Retool founder David Hsu: AI, future of DevTools & how Retool got their first customers

Retool founder David Hsu: AI, future of DevTools & how Retool got their first customers

From Scaling DevTools by Jack Bridger

February 20, 2026 · 50 min · Episode 176

About this episode

David Hsu discusses the development of Retool, its early challenges, and the future of DevTools in the context of AI.

David Hsu is the founder of Retool, the low-code platform for building internal tools used by companies like Amazon, Airbnb, and the US Army. David recounts building Retool's first version in weeks with just three components, early outreach failures, shifting to "tomorrow's developers," and LLM use cases. This episode is brought to you by WorkOS . If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs. Links: • Retool • David's Linkedin

People in this episode

Host: Jack Bridger

Guest: David Hsu

Topics covered

  • low-code platforms
  • DevTools
  • AI
  • customer acquisition
  • enterprise features

Keywords

  • Retool
  • David Hsu
  • low-code
  • DevTools
  • AI
  • enterprise customers
  • customer acquisition

Sponsors

WorkOS

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Retool, Amazon, Airbnb, US Army

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