Top founders face a real tension between moving fast with AI and carrying the weight of building an in-house team. In this conversation, host Daniel Kazani walks through how the Softup model equips startups with top developers who use AI tools daily, cut delivery timelines, and remove hiring headaches. The discussion explores AI as a practical accelerator in software development, from tools like Lovable and Copilot to real examples of building internal apps through prompting instead of traditional coding. Joseph and Daniel unpack why flexible augmented teams protect runway, how domain expertise in areas like fintech and proptech compounds over years, and why communication, time zone alignment, and instant access to specialists matter more than ever. A clear throughline: maximum speed, flexibility, and cash preservation without sacrificing quality.

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📌 What We Cover

• How AI tools like Copilot and Lovable make development 30 to 50 percent faster and change what a “developer” day-to-day role looks like.
• Why founders who ignore AI supported workflows fall behind peers who use prompting, agents, and automation for real projects.
• The launch of Softup AI Labs as a space to test challenging use cases, build with tools like n8n, Make, and Zapier, and aim for minimal manual code.
• The real cost of in-house hiring: defining roles, writing job descriptions, sourcing candidates, screening 50 to 100 applicants, and investing hours per interview.
• Why Softup hires for both technical depth and strong communication, filtering for red flags, soft skills, and client facing confidence.
• How long term developers build domain expertise in areas like fintech and proptech and why that combination is hard to replicate internally.
• The value of flexible, augmented teams that can scale up for critical phases like launch, QA, and security checks, then scale down to protect runway.
• How time zone proximity to Europe and the US, direct access to developers on Slack, and on site collaboration create smoother, faster delivery.
• Price and productivity dynamics where high quality nearshore teams plus AI can outperform more expensive or slower alternatives.

🔗 Resources Mentioned

• Softup
• Lovable
• Copilot
• n8n
• Make
• Zapier
• AWS
• Slack
• LinkedIn
• Will Smith “eating spaghetti” AI video reference
• Oracle
• Microsoft
• Chamath Palihapitiya