Podcasts about Figma

Get Kieran's AI Video Ad Stack guide + prompts: https://clickhubspot.com/rhv Ep. 390 How long does it really take to make a realistic AI video ad? Kipp and Kieran dive into a step-by-step tutorial for creating high-quality, believable AI-powered videos, even if you're not a video expert. Learn more on how to develop a creative concept that AI tools can't replace, the essential workflow for using Veo 3.1 and Nano Banana Pro, and why reference images are the secret to seamless video scenes. This episode breaks down the process and tips to help you master AI video creation faster and smarter. Mentions Veo 3.1 https://deepmind.google/models/veo/ Nano Banana Pro https://gemini.google/overview/image-generation/ ElevenLabs https://elevenlabs.io/ Figma https://www.figma.com/ CapCut https://www.capcut.com/ Get our guide to build your own Custom GPT: https://clickhubspot.com/customgpt We're creating our next round of content and want to ensure it tackles the challenges you're facing at work or in your business. To understand your biggest challenges we've put together a survey and we'd love to hear from you! https://bit.ly/matg-research Resource [Free] Steal our favorite AI Prompts featured on the show! Grab them here: https://clickhubspot.com/aip We're on Social Media! Follow us for everyday marketing wisdom straight to your feed YouTube: ​​https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGtXqPiNV8YC0GMUzY-EUFg  Twitter: https://twitter.com/matgpod  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@matgpod  Join our community https://landing.connect.com/matg Thank you for tuning into Marketing Against The Grain! Don't forget to hit subscribe and follow us on Apple Podcasts (so you never miss an episode)! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/marketing-against-the-grain/id1616700934   If you love this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review https://link.chtbl.com/h9_sjBKH and share your favorite episodes with friends. We really appreciate your support. Host Links: Kipp Bodnar, https://twitter.com/kippbodnar   Kieran Flanagan, https://twitter.com/searchbrat  ‘Marketing Against The Grain' is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by Hubspot Media // Produced by Darren Clarke.

THANK YOU FOR 50 EPISODES!  This is the 50th episode of Writers of Silicon Valley. Thank you for listening all this time - through my bad editing skills, a three year break, and me saying "absolutely" a lot.  It means so much that you'd tune in once, let alone 50 times. So thank you :)  As an extra 'thank you' I'm offering 35% off Advanced UX Content for Product at UX Content Collective. Use PODCAST35 at checkout :) Here's to 50 more.  Content design for AI agents Christopher Greer has been creating cool content design resources for years, but his latest is a real accomplishment: a Claude Skill that hooks into Figma and critiques UX writing.  It turns out Chris is quite optimistic about the state of the content design market.  We talk about his work at Stripe, what it actually means to design content for AI agents and internal systems - not chatbots for end users, but the infrastructure, context, and governance that sit behind them. Chris shares how content design skills translate directly into agent design, why context management is now a core capability, and how content designers can scale their influence by working closer to engineering and systems. What we talked about: ✅ Why content design skills map closely to designing AI agents and systems ✅ Context management, "context rot," and why structure matters more than prompts ✅ How content designers can scale influence through internal tools and governance ✅ Working as a content designer inside an engineering-led company like Stripe ✅ What Chris learned building and open-sourcing a Claude skill for UX writing critique ✅ Why GitHub and version control are becoming practical skills for content designers ✅ The risks AI poses to junior roles, and the strategic work that won't disappear ✅ Why qualitative judgment, taste, and human evaluation still matter Where to find Chris: LinkedIn Chris's blog Chris's Claude Skill

Dylan Field is the co-founder and CEO of Figma, a design software company that went public in July 2025. Founded in 2012, Figma transformed how people design, prototype, and build products together. After a $20 billion acquisition attempt by Adobe collapsed in 2022 because of regulators, Dylan helped Figma rebound stronger than ever. Just three years later, Figma listed its shares at nearly $20 billion and its stock price more than tripled on its first trading day.A few highlights:Expanding a sleepy marketMerging of designers and product rolesCounter-narrative to polarizing CEOsIf models get better, we have toRemembering Brat Summer Resources:More on Dylan:https://www.figma.com/https://X.com/zoinkMore on Jack:https://www.altcap.com/https://x.com/jaltmahttps://linktr.ee/uncappedpodEmail: friends@uncappedpod.com Stay Updated:If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, and share with your friends!Find a16z on X: https://twitter.com/a16zFind a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16zListen to the a16z Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5bC65RDvs3oxnLyqqvkUYXListen to the a16z Podcast on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a16z-podcast/id842818711Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.  Stay Updated:Find a16z on XFind a16z on LinkedInListen to the a16z Show on SpotifyListen to the a16z Show on Apple PodcastsFollow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Introducing Rob Ruiz Meet Rob Ruiz, a seasoned Senior Full Stack Developer with nearly two decades of expertise in WordPress innovation and open-source magic. As the Lead Maintainer of WP Rig since 2020, Rob has been the driving force behind this groundbreaking open-source framework that empowers developers to craft high-performance, accessible, and progressively enhanced WordPress themes with ease. WP Rig isn’t just a starter theme—it’s a turbocharged toolkit that bundles modern build processes, linting, optimization, and testing to deliver lightning-fast, standards-compliant sites that shine on any device. Show Notes For more on Rob and WP Rig, check out these links: LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robcruiz WP Rig Official Site: https://wprig.io GitHub Repository: https://github.com/wprig/wprig Latest Releases: https://github.com/wprig/wprig/releases WP Rig 3.1 Announcement: https://wprig.io/wp-rig-3-1/ Transcript: Topher DeRosia: Hey everybody. Welcome to Hallway Chats. I’m your host Topher DeRosia, and with me today I have- Rob Ruiz: Rob Ruiz. Topher: Rob. You and I have talked a couple of times, once recently, and I learned about a project you’re working on, but not a whole lot about you. Where do you live? What do you do for a living? Rob: Yeah, for sure. Good question. Although I’m originally from Orlando, Florida, I’ve been living in Omaha, Nebraska for a couple of decades now. So I’m pretty much a native. I know a lot of people around here and I’ve been fairly involved in various local communities over the years. I’m a web developer. Started off as a graphic designer kind of out of college, and then got interested in web stuff. And so as a graphic designer turned future web developer, I guess, I was very interested in content management systems because it made the creating and managing of websites very, very easy. My first couple of sites were Flash websites, sites with macro media Flash. Then once I found content management systems, I was like, “Wow, this is way easier than coding the whole thing from scratch with Flash.” And then all the other obvious benefits that come from that. So I originally started with Joomla, interestingly enough, and used Joomla for about two or three years, then found WordPress and never looked back. And so I’ve been using WordPress ever since. As the years have gone on, WordPress has enabled me to slowly transition from a more kind of web designer, I guess, to a very full-blown web developer and software engineer, and even software architect to some degree. So here we are many years later. Topher: There’s a big step from designer to developer. How did that go for you? I’m assuming you went to PHP. Although if you were doing Flash sites, you probably learned ActionScript. Rob: Yeah. Yeah. That was very convenient when I started learning JavaScript. It made it very easy to learn JavaScript faster because I already had a familiarity with ActionScript. So there’s a lot of similarities there. But yeah. Even before I started doing PHP, I started learning more HTML and CSS. I did do a couple of static websites between there that were just like no content management system at all. So I was able to kind of sharpen my sword there with the CSS and HTML, which wasn’t particularly hard. But yeah, definitely, the PHP… that was a big step was PHP because it’s a proper logical programming language. There was a lot there I needed to unpack, and so it took me a while. I had to stick to it and really rinse and repeat before I finally got my feet under me. Topher: I can imagine. All right. So then you work for yourself or you freelance or do you have a real job, as it were? Rob: Currently, I do have a real job. Currently, I’m working at a company called Bold Orange out of Minneapolis. They’re a web agency. But I kind of bounce around from a lot of different jobs. And then, yes, I do freelance on the side, and I also develop my own products as well for myself and my company. Topher: Cool. Bold Orange sounds familiar. Who owns that? Rob: To be honest, I don’t know who the owners are. It’s just a pretty big web agency out of Minneapolis. They are a big company. You could just look them up at boldorange.com. They work for some pretty big companies. Topher: Cool. All right. You and I talked last about WP Rig. Give me a little background on where that came from and how you got it. Rob: Yeah, for sure. Well, there was a period of time where I was working at a company called Proxy Bid that is in the auction industry, and they had a product or a service — I don’t know how you want to look at that —called Auction Services. That product is basically just building WordPress sites for auction companies. They tasked us with a way to kind of standardize those websites essentially. And what we realized is that picking a different theme for every single site made things difficult to manage and increase tech debt by a lot. So what we were tasked with was, okay, if we’re going to build our own theme that we’re just going to make highly dynamic so we can make it look different from site to site. So we want to build it, but we want to build it smart and we want to make it reusable and maintainable. So let’s find a good framework to build this on so that we can maintain coding standards and end up with as little tech debt as possible, essentially. That’s when I first discovered WP Rig. In my research, I came across it and others. We came across Roots Sage and some of the other big names, I guess. It was actually a team exercise. We all went out and looked for different ones and studied different ones and mine that I found was WP Rig. And I was extremely interested in that one over the other ones. Interestingly enough- Topher: Can you tell me why over the other ones? Rob: That’s a great question. Yeah. I really liked the design patterns. I really liked the focus on WordPress coding standards. So having a system built in that checked all the code against WordPress coding standards was cool. I loved the compiling transpiling, whatever, for CSS and JavaScript kind of built in. That sounded really, really interesting. The fact that there was PHP unit testing built into it. So there’s like a starter testing framework built in that’s easy to extend so that you can add additional unit tests as your theme grows. We really wanted to make sure… because we were very into CICD pipelines. So we wanted to make sure that as developers were adding or contributing to any themes that we built with this, that we could have automated tests run and automated builds run, and just automate as much as possible. So WP rig just seemed like something that gave us those capabilities right out of the box. So that was a big thing. And I loved the way that they did it. Roots Sage does something similar, but they use their blade templating engine built in there. We really wanted to stick to something that was a bit more standard WordPress so that there wasn’t like a large knowledge overhead so that we didn’t have to say like, okay, if we’re bringing on other developers, like junior developers work on it, oh, it would be nice if you use Laravel too because we use this templating engine in all of our themes. We didn’t want to have to worry about that essentially. It was all object-oriented and all that stuff too. That’s what looked interesting to me. We ended up building a theme with WP Rig. I don’t know what they ended up doing with it after that, because I ended up getting let go shortly thereafter because the company had recently been acquired. Also, this was right after COVID too. So there was just a lot of moving parts and changing things at the time. So I ended up getting let go. But literally a week after I got let go, I came across a post on WP Tavern about how this framework was looking for new maintainers. Basically, this was a call put out by Morton, the original author of WP Rig. He reached out to WP Tavern and said, “Look, we’re not interested in maintaining this thing anymore, but it’s pretty cool. We like what we’ve built. And so we’re looking for other people to come in and adopt it essentially.” So I joined a Zoom meeting with a handful of other individuals that were also interested in this whole endeavor, and Morton reached out to me after the call and basically just said, “I looked you up. I liked some of the input that you had during the meeting. Let’s talk a little bit more.” And then that eventually led to conversations about me essentially taking the whole project over entirely. So, the branding, the hosting of the website, being lead maintainer on the project. Basically, gave me the keys to the kingdom in terms of GitHub and everything. So that’s how it ended up going in terms of the handoff between Morton and I. And I’m very grateful to him. They really created something super cool and I was honored to take it over and kind of, I don’t know, keep it going, I guess. Topher: I would be really curious. I don’t think either of us have the answer. I’d be curious to know how similar that path is to other project handoffs. It’s different from like an acquisition. You didn’t buy a plugin from somebody. It was kind of like vibes, I guess. Rob: It was like vibes. It was very vibey. I guess that’s probably the case in an open source situation. It’s very much an open source project. It’s a community-driven thing. It’s for everybody by everybody. I don’t know if all open source community projects roll like that, but that’s how this one worked out. There was some amount of ownership on Morton’s behalf. He did hire somebody to do the branding for WP Rig and the logo. And then obviously he was paying for stuff like the WPrig.io domain and the hosting through SiteGround and so on and so forth. So, we did have to transfer some of that and I’ve taken over those, I guess, financial burdens, if you want to think of it like that. But I’m totally okay with it. Topher: All right. You sort of mentioned some of the things Rig does, compiling and all that kind of stuff. Can you tell me… we didn’t discuss this before. I’m sitting at my desk and I think I want a website. How long does it take to go from that to looking at WordPress and logging into the admin with Rig? Rob: Okay. Rig is not an environment management system like local- Topher: I’m realizing my mistake. Somebody sends me a design in Figma. How long does it take me to go from that to, I’m not going to say complete because I mean, that’s CSS, but you know, how long does it take me to get to the point where I’m looking at a theme that is mine for the client that I’m going to start converting? Rob: Well, if you’re just looking for a starting point, if you’re just like, okay, how long does it take to get to like, okay, here’s my blank slate and I’m ready to start adopting all of these rules that are set up in Figma or whatever, I mean, you’re looking at maybe 5 minutes, 10 minutes, something like that. It’s pretty automated. You just need some simple knowledge of Git. And then there are some prerequisites to using WP Rig. You do have to have composer installed because we do leverage some Composer packages to some of it, although to be honest, you could probably get away with not using Composer. You just have to be okay with sacrificing some of the tools the WP Rig assumes you’re going to have. And then obviously Node. You have to have Node installed. A lot of our documentation assumes that you have NPM, that you’re using NPM for all your Nodes or your package management. But we did recently introduce support for Bun. And so you can use Bun instead of NPM, which is actually a lot faster and better in many ways. Topher: Okay. A lot of my audience are not developers, users, or light developers, like they’ll download a theme, hack a template, whatever. Is this for them? Am I boring those people right now? Rob: That’s a great question. I mean, and I think this is an interesting dichotomy and paradigm in the WordPress ecosystem, because you’ve got kind of this great divide. At least this is something I’ve noticed in my years in the WordPress community is you have many people that are not coders or developers that are very interested in expanding their knowledge of WordPress, but it’s strictly from a more of a marketing perspective where it’s like, I just want to know how to build websites with WordPress and how to use it to achieve my goals online from a marketing standpoint. You have that group of people, and then you have this other group of people that are very developer centric that want to know how to extend WordPress and how to empower those other people that we just discussed. Right? Topher: Right. Rob: So, yeah, that’s a very good question. I would say that WP Rig is very much designed for the developers, not for the marketers. The assumption there is that you’re going to be doing some amount of coding. Now, can you get away with doing a very light amount of coding? Yes. Yes, you can. I mean, if you compare what you’re going to get out of that assumed workflow to something that you would get off like Theme Forest or whatever, it’s going to be a night and day difference because those theme, Forest Themes, have hours, hundreds, sometimes hundreds of hours of development put into them. So, you’re not going to just out of the box immediately get something that is comparable to that. Topher: You need to put in those hundreds of hours of development to make a theme. Rob: As of today, yes. That may change soon though. Topher: Watch this space. Rob: That’s all I’ll say. Topher: Okay. So now we know who it’s for. I’m assuming there’s a website for it. What is it? Rob: Yeah. If you go to WPrig.io, we have a homepage that shows you all the features that are there in WP Rig. And then there’s a whole documentation area that helps people get up and running with WP Rig because there is a small learning curve there that’s pretty palatable for anybody who’s familiar with modern development workflows. So that is a thing. So the type of person that this is designed for anybody that wants to make a theme for anything. Let’s say you’re a big agency and you pull in a big client and that client wants something extremely custom and they come to you with Figma designs. Sure, you could go out there and find some premium theme and try to like child theme and overhaul that if you want. But in many situations, I would say in most situations, if you’re working from a Figma design that’s not based off of another theme already that’s just kind of somebody else’s brainchild, then you’re probably going to want to start from scratch. And so the idea here is that this is something to replace an approach, like underscores an approach. Actually, WP Pig was based off of underscores. The whole concept of it, as Morton explained it to me, was that he wanted to build an underscores that was more modern and full-featured from a development standpoint. Topher: Does it have any opinions about Gutenberg? Rob: It does now, but it did not when I took it over because Gutenberg did not exist yet when I took over WP Rig. Topher: Okay. What are its opinions? Rob: Yeah, sure. The opinion right out of the gate is that you can use Gutenberg as an editor and it has support like CSS rules in it for the standard blocks. So you should be able to use regular Gutenberg blocks in your theme and they should look just fine. There’s no resets in there. It doesn’t start from scratch. There’s not a bunch of styling you have to do for the blocks necessarily. Now, if you go to the full site editing or block-based mentality here, there are some things you need to do in WP Rig to convert the out-of-the-box WP Rig into another paradigm essentially. Right when you pull WP Rig, the assumption is you’re building what most people would refer to as a hybrid theme. The theme supports API or whatever, and the assumption is that you’re not going to be using the site editor. You’re just going to kind of do traditional WordPress, but you might be using Gutenberg for your content. So you’re just using Gutenberg kind of to author your pages and your posts and stuff like that, but not necessarily the whole site. WP Rig has the ability to kind of transform itself into other paradigms. So the first paradigm we built out was the universal theme approach. And the idea there is that you get a combination of the full site editing capabilities. But then you also have the traditional menu manager and the settings customizer framework or whatever is still there, right? These are things that don’t exist in a standard block-based theme. So I guess an easy example would be like the 2025 WordPress theme that comes right out of the box. It comes installed in WordPress. That is a true block-based theme, not a universal theme. So it doesn’t have those features because the assumption there is that it doesn’t need those features. You can kind of transform WP Rig into a universal theme that’s kind of a hybrid between a block-based and a classic theme. And then it can also transform into a strictly block-based theme as well. So following the same architecture as like the WordPress 2025 theme or Ollie or something like that is also a true block-based theme as well. So you can easily convert or transform the starting point of WP Rig into either of those paradigms if that’s the type of theme you’re setting out to build. Topher: Okay. That sounds super flexible. How much work is it to do that? Rob: It’s like one command line. Previously we had some tutorials on the website that showed you step-by-step, like what you needed to change about the theme to do that. You would have to add some files, delete some files, edit some code, add some theme supports into the base support class and some other stuff. I have recently, as of like a year and a half ago or a year ago, created a command line or a command that you can type into the command line that basically does that entire conversion process for you in like the blink of an eye. It takes probably a second to a second and a half to perform those changes to the code and then you’re good to go. It is best to do that conversion before you start building out your whole theme. It’s not impossible to do it after. But you’re more likely to run into problems or conflicts if you’ve already set out building your whole theme under one paradigm, and then you decide how the project you want to switch over to block-based or whatever. You’re likely to run into the need to refactor a bunch of stuff in that situation. So it is ideal to make that choice extremely early on in the process of developing your theme. But either way it’ll still work. That’s just one of the many tools that exist in WP Rig to transform it or convert it in several ways. That’s just one example. There are other examples of ways that Rig kind of converts itself to other paradigms as well. Topher: Yeah. All right. In my development life, I’ve had two parts to it. And one is the weekend hobbyist, or I download cadence and I whip something up in 20 minutes because I just want to experiment and the other is agency life where everything’s in Git, things are compiled, there are versions, blah, blah, blah. This sounds very friendly to that more professional pathway. Rob: Absolutely. Yes. Or, I mean, there’s another situation here too. If you’re a company who develops themes and publishes them to a platform like ThemeForest or any other platform, perhaps you’re selling themes on your own website, whatever, if you’re making things for sale, there’s no reason you couldn’t use WP Rig to build your themes. We have a bundle process that bundles your theme for publication or publishing. Whether you’re an agency or whether you’re putting your theme out for sale, it doesn’t matter, during that bundle process, it does actually white label the entire code base to where there’s no mention of WP Rig in the code whatsoever. Let’s say you were to build a theme that you wanted to put up for sale because you have some cool ideas. Say, page transitions now are completely supported in all modern or in most modern browsers. And when I say print page transitions, for those that are in the know, I am talking about not single page app page transitions, but through website page transitions. You can now do that. Let’s say you were like, “Hey, I’m feeling ambitious and I want to put out some new theme that comes with these page transitions built in,” and that’s going to be fancy on ThemeForest when people look at my demo, people might want to buy that. You could totally use WP Rig to build that out into a theme and the bundle process will white label all of the code. And then when people buy your theme and download that code, if they’re starting to go through and look through your code, they’re not going to have any way of knowing that it was built with WP Rig unless they’re familiar with the base WP Rig architecture, like how it does its object-oriented programming. It might be familiar with the patterns that it’s using and be able to kind of discern like, okay, well, this is the same pattern WP Rig uses, so high likelihood it was built with WP Rig. But they’re not going to be able to know by reading through the code. It’s not going to say WP Rig everywhere. It’s going to have the theme all over the place in the code. Topher: Okay. So then is that still WP Rig code? It just changed its labels? Rob: Yeah. Topher: So, it’s not like you’re exporting HTML, CSS and JavaScript? The underlying Rig framework is still there. Rob: Yeah. During the bundle process, it is bundling CSS and HTML. Well, HTML in the case of a block-based theme. But, yeah, it is bundling your PHP, your CSS, your JavaScript into the theme that you’re going to let people download when they buy it, or that you’re going to ship to your whatever client’s website. But all that code is going to be transpiled. In the case of CSS and JavaScript, there’s only going to be minified versions of that code in that theme. The source code is not actually going to be in there. Topher: This sounds pretty cool. You mentioned some stuff might be coming. You don’t have to tell me what it is, but do you have a timeline? When should we be watching for the next cool thing from Rig? Rob: Okay, cool. Well, I’m going to keep iterating on Rig forever. Regardless of any future products that might be built on WP Rig, WP Rig will always and forever remain an open source product for anybody to use for free and we, I, and possibly others in the future will continue to update it and support it over time. We just recently put out 3.1. You could expect the 3.2 anytime in the next six months to a year, probably closer to six months. One feature I’m looking at particularly closely right now is the new stuff coming out in version 6.9 of WordPress around the various APIs that are there. I think one of them is called the form… There’s a field API and a form API or view API or something like that. So WP Rig comes with a React-based settings framework in it. So if you want your theme to have a bunch of settings in it to make it flexible for whoever buys your theme, you can use this settings framework to easily create a bunch of fields, and then that framework will automatically manage all your fields and store all the data from those fields and make it easy to retrieve the values of the input on those fields, without knowing any React at all. Now, if you know React, you can go in there and, you know, embellish what’s already there, but it takes a JSON approach. So if you just understand JSON, you can go in and change the JSON for the framework, and that will automatically add fields into the settings framework. So you don’t even have to know React to extend the settings page if you want. That will likely get an overhaul using these new APIs being introduced into Rig. Topher: All right. How often have you run into something where, “Oh, look, WordPress has a new feature, I need to rebuild my system”? Rob: Over the last four or five years, it’s happened a lot because, yeah, I mean, like I said, when I first took this thing over, Gutenberg had not even been introduced yet. So, you had the introduction of Gutenberg and blocks. That was one thing. Then this whole full site editing became a thing, which later became the site editor. So that became a whole thing. Then all these various APIs. I mean, it happens quite frequently. So I’ve been working to keep it modern and up to date over the past four years and it’s been an incredible learning experience. It not only keeps my WordPress knowledge extremely sharp, but I’ve also learned how various other toolkits are built. That’s been the interesting thing. From a development standpoint, there’s two challenges here. One of the challenges is staying modern on the WordPress side of things. For instance, WordPress coding standards came out with a version 3 and then a version 3.1 about two years ago. I had to update WP Rig to leverage those modern coding standards. So that’s one example is as WordPress changes, the code in WP Rig also needs to change. Or for instance, if new CSS standards change, right, new CSS properties come out, it is ideal for the base CSS in WP Rig, meaning the CSS that you get right out of the box with it, comes with some of these, for instance, CSS grid, Flexbox, stuff like that. If I was adopting a theme framework to build a theme on, I would expect some of that stuff to be in there. And those things were extremely new when I first took over WP Rig and were not all baked in there essentially. So I’ve had to add a lot of that over time. Now there’s another side to this, which is not just keeping up with WordPress and CSS and PHP, 8. whatever, yada yada yada. You’ve also got the toolkit. There are various node packages and composer packages of power WP Rig and the process in which it does the transpiling, the bundling, the automated manipulation of your code during various aspects of the usage of WP Rig is a whole nother set of challenges because now you have to learn concepts like, well, how do I write custom node scripts? Right? Like there were no WP CLI commands built into WP Rig when I first took it over. Now there’s a whole list. There’s a whole library of WP CLI commands that come in Rig right out of the gate. And so I’ve had to learn about that. So just various things that come with knowing how do you automate the process of converting code, that’s something that was completely foreign to me when I first took over WP Rig. That’s been another incredible learning experience is understanding like what’s the difference between Webpack and Gulp. I didn’t know, right? I would tell people I’m using Gulp and WP Rig and they would be like, “Well, why don’t you just use Webpack?” and I would say, “I don’t know. I don’t know what the difference is.” So over time I could figure out what are the differences? Why aren’t we using Webpack? And I’m glad I spent some time on that because it turns out Webpack is not the hottest thing anymore, so I just skipped right over all that. When I overhauled for version 3, we’re now not using Gulp anymore as of 3.1. We’re now using more of a Vite-like process, far more modern than Webpack and far better and faster and sleeker and lighter. I had to learn a bunch about what powers Vite. What is Vite doing under the hood that we might be able to also do in WP Rig, but do it in a WordPress way. Because Vite is a SaaS tool. If you’re building a SaaS, like React with a… we’re not a SaaS. I guess a spa is a better term to use here. If you’re building a single page application with React or view or belt or whatever, right, then knowing what Vite is and just using Vite right out of the box is perfect. But it doesn’t translate perfectly to WordPress land because WordPress has its own opinions. And so I did have to do some dissecting there and figure out what to keep and what to not keep to what to kind of set aside so that WordPress can keep doing what WordPress does the way WordPress likes to do it, but also improve on how we’re doing some of the compiling and transpiling and the manipulation of the code during these various. Topher: All right. I want to pivot a little bit to some personal-ish questions. Rob: Okay. Topher: This is a big project. I’m sure it takes up plenty of your time. How scalable is that in your life? Do you want to do this for the rest of your life? Rob: That’s a fantastic question. I don’t know about the rest of my life. I mean, I definitely want to do web development for the rest of my life because the web has, let’s be honest, it’s transformed everyone’s way of life, whether you’re a web developer or not. You know, the fact that we have the internet in our pocket now, you know, it has changed everything. Apps, everything. It’s all built on the web. So I certainly want to be involved in the web the rest of my life. Do I want to keep doing WordPress the rest of my life? I don’t know. Do I want to keep doing WP Rig the rest of my life? I don’t know. But I will say that you bring up a very interesting point, which is it does take up a lot of time and also trust in open source over the past four or five years I would argue has diminished a little bit as a result of various events that have occurred over the past two or three years. I mean, we could cite the whole WP Engine Matt Mullerwig thing. We can also cite what’s going on with Oracle and JavaScript. Well, I mean, there’s many examples of this. I mean, we can cite the whole thing that happened… I mean, there’s various packages out there that are used and developed and open source to anybody, and some of them are going on maintained and it’s causing security vulnerabilities and degradation and all this stuff. So it’s a very important point. One thing I started thinking about after considering that in relation to WP Rig was I noticed that there’s usually a for-profit arm of any of these frameworks that seems to extend the lifespan of it. Let’s just talk about React, for example, React is an open source JavaScript framework, but it’s used by Facebook and Facebook is extremely for-profit. So companies that are making infrastructural or architectural decisions, they will base their choice on whether or not to use a framework largely on how long they think this framework is going to remain relevant or valid or maintained, right? A large part of that is, well, is there a company making money off of this thing? Because if there is, the chances- Topher: They’re going to keep doing that. Rob: They’re going to keep doing it. It’s going to stay around. That’s good. I think that’s healthy. A lot of people that like open source and want everything to be free, they might look at something like that and say like, well, I don’t want you to make a paid version of it or there shouldn’t be a pro version. I think that’s a very short-sighted way of looking at that software and these innovations. I think a more experienced way of looking at it is if you want something to remain relevant and maintained for a long period of time, having a for-profit way in which it’s leveraged is a very good thing. I mean, let’s be real. Would WordPress still be what it is today if there wasn’t a wordpress.com or if WooCommerce wasn’t owned by Automattic or whatever, right? They’ll be on top. I mean, it’s obviously impossible to say, but my argument would be, probably not. I mean, look at what’s happened to the other content management systems out there. You know, Joomla Drupal. They don’t really have a flourishing, you know, paid pro service that goes with their thing that’s very popular, at least definitely not as popular as WordPress.com or WordPress VIP or some of these other things that exist out there. And so having something that’s making and generating money that can then contribute back into it the way Automattic has been doing with WordPress over these years has, in my opinion, been instrumental. I mean, people can talk smack about Gutenberg all they want, but let’s be real, it’s 2025, would you still feel that WordPress is an elegant solution if we were still working from the WYSIWYG and using the classic editor? And I know a lot of people are still using the classic editor and there’s classic for us, the fork and all that stuff. But I mean, that only makes sense in a very specific implementation of WordPress, a very specific paradigm. If you want to explore any of these other paradigms out there, that way of thinking about WordPress kind of falls apart pretty quickly. I, for one, am happy that Gutenberg exists. I’m very happy that Automattic continues. And I’m grateful, actually, that Automattic continues to contribute back into WordPress. And not just them, obviously there’s other companies, XWP, 10Up, all these other companies are also contributing as well. But I’m very grateful that this ecosystem exists and that there’s contribution going back in and it’s happening from companies that are making money with this. And I think that’s vital. All that to say that WP Rig may and likely will have paid products in the future that leverage WP Rig. So that’s not to say that WP Rig will eventually cost money. That’s just to say that eventually people can expect other products to come out in the future that will be built on WP Rig and incentivize the continued contributions back into WP Rig. The open source version of WP Rig. Topher: That’s cool. I think that’s wise. If you want anything to stay alive, you have to feed it. Rob: That’s right. Topher: I had some more questions but I had forgotten them because I got caught up in your answer. Rob: Oh, thank you. I’ll take that as a compliment. I mean, my answer was eloquent. But I’m happy to expand on anything, know you, WordPress related, me related, you know, whether it comes to the ecosystem in WordPress, the whole WordCamp meetup thing is very interesting. I led the WP Omaha meetup for many years here in Omaha, Nebraska and I also led the WordCamp, the organizing of WordCamp here in Omaha for several years as well. That whole community, the whole ecosystem, at least in America seems to have largely fallen apart. I don’t know if you want to talk about that at all. But yeah, I’m ready to dive into any topics. Topher: I’m going to have one more question and then we’re going to wrap up. And it was that you were talking about all the things you had to learn. I’m sure there were nights where you were looking at your computer thinking, “Oh man, I had it working, now I gotta go learn a new thing.” I would love for you to go back in time and blog all of that if you would. But given that you can’t, I would be interested in a blog moving forward, documenting what you’re learning, how you’re learning it and starting maybe with a post that’s summarizes all of that. Obviously, that’s up to you and how you want to spend your time, but I think it’d be really valuable to other people starting a project, picking up somebody else’s project to see what the roadmap might look like. You know what I mean? Rob: For sure. Well, I can briefly summarize what I’ve learned over the years and where I’m at today with how I do this kind of stuff. I will say that a lot of the improvements to WP Rig that have happened over the last year or two would not be possible without the advent of AI. Topher: Interesting. Rob: That’s a fancy way of saying that I have been by coding a lot of WP Rig lately. If you know how to use AI, it is extremely powerful and it can help you do many things very quickly that previously would have taken much longer or more manpower. So, yeah, perhaps if there was like five, six, seven people actively, excuse me, actively contributing to WP Rig, then this type of stuff would have been possible previously, but that’s not the case. There is one person, well, one main contributor to WP Rig today and you’re talking to them. There are a handful of other people that have been likely contributing to WP Rig over the versions and you can find their contributions in the change log file in WP Rig. But those contributions have been extremely light compared to what I’ve been doing. I wouldn’t be able to do any of it without AI. I have learned my ability to learn things extremely rapidly has ramped up tenfold since I started learning how to properly leverage LLMs and AI. So that’s not to say that like, you know, WP Rig, all the code is just being completely written by AI and I’m just like. make it better, enter, and then like WP Rig is better. I wish it was that easy. It’s certainly not that. But when I needed to start asking some of these vital questions that I really didn’t have anyone to turn to to help answer them, I was able to turn to AI. For instance, let’s go back to the Webpack versus Gulp situation. Although Gulp is no longer used in WP Rig, you know, it was used in WP Rig until very recently. So I had to understand like, what is this system, how does it work, how do I extend it and how do I update it and all these things, right? And why aren’t we using WebPack and you know, is there validity to this criticism behind you should use webpack instead of Gulp or whatever, right? I was able to use AI to ask these questions and be able to get extremely good answers out of it and give me the direction I needed to make some of these kind of higher level decisions on like architecturally where should WP Rig go? It was through these virtual conversations with LLMs that I was able to refine the direction of WP Rig in a direction that is both modern and forward-thinking and architecturally sound. I learned a tremendous amount from AI about the architecture, about the code, about all of it. My advice to anybody that wants to extend their skill set a little bit in the development side of things is to leverage this new thing that we have in a way that is as productive as possible for you. So that’s going to vary from person to person. But for me, if I’m on a flight or if I’m stuck somewhere for a while, like, let’s say I got to take my kid to practice or something and I’m stuck there for an hour and I got to find some way to kill my time 9 times out of 10, I’m on my laptop or on my phone having conversations with Grok or ChatGPT or Gemini or whatever. I am literally refining… I’m just sitting there asking it questions that are on my mind that I wish I could ask somebody who’s like 10 times more capable than me. It has been instrumental. WP Rig wouldn’t be where it is today if it wasn’t for that. I would just say to anybody, especially now that it’s all on apps and you don’t have to be on a browser anymore, adopt that way of thinking. You know, if you’re on your lunch break or whatever and you have an hour lunch break and you only take 15 minutes to eat, what could you be doing with those other 45 minutes? You could just jump on this magical thing that we have now and start probing it for questions. Like, Hey, here’s what I know. Here’s what I don’t know. Fill these knowledge gaps for me.” And it is extremely good at doing that. Topher: So my question was, can you blog this and your answer told me that there’s more there that I want to hear. That’s the stuff that should be in your book when you write your book. Rob: I’m flattered that you would be interested in reading anything that I write. So thank you. I’ve written stuff in the past and it hasn’t gotten a lot of attention. But I also don’t have any platforms to market it either. But yeah, no, I made some… I’m sorry. Topher: I think your experience is valuable far beyond Rig or WordPress. If you abstract it out of a particular project to say, you know, I did this with a project, I learned this this way, I think that would be super valuable. Rob: Well, I will say that recently at my current job, I was challenged to create an end to end testing framework with Playwright that would speed up how long it takes to test things and also prevent, you know, to make things fail earlier, essentially, to prevent broken things from ending up in the wild, right, and having to catch them the hard way. I didn’t know a lot about Playwright, but I do know how toolkits work now because of WP Rig. And I was able to successfully in a matter of, I don’t know, three days, put together a starter kit for a test framework that we’re already using at work to test any website that we create for any client. It can be extended and it can be hooked into any CI CD pipeline and it generates reports for you and it does a whole bunch of stuff. I was able to do this relatively quickly. This knowledge, yes, does come in handy in other situations. Will I end up developing other toolkits like WP Rig in the future for other things? I guess if I can give any advice to anybody listening out there, another piece of advice I would give people is, you know, especially if you’re a junior developer and you’re still learning or whatever, or you’re just a marketing person and just want to have more control over the functionality side of what you’re creating or more insight into that so you could better, you know, manage projects or whatever. My advice would be to take on a small little project that is scoped relatively small that’s not too much for you to chew and go build something and do it with… Just doing that will be good. But if you can do it with the intent to then present it in some fashion, whether it be a blog article or creating a YouTube video or going to a meetup and giving a talk on it or even a lunch and learn at work or whatever, right, that will, in my experience, it will dramatically amplify how much you learn from that little pet project that’s kind of like a mini learning experience. And I highly encourage anybody out there to do that on the regular. Actually, no matter what your experience level is in development, I think you should do these things on a regular basis. Topher: All right. I’m going to wrap this up. I got to get back to work. You probably have to get back to work. Rob: Yeah. Topher: Thanks for talking. Rob: Thanks for having me, Topher. Really appreciate it. Topher: Where could people find you? WPrig.io?  Rob: Yeah, WPrig.io. WP rig has accounts on all of the major platforms and, even on Bluesky and Mastodon. You can look me up, Rob Ruiz. You can find me on LinkedIn. You can find me on all of those same platforms as well. You can add me on Facebook if you want, whatever. And I’m also in the WordPress Slack as well as Rob Ruiz. You can find me in the WordPress Slack. And then I’m on the WordPress Reddit and all that stuff. So yeah, reach out. If anybody wants to have any questions about Rig or anything else, I’m happy to engage.  Topher: Sounds good. All right, I’ll see you. Rob: All right, thanks, Topher. Have a good day. Topher: This has been an episode of the Hallway Chats podcast. I’m your host Topher DeRosia. Many thanks to our sponsor Nexcess. If you’d like to hear more Hallway Chats, please let us know on hallwaychats.com.

Siqi was the CEO of a hot startup doing $20M a year. Then COVID hit. Overnight, revenue went to zero. He had to lay off 95% of his staff. In the chaos of trying to save the company using broken spreadsheets, he found his next big idea: Runway.But the path wasn't a straight line. Siqi spent four years building the product before fully launching. In this episode, he breaks down why product taste matters more than A/B testing, and the insane viral launch strategy that overwhelmed his sales team and generated $1M ARR in a single month.Why You Should ListenHow a viral marketing campaign added $1M ARR in just 30 days.Why "user love" is a trap.Why it took 4 years of building in the dark to create the "Figma for Finance."How to mentally survive losing 95% of your revenue and staff overnight.Why startups are a test of stamina, not intelligence.Keywordsstartup podcast, startup podcast for founders, product market fit, viral marketing, fintech, financial modeling, finding pmf, startup growth, founder stories, Siqi Chen00:00:00 Intro00:04:09 The COVID Crash: From $20M to $0 ARR00:20:36 The V1 Trap: Great UI, Zero Willingness to Pay00:36:25 The 4 Year Build: Comparing to Figma and Notion00:46:53 The Viral Time Locked Jacket Launch00:53:04 Adding 1M ARR in 30 Days00:53:45 The PMF MomentSend me a message to let me know what you think!

What actually makes a startup defensible anymore, especially when anyone can build a product overnight with AI?In this episode of Supra Insider, Marc Baselga and Ben Erez sit down with Itamar Novick, founder of Recursive Ventures and longtime operator-turned-investor, to unpack how moats are changing in the AI era and what founders (and senior product leaders) need to internalize if they want to build enduring companies.Itamar draws from over 25 years across product leadership, company-building, and early-stage investing to explain why defensibility matters earlier than most founders think, how traditional moats (marketplaces, SaaS velocity, network effects) still apply, and why AI radically compresses time-to-competition. He breaks down how Recursive Ventures evaluates teams, TAM, and moats at the pre-seed stage, why velocity has become a core signal, and how the venture model itself is being reshaped by smaller teams, faster execution, and lower capital requirements.The conversation also goes deep on founder decision-making: how to choose early investors, why community itself can be a moat, what good vs bad VCs look like when companies fail, and why product leaders should seriously consider jumping into AI-native environments, even if it means a short-term step down.If you're a product leader thinking about founding a company, advising startups, or staying relevant in the next decade, this episode offers a clear, opinionated framework for navigating what's changed and what still matters.All episodes of the podcast are also available on Spotify, Apple and YouTube.New to the pod? Subscribe below to get the next episode in your inbox

The generative AI landscape has shifted again, and at speed. In this update episode, Daniel Rowles breaks down a rapid sequence of releases from OpenAI and Google, explaining what has actually changed, what genuinely matters, and how marketers and business leaders should respond. Covering everything from ChatGPT 5.x and Gemini 3 through to image generation breakthroughs, AI-powered apps, and the rise of accessible 'vibe coding', this episode is a practical briefing rather than hype-driven commentary. Daniel focuses on real-world capability, usability, and where these tools are already changing how marketing teams work, build, and analyse. Rather than asking which model is "winning", the episode reframes the question around task-based selection. Different tools now excel at different jobs, from coding and image editing to workflow automation and reporting. Understanding those strengths is quickly becoming a competitive advantage In This Episode How the AI model race intensified between OpenAI and Google at the beginning of 2026 What actually changed with ChatGPT 5.1 and 5.2, beyond the headline claims Why Gemini 3 represents a major leap in reasoning and coding capability How image generation tools have crossed a new threshold in photorealism and editing What Nano Banana Pro means for branded, on-style visual creation Why ChatGPT connectors becoming "apps" is more important than it sounds How tools like Canva, Adobe, and Figma now integrate directly into AI workflows What vibe coding really is, and why it matters for non-technical marketers How canvas mode transforms the way code, content, and interfaces are created Why AI-powered browsers and agent modes could redefine reporting and analysis Key Takeaways No single AI model is best at everything, and choosing by task is now essential Image editing and brand-consistent visuals are becoming dramatically more accessible Marketers can now create interactive tools and content without traditional development AI-assisted coding is shifting from novelty to practical everyday use Workflow automation and reporting are emerging as some of the biggest wins Understanding interfaces and deployment matters as much as model intelligence

What Bubbles Up fans! Another year, and another season in the books, which means it is time for our annual Year in Flights episode! This season, Phil and Barry celebrate the end of Season 6 with a recap of 6 of their favorite moments, each paired with a different beer (in increasing ABV %). We also take a moment to celebrate the growth of their podcast, up 21% in listernership from this time last year. As predicted, this season focused on the impact of AI on the industry, the evolution of Figma, and the importance of authenticity in creativity. But we also highlight the need to embrace uniqueness and differentiation, and the necessity of continuous learning and evolution. It's been another great season - thank you all for listening, and we will see you again in 2026! This Season's Highlights:1. Episode 2: A Quick One on DeepSeekAI2. Episode 4: Robin Raskin from SXSW3. Episode 8: Recap of Config4. Episode 9: The Future of Agencies with Matt Weiss (our top episode of Season 6!)5. Episode 11: Lessons in Acting with Julianne Cross6. Episode 12: Being Curious with Jenessa CarderDrinks:Barry: Tuckerman Brewing Co. Headwall Altbier, Vermont Beer Makers Scarlet Red Ale, Jack's Abby Brewing Shipping Out of Boston Amber Lager, Berkshire Brewing Company Lost Sailor India Pale Ale, Devil's Purse Brewing Co. Powder Hole Porter, Mad Elf Holiday AlePhil: Founders Brewing Company Red Sweater IPA, Jackie O's Brewery Chomolungma Brown Ale, Great Lakes Brewing Co. Christmas Ale, Port City Tidings Belgian-Style Ale, Jack's Abby Brewing Tiramisu Pastry Porter, Boulevard Brewing Company Dark Truth Imperial StoutLinks:http://whatbubblesup.com

It's that time of year again—the School of Motion End of Year Podcast is here, and this one is our longest yet... by a lot. Buckle up for an in-depth look at everything that shaped motion design in 2025, and a look ahead to 2026!

Episode web page: https://bit.ly/3MWTjzQ Episode description:  In this forward-looking episode of Insights Unlocked, Mike McDowell returns to the mic to share what's ahead for UserTesting in 2026—and it's all about speed, scale, and smarter insights. Mike and host Nathan Isaacs dive into the latest developments in AI-powered research, from automated test creation and participant feedback to enhanced report generation and seamless integrations with tools like Figma. As always, Mike brings a ton of energy and clarity to what these innovations mean not just for researchers, but for anyone trying to get closer to their customers. Whether you're a product manager, designer, or marketer, this episode will leave you inspired by what's possible when AI meets human insight. Key takeaways AI-enhanced test creation: Just type what you want to learn, and AI builds the test plan for you—making customer feedback more accessible to non-researchers than ever. New Figma plug-in: Beta users can now launch usability tests directly from Figma, without leaving the design environment. Automated insight generation: From smart analysis to video summaries and report creation, AI is speeding up the time from question to answer. Smarter screener tools: AI-powered fraud detection and screener guidance ensure better participant quality and more reliable feedback. Customer empathy at scale: Mike emphasizes the power of embedding customer videos in tools like Jira, Confluence, and Figma to build buy-in and challenge internal assumptions. Resources & links Mike on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmcdowell1/) Nathan Isaacs on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanisaacs/) Learn more about Insights Unlocked: https://www.usertesting.com/podcast

Most candidates treat recruiter calls like a box-checking step. But the candidates who consistently land offers treat recruiters like strategic partners - and use them to get real leverage throughout the process.In this episode of Supra Insider, Marc Baselga and Ben Erez sit down with our repeat guest, Anneli Scopazzi (Boulevard Talent; former recruiting leader across Palantir, Figma, and Notion) to break down what recruiters are actually incentivized by, what they're looking for in the recruiter screen, and how candidates can use recruiters to prepare more intelligently and avoid preventable missteps.They cover the difference between internal recruiters and agency recruiters, what gets candidates filtered out early, how to ask for “prep” without sounding insecure, what to do when a company refuses to share details, and how to handle compensation conversations without accidentally anchoring yourself into a worse outcome. They also discuss when to save sensitive questions for the offer stage, and how recruiters influence the process behind the scenes (feedback, debriefs, and closing).If you're interviewing in today's competitive market, especially for product roles, this episode gives you a tactical playbook for turning recruiters into an advantage instead of an afterthought. All episodes of the podcast are also available on Spotify, Apple and YouTube.New to the pod? Subscribe below to get the next episode in your inbox

Alguns profissionais acreditam que UX se resume a desenhar telas bonitas ou organizar fluxos dentro de um aplicativo. Mas a experiência do usuário vai muito além disso. Ela começa antes da primeira interação com a interface e continua muito depois da compra ser concluída.Neste episódio do Papo Reto, eu compartilho uma experiência real que vivi como cliente da Insider para mostrar, na prática, como UX é um ecossistema completo de decisões, comunicação, transparência, logística e cuidado com as pessoas. A partir dessa jornada, reflito sobre como pequenas escolhas feitas fora da tela podem evitar frustrações, gerar confiança e criar vínculos reais entre marca e cliente.Ao longo da conversa, falo sobre por que UX é end to end, como antecipar problemas faz parte do trabalho de design, por que uma boa experiência não elimina erros, mas impede que eles se tornem traumas, e o que designers de UX e produto precisam aprender ao olhar para além do Figma.Esse episódio é um convite para repensar o papel do designer e entender que UX não é o que a marca diz que entrega, mas o que o cliente realmente sente em cada ponto da jornada. Porque no final, o usuário pode até esquecer a interface, mas nunca esquece como foi tratado quando algo deu errado.Mentoria Luan Mateus ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mentoria.papodeux.com.br⁠⁠⁠⁠News do Papo ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://papodeux.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://instagram.com/papodeux/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@papodeux⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

What does it take to build products that feel thoughtful, emotionally resonant, and unmistakably high-quality, especially inside a company that ships fast and experiments constantly?In this episode of Supra Insider, Marc and Ben sit down with Nickey Skarstad, Director of Product at Duolingo, to unpack how one of the world's most beloved consumer apps maintains its bar for craft, clarity, and delight while operating at massive scale. Nickey shares how Duolingo operationalizes quality across teams, how they dogfood relentlessly, and why “unreasonable hospitality” applies just as much to software as it does to service.She also shares the internal rituals Duolingo uses - like their “hot trash” Friday forum for sharing early experiments, and how these lightweight mechanisms help PMs, designers, and engineers learn from each other. Nickey walks through Duolingo's product review process, how senior leaders give feedback, and how the company ensures teams move quickly without shipping work that falls below their quality standards.Whether you're a PM trying to strengthen your intuition, a design-driven leader aiming for higher quality bars, or a product builder exploring how AI should (and shouldn't) fit into your workflow, this episode is full of concrete lessons you can use immediately.All episodes of the podcast are also available on Spotify, Apple and YouTube.New to the pod? Subscribe below to get the next episode in your inbox

$330M catapults Lovable to $6.6B unicorn status in AI dev. Figma import accelerates design-to-code. Metrics scream scalability.Get the top 40+ AI Models for $20 at AI Box: ⁠⁠https://aibox.aiAI Chat YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@JaedenSchaferJoin my AI Hustle Community: https://www.skool.com/aihustleSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Russ Mashmeyer's journey from fine art student to Meta's AI Product Design Director reveals the unexpected connections between creativity and code. Growing up in suburban Georgia where "everything was new," Russ found himself drawn to New York's layers of history, studying fine art at NYU before joining a touring indie band called The XYZ Affair. What began as building Flash websites for his band evolved into a career defining how we interact with technology.~ Now leading Meta's Pathfinding team, he explores rapid prototyping of AI-powered products, helping designers and creators understand AI not as a replacement for human creativity but as an accelerant for bridging skill gaps.Russ brings a unique perspective to AI development, viewing it through the lens of cultural history—from photography's disruption of fine art to desktop publishing's transformation of graphic design. He argues that AI models deliver "mediocre, average expected results" by design, making human taste, perspective, and cultural awareness more essential than ever. Key TakeawaysSoftware as artistic medium requires the same creative intuition as traditional fine art, just expressed through different tools and faster feedback loopsThe best preparation for emerging fields is developing insatiable curiosity about how things work rather than mastering specific technical skillsCultural and historical context matters more than ever in AI development—understanding what resonated with people before helps predict what will matter nextAI models are designed to produce average results, making human taste, lived perspective, and cultural relevance the differentiating factors in creative work"Naïve optimism"—the mindset of "how hard could it be?"—is essential for innovation, especially in spaces where no one is an expert yetChildren benefit enormously from watching adults play, fail with smiles, and create together, normalizing creativity as a lifelong practiceEvery major technological shift creates cultural upheaval, but society consistently figures out how to metabolize new tools and elevate them to art formsThe most powerful use of AI raises the floor of competence in areas where you have skill gaps while you remain exceptional in your core strengthsTreating your first band like a startup teaches essential lessons about entrepreneurialism, feedback loops, and creating products people loveNew technology succeeds when it serves human intent rather than replacing human creativity, becoming a tool that unlocks what people inherently want to doBuilding in public fields where no one is an expert yet levels the playing field—depth of historical knowledge matters more than technical seniorityThe transition from planning perfect UIs in Figma to sculpting functional prototypes with AI represents a fundamental shift from drawing to three-dimensional creationEmergent capabilities in AI models—features that weren't explicitly designed—mirror how creative misuse of instruments led to entirely new musical genres Daring Creativity. Daring Forever. Podcast with Radim Malinic daringcreativity.com | desk@daringcreativity.com Books by Radim Malinic Paperback and Kindle > https://amzn.to/4biTwFcFree audiobook (with Audible trial) > https://geni.us/free-audiobookBook bundles https://novemberuniverse.co.ukLux Coffee Co. https://luxcoffee.co.uk/ (Use: PODCAST for 15% off)November Universe https://novemberuniverse.co.uk (Use: PODCAST for 10% off)

Medline just pulled off the biggest IPO of 2025, beating out higher-profile names like Circle, Klarna, and Figma despite being a company most people have never heard of. In this episode, we break down how this family-owned medical-supply giant built a massive moat, why its CEO calls it the “Costco of Healthcare,” and the risks investors should be watching.

AGENDA: 03:32 Lightspeed's $9 Billion Fundraise 05:20 The Impact of Mega Funds on Seed VCs 10:09 The Supercycle of Growth and Late-Stage Investments 13:06 Disney Invests $1BN into OpenAI and What It Means 23:19 Oracle Hit Hard: Is Now the Time to Buy 28:34 Broadcom's Market Cap Drop and Anthropic's AI Chip Orders 35:04 Cursor Competes with Figma: The Convergence of Design and Coding Tools 46:20 The Biggest Danger for Incumbents: Being Maimed by AI 55:28 Boom Supersonic Raising $300M to… Power Data Centres… WTF 01:00:24 Will SpaceX IPO at $1.5TRN and The Elon Option Value    

Sure, design might be going through a tough period...But as the saying goes, "never waste a good crisis."So this moment of uncertainty, where everyone is wondering if (or rather when) AI will take over their job, might actually be our biggest opportunity to rise up.It is a unique chance to reclaim our core focus of designing services that genuinely improve people's lives, rather than just extracting value to maximize shareholder returns.Of course to discuss an existential topic like this we had to find someone who's been around the block for some time. And boy did we find someone!For this episode we sit down with the legendary Dan Saffer to chat about what we can learn from the last two decades of design evolution.We try to wrap our heads around what caused the erosion of strategic design from its heyday, which, frankly, wasn't even that long ago.We look into how we somehow got identified with the outputs, like running workshops or creating interfaces in Figma, rather than the outcomes. And more importantly, what we can do to prevent that from happening again, whether that's with journey management or crafting smart prompts.And finally we also tackle the big question of why design isn't having a greater influence on the current wave of AI, and how we can change that.So bring your cassette player for this one, because we're going back in time for some nostalgia and a healthy dose of hope.Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact!~ Marc--- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome to Episode 24303:00 Why Design Has Failed the Enterprise07:15 Defining a 'Well-Designed Service'11:00 4 Stages of Design Maturity13:45 The Critical Challenge of Design at Scale16:30 Debunking the Myth being Design as a 'Luxury'19:30 Is Service Design an Attitude or a Practice?20:45 Impact of Cloud & Mobile on Design Challenges23:15 Designing for the 'Cloud Age' 29:00 Service Design vs. Interaction Design31:45 Focus on the System, Not Just the Artifact35:00 The Challenge of Hiring True System-Level Designers37:30 Moving Design from Extractive to Generative44:45 Only Way to Win Is to Not Play the Game48:15 Driving Organizational Change Through Design Culture52:45 Why Designers Burn Out56:45 How to Measure the Impact of Generative Design1:00:00 Why AI is a People Problem1:03:15 What Makes a Great Design Leader?1:06:15 The Essential Mindset Shift for Modern Design Leadership1:09:15 The Great Opportunity of AI in Service Design1:13:45 Final Takeaway1:14:15 Question to Ponder --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dansaffer/Blue Sky - https://blueskydirectory.com/profiles/odannyboy.bsky.socialMedium - https://medium.com/ui-for-ai/welcome-to-ui-for-ai-eb22aef8d26c --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] --- Join our private community for in-house service design professionals. ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle--- [4. FIND THE SHOW ON] ---Youtube ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/243-youtubeSpotify ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/243-spotifyApple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/243-appleSnipd ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/243-snipd

In this episode, we're joined by Youssef Hounat, product leader, ex-auditor, and (unexpectedly) freestyle-rap-ready builder of tools for accountants. He went from training at Ernst & Young to helping scale DataSnipper into one of the Netherlands' unicorns, and now he's building again as Head of Product at ComplianceWise. We unpack what's actually changing inside product teams: AI stops being a rewrite/search tool and becomes a teammate that takes real work off your plate. Youssef shares how the best teams reduce context switching, turn customer research into a habit, and use agentic workflows + MCPs to connect tools like email, Jira, Figma, and docs without becoming a “fleshy meat puppet” copy-pasting between 10 tabs. Here are some of the key questions we address: Why do 99% of teams still use AI wrong, and what mindset shift fixes it? How do you turn customer research into a continuous habit using transcripts + automated pipelines? What's a real example of AI helping product push back on “build this to close the deal” and finding the true request underneath? How do top teams use MCP + coding agents to move from idea → PRD → Jira tickets without leaving the terminal? What's the difference between a prototype you build to learn vs a product you build to earn — and why vibe-coded output can't go straight to production? How do you avoid reinventing the wheel and start with small weekly automations that compound? What's the real risk behind shadow AI usage  and how do you get IT onside instead of blocked?

As AI reshapes the workplace, employees and leaders face questions about meaningful work, automation, and human impact. In this episode, Jason Beutler, CEO of RoboSource, shares how companies can rethink workflows, integrate AI in accessible ways, and empower employees without fear. The discussion covers leveraging AI to handle routine tasks (SOPs or "plays") and reimagining work for smarter, more human-centered outcomes.Featuring:Jason Beutler – LinkedInChris Benson – Website, LinkedIn, Bluesky, GitHub, XDaniel Whitenack – Website, GitHub, XSponsor:Framer – Design and publish without limits with Framer, the free all-in-one design platform. Unlimited projects, no tool switching, and professional sites—no Figma imports or HTML hassles required. Start creating for free at framer.com/design with code `PRACTICALAI` for a free month of Framer Pro.Upcoming Events: Register for upcoming webinars here!

David George is a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where he leads the firm's Growth investing team. His team has backed many of the defining companies of this era, including Databricks, Figma, Stripe, SpaceX, Anduril, and OpenAI, and is now investing behind a new generation of AI startups like Cursor, Harvey, and Abridge. AGENDA: 03:05 – Why Everyone is Wrong: Mega Funds Does Not Reduce Returns 10:40 – Is Public Market Capital Actually Cheaper Than Private Capital? 18:55 – The Biggest Advantage of Staying Private for Longer 23:30 – The #1 Investing Rule for a16z: Always Invest in the Founder's Strength of Strengths 31:20 – Why Fear of Theoretical Competition Makes Investors Miss Great Companies 35:10 – Does Revenue Matter as Much in a World of AI? 44:10 – Does Kingmaking Still Exist in Venture Capital Today? 49:20 – Do Margins Matter Less Than Ever in an AI-First World? 53:50 – My Biggest Miss: Anthropic and What I Learn From it?  56:30 – Has OpenAI Won Consumer AI? Will Anthropic Win Enterprise? 59:45 – The Most Controversial Decision in Andreessen Horowitz History 1:01:30 – Why Did You Invest $300M into Adam Neumann and Flow?    

Listen now: Spotify, Apple and YouTubeWhat actually changes inside a product and engineering org when a company commits to becoming AI-native—not as a side project, but as the new operating system?In this episode of Supra Insider, Marc and Ben sit down with Gaurav Hardikar, VP of Product at HomeLight, to unpack the company's ambitious transformation: an executive team hackathon, ten AI initiatives across tech debt and product debt, and a completely new way of scoping, shipping, and collaborating across product, engineering, and design.Gaurav walks through how HomeLight reshaped their workflows to move dramatically faster, built an AI-powered scoping assistant that consolidates inputs across functions, and created a shared “source of truth” that removes one of the biggest product bottlenecks—misalignment.He also introduces a brand-new role inside the org: the AI Product Builder—what it is, why PMs can't do all of it, and the skills that separate great builders from average ones as AI-native development becomes standard.Whether you're a product leader trying to accelerate your roadmap, an engineer rethinking how AI changes execution, or a PM who wants to understand what skills will still matter in an AI-native world, this episode gives a practical, inside-the-org look at what real transformation requires.All episodes of the podcast are also available on Spotify, Apple and YouTube.New to the pod? Subscribe below to get the next episode in your inbox

We're thrilled to welcome back Eva Hongyan Gao, Head of Product ESG at AMCS Group, a returning guest (episode 102) and a product leader in B2B SaaS, circular economy, and ESG, for a special episode on using LLMs securely inside the enterprise. Eva joins Matt and Moshe to offer a candid, hands-on look at how AI fits into enterprise toolkits, the challenges of data compliance, and the realities of integrating tools like Microsoft Copilot Studio within strict security frameworks.Eva brings deep experience building for demanding enterprise customers, where success is measured not just by innovation, but by strict ISO, SOC 2, and GDPR compliance. She shares what happens behind the scenes as product leaders and IT teams try to balance innovation, cost, and data protection, sometimes losing sleep over responsible tool usage and ever-climbing AI integration costs.Join Matt, Moshe, and Eva as they explore:Using AI tools in highly regulated, security-conscious B2B enterprise settingsThe compliance process: from ISO and SOC2 to GDPR and internal AI guidelinesWhy Microsoft Copilot is becoming the default LLM in enterprises, and what you still need to watch out forBuilding internal agents and chat interfaces to answer roadmap questions and handle stakeholder requestsLessons learned moving from over-engineered platforms to simpler, compliant AI toolsCreative AI workflows, including removing branded assets between Copilot and Figma and orchestrating information for various departmentsThe ongoing struggle: data redaction, internal transparency, and the limits of controlling generative modelsLLM orchestration: mixing old-school logic with new AI capabilities, and knowing when not to use AISecurity best practices and the importance of a trust-based compliance mindset across the organizationWhat happens when stakeholders use AI tools in ways product never expectedOpportunities for Copilot and DevOps to streamline maintenance, documentation, and stakeholder requestsThe future of AI in sustainability, product management, and business decision-makingAnd much more!Want to connect with Eva or learn more?LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/evagaodeYou can also connect with us and find more episodes:Product for Product Podcast: http://linkedin.com/company/product-for-product-podcastMatt Green: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattgreenproductMoshe Mikanovsky: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikanovskyNote: Any views mentioned in the podcast are the sole views of our hosts and guests, and do not represent the products mentioned in any way.Please leave us a review and feedback ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Show DescriptionChris and Jessica from Studioworks join us to talk about their new app, why they're uniquely qualified to run an invoicing app, what the long term vision is for Studioworks, pricing models of subscription apps, how invoicing isn't just for web nerds anymore, helping neurospicy people get paid for their work, and what it's like to transfer to a new invoicing app. Listen on WebsiteWatch on YouTubeGuestsJessica HischeGuest's Main URL • Guest's SocialJessica Hische is a lettering artist and author with a tendency to overshare and a penchant for procrastiworking. Chris ShiflettGuest's Main URL • Guest's SocialChris Shiflett is a husband, father, entrepreneur, community leader, author, speaker, and amateur athlete. Links Studioworks.app The web's grain by Frank Chimero SponsorstldrawHave you ever wanted to build an app that works kinda like Miro or Figma, that has a zoomable infinite canvas, that's multiplayer, and really good, but you also want to build it in React with normal React components on the canvas? Good news! tldraw is the world's first, best, and only SDK for building infinite canvas apps in React. tldraw takes care of all the canvas complexities — things like the camera, selection logic, and undo redo — so that you can focus on building the features that matter to your users. It's easy to use with plenty of examples and starter kits, including a kit where you can use AI to create things on the canvas. Get started for free at tldraw.dev/shoptalk, or run npm create tldraw to spin up a starter kit.

Listen now: Spotify, Apple and YouTubeIf you've been hearing phrases like “taste is the only thing that will matter for PMs in the AI era” but aren't sure what that actually means—or more importantly, how to build it—this episode is for you.In this conversation, Marc and Ben sit down with Sachin Rekhi, founder, former LinkedIn product leader, and creator of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, to unpack the real mechanics of taste: where it comes from, how to sharpen it, and why it's already the defining skill of AI-native product teams.Sachin shares the frameworks he teaches inside companies and in his Reforge course—from Rick Rubin's “sensitivity & canon” model, to daily design-critique habits, to the patterns he saw across design-driven, metrics-driven, strategy-driven, and sales-driven org cultures.He also tells the untold story of how Sales Navigator went from a tiny skunkworks project to one of LinkedIn's biggest product lines—why social capital mattered, how he managed leadership skepticism, and how he used prototypes, real customer quotes, and narrative-building to secure executive conviction.Whether you're trying to level up your product intuition, navigate organizational taste cultures, or use AI without slipping into “AI slop,” you'll walk away with practical models you can apply immediately to your product work, leadership communication, and team workflows.All episodes of the podcast are also available on Spotify, Apple and YouTube.New to the pod? Subscribe below to get the next episode in your inbox

I've probably learned more about visual design from MDS than anyone in the design community.So I wanted to go deep into the creative process behind the all-new Shift Nudge website to see how he explores visual ideas.He takes us through his Figma file that is full of very good ideas that didn't ship.And he even shows us how he built his own Mosaic tool in v0 which became the core motif of the site.So if you're interested in seeing the windy creative process behind one of the truly great designers today then I think you're going to enjoy this one.

Every few years, the world of product management goes through a phase shift. When I started at Microsoft in the early 2000s, we shipped Office in boxes. Product cycles were long, engineering was expensive, and user research moved at the speed of snail mail. Fast forward a decade and the cloud era reset the speed at which we build, measure, and learn. Then mobile reshaped everything we thought we knew about attention, engagement, and distribution.Now we are standing at the edge of another shift. Not a small shift, but a tectonic one. Artificial intelligence is rewriting the rules of product creation, product discovery, product expectations, and product careers.To help make sense of this moment, I hosted a panel of world class product leaders on the Fireside PM podcast:• Rami Abu-Zahra, Amazon product leader across Kindle, Books, and Prime Video• Todd Beaupre, Product Director at YouTube leading Home and Recommendations• Joe Corkery, CEO and cofounder of Jaide Health • Tom Leung (me), Partner at Palo Alto Foundry• Lauren Nagel, VP Product at Mezmo• David Nydegger, Chief Product Officer at OvivaThese are leaders running massive consumer platforms, high stakes health tech, and fast moving developer tools. The conversation was rich, honest, and filled with specific examples. This post summarizes the discussion, adds my own reflections, and offers a practical guide for early and mid career PMs who want to stay relevant in a world where AI is redefining what great product management looks like.Table of Contents* What AI Cannot Do and Why PM Judgment Still Matters* The New AI Literacy: What PMs Must Know by 2026* Why Building AI Products Speeds Up Some Cycles and Slows Down Others* Whether the PM, Eng, UX Trifecta Still Stands* The Biggest Risks AI Introduces Into Product Development* Actionable Advice for Early and Mid Career PMs* My Takeaways and What Really Matters Going Forward* Closing Thoughts and Coaching Practice1. What AI Cannot Do and Why PM Judgment Still MattersWe opened the panel with a foundational question. As AI becomes more capable every quarter, what is left for humans to do. Where do PMs still add irreplaceable value. It is the question every PM secretly wonders.Todd put it simply: “At the end of the day, you have to make some judgment calls. We are not going to turn that over anytime soon.”This theme came up again and again. AI is phenomenal at synthesizing, drafting, exploring, and narrowing. But it does not have conviction. It does not have lived experience. It does not feel user pain. It does not carry responsibility.Joe from Jaide Health captured it perfectly when he said: “AI cannot feel the pain your users have. It can help meet their goals, but it will not get you that deep understanding.”There is still no replacement for sitting with a frustrated healthcare customer who cannot get their clinical data into your system, or a creator on YouTube who feels the algorithm is punishing their art, or a devops engineer staring at an RCA output that feels 20 percent off.Every PM knows this feeling: the moment when all signals point one way, but your gut tells you the data is incomplete or misleading. This is the craft that AI does not have.Why judgment becomes even more important in an AI worldDavid, who runs product at a regulated health company, said something incredibly important: “Knowing what great looks like becomes more essential, not less. The PM's that thrive in AI are the ones with great product sense.”This is counterintuitive for many. But when the operational work becomes automated, the differentiation shifts toward taste, intuition, sequencing, and prioritization.Lauren asked the million dollar question. “How are we going to train junior PMs if AI is doing the legwork. Who teaches them how to think.”This is a profound point. If AI closes the gap between junior and senior PMs in execution tasks, the difference will emerge almost entirely in judgment. Knowing how to probe user problems. Knowing when a feature is good enough. Knowing which tradeoffs matter. Knowing which flaw is fatal and which is cosmetic.AI is incredible at writing a PRD. AI is terrible at knowing whether the PRD is any good.Which means the future PM becomes more strategic, more intuitive, more customer obsessed, and more willing to make thoughtful bets under uncertainty.2. The New AI Literacy: What PMs Must Know by 2026I asked the panel what AI literacy actually means for PMs. Not the hype. Not the buzzwords. The real work.Instead of giving gimmicky answers, the discussion converged on a clear set of skills that PMs must master.Skill 1: Understanding context engineeringDavid laid this out clearly: “Knowing what LMS are good at and what they are not good at, and knowing how to give them the right context, has become a foundational PM skill.”Most PMs think prompt engineering is about clever phrasing. In reality, the future is about context engineering. Feeding models the right data. Choosing the right constraints. Deciding what to ignore. Curating inputs that shape outputs in reliable ways.Context engineering is to AI product development what Figma was to collaborative design. If you cannot do it, you are not going to be effective.Skill 2: Evals, evals, evalsRami said something that resonated with the entire panel: “Last year was all about prompts. This year is all about evals.”He is right.• How do you build a golden dataset.• How do you evaluate accuracy.• How do you detect drift.• How do you measure hallucination rates.• How do you combine UX evals with model evals.• How do you decide what good looks like.• How do you define safe versus unsafe boundaries.AI evaluation is now a core PM responsibility. Not exclusively. But PMs must understand what engineers are testing for, what failure modes exist, and how to design test sets that reflect the real world.Lauren said her PMs write evals side by side with engineering. That is where the world is going.Skill 3: Knowing when to trust AI output and when to override itTodd noted: “It is one thing to get an answer that sounds good. It is another thing to know if it is actually good.”This is the heart of the role. AI can produce strategic recommendations that look polished, structured, and wise. But the real question is whether they are grounded in reality, aligned with your constraints, and consistent with your product vision.A PM without the ability to tell real insight from confident nonsense will be replaced by someone who can.Skill 4: Understanding the physics of model changesThis one surprised many people, but it was a recurring point.Rami noted: “When you upgrade a model, the outputs can be totally different. The evals start failing. The experience shifts.”PMs must understand:• Models get deprecated• Models drift• Model updates can break well tuned prompts• API pricing has real COGS implications• Latency varies• Context windows vary• Some tasks need agents, some need RAG, some need a small finetuned modelThis is product work now. The PM of 2026 must know these constraints as well as a PM of the cloud era understood database limits or API rate limits.Skill 5: How to construct AI powered prototypes in hours, not weeksIt now takes one afternoon to build something meaningful. Zero code required. Prompt, test, refine. Whether you use Replit, Cursor, Vercel, or sandboxed agents, the speed is shocking.But this makes taste and problem selection even more important. The future PM must be able to quickly validate whether a concept is worth building beyond the demo stage.3. Why Building AI Products Speeds Up Some Cycles and Slows Down OthersThis part of the conversation was fascinating because people expected AI to accelerate everything. The panel had a very different view.Fast: Prototyping and concept validationLauren described how her teams can build working versions of an AI powered Root Cause Analysis feature in days, test it with customers, and get directional feedback immediately.“You can think bigger because the cost of trying things is much lower,” she said.For founders, early PMs, and anyone validating hypotheses, this is liberating. You can test ten ideas in a week. That used to take a quarter.Slow: Productionizing AI featuresThe surprising part is that shipping the V1 of an AI feature is slower than most expect.Joe noted: “You can get prototypes instantly. But turning that into a real product that works reliably is still hard.”Why. Because:• You need evals.• You need monitoring.• You need guardrails.• You need safety reviews.• You need deterministic parts of the workflow.• You need to manage COGS.• You need to design fallbacks.• You need to handle unpredictable inputs.• You need to think about hallucination risk.• You need new UI surfaces for non deterministic outputs.Lauren said bluntly: “Vibe coding is fast. Moving that vibe code to production is still a four month process.”This should be printed on a poster in every AI startup office.Very Slow: Iterating on AI powered featuresAnother counterintuitive point. Many teams ship a great V1 but struggle to improve it significantly afterward.David said their nutrition AI feature launched well but: “We struggled really hard to make it better. Each iteration was easy to try but difficult to improve in a meaningful way.”Why is iteration so difficult.Because model improvements may not translate directly into UX improvements. Users need consistency. Drift creates churn. Small changes in context or prompts can cause large changes in behavior.Teams are learning a hard truth: AI powered features do not behave like typical deterministic product flows. They require new iteration muscles that most orgs do not yet have.4. The PM, Eng, UX Trifecta in the AI EraI asked whether the classic PM, Eng, UX triad is still the right model. The audience was expecting disagreement. The panel was surprisingly aligned.The trifecta is not going anywhereRami put it simply: “We still need experts in all three domains to raise the bar.”Joe added: “AI makes it possible for PMs to do more technical work. But it does not replace engineering. Same for design.”AI blurs the edges of the roles, but it does not collapse them. In fact, each role becomes more valuable because the work becomes more abstract.• PMs focus on judgment, sequencing, evaluation, and customer centric problem framing• Engineers focus on agents, systems, architecture, guardrails, latency, and reliability• Designers focus on dynamic UX, non deterministic UX patterns, and new affordances for AI outputsWhat does changeAI makes the PM-Eng relationship more intense. The backbone of AI features is a combination of model orchestration, evaluation, prompting, and context curation. PMs must be tighter than ever with engineering to design these systems.David noted that his teams focus more on individual talents. Some PMs are great at context engineering. Some designers excel at polishing AI generated layouts. Some engineers are brilliant at prompt chaining. AI reveals strengths quickly.The trifecta remains. The skill distribution within it evolves.5. The Biggest Risks AI Introduces Into Product DevelopmentWhen we asked what scares PMs most about AI, the conversation became blunt and honest. Risk 1: Loss of user trustLauren warned: “If people keep shipping low quality AI features, user trust in AI erodes. And then your good AI product suffers from the skepticism.”This is very real. Many early AI features across industries are low quality, gimmicky, or unreliable. Users quickly learn to distrust these experiences.Which means PMs must resist the pressure to ship before the feature is ready.Risk 2: Skill atrophyTodd shared a story that hit home for many PMs. “Junior folks just want to plug in the prompt and take whatever the AI gives them. That is a recipe for having no job later.”PMs who outsource their thinking to AI will lose their judgment. Judgment cannot be regained easily.This is the silent career killer.Risk 3: Safety hazards in sensitive domainsDavid was direct: “If we have one unsafe output, we have to shut the feature off. We cannot afford even small mistakes.”In healthcare, finance, education, and legal industries, the tolerance for error is near zero. AI must be monitored relentlessly. Human in the loop systems are mandatory. The cycles are slower but the stakes are higher.Risk 4: The high bar for AI compared to humansJoe said something I have thought about for years: “AI is held to a much higher standard than human decision making. Humans make mistakes constantly, but we forgive them. AI makes one mistake and it is unacceptable.”This slows adoption in certain industries and creates unrealistic expectations.Risk 5: Model deprecation and instabilityRami described a real problem AI PMs face: “Models get deprecated faster than they get replaced. The next model is not always GA. Outputs change. Prompts break.”This creates product instability that PMs must anticipate and design around.Risk 6: Differentiation becomes hardI shared this perspective because I see so many early stage startups struggle with it.If your whole product is a wrapper around an LLM, competitors will copy you in a week. The real differentiation will not come from using AI. It will come from how deeply you understand the customer, how you integrate AI with proprietary data, and how you create durable workflows.6. Actionable Advice for Early and Mid Career PMsThis was one of my favorite parts of the panel because the advice was humble, practical, and immediately useful.A. Develop deep user empathy. This will become your biggest differentiator.Lauren said it clearly: “Maintain your empathy. Understand the pain your user really has.”AI makes execution cheap. It makes insight valuable.If you can articulate user pain precisely.If you can differentiate surface friction from underlying need.If you can see around corners.If you can prototype solutions and test them in hours.If you can connect dots between what AI can do and what users need.You will thrive.Tactical steps:• Sit in on customer support calls every week.• Watch 10 user sessions for every feature you own.• Talk to customers until patterns emerge.• Ask “why” five times in every conversation.• Maintain a user pain log and update it constantly.B. Become great at context engineeringThis will matter as much as SQL mattered ten years ago.Action steps:• Practice writing prompts with structured context blocks.• Build a library of prompts that work for your product.• Study how adding, removing, or reordering context changes output.• Learn RAG patterns.• Learn when structured data beats embeddings.• Learn when smaller local models outperform big ones.C. Learn eval frameworksThis is non negotiable.You need to know:• Precision vs recall tradeoffs• How to build golden datasets• How to design scenario based evals for UX• How to test for hallucination• How to monitor drift• How to set quality thresholds• How to build dashboards that reflect real world input distributionsYou do not need to write the code.You do need to define the eval strategy.D. Strengthen your product senseYou cannot outsource product taste.Todd said it best: “Imagine asking AI to generate 20 percent growth for you. It will not tell you what great looks like.”To strengthen your product sense:• Review the best products weekly.• Take screenshots of great UX patterns.• Map user flows from apps you admire.• Break products down into primitives.• Ask yourself why a product decision works.• Predict what great would look like before you design it.The PMs who thrive will be the ones who can recognize magic when they see it.E. Stay curiousRami's closing advice was simple and perfect: “Stay curious. Keep learning. It never gets old.”AI changes monthly. The PM who is excited by new ideas will outperform the PM who clings to old patterns.Practical habits:• Read one AI research paper summary each week.• Follow evaluation and model updates from major vendors.• Build at least one small AI prototype a month.• Join AI PM communities.• Teach juniors what you learn. Nothing accelerates mastery faster.F. Embrace velocity and side projectsTodd said that some of his biggest career breakthroughs came from solving problems on the side.This is more true now than ever.If you have an idea, you can build an MVP over a weekend. If it solves a real problem, someone will notice.G. Stay close to engineeringNot because you need to code, but because AI features require tighter PM engineering collaboration.Learn enough to be dangerous:• How embeddings work• How vector stores behave• What latency tradeoffs exist• How agents chain tasks• How model versioning works• How context limits shape UX• Why some prompts blow up API costsIf you can speak this language, you will earn trust and accelerate cycles.H. Understand the business deeplyJoe's advice was timeless: “Know who pays you and how much they pay. Solve real problems and know the business model.”PMs who understand unit economics, COGS, pricing, and funnel dynamics will stand out.7. Tom's Takeaways and What Really Matters Going ForwardI ended the recording by sharing what I personally believe after moderating this discussion and working closely with a variety of AI teams over the past 2 years.Judgment becomes the most valuable PM skillAs AI gets better at analysis, synthesis, and execution, your value shifts to:• Choosing the right problem• Sequencing decisions• Making 55 45 calls• Understanding user pain• Making tradeoffs• Deciding when good is good enough• Defining success• Communicating vision• Influencing the orgAgents can write specs.LLMs can produce strategies.But only humans can choose the right one and commit.Learning speed becomes a competitive advantageI said this on the panel and I believe it more every month.Because of AI, you now have:• Infinite coaches• Infinite mentors• Infinite experts• Infinite documentation• Infinite learning loopsA PM who learns slowly will not survive the next decade. Curiosity, empathy, and velocity will separate great from goodMany panelists said versions of this. The common pattern was:• Understand users deeply• Combine multiple tools creatively• Move quickly• Learn constantlyThe future rewards generalists with taste, speed, and emotional intelligence.Differentiation requires going beyond wrapper appsThis is one of my biggest concerns for early stage founders. If your entire product is a wrapper around a model, you are vulnerable.Durable value will come from:• Proprietary data• Proprietary workflows• Deep domain insight• Organizational trust• Distribution advantage• Safety and reliability• Integration with existing systemsAI is a component, not a moat.8. Closing ThoughtsHosting this panel made me more optimistic about the future of product management. Not because AI will not change the job. It already has. But because the fundamental craft remains alive.Product management has always been about understanding people, making decisions with incomplete information, telling compelling stories, and guiding teams through ambiguity and being right often.AI accelerates the craft. It amplifies the best PMs and exposes the weak ones. It rewards curiosity, empathy, velocity, and judgment.If you want tailored support on your PM career, leadership journey, or executive path, I offer 1 on 1 career, executive, and product coaching at tomleungcoaching.com.OK team. Let's ship greatness. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit firesidepm.substack.com

Ed Elson speaks with Dylan Field, co-founder and CEO of Figma. They discuss the future of design in the age of AI, how his management style has changed over time, and what it was like to go public. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Para precio y disponibilidad, vaya a este vínculo: https://amzn.to/4on7YRV ogitech MX Creative Console te da el control total de tu flujo creativo con 9 teclas LCD personalizables y un dial giratorio preciso. Perfecto para edición de fotos, video y diseño — desde Adobe Photoshop hasta Premiere Pro, Lightroom o Figma — permite asignar atajos, abrir apps, ajustar herramientas o navegar con fluidez sin depender del teclado. Con solo un giro o un toque, automatizas tareas repetitivas y mantienes tu enfoque creativo. Compatible con Mac y PC, ideal para diseñadores, editores y creadores que buscan trabajar más rápido y eficiente.

Tomer Cohen is the longtime chief product officer at LinkedIn, where he's pioneering the Full Stack Builder program, a radical new approach to product development that fully embraces what AI makes possible. Under his leadership, LinkedIn has scrapped its traditional Associate Product Manager program and replaced it with an Associate Product Builder program that teaches coding, design, and PM skills together. He's also introduced a formal “Full Stack Builder” title and career ladder, enabling anyone from any function to take products from idea to launch. In this conversation, Tomer explains why product development has become too complex at most companies and how LinkedIn is building an AI-powered product team that can move faster, adapt more quickly, and do more with less.We discuss:1. How 70% of the skills needed for jobs will change by 20302. The broken traditional model: organizational bloat slows features to a six-month cycle3. The Full Stack Builder model4. Three pillars of making FSB work: platform, agents, and culture (culture matters most)5. Building specialized agents that critique ideas and find vulnerabilities6. Why off-the-shelf AI tools never work on enterprise code without customization7. Top performers adopt AI tools fastest, contrary to expectations about leveling effects8. Change management tactics: celebrating wins, making tools exclusive, updating performance reviews—Brought to you by:Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security: https://vanta.com/lennyFigma Make—A prompt-to-code tool for making ideas real: https://www.figma.com/lenny/Miro—The AI Innovation Workspace where teams discover, plan, and ship breakthrough products: https://miro.com/lenny—Transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/why-linkedin-is-replacing-pms—My biggest takeaways (for paid newsletter subscribers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/i/180042347/my-takeaways-from-this-conversation—Where to find Tomer Cohen:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomercohen• Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/building-one-with-tomer-cohen/id1726672498—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction to Tomer Cohen(04:42) The need for change in product development(11:52) The full-stack builder model explained(16:03) Implementing AI and automation in product development(19:17) Building and customizing AI tools(27:51) The timeline to launch(31:46) Pilot program and early results(37:04) Feedback from top talent(39:48) Change management and adoption(46:53) Encouraging people to play with AI tools(41:21) Performance reviews and full-stack builders(48:00) Challenges and specialization(50:05) Finding talent(52:46) Tips for implementing in your own company(56:43) Lightning round and final thoughts—Referenced:• How LinkedIn became interesting: The inside story | Tomer Cohen (CPO at LinkedIn): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-linkedin-became-interesting-tomer-cohen• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com• Cursor: https://cursor.com• The rise of Cursor: The $300M ARR AI tool that engineers can't stop using | Michael Truell (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-rise-of-cursor-michael-truell• Devin: https://devin.ai• Figma: https://www.figma.com• Microsoft Copilot: https://copilot.microsoft.com• Windsurf: https://windsurf.com• Building a magical AI code editor used by over 1 million developers in four months: The untold story of Windsurf | Varun Mohan (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-untold-story-of-windsurf-varun-mohan• Lovable: https://lovable.dev• Building Lovable: $10M ARR in 60 days with 15 people | Anton Osika (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-lovable-anton-osika• APB program at LinkedIn: https://careers.linkedin.com/pathways-programs/entry-level/apb• Naval Ravikant on X: https://x.com/naval• One Song podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%A8-%D7%90%D7%97%D7%93-one-song/id1201883177• Song Exploder podcast: https://songexploder.net• Grok on Tesla: https://www.tesla.com/support/grok• Reid Hoffman on X: https://x.com/reidhoffman—Recommended books:• Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty: https://www.amazon.com/Why-Nations-Fail-Origins-Prosperity/dp/0307719227• Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity: https://www.amazon.com/Outlive-Longevity-Peter-Attia-MD/dp/0593236599• The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World: https://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Infinity-Explanations-Transform-World/dp/0143121359—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

It's time to Caps Lock in and Esc into another episode, as Tim Van Damme joins us to talk about his passion for designing mechanical keyboards. He describes how a pre-made keyboard that he customized by designing his own keycaps, ignited a passion for treating keyboards as both functional tools and artistic statements. Tim collaborates with a local CNC machine specialist to prototype and manufacture keyboards from raw materials like brass, copper, and semi-translucent plastics that age over time, prioritizing the honesty of the material over painted finishes. He finds freedom in the hobby's spectrum from boring, ergonomic designs to extravagant art pieces, and talks about how long it takes him to feel comfortable enough to overcome the small imperfections and use his own projects.Guest BioTim Van Damme (he/him) (you might also know him as Max) has been a software UI designer for over 2 decades at a wide variety of tech companies including Instagram, Dropbox, and currently Figma. Lately, he's been getting more and more interested in designing physical objects, specifically luxury mechanical keyboards and key caps under the moniker MVKB (Maxvoltar Keyboards). He lives in Belgium together with his wife, 3 kids, 4 chickens and dog.LinksTim's website: https://www.timvandamme.com/MaxVoltar Keyboards: https://mvkb.com/CreditsCover design by Raquel Breternitz.

My guest today is David George. David is a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where he leads the firm's growth investing business. His team has backed many of the defining companies of this era – including Databricks, Figma, Stripe, SpaceX, Anduril, and OpenAI – and is now investing behind a new generation of AI startups like Cursor, Harvey, and Abridge. This conversation is a detailed look at how David built and runs the a16z growth practice. He shares how he recruits and builds his team a “Yankees-level” culture, how his team makes investment decisions without traditional committees, and how they work with founders years before investing to win the most competitive deals. Much of our conversation centers on AI and how his team is investing across the stack, from foundational models to applications. David draws parallels to past platform shifts – from SaaS to mobile – and explains why he believes this period will produce some of the largest companies ever built. David also outlines the models that guide his approach – why markets often misprice consistent growth, what makes “pull” businesses so powerful, and why most great tech markets end up winner-take-all. David reflects on what he's learned from studying exceptional founders and why he's drawn to a particular type, the “technical terminator.” Please enjoy my conversation with David George. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ----- This episode is brought to you by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Ramp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Ramp's mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. ----- This episode is brought to you by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Ridgeline⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ridgelineapps.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to learn more about the platform. ----- This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠AlphaSense⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Alpha-Sense.com/Invest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like The Best (00:04:00) Meet David George (00:03:04) Understanding the Impact of AI on Consumers and Enterprises (00:05:56) Monetizing AI: What is AI's Business Model (00:11:04) Investing in Robotics and American Dynamism (00:13:31) Lessons from Investing in Waymo (00:15:55) Investment Philosophy and Strategy (00:17:15) Investing in Technical Terminators (00:20:18) Market Leaders Capture All of the Value Creation (00:24:56) The Maturation of VC and Competitive Landscape (00:28:18) What a16z Does to Win Deals (00:33:06) David's Daily Routine: Meetings Structure and Blocking Time to Think (00:36:34) Why David Invests: Curiosity and Competition (00:40:12) The Unique Culture at Andreessen Horowitz (00:42:46) The Perfect Conditions for Growth Investing (00:47:04) Push v. Pull Businesses (00:49:19) The Three Metrics a16z Uses to Evaluate AI Companies (00:52:15) Unique Products and Unique Distribution (00:54:55) Tradeoffs of the a16z Firm Structure (00:59:04) a16z's Semi-Algorithmic Approach to Selling (01:00:54) Three Ways Startups can Beat Incumbents in AI (01:03:44) The Kindest Thing

Welcome to episode 333 of The Cloud Pod, where the forecast is always cloudy! Justin, Ryan, and Matt are taking a quick break from re:Invent festivities. They bring you the latest and greatest in Cloud and AI news. This week, we discuss Norad and Anthropic teaming up to bring you Christmas cheer. Wait, is that right? Huh. We also have undersea cables, some Turkish region delight, and a LOT of Opus 4.5 news. Let's get into it! Titles we almost went with this week Boring Error Pages Not Found Claude Goes Native in Snowflake: Finally, AI That Stays Where Your Data Lives Cross-Cloud Romance: AWS and Google Make It Official with Interconnect Google Gemini Puts OpenAI in Code Red: The Tables Have Turned Azure NAT Gateway V2: Now With More Zones Than a Parking Lot From ChatGPT to Chat-Uh-Oh: OpenAI Sounds the Alarm as Gemini Steals 200 Million Users Scheduled Actions: Because Your VMs Need a Work-Life Balance Too Finally, Your 500 Errors Can Look as Good as Your Homepage Foundry Model Router: Because Choosing Between 47 AI Models is Nobody’s Idea of Fun Google Takes the Scenic Route: New Cable Avoids the Sunda Strait Traffic Jam Azure Application Gateway Gets Its TCP/IP Diploma Google Cloud Gets Its Türkiye Dinner: 2 Billion Dollar Cloud Feast Coming Soon Microsoft Foundry: Turning AI Chaos into Compliance Gold AI Is Going Great, or How ML Makes Money  02:59 Nano Banana Pro available for enterprise Google launches Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image) in general availability on Vertex AI and Google Workspace, with Gemini Enterprise support coming soon. The model supports up to 14 reference images for style consistency and generates 4K resolution outputs with multilingual text rendering capabilities. The model includes Google Search grounding for factual accuracy in generated infographics and diagrams, plus built-in SynthID watermarking for transparency. Copyright indemnification will be available at general availability under Google’s shared responsibility framework. Enterprise integrations are live with Adobe Firefly, Photoshop, Canva, and Figma, enabling production-grade creative workflows. Major retailers, including Klarna, Shopify, and Wayfair, report using the model for product visualization and marketing asset generation at scale. Developers can access Nano Banana Pro through Vertex AI with Provis

Chris and Daniel unpack how AI-driven document processing has rapidly evolved well beyond traditional OCR with many technical advances that fly under the radar. They explore the progression from document structure models to language-vision models, all the way to the newest innovations like Deepseek-OCR. The discussion highlights the pros and cons of these various approaches focusing on practical implementation and usage.Featuring:Chris Benson – Website, LinkedIn, Bluesky, GitHub, XDaniel Whitenack – Website, GitHub, XSponsors:Shopify – The commerce platform trusted by millions. From idea to checkout, Shopify gives you everything you need to launch and scale your business—no matter your level of experience. Build beautiful storefronts, market with built-in AI tools, and tap into the platform powering 10% of all U.S. eCommerce. Start your one-dollar trial at shopify.com/practicalaiFabi.ai - The all-in-one data analysis platform for modern teams. From ad hoc queries to advanced analytics, Fabi lets you explore data wherever it lives—spreadsheets, Postgres, Snowflake, Airtable and more. Built-in Python and AI assistance help you move fast, then publish interactive dashboards or automate insights delivered straight to Slack, email, spreadsheets or wherever you need to share it. Learn more and get started for free at fabi.aiFramer – Design and publish without limits with Framer, the free all-in-one design platform. Unlimited projects, no tool switching, and professional sites—no Figma imports or HTML hassles required. Start creating for free at framer.com/design with code `PRACTICALAI` for a free month of Framer Pro.Upcoming Events: Register for upcoming webinars here!

Show DescriptionWhy do we turkey when there's so many (better) options for meals, how many hobbies do we really need and why can't we do all of them, Clues by Sam difficulties and doing the puzzle game circuit, does Dave like D&D or does Dave like systems, the ongoing web monetization attempts, and Brecht on range group. Listen on WebsiteLinks Alton Brown Cooks Food | Episode 1: The Big Bird Big Green Egg Tobi Workwear Clues By Sam Stars – Daily Puzzle | Inkwell Games Fields – Daily Puzzle | Inkwell Games Tiled Words 646: Hard Code & Soft Skills – ShopTalk Lasers & Feelings by John Harper Greetings, Scoundrel | Blades in the Dark RPG Monster of the Week – Evil Hat Mothership RPG – Tuesday Knight Games Pathfinder Roleplaying Game | Paizo Baldur's Gate 3 on Steam 633: Thomas Steiner on AI in Chrome and the Web – ShopTalk Web Monetization is Still Inching Along – Frontend Masters Blog Open Letter Interledger Foundation Web Monetization – Chrome Web Store GateHub Grid Paper utilitybend Blog SponsorstldrawHave you ever wanted to build an app that works kinda like Miro or Figma, that has a zoomable infinite canvas, that's multiplayer, and really good, but you also want to build it in React with normal React components on the canvas? Good news! tldraw is the world's first, best, and only SDK for building infinite canvas apps in React. tldraw takes care of all the canvas complexities — things like the camera, selection logic, and undo redo — so that you can focus on building the features that matter to your users. It's easy to use with plenty of examples and starter kits, including a kit where you can use AI to create things on the canvas. Get started for free at tldraw.dev/shoptalk, or run npm create tldraw to spin up a starter kit.

Listen now: Spotify, Apple and YouTubeIn the first-ever live recording of Supra Insider, Marc and Ben sat down with Jacob Bank, founder of Relay.app, to unpack one of the most urgent questions facing product leaders today: How do AI agents actually change the way we work? Instead of abstract predictions, Jacob shares the very real workflows, failures, and breakthroughs behind running a 10-person company that delegates work to more than 300 AI agents.Across the conversation, the three dig into what PMs must learn next: writing job descriptions for agents, architecting responsibilities, managing automated execution, and understanding how agents influence velocity, product quality, and cross-functional collaboration. Jacob also discusses why PMs are lagging behind engineering and ops in adopting agentic workflows, and what will happen to teams who don't catch up.If you're a PM, founder, or operator trying to understand how AI is reshaping product development, or you've struggled to translate “agent hype” into concrete, repeatable workflows, this episode gives you a realistic, practitioner-level framework for building with agents today, and preparing for what's coming next.All episodes of the podcast are also available on Spotify, Apple and YouTube.New to the pod? Subscribe below to get the next episode in your inbox

I get shown a lot of tool demos and one thing is clear…Canvas-based UX will play a pivotal role in how we interface with AI.It's a big reason why Figma just bought Weavy

Recorded 8/13/25Vincent co-founder Slava Rubin and Sacra's Jan-Erik Asplund discuss the design startup Figma's recent IPO, its competitive landscape, financial metrics, and the impact of AI on the design software market. They explore Figma's core products, growth potential, and the risks associated with its valuation. The conversation also touches on the broader implications of AI in the design space and the future projections for Figma as a public company.

Points of Interest0:01 – 01:27 – Introduction: Marcel welcomes returning guest Vito Peleg, CEO of Atarim, and frames the conversation around how agencies can streamline creative collaboration and leverage AI to improve delivery efficiency and profitability.01:28 – 03:27 – From Touring Musician to Collaboration Software Founder: Vito shares his backstory as a touring musician building websites from a van, then running a web agency, and how constant friction getting clients to give timely, clear feedback led to the first version of Atarim as a WordPress plugin.03:27 – 06:46 – The True Cost of Collaboration on Delivery Timelines: Marcel highlights how reducing delivery time by 50–70% transforms profit and cash flow, and Vito reframes the issue by showing that collaboration with clients and stakeholders routinely increases project timelines by 500–700%.06:46 – 10:06 – Why Text-Based Feedback Breaks Creative Work: Vito explains that human feedback is naturally three to five words and visual, but agencies force clients into long, text-heavy descriptions via email, docs, and tickets, creating procrastination, dead time, and constant misalignment.08:39 – 10:06 – Vague Feedback and Week-Long Clarification Cycles: Citing Atarim's data, Vito notes that 68% of creative comments written in text are too vague to action on first pass, leading to clarification cycles that typically add a full week to even simple tasks like updating a slide.10:12 – 15:07 – Building Momentum and “Two Days and a Weekend”: In response to Marcel's question about where agencies lose the most efficiency, Vito argues the biggest gap is at project start and introduces the “two days and a weekend” framing plus fast, simple deliverables (like a sitemap) to create momentum and urgency.15:15 – 17:28 – Getting Imperfect Work in Front of Clients Early: Marcel and Vito discuss reframing early deliverables explicitly as rough first passes so clients expect to react rather than receive perfection, reducing sunk-cost risk and speeding up alignment on direction.17:28 – 24:49 – How AI Is Compressing Build Time and Changing UI: Vito describes the evolution from hand-coded sites to drag-and-drop builders and now prompt-driven interfaces, arguing that AI will shrink creation time so dramatically that collaboration will become an even larger relative drag on projects.22:29 – 25:56 – The Future of Figma, Builders, and Dynamic Interfaces: Vito predicts that the traditional Figma-to-dev pipeline will erode as tools let teams go from prompt to production UI, while Marcel adds a Google perspective on a future where AI dynamically renders interfaces tailored to each user.30:37 – 37:42 – Agencies as Orchestrators of AI Agents, Not Just Humans: Vito outlines a future where agency owners orchestrate a team of AI agents instead of being the “talent,” potentially pricing work by tokens instead of dev hours, and using agents to automate follow-ups, support, and clarification cycles like Atarim's Claro.39:14 – 45:19 – Atarim's Agentic Creative Team Vision and Next Steps: Vito explains how Atarim is building a multi-human, multi-agent collaboration environment where specialized AI teammates (design, accessibility, performance, PM) work together in threads, and invites listeners to explore the early-access experience at Atarim.io.Show NotesConnect with Vito via LinkedInWebsite: Atarim.ioLove the PodcastLeave us a review here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Show DescriptionDave has famous people blindness, a cologne life hack is dropped, what is the killer feature of web components, MCPs are so done—focus on skills instead, should custom events exist, and thoughts about streaming HMTL. Listen on WebsiteWatch on YouTubeLinks Good Hang With Amy Poehler - The Ringer Sebastian Maniscalco Has a Little More Pepper in His Hair These Days - The Ringer Guitar Center Austin Music Store normansrareguitars.com – Norman's Rare Guitars The killer feature of Web Components - daverupert.com figma/code-connect: A tool for connecting your design system components in code with your design system in Figma Chrome DevTools (MCP) for your AI agent | Blog | Chrome for Developers Stop Using CustomEvent SponsorstldrawHave you ever wanted to build an app that works kinda like Miro or Figma, that has a zoomable infinite canvas, that's multiplayer, and really good, but you also want to build it in React with normal React components on the canvas? Good news! tldraw is the world's first, best, and only SDK for building infinite canvas apps in React. tldraw takes care of all the canvas complexities — things like the camera, selection logic, and undo redo — so that you can focus on building the features that matter to your users. It's easy to use with plenty of examples and starter kits, including a kit where you can use AI to create things on the canvas. Get started for free at tldraw.dev/shoptalk, or run npm create tldraw to spin up a starter kit.

Listen now: Spotify, Apple and YouTubeIf you've ever wondered whether you could teach a course, how to validate demand for your expertise, or how AI is reshaping learning and personal brand building, this episode is for you.In this conversation, Marc and Ben sit down with Claire Chen, leading Growth at Maven and the person who originally recruited Ben to teach on the platform. Together, they unpack the real mechanics behind becoming a successful instructor - how to choose a topic, validate demand, build credibility, and grow a sustainable “portfolio career” alongside a full-time job. Claire shares the signals she looks for when sourcing new instructors, the biggest misconceptions operators have about teaching, and why course-based learning is booming right now.Whether you're thinking about launching your first lightning lesson, building a personal brand, diversifying your income, or simply want an inside look at how Maven finds and supports world-class instructors, you'll walk away with actionable frameworks, candid insights, and plenty of clarity on what it really takes to teach in the AI era.All episodes of the podcast are also available on Spotify, Apple and YouTube.New to the pod? Subscribe below to get the next episode in your inbox

Fireflies CEO, Krish Ramineni shares how the company is transforming AI-powered note-taking into a deeper layer of knowledge automation. He breaks down the technology behind real-time functionality like Live Assist, the user behavior patterns driving product evolution, and how Fireflies is innovating far beyond meetings. Krish also shares insights on future trends in AI and the potential for hardware integration, emphasizing the ongoing evolution of AI in knowledge work.Featuring:Krish Ramineni – LinkedInChris Benson – Website, LinkedIn, Bluesky, GitHub, XDaniel Whitenack – Website, GitHub, XLinks:Fireflies AISponsors:Miro – Get the right things done faster with Miro's Innovation Workspace. AI Sidekicks, instant insights, and rapid prototyping—transform weeks of work into days. No more scattered docs or endless meetings. Help your teams get great done at [Miro](https://miro.com).Framer – Design and publish without limits with Framer, the free all-in-one design platform. Unlimited projects, no tool switching, and professional sites—no Figma imports or HTML hassles required. Start creating for free at [framer.com/design](https://www.framer.com/design/) with code `PRACTICALAI` for a free month of Framer Pro.Upcoming Events: Register for upcoming webinars here!

What happens when design meets the AI revolution? In the latest episode of Boz to the Future, Meta CTO Andrew "Boz" Bosworth sits down with Figma Co-Founder and CEO Dylan Field, the visionary who started Figma at just 19 years old and transformed how millions of product builders create today.Boz and Dylan dive deep into the intersection of technology and creativity, from the early days when designers were scarce to today's collaborative, cloud-based workflows. They talk about the imminent paradigm shift in interfaces and what comes after text prompting. They discuss what stays evergreen despite rapid technological change, and why the pursuit of craft remains fundamentally human.Plus, don't miss the speed round where Dylan weighs in on everything from dark mode to the eternal question: which Thanksgiving side reigns supreme?Whether you're a designer, builder, or just curious about the future of human creativity in an AI-powered world, this conversation will challenge how you think about the tools we use to bring ideas to life.Leave Boz feedback on Instagram, X, and Threads @boztank.

Show DescriptionWhat do Balatro streamers do when the game is over, Random in CSS is so hot right now, Dave has a better idea for charts and graphs that would change the world, Quiet UI follow up, Dave tries vibe coding a tennis app and doesn't completely John McEnroe his laptop, Chris wonders about better cursor UI on the web, and debating affordances vs conventions. Listen on WebsiteWatch on YouTubeLinks Jynxzi - Twitch BALL x PIT on Steam Could Open Graph Just Be a CSS Media Type? | Scott Jehl, Web Designer/Developer https://webawesome.com Podcast Awesome Quiet UI A Beautiful Site Eleventy is a simpler static site generator Don't use custom CSS mouse cursors – Eric Bailey Home | Rach Smith's digital garden The Two Button Problem – Frontend Masters Blog SponsorstldrawHave you ever wanted to build an app that works kinda like Miro or Figma, that has a zoomable infinite canvas, that's multiplayer, and really good, but you also want to build it in React with normal React components on the canvas? Good news! tldraw is the world's first, best, and only SDK for building infinite canvas apps in React. tldraw takes care of all the canvas complexities — things like the camera, selection logic, and undo redo — so that you can focus on building the features that matter to your users. It's easy to use with plenty of examples and starter kits, including a kit where you can use AI to create things on the canvas. Get started for free at tldraw.dev/shoptalk, or run npm create tldraw to spin up a starter kit.

130 IPOs from over 400 startups. IVP is now in its 18th fund, with companies like Perplexity, Glean, Slack, Figma, Twitter, Uber, and Abridge in its portfolio. Somesh Dash, general partner at the 45-year-old firm, has been part of IVP for more than 20 years.We start with something we are both passionate about, building in the US-India corridor. Somesh talks about the group of people who put the silicon in Silicon Valley, the immigrants. From Andy Grove to Elon Musk to Chennai-born Aravind Srinivas.He recalls the first time he met Aravind at a WeWork, when Perplexity had just 20 employees and a beta product or how Dylan (Founder of Figma) had the vision nobody else had on the future of design, way before ai. The early signals Somesh saw in these founders, long before any signs of massive success were visible. He also talks about the companies they missed, giants like DoorDash, OpenAI, and Anthropic.Though this seasoned investor truly believes in AI, he says the sector is due for a correction. The bubble will burst. Most Gen 1.0 AI companies are unlikely to reach billion-dollar valuations or go public. But as always in tech, the lessons from this first wave will shape Gen 2.0 companies. And the teams that understand and adapt from this early wave will build the next generation of successful AI companies. Also, when the bubble bursts, that's the time to invest. Why?Somesh Dash shares in this episode.0:00 – Trailer1:12 – Immigrants who built Silicon Valley4:27 – India's incredible contribution to the Valley5:30 – How the India–US friction will actually help6:29 – What's at stake for both countries10:42 – Where India stands in AI11:45 – First meeting with Aravind Srinivas13:47 – Why IVP invested in Perplexity two years ago17:11 – In AI, don't take product–market fit for granted18:43 – Courage to fail & double down on early wins19:36 – Why multiple investors on a cap table isn't bad22:14 – How IVP invested in Figma24:28 – IPO is a milestone, not the end25:56 – Why US public markets are not overvalued27:50 – How a VC defines startup success31:08 – The best thing about failed startups32:12 – Why IVP missed DoorDash34:54 – How IVP decides to invest or pass38:27 – The doctor who builds tech45:05 – Future of Content is honesty and vulnerability47:11 – Meeting OpenAI & Anthropic in the early days48:52 – AI “startups” with capex the size of nations49:53 – The power law in venture capital50:45 – Why we're close to an AI correction54:11 – Gen 2.0 startups are built on Gen 1.0 foundations56:45 – Will the AI bubble burst?1:01:32 – Do high valuations during peaks still make sense?1:05:04 – What keeps IVP strong for five decades1:08:11 – The Co's making IVP more bullish on India–US corridor-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------Send us a text

Listen now: Spotify, Apple and YouTubeIf you're a product leader trying to navigate the shift from single-product focus to a broader portfolio—or wondering how AI is reshaping execution, team design, and strategic planning—this episode is for you.In this episode of Supra Insider, Marc and Ben sit down with Brian Balfour, CEO of Reforge, to explore how product orgs can expand into multi-product portfolios without losing focus, momentum, or clarity. Brian shares how his team shipped five new products in under a year, what most companies miss when trying to adopt AI, and how to avoid common traps like “Frankenstein workflows” and slow-to-die experiments.From deciding when to build vs. buy, to managing zero-to-one teams in parallel, to evaluating strategic threats in the AI era—this conversation is packed with practical frameworks and hard-earned lessons. You'll hear Brian's candid takes on M&A, cross-functional execution, PM bottlenecks, and the future of product development when language, code, and design start to collapse into one.Whether you're expanding your roadmap, building AI-native products, or simply trying to execute faster with fewer resources, this one's worth a listen.All episodes of the podcast are also available on Spotify, Apple and YouTube.New to the pod? Subscribe below to get the next episode in your inbox

In der heutigen Folge sprechen die Finanzjournalisten Nando Sommerfeldt und Holger Zschäpitz über gute Chancen auf steigende Aktienkurse, Tristesse beim Bitcoin und drei Deutschland-Reformen, die jetzt auf den Weg gebracht wurden.  Außerdem geht es um: CoreWeave, Microsoft, Oracle, ServiceNow, Meta, Alphabet, Berkshire Hathaway, Uniper, Eon, RWE, Siemens Energy, Lufthansa, Fraport, BMW, Stellantis, Amazon, Intel, Block, Lift, Robinhood, Pinterest, Arista Networks, Roblox, Duolingo, Nu Holdings, Broadcom, Confluent, Micron Technology, Kenvue, Walmart, Keurig Dr Pepper, Freeport McMoran, Las Vegas Sands, BP, Bank of America, Nuccor, D.R. Horten, Chubb, Dominos Pizza, Meta, Nvidia, Figure Technology Solution, Disney, Sunrun, CMS Energy, Merus, Indivior, iShares MSCI EM ETF (WKN: A0RPWJ), Stubhub, CRH, Vistra, Klarna, Bullish, Figma, AMD, Fiserv, American Airline, Trust Financial, XBP Global Holdings, iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (WKN: A3ERHE). Wir freuen uns über Feedback an aaa@welt.de. Noch mehr „Alles auf Aktien“ findet Ihr bei WELTplus und Apple Podcasts – inklusive aller Artikel der Hosts und AAA-Newsletter.[ Hier bei WELT.](https://www.welt.de/podcasts/alles-auf-aktien/plus247399208/Boersen-Podcast-AAA-Bonus-Folgen-Jede-Woche-noch-mehr-Antworten-auf-Eure-Boersen-Fragen.html.) [Hier] (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6zxjyJpTMunyYCY6F7vHK1?si=8f6cTnkEQnmSrlMU8Vo6uQ) findest Du die Samstagsfolgen Klassiker-Playlist auf Spotify! Disclaimer: Die im Podcast besprochenen Aktien und Fonds stellen keine spezifischen Kauf- oder Anlage-Empfehlungen dar. Die Moderatoren und der Verlag haften nicht für etwaige Verluste, die aufgrund der Umsetzung der Gedanken oder Ideen entstehen. Hörtipps: Für alle, die noch mehr wissen wollen: Holger Zschäpitz können Sie jede Woche im Finanz- und Wirtschaftspodcast „Deffner&Zschäpitz“ hören. +++ Werbung +++ Du möchtest mehr über unsere Werbepartner erfahren? [**Hier findest du alle Infos & Rabatte!**](https://linktr.ee/alles_auf_aktien) Impressum: https://www.welt.de/services/article7893735/Impressum.html Datenschutz: https://www.welt.de/services/article157550705/Datenschutzerklaerung-WELT-DIGITAL.html

Melanie Perkins is CEO and co-founder of Canva, currently valued at over $42 billion, generating over $3 billion in annual revenue, with more than 240 million monthly active users and, incredibly, eight consecutive years of profitability. But the journey was far from smooth. Melanie was rejected by over 100 investors during her first fundraising round, her team spent two years without being able to ship a new feature during a technical rewrite, and the company pivoted early from a yearbook publishing platform to become the design powerhouse it is today. Through it all, she maintained what she calls “column B” thinking: building toward a dream future rather than just using the bricks around you.We discuss:1. How “column B” thinking helped Melanie build Canva, by starting with an impossible vision rather than existing constraints2. The power of setting “crazy big goals”3. How Canva survived a painful two-year period without shipping any new features while rewriting their codebase4. How Melanie pushed through 100 investor rejections, and how she used each rejection to strengthen her pitch5. Canva's “two-step plan”: build one of the world's most valuable companies, then do the most good possible6. Melanie's vision for 2050 and why she believes imagination is the first step toward a better world—Brought to you by:Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security. https://vanta.com/lennyStripe—Helping companies of all sizes grow revenue: https://stripe.com/Justworks—The all-in-one HR solution for managing your small business with confidence: https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/trackclk/N9515.5688857LENNYSPODCAST/B33689522.424104489;dc_trk_aid=616485033;dc_trk_cid=237010502;dc_lat=;dc_rdid=;tag_for_child_directed_treatment=;tfua=;gdpr=$—Transcript: ⁠https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-making-of-canva⁠⁠—My biggest takeaways (for paid newsletter subscribers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/i/176082995/my-biggest-takeaways-from-this-conversation—Where to find Melanie Perkins:• X: https://x.com/melaniecanva• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanieperkins/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction to Melanie Perkins and Canva(04:44) Building a “column B” company(06:36) Operationalizing big visions(13:13) Crazy big goals and celebrations(22:00) Challenges and setbacks in Canva's journey(26:30) Fundraising and investor rejections(29:36) Leadership and growth lessons(34:38) Canva's goal-driven structure(35:46) Balancing work and personal life(38:02) Community-driven product development(40:37) The two-step plan for global impact(45:04) Canva's biggest launch yet(48:10) How Canva approaches product expansion(52:37) AI integration in Canva(53:56) AI corner(55:22) Melanie's vision for 2050 and beyond(01:00:07) Lightning round and final thoughts—Referenced:• Canva: https://www.canva.com/• Brian Chesky's new playbook: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach• Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-high-performing-teams-melissa• UserTesting: https://www.usertesting.com/• Figma: https://www.figma.com/• Adobe: https://www.adobe.com/• Calm: https://www.calm.com/• Gandhi's quote about happiness: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/mahatma_gandhi_105593• Help us improve Canva: https://www.canva.com/help/get-in-touch/general-feedback/—Recommended books:• Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration: https://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Inc-Expanded-Overcoming-Inspiration/dp/0593594649/• The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses: https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898/• The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact: https://www.amazon.com/Power-Moments-Certain-Experiences-Extraordinary/dp/1501147765• Designing the Obvious: A Common Sense Approach to Web and Mobile Application Design: https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Obvious-Common-Approach-Application/dp/0321749855—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

Today's show:*Amazon's dropping a LOT of employees for AI and robots… are Jason's darkest predictions coming true?Legendary investor Elad Gil joins Jason and Alex for the full show today! Together, they're digging into the Amazon news, looking back at Jason's predictions from just last month, and theorizing about just how many people will lose their jobs to computers, and what we're going to do about it. (Is it possible the US hasn't been massively hit by job displacement so far because those gigs already moved overseas?)PLUS… Anthropic's Dario Amodei responds to criticisms from JCal's bestie David Sacks, Sesame emerges from stealth to work on AI wearables, and where will people in the future interact with their favorite apps? A headset? Phones? Somewhere else? The great debate continues.Timestamps:(00:04:04) Our guest is iconic angel investor Elad Gil! What's he working on…(00:04:54) Alexandria AI translates public domain books into all commonly spoken languages… Do people actually prefer AI translations?(00:09:16) Why compute tends to centralize over time… (It's because of economies of scale!)(00:09:29) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST(00:12:49) So are we building TOO MANY datacenters? Will AI apps eventually run on your phone anyway?(00:16:39) Jason says “The Age of Efficiency is upon us.”(00:19:24) When companies trade inference for market share(00:19:27) Sentry - New users get 3 months free of the Business plan (covers 150k errors). Go to http://sentry.io/twist and use code TWIST(00:21:57) Why one of the main challenges of adopting AI is buy-in and convincing teams to use it.(00:25:47) Elad's robotics questions: (1) What % of winners will be incumbents?(00:27:50) Jason called the Amazon news last month and we have the receipts!(00:29:36) Pilot - Visit https://www.pilot.com/twist and get $1,200 off your first yea(00:45:33) Jason says Adobe and Figma should abandon the UK entirely.(00:45:55) Time for a Polymarket: The sharps say 80% chance Tesla beats their quarterly earnings(00:51:02) What is Sesame? They just emerged from stealth, they raised $250M, and they're working on AI wearables.(00:53:21) Jason has concerns about AI wearables that are always recording… Does Elad share these concerns?(01:03:17) The crypto industry is now one of the largest purchasers of US government debt… what does that mean? Who owns who?(01:08:53) Anthropic responded to JCal's Bestie David Sacks… Is Dario Amodei a doomer? Fearmongering?(01:19:12) Why Jason thinks AI companies need to self-regulateSubscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.comCheck out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.comSubscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcpFollow Lon:X: https://x.com/lonsFollow Alex:X: https://x.com/alexLinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelmFollow Jason:X: https://twitter.com/JasonLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanisThank you to our partners:Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://www.Squarespace.com/TWISTSentry - New users get 3 months free of the Business plan (covers 150k errors). Go to http://sentry.io/twist and use code TWISTPilot - Visit https://www.pilot.com/twist and get $1,200 off your first yeaGreat TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarlandCheck out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanisFollow TWiST:Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartupsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekinInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartupsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartupsSubstack: https://twistartups.substack.comSubscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@founderuniversity1916

Dylan Field is co-founder and CEO of Figma, a beloved tool used by every modern product team. Founded in 2012, Figma has expanded from a single design tool to a comprehensive platform including FigJam, Slides, Dev Mode, and, most recently, Figma Make. After a $20 billion acquisition by Adobe fell through due to regulatory pushback, Dylan led the company to a successful IPO in 2025.What you'll learn:• How Dylan kept internal morale up after the Adobe acquisition fell through• His approach to maintaining pace and a sense of urgency 13 years in• How to systematically develop taste• How Figma decides which product lines to add• Why Dylan obsesses over “time to value”• How AI is making design more valuable—Brought to you by:Stripe—Helping companies of all sizes grow revenue—Transcript: ⁠https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/why-ai-makes-design-craft-and-quality-the-new-moat⁠—My biggest takeaways (for paid newsletter subscribers): ⁠https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/i/175569466/my-biggest-takeaways-from-this-conversation⁠—Where to find Dylan Field:• X: https://x.com/zoink• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylanfield/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction to Dylan Field(03:58) The Adobe deal fallout(05:50) Maintaining team morale post-deal(09:13) Strategies for sustaining high performance(13:37) Maintaining Figma's unique company culture(16:22) Dylan's leadership evolution(21:03) How to improve clarity as a leader(24:40) The controversy behind FigJam(31:06) Lessons from expanding Figma's core product line(39:32) Time-to-value(45:14) Introduction to Figma Make(48:26) AI app prototyping and the future of Figma Make(53:38) Lessons from Figma's AI product launch(57:47) The importance of craft(59:54) Developing good taste(01:05:35) The future of product development(01:10:32) Why AI won't steal your job(01:14:37) AI corner(01:18:32) Lightning round and final thoughts—Referenced:• Dylan Field live at Config: Intuition, simplicity, and the future of design: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/dylan-field-live-at-config• Figma: https://www.figma.com/• Adobe: https://www.adobe.com/• Vision, conviction, and hype: How to build 0 to 1 inside a company | Mihika Kapoor (Product at Figma): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/vision-conviction-hype-mihika-kapoor• Notion's lost years, its near collapse during Covid, staying small to move fast, the joy and suffering of building horizontal, more | Ivan Zhao (CEO and co-founder): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-notion-ivan-zhao• $46B of hard truths from Ben Horowitz: Why founders fail and why you need to run toward fear (a16z co-founder): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/46b-of-hard-truths-from-ben-horowitz• FigJam: https://www.figma.com/figjam/• Cursor chat: https://help.figma.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403130802199-Use-cursor-chat-in-Figma-Design• Figma Slides: https://www.figma.com/slides/• Figma Sites: https://www.figma.com/sites/• Figma Buzz: https://www.figma.com/buzz/• Figma Draw: https://www.figma.com/draw/• Figma Design: https://www.figma.com/design/• Dev Mode: https://www.figma.com/dev-mode/• Figma Make: https://www.figma.com/make/• Zach Lloyd on X: https://x.com/zachlloydtweets• Warp: https://www.warp.dev/• Dylan's post on X about Figma on an AI product leaderboard: https://x.com/zoink/status/1968588014935801884• Kurt Cobain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Cobain• Damien Correll on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/damiencorrell/• Marcin Wichary on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwichary/• Loredana Crisan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loredanacrisan/• Amber Bravo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amberbravo/• Figma's 2025 AI report: Perspectives from designers and developers: https://www.figma.com/blog/figma-2025-ai-report-perspectives/• Jevons paradox: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox#Energy_conservation_policy• AI prompt engineering in 2025: What works and what doesn't | Sander Schulhoff (Learn Prompting, HackAPrompt): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/ai-prompt-engineering-in-2025-sander-schulhoff• Pantheon: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11680642/• Retro: https://retro.app/• Thiel Fellowship: https://thielfellowship.org/—Recommended books:• Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art: https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Comics-Invisible-Scott-McCloud/dp/006097625X• The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War: https://www.amazon.com/Spy-Traitor-Greatest-Espionage-Story/dp/1101904216• Codex Seraphinianus: https://www.amazon.com/Codex-Seraphinianus-Anniversary-Luigi-Serafini/dp/0847871045Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.My biggest takeaways from this conversation: To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com