Episode description

Taylor Otwell, is the founder of Laravel, a programming framework for PHP. But he's also one of the most successful indie SaaS operators I know. In this episode we discuss:

• 0:30 – Taylor is changing how he hires and manages people at Laravel
• 6:01 – How Taylor is finding new employees to work on Forge, Vapor, and his other products
• 7:34 – The Laravel ecosystem has incubated incredible talent: Miguel Piedrafita, Caleb Porzio, Adam Wathan, Aaron Francis, Jack Ellis...
• 10:03 – More and more indie SaaS apps are being built in Laravel
• 10:48 – When is the next Laracon conference?
• 13:11 – Taylor Otwell has the classic bootstrap success story
• 14:28 – Laravel has been running too lean
• 17:00 – What's it like to work as a developer at Laravel? (pair programming)
• 18:33 – How Taylor does product development
• 22:08 – "I haven't told anyone this yet, but I actually considered selling Laravel this past year." Here's why Taylor decided not to sell.
• 26:30 – How do you deal with internet fame, and being a "known person?" 
• 28:59 – Dealing with haters on Twitter
• 31:50 – What is the future of web development, and the full-stack developer? What is the future of Ruby on Rails and Laravel?
• 35:53 – Building excitement around PHP and Laravel with young people.
• 42:13 – What inspires kids to get into programming? When it's fun, easy, accessible. This is why so many people started with Hypercard, Microsoft Access, PHP, Adobe Flash...

What should we talk about next?

• Twitter: @buildyoursaas, @mijustin, @jonbuda, @jsonpearl, and @helenryles
• Email us: support@transistor.fm

• Pascal from sharpen.page
• Rewardful.com
• Greg Park
• Mitchell Davis from RecruitKit.com.au
• Marcel Fahle, wearebold.af
• Bill Condo (@mavrck)
• Ward from MemberSpace.com
• Evandro Sasse
• Austin Loveless
• Michael Sitver
• Colin Gray
• Dave Giunta

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