Episode 825 | Talking Tailwind CSS and Founder Fitness (with Adam Wathan)
What happens when AI starts competing with your open source business?
In this episode, Rob Walling sits down with Adam Wathan, co-founder of Tailwind CSS, for a candid conversation about the dramatic revenue decline that forced Tailwind Labs to lay off most of their team. Adam shares the hard lessons learned from running a business based on one-time purchases, why he didn't see the slowdown coming, and how an honest podcast episode accidentally turned everything around.
Then they switch gears entirely to talk about founder fitness: how Adam lost 70 pounds, his 15-minute weighted vest workouts, and why tracking strength gains can be more motivating than watching the scale.
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Topics we cover:
(4:43) – Adam's history with Tailwind CSS
(5:17) – Revenue decline and the "boiling frog" problem
(8:30) – Making the hard decision to lay off the team
(11:39) – The viral podcast episode and unexpected sponsors
(13:07) – Should Tailwind have used recurring revenue?
(21:20) – Enterprise pricing and team licenses
(25:47) – What's next: Ui.sh and swimming downstream with AI
(27:40) – Founder fitness: 15-minute weighted vest circuits
(33:01) – Tracking strength gains as motivation
(39:13) – Did getting fit make Adam a better founder?
Links from the show:
MicroConf Europe ┃Reykjavik, Iceland · Sept 21–23, 2026
Tailwind CSS
Tailwind Labs
ui.sh
Adam's Morning Walk Podcast
My Body Tutor
Adam Wathan (@adamwathan)┃X
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you'd like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We'd love to hear from you!
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The Tailwind beneath my wings
Tailwind CSS creator Adam Wathan joins Jerod, Nick, & Feross for an in-depth discussion of his trending utility-first CSS framework. We cover why everyone complains about CSS, how Tailwind began and how it gained popularity, how developers use with Tailwind and integrate it into their workflows, and how Adam has managed to build a business around the project. Thanks, Bette Midler!
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Featuring:
Adam Wathan – GitHub, X
Jerod Santo – GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Feross Aboukhadijeh – Website, GitHub, X
Nick Nisi – Website, GitHub, Mastodon, X
Show Notes:
Tailwind CSS
Tailwind Playground
coc-tailwind-intellisense
Tachyons CSS
Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!
#098 – How to Make $2.5MM as a Solo Founder by Teaching What You Love with Adam Wathan
Although Adam Wathan (@adamwathan) dropped out of college (twice!), he's one of the most voracious learners to ever appear on the podcast, and he's built a wildly successful business for himself by teaching others what he's learned. We cover Adam's journey from college dropout to software engineer, the lessons he learned from his first "failed" business, how he creates free content to build an audience, and the techniques he's used repeatedly to drive millions of dollars worth of demand for his books and courses.
Transcript, speaker information, and more: https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/098-adam-wathan-of-refactoring-ui
Building rapid UI with utility-first CSS
Panelist Jerod Santo and first-time panelist Adam Stacoviak talk with Adam Wathan of Full Stack Radio fame about his CSS utility library called Tailwind CSS that’s growing in popularity to rapidly build custom user interfaces.
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Featuring:
Adam Wathan – GitHub, X
Jerod Santo – GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Adam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Show Notes:
Tailwind CSS - A utility-first CSS framework for rapidly building custom user interfaces.
Adam’s post “Going Full-Time on Tailwind CSS”
Adam’s post “CSS Utility Classes and ‘Separation of Concerns’”
Full Stack Radio
Sass control directives: @if, @for, @each and @while
Post CSS
CSS Stats ~> Tailwind CSS
Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!