Scaling SaaS the Right Way: Des Anderson on AI, Security, and Building a Global Learning Platform

#010:  In this episode of DevEx Unpacked, Alan Carson sits down with Des Anderson, co-founder and CTO of LearnUpon, to discuss the journey from start-up idea to global SaaS leader.Des shares candid insights on co-founding a company during uncertain times, simplifying the LMS market, scaling engineering teams, and keeping innovation alive with AI and horizon-two projects.From navigating cloud choices to balancing tech debt, security, and customer trust, this episode is packed with lessons for SaaS founders, engineers, and product leaders building the next generation of software platforms. (00:00) - From Ireland to Serbia: Des Anderson’s Journey to Founding LearnUpon (02:30) - How Two Co-Workers Became Co-Founders and Built a SaaS Vision (05:00) - The Big Leap: Leaving Jobs and Taking the Startup Risk (06:30) - Spotting the Gap: Simplifying Learning Management Systems (10:00) - Going All-In on the Cloud: Building with Ruby on Rails and AWS (14:40) - Scaling a Global Business: Lessons from Japan and EY Entrepreneur of the Year (18:30) - Growing Pains: Engineering Challenges and Prioritising Tech Debt (24:00) - Product, Process, and People: Keeping Teams Nimble at Scale (30:00) - Building Future Innovation: Experimentation, Horizon Two Work, and AI Agents (34:30) - AI in Learning Platforms: Opportunities, Risks, and Red Tape (43:30) - Security and Trust: Building Enterprise-Grade SaaS from Day One (48:07) - Favourite Part of the Job: Culture, People, and Leading a Global Team