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Justin Edwards

Press Kit

Justin Edwards is a consultant, founder, rubyist, and host of SaaS That App. Available for podcast appearances, panels, and quotes on software, security, bootstrapped consulting, and SaaS for high-stakes domains.

short bio

Justin Edwards is a consultant, founder, rubyist, and host of the SaaS That App podcast. He's been shipping software for 20+ years, got fired from his first real job for moonlighting on a side business that was already out-earning it, and bootstrapped a software consultancy out of Albuquerque to seven figures before selling it. He now runs Delta Systems, co-founded StriveDB to put real software in the hands of victim-service organizations that couldn't otherwise afford it, and gives no-bullshit advice on scaling software with AI in 2026 on minimum resources.

long bio

Justin Edwards has been shipping software since he was a teenager building websites for customers he found through his high-school network in Albuquerque. He took a brief detour through college and a "real job" that lasted six months, long enough for his employer to discover he was already running a side business that was out-earning the day job.

He kept building. With his husband and co-founder Daniel, he grew that side business into a software consultancy that hit seven figures before selling. He now runs Delta Systems (the same shop under new ownership), and co-founded StriveDB to give victim-service organizations the software they couldn't otherwise afford to build. He hosts SaaS That App, a podcast about building tech-enabled businesses with the people actually doing it.

His angle: he's a technical expert who'll tell you that technology usually isn't the answer to your problem. After two decades of shipping, he's strongly opinionated about scaling on minimum resources, why most AI deployments are chatbots nobody wants to talk to, and why founders who over-rotate on tech and under-rotate on customers, sales, and support are mostly getting in their own way.

topics

Stop overthinking AI. No one wants to talk to your chatbot.

What 95% of AI startup advice is getting wrong in 2026, and what founders should actually be automating instead of bolting another bot onto a UI nobody asked for.

Your CTO is fleecing you (and AWS thanks you for it).

The pattern: a 120-user "at scale" app running multi-region Kubernetes on a six-figure cloud bill. How over-engineering and resume-driven architecture quietly bleed early-stage SaaS, why your neckbeard CTO keeps proposing the wrong stack, and the boring cheap one that actually works.

Founder burnout, and watching your baby almost die.

What severe burnout really looks like, what a deal that fell apart at the signing table teaches you, and how you stitch yourself back together without selling the company a year too late.

From an Albuquerque bedroom to seven figures, then out.

The bus-ride conversation that changed everything, the hire-someone-on-Tuesday-for-a-stack-you-don't-know moment, and what selling a consultancy actually feels like when the buyer was a nimrod.

FIRE meets entrepreneurship.

How your personal financial position quietly decides what kind of moonshot you can actually take, and how to set yourself up so the answer is more than "the safe one."

The boring case for Ruby in 2026.

Why I still bet a company on Ruby after the AI hype cycle did what it did to language conversations, and why hiring is easier than the HackerNews comments would have you believe.

Software for high-stakes nonprofits.

Building StriveDB for victim-service organizations: security, empathy, pragmatism, and what "good enough" actually means when a data leak isn't a headline, it's a safety incident.

The unglamorous OS of a 20-year founder.

Weightlifting, nutrition, veganism, and the boring habits that keep you in the game long enough for the interesting things to compound. For shows with a wellness or lifestyle angle.

sample questions

Drop any of these into your run-of-show, or send your own.

pitch - may 2026
H
host → Networking
You sat next to someone on a conference bus and turned that one conversation into multiple referrals worth many millions. What were you actually doing on that ride that most networkers get wrong?
H
host → Hiring
On the first of those referrals, you hired someone for a stack you didn't know on a Tuesday. Walk us through that bet and why you wouldn't have the stomach for it now.
H
host → Exits
Tell us about a sale that died at the signing table. What did the six months before that teach you that you couldn't have learned from a successful exit?
H
host → Architecture
Make the case that the CTO is the most expensive hire most early-stage SaaS founders make. What's the pattern, and how does the AWS bill end up six figures for a 120-user app?
H
host → Ruby in 2026
Sell us on Ruby in 2026 to a team whose junior engineers keep filing PRs to rewrite everything in Go.
H
host → AI hype
You've said 'no one wants to talk to your stupid chatbot.' Give us two examples of AI that should not exist, and one that should.
JE
justin ↳ reply
Pick three and send your run-of-show. Happy to riff or swap in something tighter. /contact
or send your own
headshots and logos
Justin Edwards headshot
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Delta Systems logo
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StriveDB logo
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Justin Edwards headshot (B&W)
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contact
Contact
/contact
Calendly
calendly.com/ic-justin
Time zone
Central (UTC-6 / -5)
LinkedIn
/in/iterative-justin-edwards
Twitter / X
@jedwards28