What makes you believe that anyone actually wants to pay for this thing?

And maybe they're not trying to build a business. And that's, you know, that's a different thing.

Like we can all work on side projects for our own edification or learning. There's nothing wrong with that.

The first couple of SaaS products that I built really went nowhere because I sort of got excited

about the technology. I got excited about writing code, designing interfaces, doing all those things.

And I omitted the one really critical piece that I was just touching on, which is actually

talking to customers and ensuring that like, do you have a plan to get this in the hands of

users? And are you sure people really want to pay for this thing?

My name is Derek Reimer and I'm the founder of Savvy Cowl.

This is Code Story, the podcast bringing you interviews with tech visionaries who share in the critical moments of what it takes to change in industry

and build and lead, a team that has your back.

I'm your host, Noah Labhart, and today how Derek Reimer built the latest tool

to make calendar scheduling not feel weird.

All this and more on Code Story.

Derek Rimer got his first computer in kindergarten.

His dad was a mechanical engineer, but at home he tinkered with code, and Derek was always

interested in the projects he was working on. In junior high, he learned DOS basics and started to make

games, and he found it was really fun to write utilities and tools for people. And funny enough,

he tinkered with accounting software and tried to replicate Quiggin. Even still, he ignored coding as a career path. He majored

in math in college and wasn't sure how he wanted to apply it. He needed more creativity than most

math jobs offered at the time. After college, he discovered the base camp team and their

perspective on building software. And it was at that moment that his interest in tech and entrepreneurship merged together.

...