👉🏼 About the Guests:

Prakash and Lionello are the co-founders of Defang, a radically simpler way to develop, deploy, and debug production-ready cloud apps.

Lionello is CTO at Defang, as well as an engineering lead and community organizer with EE and CS background and 20 years of international industry experience doing software and hardware. He has lived in Eindhoven, Bucharest, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and recently moved to Vancouver BC. In 1997, he founded a virtual-reality software company, acquired by a multinational company for their real-time 3D rendering technology. In 2019, Workday acquired Trusted Key, the blockchain digital identity startup he helped found. Lio is active in the local maker communities, having been a staff member in China's first makerspace Xinchejian since its founding.

Prakash serves as CEO at Defang. He co-founded & served as Chief Technology Officer, President & Board Member at Trusted Key Solutions. He brings experience from previous roles at Amazon Web Services (AWS), Workday, and Trusted Key.

👉🏼 About the Host:

Sharath is a founder, creator, and community builder. He is also a serial maker who built and shipped 15+ projects using no-code tools. His SaaS product Shoutout generated $30k ARR, which was sold to a UK-based product studio. Prev, Sharath worked for world-changing startups like Product Hunt and On Deck, where he helped build and nurture communities. He also grew his audience on Twitter from 200 to 24,000 using give-first principles and creating high-value content. He recently sold his second SaaS product, GuestLab, and he is working on a startup idea while hosting this show.

👉🏼 Sponsor Corner:

Shoutout to Acquire.com for sponsoring The Undefeated Underdogs podcast! They’re the best online marketplace to buy/sell startups and I know many founders who have sold their businesses there. If you're looking to wind down your business and cash in some of your founder chips, check them out - https://try.acquire.com/sharath/

👉🏼 Description:

Listen in as Sharath, Prakash, and Lio discuss building for builders, how frustration helped them create Defang, growth tactics, and more!

👉🏼 Timestamps:

00:00: Episode Highlight
00:44: Shoutout to Acquire.com
03:10: Intro to Lio and Prakash - co-founders of Defang, a radically simpler way to develop, deploy, and debug production-ready cloud apps.
05:29: Why Defang's mission is to help builders move faster
09:19: How frustration led to building Defang
15:01: Why big brands like AWS don't focus on builders
17:02: How to go from idea to MVP for a complex product
23:09: How Defang launched in the market and iterated using feedback
28:40: Defang's growth tactics to reach users
32:33: What made Prakash go from being a technical and engineering lead to a CEO?
34:55: Defang's Product Hunt launch
38:10: How Defang harnesses the power of AI
44:22: How to differentiate yourself from the competition
48:00: Important lessons from corporate and startups
50:56: Where is the app-creating environment going?
53:55: Outro and closing thoughts

👉🏼 Resources:

👉🏼 Where to find Defang:

Product Hunt Launch: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/defang
Website: https://defang.io
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/defanglabs/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DefangLabs
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DefangLabs
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/nNjaJcJ25v
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/DefangLabs/
Github: https://github.com/DefangLabs

👉🏼 Where to find Prakash:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prakashsundaresan/

👉🏼 Where to find Lio:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lionello/
Twitter: https://x.com/LioLunesu

👉🏼 Where to find Sharath:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/5harath
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@5harath
Website: https://5harath.com/
Newsletter: https://5harath.substack.com/
Founder Gigs: https://foundergigs.com/

Founders of Defang - Building the easiest way to develop, deploy and debug cloud apps in minutes!

The Undefeated Underdogs