🎙️ Backstage Tech by George Helgesen

George Helgesen
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Podcast for software founders, investors and product leaders. Behind the scenes stories about trending tech and software development outsourcing industry.

  1. ✨ AI Agent Prototyping at $20? 5 Steps From Idea to Production

    MAR 10

    ✨ AI Agent Prototyping at $20? 5 Steps From Idea to Production

    ▶️ Watch the full video on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@georgehelgesen 👉 Let's connect on LinkedIn — send me a request and mention the podcast. In episode #13 of "Backstage Tech", we're walking through a simple 5-step framework to build a custom AI agent for your software product — without blowing your budget on something your users will never touch again. Pulling from 8+ years working shoulder-to-shoulder with software founders, here's what separates the teams that ship AI agents that work from the ones that waste $20-30K and ship nothing: Start with the right problem — not every workflow deserves an agent. Ask yourself: where do your users spend 80% of their time? That's your starting pointDefine input and output before anyone opens a code editor — a plain-text description of what goes in and what comes out is worth more than 3 weeks of dev time spent guessing • Validate for the price of a coffee subscription — a Claude Project or MyGPT with your real data can tell you if the idea holds water before you spend a dime on engineeringTurn your prototype into a spec — the master prompt you tested becomes the foundation of your PRD. It's not glamorous, but it's the thing that keeps your build from going sidewaysUnderstand what you're actually paying for — LLM costs can be invisible until they're not. Knowing your token burn per action is the difference between a smart feature and a financial surpriseIf you own, fund, or lead a software product, this episode gives you the exact playbook to go from "I have no idea where to start" to a tested, documented, cost-aware AI agent. 👉 Want to talk through how to implement this for your product? Email ogo@procoders.tech or connect with me on LinkedIn.

    8 min
  2. CTO @ Vsimple: AI That Works While You Sleep

    MAR 3

    CTO @ Vsimple: AI That Works While You Sleep

    Henry Lynch is the CTO and co-founder of Vsimple — an AI-powered process automation platform trusted by ProLift Toyota, RWM Casters, Blue & Co, and dozens of manufacturers across North America. While most competitors hand you a signup form and leave you to figure it out, Vsimple takes the opposite approach — designing, implementing, and supporting every workflow with a hands-on customer success team. In this episode, Henry breaks down the reality of AI-driven process automation, why self-serve onboarding fails complex workflows, and how Vsimple helped ProLift Toyota double their business without growing their admin team. Topics covered: How ProLift Toyota doubled their business without adding headcountWhy Vsimple replaces CRMs for some clients — and integrates for othersWhat vAI is and how their AI agent works autonomously in the backgroundWhy hands-on onboarding beats self-serve for complex workflowsHow they configure workflows entirely from the UI — no code requiredWhat's next: AI that runs scheduled checks while you sleepIf you're a founder in manufacturing, distribution, or dealerships drowning in spreadsheets and email chaos — this episode shows you what a real process automation partner looks like. 👉 Follow George: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgehelgesenYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@georgehelgesen👉 Follow Henry: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/henry-lynch-6310a7100/Vsimple: https://vsimple.com

    31 min
  3. Don't Build an MVP: 5 Mistakes to Watch

    FEB 16

    Don't Build an MVP: 5 Mistakes to Watch

    🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@georgehelgesen 👉 Let's connect on LinkedIn — send me a request and mention the podcast. In episode #11 of "Backstage Tech", I'm calling out the 5 mistakes that kill MVPs before they ever launch — and what to do instead. After 8+ years working with founders who've burned through budgets building products nobody wanted, I'm sharing the real-world fixes that actually work: Building Without Commitment — get contracts signed before writing code.Building Everything All At Once — start with ONE painful feature, scale from there.Building Everything for Everyone — attack 50% of the market first, then expand.Spending Too Much on Validation — 10% of budget max. Ads before code.Skipping Distribution Strategy — know how you'll get customers before you build.If you own, fund, or lead a software product, this episode gives you the reality check before you write a single line of code. 👉 Want the MVP Validation Cheatsheet? Hit me up on LinkedIn and I'll send it over. Or if you'd like to dive into your specific product challenge, email ogo@procoders.tech or connect with me on LinkedIn.

    9 min
  4. Ex-Influencer.com CPO: Why Most SaaS Products Fail Before Launch

    FEB 1

    Ex-Influencer.com CPO: Why Most SaaS Products Fail Before Launch

    Rafael Franco spent 20 years leading product and engineering for companies like Influencer.com and Atlassian, managing $50M+ portfolios. Now he's a fractional CPTO helping startups scale — and building his own SaaS product, AdsForBands, helping artists sell out their shows. In this episode, Rafael breaks down the reality of building with AI, why most founders confuse "it works" with "production-ready," and what separates successful products from expensive failures. Topics covered: Why 70% of his product took 2 weeks but 30% took 2 monthsThe Cursor refactoring disaster that nearly destroyed everythingWhat "product engineers" are and why they're the futureWhy AI makes validation MORE important, not lessThe brutal truth about vibe coding vs. production-ready codeHow to validate before you build (and avoid wasting months)If you're a founder considering AI instead of a dev team, this is required listening. 👉 Follow George: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgehelgesenYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCuVBXySjBgR-y7tMYDxdfuQ👉 Follow Rafael: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafaelsoaresfrancoWebsite: https://www.rafconsultancy.comAds for Bands: https://www.adsforbands.aiBrain of J: https://www.youtube.com/@brainofj-pearljamtributeband

    1h 11m
  5. 3 Systems to Scale Your Software Business Fast

    JAN 17

    3 Systems to Scale Your Software Business Fast

    🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@georgehelgesen 👉 Let's connect on LinkedIn — send me a request and mention the podcast. In episode #9 of "Backstage Tech", we're tackling the bottleneck every software founder hits: too many customer requests, too many ideas, too few hands to get things done. Pulling from 8+ years working with founders stuck at the growth ceiling — you've got paying customers, over $1M in ARR, things are moving, but not fast enough — I'm sharing 3 battle-tested systems that help you scale without burning out your team: Prioritization Framework: What to NEVER Give an Outsourcer — score your backlog on 4 variables (business impact, urgency, product knowledge, technical complexity) and the framework automatically tells you what to build internally, what to outsource with supervision, and what to fully hand off.Agile Release Train: Stop the "One More Thing" Syndrome — set strict deploy dates (once per week or every two weeks), and no matter what customers request, features only ship on those dates. Feature not ready? It misses the train and waits for the next one.Build vs Buy: The ONE HOUR Decision Framework — score BUILD signals (core differentiation, custom requirements, data control, long-term value) vs BUY signals (time pressure, commodity function, maintenance burden, available solutions) and get your answer in one hour.If you own, fund, or lead a software product, this episode gives you three frameworks you can implement today to scale faster with the team you have. 👉 Want all three frameworks? Hit me up on LinkedIn and I'll send you the complete templates. Or if you'd like to dive into your specific scaling challenge, email ogo@procoders.tech or connect with me on LinkedIn.

    7 min
  6. Your 2026 Product Playbook – 5 Shifts You Can't Ignore

    JAN 6

    Your 2026 Product Playbook – 5 Shifts You Can't Ignore

    👉 Let's connect on LinkedIn — send me a request and mention the podcast. In episode #8 of "Backstage Tech", we're breaking down your 2026 product playbook — and if you're still playing by the old rules, your competitors are moving at warp speed while you're left in the dust. Pulling from 8+ years working shoulder-to-shoulder with software founders, I'm exposing 5 non-negotiable shifts that separate winners from the ones left behind: AI Is Table Stakes — saying "we use AI" is like saying "we use SaaS." Nobody cares anymore. What differentiates you in 2026: solving NEW problems, delivering more accurate results, or shipping faster than anyone else. The word "AI" in your pitch deck is just background noise nowUser Expectations Changed Forever — your users don't care HOW you build, they care what they can DO. They expect to process data in plain English (not build complex reports), pull insights instantly (not export CSVs), and handle unstructured data automatically. Manual workflows? That's the old worldSpeed Is Your Competitive Moat — startups where 30-50% of code is AI-generated are shipping while you're still planning. Engineers who can't shift to AI-powered coding (Claude Code, Cursor) will be left behind. At ProCoders, our engineers create entire teams of AI agents: PM, front-end, back-end, QA — all AI agentsData Policies Are the New Litmus Test — investors don't ask "Are you using AI?" They ask: Where is data stored? What gets sent to LLMs? How do you handle PII? The nightmare scenario: your customer's billion-dollar proposal gets processed by your AI agent — did it just go to ChatGPT?Product Cycles Went 10X Faster — morning call with client gets recorded, midday AI writes the entire epic, afternoon Claude generates DoR/DoD, end of day test instructions are ready. The old 3-day documentation bottleneck? Gone. Use AI for grunt work while humans maintain strategyIf you own, fund, or lead a software product, this episode reveals the 2026 reality where the game changed and it's not changing back. 👉 Want to talk through how to implement these shifts for your product? Email ogo@procoders.tech or connect with me on LinkedIn.

    9 min
  7. AI Disrupted Product Development in 2025 (What Every Founder Must Know)

    12/15/2025

    AI Disrupted Product Development in 2025 (What Every Founder Must Know)

    👉 Let's connect on LinkedIn — send me a request and mention the podcast. In episode #7 of "Backstage Tech", we're breaking down how AI totally flipped product development in 2025 — and if you're still building software like it's 2023, your competitors are eating your lunch while you're wondering what happened. Pulling from 7 years working with dozens of founders across the software world, I'm exposing 5 shifts that changed everything and what they mean for your product roadmap: The Speed Shift — investors don't wait two months for features anymore, they want it yesterday. Your PRDs get written by Claude, your code ships via Claude Code or Codex, and prototypes that took weeks now take hours (or you're moving in slow motion)The Token Economy — top performing engineers are burning 80-100M tokens monthly. If your engineers are still manually programming everything, you're stuck in the past. Tools like Claude Code, Cursor, and CodeRabbit now write, review, and test the code while engineers focus on architectureThe Investor Mandate — over 80% of Y Combinator's 2025 startups are AI-powered. Investors aren't asking about price anymore, they're asking "How much FASTER can we build this with AI?" Speed is the new currencyThe Design Acceleration — we took an iPad app from zero to QA-ready in one week using Krisspy AI and generated 20 UI screens in three hours. Tools like Lovable, Replit, and Base44 now give you complete software products from a PRDThe MVP Revolution — non-technical founders can build prototypes for $20 with AI builders, but production still needs real engineering talent. MVPs now take weeks with fractional experts + AI builders (not months with full dev teams)If you own, fund, or lead a software product, this episode reveals the new baseline that separates founders who adapt from those who watch their market share vanish. 👉 Want the complete One Week MVP Discovery framework? Email ogo@procoders.tech or connect with me on LinkedIn — I'll send it over.

    10 min
  8. AI-Driven MVP Discovery in ONE Week: 4 Simple Steps

    12/01/2025

    AI-Driven MVP Discovery in ONE Week: 4 Simple Steps

    👉 Let's connect on LinkedIn — send me a request and mention the podcast. In episode #6 of "Backstage Tech", we're unpacking how to run a complete MVP discovery phase in one week using AI and just two people — because nine out of ten software projects blow past budget and timeline when founders skip discovery. Pulling from 7 years working with dozens of founders at ⚙️ ProCoders, I break down the exact framework that replaces expensive discovery teams with AI and delivers a complete PRD in 5 days: The One-Day User Stories Protocol — record customer conversations with Loom, ask the three questions that identify THE most painful problem, then let Claude generate your problem statement and user stories in 2-4 hours (not 2 weeks)The AI Prototype Sprint — use Lovable, Bolt, or Replit to build a clickable MVP prototype in days, validate it with your customer live, iterate until it's sold (all with one person, no dev team yet)The Architecture Acceleration Method — bring in one seasoned architect, let Claude generate your tech stack, scope breakdown, and team composition in minutes, architect reviews and approves (not builds from scratch)The Week-One Close Strategy — speak with customers on Monday, show prototype Tuesday, refine Wednesday, present complete PRD with roadmap by Friday, then get it signed and start building (not the other way around)If you own, fund, or lead a software product, this episode gives you the human-in-the-loop framework that turns MVP discovery from a months-long budget drain into a one-week competitive advantage. 👉 Want the complete AI-driven discovery cheat sheet? Email ogo@procoders.tech or connect with me on LinkedIn and mention "Discovery" — I'll send it over.

    9 min
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Podcast for software founders, investors and product leaders. Behind the scenes stories about trending tech and software development outsourcing industry.

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