 Send us an audio or video message
📧 Email us: [email protected]
📺 Leave a comment on YouTube
🦋 Reply on Bluesky
Links mentioned in this episode
FilterHawk – Take Control of Your Gmail Inbox
Inertia.js
shadcn/ui
Claude
Cursor
Google Gemini
superwhisper
Wispr Flow
Improving frontend design through Skills | Claude
Hatchbox.io
Forge
Rewardful
Stripe Sigma
Panic – Nova
Google Antigravity
From AI skeptic to UNFAIR advantage – YouTube
How remote work changed my life
Podscan.fm
1 hr 23 min
November 14, 2025Mystery caller
Brian and Justin are joined by a surprise guest: Nadav Keyson, founder of Riverside. We had an impromptu conversation about how Riverside launched (and found traction), the impact of funding (vs bootstrapping), how Navad thinks about competition, and whether he thinks having investors leads to more stress.

Timestamps:
(00:10) - Agenda for the episode
(02:19) - The future of The Panel
(16:18) - WE'LL DO IT LIVE!
(17:22) - Nadav Keyson from Riverside joins
(22:27) - How much should we think about our competition?
(26:15) - When did Riverside raise money and invest in content / SEO?
(28:42) - What were the keys to building a stable product in a competitive space?
(31:41) - What are the challenges ahead for Riverside?
(35:00) - How much is AI involved in writing Riverside's code?
(39:55) - Has Nadav's stress lessened as Riverside has grown?
(50:47) - Why should someone use your app? Why you?
(01:06:51) - Forming an opinion about the world vs finding demand for a solution
(01:14:23) - Brian's building Filterhawk
(01:26:41) - What happened to Justin?
YOU ARE THE PANEL – send us your thoughts 🗣️
🎤 Send us an audio or video message
📧 Email us: [email protected]
📺 Leave a comment on YouTube
🦋 Reply on Bluesky
Links mentioned in this episode
Riverside's original Product Hunt launch
Rob Snyder blog post: The Physics of Startups
Brian's new app: FilterHawk
Brian's tweet
1 hr 29 min
October 31, 2025Maybe, do the opposite
AI dev is changing rapidly, and... AI dev is rapidly changing how we build websites and apps. Brian and Justin wrestle with this new reality and discuss the different phases of a startup, how indies can cultivate brand loyalty, and when you should maybe do the opposite of what everyone else is doing.

Timestamps:
(00:00) - What does Justin do all day?
(00:14) - Welcome to The Panel
(04:05) - The phases of startups
(20:04) - AI coding might be moving away from spec driven development
(27:52) - The future of products is shifting regularly
(31:46) - Building a website dynamically with AI
(46:41) - How much brand loyalty do we have in the age of AI?
(01:13:45) - Singing the counter melody
YOU ARE THE PANEL – send us your thoughts 🗣️
🎤 Send us an audio or video message
📧 Email us: [email protected]
📺 Leave a comment on YouTube
🦋 Reply on Bluesky
Links mentioned in this episode
Panel Animated intro
Hillcharts
Cheeky Pint interview with Anthropic founder
Derek Sivers article
Humanoid robot
OpenAI acquires app that watches you
Duer Jeans
Plain English podcast
1 hr 26 min
October 24, 2025 Bonus: "The Chat" theme song
During the last live recording, Justin made a quick song for the folks who show up every week in the livestream chat.
Dedicated to our regular "chat crew:" Zack, Dave Giunta, Emmett, Pascal, Ryan, Beau and more!
Lyrics
Verse 1:
They're typing fast when the stream goes live
Zack and Emmett keeping vibes alive
Technical issues? They don't care
Beau's reloading but they're all still there
Chorus:
Chat room warriors, showing up on time
Pascal's dropping wisdom, Michael's speaking his mind
From AgentOS to Rails debates
These are the people who won't wait!
Verse 2:
Justin's laughing when the servers crash
Ryan's asking questions, making comments flash
Dave's talking marketing, attribution's tough
Pritch upgraded, saying that's enough!
Chorus:
Chat room warriors, showing up on time
Inside jokes and asymmetric climbs
From normy business to the tech elite
These are the voices that can't be beat!
Bridge:
They guard their privacy but share their thoughts
Community guidelines, lessons taught
Believers and creators side by side
In the Panel's chat, there's nothing to hide!
Final Chorus:
Chat room warriors, every single week
Pascal and Helen, everyone unique
From bluegrass covers to the iron triangle
These are the people in the Panelangle!
Outro:
Yeah! The Panel Podcast crowd!
Typing their hearts out, screaming loud!
(Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!)
Made with Suno
2 min
October 24, 2025Going Back to Grade 12
Justin spoke to a grade 12 class about entrepreneurship, and was surprised by what he learned about teenagers.
Brian has thoughts on the impact of Agent OS v2.1 and struggles with the support burden of open-source software.
They talk about “Wealth is the freedom from having to monetize every idea." Also: Johnny Ive and Rivian founder RJ Scaringe's product design processes.

Timestamps:
(00:00) - Now It's Time for The Panel
(01:30) - AI music creation
(05:45) - Segments update
(06:39) - Casel or Castle or ?
(07:55) - Justin's visit to a grade 12 entrepreneur class
(18:14) - What kinds of questions did the kids ask?
(23:31) - Projects that generate unwanted jobs
(40:25) - The relief of wealth DHH tweet
(56:19) - Jonny Ive and caring about design
(01:05:14) - Cheeky Pint podcast interview with Rivian founder
YOU ARE THE PANEL – send us your thoughts 🗣️
🎤 Send us an audio or video message
📧 Email us: [email protected]
📺 Leave a comment on YouTube
🦋 Reply on Bluesky
Links mentioned in this episode
Suno
Suno intro song for The Panel
Justin’s high school talk
Agent OS
Builder Methods Pro Discord
Tweet: “Wealth is the freedom from having to monetize every idea”
Survey: How does Basecamp get new customers?
Cheeky Pint podcast interview with Rivian founder
1 hr 21 min
October 18, 2025Double duty with Aaron Francis
Aaron Francis joins The Panel this week to talk about entrepreneurship, programming, and parenting. We chatted about how personal experiences shape our business journeys, the evolution of programming tools, and the importance of identifying market signals for success.

Timestamps:
(00:16) - Aaron Francis joins The Panel
(02:06) - How we're teaching our kids about programming?
(09:36) - The gap between AI code and design
(16:04) - How much AI are we using to write newsletters?
(20:22) - The web feels like it's back
(21:26) - Signals your business is working
(43:47) - Navigating when to pivot
(52:56) - What would you say to grade 12 class?
(01:12:26) - How to decide what product to work on next
(01:22:12) - Recording live streams of working sessions
(01:35:35) - Worrying about ideal customers vs just trying stuff
YOU ARE THE PANEL – send us your thoughts 🗣️
🎤 Send us an audio or video message
📧 Email us: [email protected]
📺 Leave a comment on YouTube
🦋 Reply on Bluesky
Links mentioned in this episode
Mostly Technical
Aaron Francis
Ian Landsman
Dancing Without A Partner – Signal v. Noise
Paper – design, share, ship
Newsletter - Aaron Francis
Phil Vischer - Wikipedia
ThePrimeagen - YouTube
1 hr 41 min

About The Panel

From the publisher's feed

Three founders, Justin Jackson, Brian Casel, and Jordan Gal, discuss product strategy in the age of AI, wins/misses, and ultimately, how to build a better business and a better life.