ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Is legacy code a liability, or just software that “succeeded long enough to get old”?
In the debut of “Aaron Loves On...,” a new point-counterpoint format on SaaS That App, Aaron Marchbanks makes the case for old, stable code that keeps doing its job. His examples are a motor test system built in the 1970s and a COBOL inventory and fulfillment system that a profitable e-commerce business relied on for more than 20 years. Justin Edwards pushes back on sacred cow code nobody will touch, close-your-eyes deployments, and letting Amazon or Apple decide when you modernize.
What You’ll Learn:
- Why legacy code isn’t automatically bad code
- Why developers instinctively want to rewrite
- How old systems store undocumented business logic
- Why untouchable code becomes a business risk
- When modernization is worth the investment
- Why code quality beats code age
Aaron Marchbanks is the Head of Engineering at Delta Systems and co-host of SaaS That App. He has spent nearly two decades helping startups and established businesses alike bring their software products to life. Since joining Delta in 2006, Aaron has played a key role in launching and scaling dozens of B2B SaaS products across various industries, including logistics, healthcare, and professional services.
Justin Edwards is the CIO at Delta Systems, where he helps businesses turn messy ideas into working software, and the co-host of SaaS That App. Before joining Delta in 2022, Justin ran Iterative Consulting, a custom software shop, and later co-founded Strive DB, a SaaS company serving victim-service organizations. Across those roles, he’s gone from wiring up early-stage prototypes to steering large-scale digital rebuilds, and everything in between.
This podcast is brought to you by Delta Systems, your one-stop shop for front-end, back-end, and full-stack software development. At Delta, Justin and Aaron share the same philosophy when it comes to clients: they treat people like colleagues, not just customers. Maybe that’s why Delta typically spends years working with the same companies: how many software engineering firms can you say that about? So, if you’ve got a big SaaS project in mind but have no idea where to start, come and get a free scope and estimate from Delta Systems at: https://deltasystems.com/
Got a burning idea for an episode, or a SaaS question you absolutely must know the answer to? Leave us a voice memo: https://www.speakpipe.com/SaasThatApp.
#LegacyCode #SoftwareModernization #TechnicalDebt
Highlights:
- [00:57] Aaron Loves On…A New Point-Counterpoint Format
- [01:44] What Actually Counts as Legacy Code?
- [05:32] Why Developers Always Want to Rewrite
- [08:08] Hard-Won Lessons You Don’t Want to Learn Twice
- [10:27] A Profitable E-Commerce Business Running on COBOL
- [12:38] Are Legacy Systems Slowing Down Banking and Airlines?
- [14:25] Code Quality vs. Code Age
- [15:41] The Final Verdict
Episode Resources:
Saas That App is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Check out our three most downloaded episodes:
- AI-Assisted Development: Expectations vs. Reality with Richardson Dackam
- How to Price SaaS for Maximum Growth with Dan Balcauski
- You're Shipping Constantly - So Why Aren't You Growing? With Daniel Layfield
We’d love your feedback. Please take a moment to fill out our audience questionnaire:
https://forms.gle/DN8hWFDcE9jwvNKo6
Your input helps us shape future episodes and continue bringing you practical, real-world insights into building B2B web applications.
English
United States
IN THIS EPISODE
TRANSCRIPT 🔗
Are you the producer of this podcast?
Add a podcast transcript
Need Audio-to-Text?
Transcribe with Listen411 in Just 60 Seconds
SEARCH PAST EPISODES
Search past episodes of SaaS That App - Building Tech-Enabled Businesses.
OTHER EPISODES IN THIS PODCAST
Teams don't know their customer, and that gap, not a lack of features, is what quietly stalls SaaS growth. In this episode of SaaS That App, hosts Aaron Marchbanks and Justin Edwards sit down with Gia Laudi, a customer-led growth expert who's advised Postman, Bitly, Sprout Social, EverCommerce, and…
When a trusted vendor triples your bill overnight? Staying is no longer an option.
In this episode of SaaS That App, hosts Aaron Marchbanks and Justin Edwards share what happened when Harvest, their tool of choice for nearly ten years, got acquired by Bending Spoons and hit them with confusing usag…
AI-powered SOC 2 compliance for SaaS startups is transforming how early-stage founders tackle audit readiness, and Varun Jain is leading the charge. The co-founder and CEO of ComplyJet joins hosts Aaron Marchbanks and Justin Edwards in this episode of SaaS That App to break down why compliance does…
340,000 users. No paid ads. And a direct competitor in ChatGPT. That combination shouldn't exist, but Ajelix made it a reality. In this episode of SaaS That App, hosts Aaron Marchbanks and Justin Edwards talk with Agnese Jaunošāne, Co-founder and COO of Ajelix, about how she and her co-founder buil…
Justin Edwards had a hyper-specific problem: he wanted a better way to drill German grammar, but the tool he wanted didn’t exist. So he described it to Claude and, roughly eight hours later, had a working app. In this episode of SaaS That App, Aaron Marchbanks and Justin use Schleifer as a real-wor…
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Delta Systems, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.
EDIT
Thank you for helping to keep the podcast database up to date.
