Podcasts about Notion

In this solo episode, Axel gets highly tactical on the one thing every real estate investor should be doing right now to get the most out of AI — regardless of which tools they use, how big their portfolio is, or how tech-savvy they are. The answer isn't a new app or a prompt hack. It's building context: the foundational informational backend of your business that allows AI tools like Claude to actually understand your company, your portfolio, and your goals well enough to do meaningful work on your behalf.Axel opens up his own Notion workspace and walks through exactly what Aligned Real Estate Partners has built — from company information and brand voice to portfolio dashboards, transaction coordination, and vendor contacts. He also shares specific real-world use cases: auto-completing loan applications, running weekly email analyses to identify new automation opportunities, and having Claude keep the Notion database updated on its own.This episode is essential listening for any investor or operator who wants to build a real estate business that scales with AI — not one that uses AI as a party trick.Join us as we dive into:Why Axel recommends Notion as the informational backbone of your real estate business — and why it integrates cleanly with Claude, Google Drive, Gmail, and other tools.The new employee analogy: why giving AI context is exactly like training a new hire, and why most people skip this step entirely.A walkthrough of Aligned's Notion workspace: company information, brand voice, mission and values, organizational chart, glossary, lessons learned, software tools, and business history.Why uploading monthly property management statements to Notion creates a living dashboard that Claude can analyze and reference at any time.How Claude is integrated with Axel's Gmail, calendar, Notion, and Beehiiv — and what becomes possible once those connections are live.The 21-day email analysis scheduled task: how Axel uses Claude Cowork to identify workflows that can be automated or removed from his plate entirely.The rent comp use case: how Claude now automatically runs a rent comp search and drafts a renewal offer whenever a lease renewal email appears in the inbox.The weekly vendor discovery task: Claude scans the last seven days of email, flags new contacts worth adding to Notion, and updates the database with one click.Are you looking to invest in real estate, but don't want to deal with the hassle of finding great deals, signing on debt, and managing tenants? Aligned Real Estate Partners provides investment opportunities to passive investors looking for the returns, stability, and tax benefits multifamily real estate offers, but without the work - join our investor club to be notified of future investment opportunities.Connect with Axel:Follow him on InstagramConnect with him on LinkedinSubscribe to our YouTube channelLearn more about Aligned Real Estate Partners

Recorded live on June 15th, 2026. Tracklisting: 01.  Andreas Henneberg Feat. Fadila - My Body Is Your Temple (Jonas Saalbach Remix) [SNOE] 02.  Samer Soltan - Catch The Heat (Extended Mix) [Musical Freedom Records] 03.  Cristoph - Gimme The Love (Extended Mix) [Toolroom Records] 04.  TVRNER - La Noche Se Mueve (Original Mix) [Knee Deep In Sound] 05.  Us Two - Bamako (Extended Mix) [NO ART] 06.  Loud Luxury & Ryan Shepherd - Something To Say (Extended Mix) [AFTR:HRS] 07.  Quivver & Dave Seaman - Starship Disco (Extended Mix) [Global Underground] 08.  Mobb Deep & Nick Morgan - Shook Ones, Pt. III (Extended Mix) [Ultra Records] 09.  Proppa, Rich DietZ, and Smith & Sorren - Work (Extended Mix) [Musical Freedom Records] 10.  Fred again.. x Swedish House Mafia Feat. Future - Turn On The Lights again.. (Original Mix) [Atlantic Records UK] 11.  DaBaby - POP DAT THANG (David Guetta Extended Mix) [South Coast Music Group] 12.  John Summit - LIGHTS GO OUT (G-POL Extended Remix) [Experts Only] 13.  Anyma x Danny Avila, Sam WOLFE, HNTR Feat. Rome Fortune - pictures of you dark X yes bitch groove (Sam WOLFE MASHUP) [Not Released] 14.  Basement Jaxx - Where's Your Head At (Steve Angello Extended Remix) [XL Recordings] 15.  Corey James, IMAN - Paranoia (Extended Mix) [Size Records] 16.  Firebeatz - Sky High (Tiësto Edit) [Musical Freedom Records] 17.  Afrojack, Lucas & Steve - Control (Extended Mix) [Black Book] 18.  Armin van Buuren & Glockenbach - Sun Shines On Me (Extended Mix) [Armada] 19.  Cassius - The Sound Of Violence (Hightown Edit) [Not Released] 20.  N!SMO - Vertigo (Original Mix) [48K (Forty Eight K Records)] 21.  NOTION, Willow Kayne - WAITING (Original Mix) [Polydor Records] 22.  Chrystal - The Days (NOTION Extended Remix) [Chaos] 23.  Faithless - Insomnia (Disclosure's 2025 Edit) [Sony Music Entertainment] 24.  GROOVEBABY, K.ONE - Who Will Find Me (Extended Mix) [Not Released] 25.  Ryan Case - IT'S YOU IT'S ME (Extended Mix) [Not Released] 26.  TWOFACED - Yearning (Extended Mix) [TFA] 27.  Bo Bensdorp - Ecstacy (Ascend Mix) [Not Released] 28.  DOREY, Amy Wiles & KLP - Imagination (Extended Mix) [Musical Freedom Records] 29.  CIElll - Tethered (Extended Mix) [Musical Freedom Records] 30.  Empire Of The Sun - Alive (DJ HEARTSTRING Extended Remix) [EMI Recorded Music Australia Pty Ltd]

Running a business can feel overwhelming. Too many ideas, too many tools, and not enough time to make it all work. This summer, we're breaking down the tools that actually help us run and grow our business without burning out. Welcome to the Smart Tech Summer Mini Series. Each short episode focuses on one tool we use in our day-to-day—from email and organization to content creation, AI, and marketing. We cover platforms like SaneBox, Notion, Linktree, CapCut, Printful, Claude, Arvin, Megaphone AI, and Giphy. We walk through how each tool fits into our workflow, what problem it solves, and how you can start using it in your own business. If you're running a business, creating content, or just trying to stay organized, this series is for you. New mini episodes drop all summer. The right tools don't just save time—they change how you work. Connect with the Pet Shop Girls! Find us anywhere you like to connect! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/petshopgirls⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join us in the Indie Insider Pet Professional Facebook Group: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/share/g/18XEvTjxMj/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join The Pet Shop Girls: Off The Record Substack Community: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://substack.com/@psgofftherecord?utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-page⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Visit our website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.2petshopgirls.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get the Ultimate Video Making Tool Megaphone AI here: https://gmm.one/0b0b4fd8-bfd8-4247-b46d-791cd813f28a Check out our Partnership Programs for exclusive savings for Pet Pros: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://2petshopgirls.com/#03-1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get Carly's Pet Nutrition Foundation Course: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://app.retailbrilliance.com/courses/269?tab=about&destination=%2Fcourses%2Fbrowse%3Fsearch%3Dpet%2520nutrition%26destination%3D%252Fcourses%252Fbrowse%253F_gl%253D1*176foeq*_gcl_au*MTg4MjkwMjc1NS4xNzc4Nzg1MzA3*FPAU*MTg4MjkwMjc1NS4xNzc4Nzg1MzA3⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Pet Shop Girls Podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by our hosts and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of any sponsors or partners. Any business, marketing, or pet care advice shared on this podcast is general in nature and may not apply to your specific situation. The Pet Shop Girls Podcast and its hosts are not liable for any outcomes related to the use of the information discussed. This episode includes paid advertising.

MLB Commish Floating A Salary Cap Notion bonus 1281 Mon, 22 Jun 2026 13:36:18 +0000 bqlehB1jHKVPJTRTWAulPTOazaAB6bnY sports Sports Daily sports MLB Commish Floating A Salary Cap Notion Wichita's popular morning local sports talk radio show is Sports Daily with Jacob Albracht and Tommy Castor. Listen live M-F 7a-11a on KFH! 2024 © 2021 Audacy, Inc. Sports https://player.amperwavepodcasting.com?feed-link=https

Vibe Coding : coder sans savoir coder, mythe ou révolution pour les professionnels ?"Et si je n'avais pas besoin de savoir coder pour développer une application ?"C'est exactement la promesse du vibe coding, et elle est en train de changer la donne pour les marketeurs, les formateurs et les entrepreneurs.Qu'est-ce que le vibe coding ? Définition et originesDans ce 163 ème épisode, je décortique le vibe coding. Il a été popularisé début 2025 par Andrej Karpathy, co-fondateur d'OpenAI et ancien directeur de l'intelligence artificielle chez Tesla. Star incontestée de la Silicon Valley, quand Karpathy lance un concept, le secteur tech l'écoute.Son idée est simple mais radicale : laisser l'IA générer du code en se basant uniquement sur des instructions en langage naturel, sans nécessairement lire ni comprendre le code produit.En pratique, cela signifie que vous décrivez ce que vous voulez :une fonctionnalité, une interface, un outil, et l'IA génère le code correspondant. L'intention remplace la syntaxe.Exemple concret : au lieu d'apprendre JavaScript, vous écrivez dans votre outil : "Crée un minuteur de 10 minutes avec un fond violet qui émet un son quand il arrive à zéro." En quelques secondes, vous avez votre application. Pas besoin d'un développeur pour ça.Vibe coding vs no-code vs développement assisté : quelles différences ?Avant d'aller plus loin, clarifions les notions souvent confondues.Le no-code traditionnelDes outils comme Notion, Webflow ou Airtable proposent des interfaces graphiques avec des blocs prédéfinis. On assemble, on configure, mais on ne génère pas vraiment de code. C'est puissant, mais limité aux fonctionnalités prévues par l'outil.Le développement assisté par IAUn développeur qui utilise GitHub Copilot ou Cursor reste maître de son code : il lit les lignes, les valide, les corrige. L'IA est un copilote, pas un pilote automatique.Le vibe codingIci, le vibe coder peut délibérément choisir de ne pas comprendre le code généré. C'est à la fois libérateur, on obtient un résultat concret sans barrière technique , et potentiellement risqué, nous y reviendrons. Ce qui est généré est du vrai code : HTML, JavaScript, Python. Pas des blocs visuels, du vrai code fonctionnel.Les outils de vibe coding à connaître en 2025Le vibe coding est aujourd'hui accessible sur une grande variété de plateformes :Bolt : idéal pour débuter, version gratuite disponible, excellent pour des tests avec des apprenantsLovable : reconnu pour la qualité des interfaces généréesClaude (Cowork) : performant pour des projets plus structurésCodex sur ChatGPT : une option solide dans l'écosystème OpenAICanva : surprenant mais très accessible, avec des suggestions natives qui rendent l'expérience très naturelleCursor : plutôt destiné aux profils plus techniquesLors d'une session de formation, j'ai testé Bolt avec des apprenants : en moins de deux minutes, on avait co-généré une application de prise de rendez-vous complète : calendrier, visuels, interface, à partir d'un prompt relativement simple. Le résultat était bluffant.3 cas d'usage concrets pour les professionnels1. Prototyper un outil sans budget de développementC'est le cas de figure le plus fréquent pour les TPE, PME ou les porteurs de projets en grandes entreprises. Vous avez une idée : un calculateur de ROI, un auto-diagnostic, un formulaire interactif simplifié, mais pas le budget pour un développeur.Avec le vibe coding, vous pouvez prototyper en une heure. Pas pour mettre en production immédiatement, mais pour tester, valider l'idée, et montrer à un client ou à votre direction ce que ça pourrait donner. Quand on projette les parties prenantes dans la solution, la validation devient beaucoup plus fluide.2. Créer des supports de formation ou de conférence interactifsEn tant que formatrice ou facilitatrice, vous souhaitez animer une session avec des outils dynamiques : quiz interactif, persona simulé, jeu de rôle numérique. Tout cela est accessible via le vibe coding, sans aucune compétence technique préalable.Cela permet aux indépendants et aux formateurs de développer des outils hyper-interactifs avec très peu de moyens.3. Objectiver les décisions produit en équipeJ'ai entendu le témoignage de professionnels du marketing qui utilisent le vibe coding pour trancher des débats subjectifs sur le design d'une application. Plutôt que de débattre de "j'aime le bleu, pas le rouge", on brief l'IA qui analyse les meilleures pratiques ergonomiques du secteur et produit des préconisations argumentées. Le débat se déplace du goût vers les fonctionnalités et c'est là que devrait être l'énergie d'une équipe produit.Les limites du vibe coding : ce qu'il ne faut pas ignorerLe vibe coding est excellent pour démarrer vite. Mais il a des limites réelles qu'il faut connaître.La dette cognitiveÀ mesure qu'on empile des itérations avec l'IA, le code grossit sans être maîtrisé. L'IA elle-même peut avoir du mal à modifier la structure sans tout casser. Et si vous ne comprenez pas l'architecture de ce que vous avez construit, vous ne pouvez plus intervenir manuellement.J'ai eu ce cas avec une cliente qui avait créé son site en vibe coding, mais sans aucune connaissance technique du back-office. Elle ne savait plus comment gérer ou modifier son site en dehors de l'outil. À chaque tentative de modification, on risquait de casser d'autres parties du code. Très chronophage, très stressant.Ce n'est pas une solution de production "clé en main"Pour tout projet qui passera entre les mains d'utilisateurs réels, l'intervention d'un développeur reste nécessaire en fin de parcours. Le vibe coding est parfait pour la phase d'exploration, pas pour la mise en production finale.Ma recommandationUtilisez le vibe coding pour ce qu'il fait de mieux : rapidité, flexibilité, expérimentation. Sauvegardez du temps sur la maquette, l'ergonomie, les fonctionnalités à tester. Mais dès que le projet passe en production avec de vrais utilisateurs, impliquez un développeur.Et les développeurs dans tout ça ?Une question revient souvent : si tout le monde peut coder sans coder, les développeurs sont-ils menacés ?Ma conviction : non, on déplace la valeur.Les développeurs qui savent travailler avec l'IA et qui comprennent l'architecture du code deviennent encore plus précieux. Ce qui va disparaître, c'est la demande pour des tâches de développement très routinières. La vraie valeur d'un développeur a toujours été dans la capacité à auditer, tester, comprendre une architecture, pas à taper des lignes de code.Et pour aller plus loin sur ce sujet, je prépare un épisode dédié à la question de la co-création en équipe via le vibe coding.Ressources mentionnées dans cet épisodeBolt — bolt.newLovable — lovable.devCursor — cursor.shClaude Cowork — via claude.aiAndrej Karpathy sur le vibe coding — à chercher sur X/Twitter (@karpathy)

https://youtu.be/xkCGHOYkdC0 Grant McKinstrie, CEO of Digital Position, is passionate about helping eCommerce brands grow by combining customer insights, data-driven marketing, and emerging technology. With more than two decades of experience in digital marketing, Grant has built a team that helps brands increase revenue through SEO, paid media, conversion optimization, and customer-focused growth strategies. We explore Grant’s DP Growth System: Ask AI where consumers congregate, Immerse yourself in their communities, Create content they crave, Engage them on Reddit and Quora, Have influencers create videos, and Turn craved content into ads. Grant explains why understanding customer conversations is more valuable than relying on assumptions, how online communities reveal unmet needs and buying signals, and how businesses can transform those insights into content, influencer partnerships, and advertising campaigns that drive measurable growth. He also shares how AI is changing marketing, the challenges of scaling an agency, and why innovation remains one of the most important drivers of long-term business success. — Build Yourself a Growth System with Grant McKinstrie  Good day. Steve Preda here with the Management Blueprint Podcast, and today my guest is Grant McKinstrie, the CEO of Digital Position, a full-stack agency that builds a growth system for e-commerce brands. Grant, welcome to the show.  Thank you so much for having me. Good to be here.  Well, it’s great to have you here. And I’d like to start by asking you: What is your personal ‘Why’, and what are you doing to manifest it at Digital Position?  Well, specifically when we think about the eCommerce space, there’s so much crap being sold out there. And also, in terms of what AI has done to the industry, it has allowed a lot of people to start a lot of different businesses, sell a lot of stuff, do a lot of dropshipping, and all these different things. It’s about trying to find the gems. It’s about finding the good people to work with and the businesses that are worth growing at the end of the day. There’s so much good stuff out there that gets pushed down because either they haven’t worked with a good agency or they just don’t know how to market themselves well enough.  And I think the drive behind trying to find those people who are genuinely nice to work with and brands that are absolutely worth promoting and bringing out into the world is awesome and very rewarding. Being able to do that is incredibly fulfilling. That’s not to say that we’re perfect in every way, shape, or form. And it’s not like every single business we work with is perfect either. We do what we can. But all in all, I want to be able to help market products, people, and businesses that are absolutely worth getting out into the world and getting more people to know about.  Yeah. That’s so interesting that you say that because I had a client in this space where you are, and they were a little conflicted because some of the brands they represented, they were not really proud of. And I think it really impacted their culture in turn. They felt that they were not operating with integrity with all of their clients, and that created internal friction. And it kind of held them back to some degree. So that’s fascinating that you talk about this. And I also noted on your website that your average client tenure is over four years, which I think bears testament to this. Yeah. In a large majority of cases, I mean, we’ve had certain clients for six years and, in some cases, even eight years. So when you have tenures like that, they certainly last a long time. And sometimes it just doesn’t work, and we’re also very willing to openly admit that. I don’t want anyone to think, “Oh, if we sign up with you, it’s four years, and then we’re just constantly paying you for, I don’t know, whatever reason it might be.” But genuinely, we’re here to see how we can legitimately grow the business and actually bring you profit dollars that you weren’t seeing otherwise.  Because so many businesses that we come across are just not able to allocate their marketing spend efficiently. And they’re just… I don’t know. Not to get too much into the nitty-gritty of things, but in a general sense, 95% of the businesses we talk to are essentially burning money. And in most cases, they’re being worked through an agency churn-and-burn system. And it hurts to see. Literally, I had a pitch two hours ago before this call where every single platform they were on was just burning money. They were trying to remarket to people who already knew about the brand and spending money on people who already knew about them and were already going to purchase from them.  And the agency was trying to tell them, “Hey, all of our metrics are great.” But the business is suffering because of it. It happens all the time. It generally results in tough conversations for us because agencies have such a bad reputation. And we’re always trying to pick up the pieces and revitalize that relationship. Which has its highs and lows in many ways. But we’re out here doing the best we can. Okay, so that’s a great segue because this podcast is all about frameworks—how to do something that maybe other entrepreneurs are trying to do, don’t know how to do, but you figured out. So do you have some kind of framework? Maybe it’s about getting an eCommerce company up and running on advertising and advertising profitably. Maybe it’s some other area in your business that is easy to explain in three to five steps. Does anything come to mind?  The biggest thing that we have realized lately is what we have deemed community engagement. One, because of AI, you can scrape information so easily across the internet, and you can get fed so much crap that AI is just going to automatically generate for you. But what really matters at the end of the day is: who is your audience, where the heck do they hang out, and what are they talking about?  So we are constantly looking to inject ourselves into Reddit threads, Facebook threads, YouTube comments, Quora—wherever those people possibly are. Get into the subreddits. Get into those Facebook communities. Get into the comments of influencers or whoever is relevant within that space, and talk to them. See what they’re talking about within those threads. Engage with them. Have a conversation so that you can understand what actually makes this person tick. What do they truly care about? What do they call things? What are they talking about on a daily basis?  So that when you start creating content that resonates with those people, you know exactly how to connect with them. Because, as I mentioned earlier, so many people are creating commoditized products and content because of AI, because it’s making it that much easier to do. Nobody is truly trying to connect with the consumer at the end of the day. And therefore, you’re going to have so many people who become numb to anything being thrown in their face unless they actually feel like they’re being spoken to.  So the biggest thing is to get to know the person on the other side of the screen. Go to where they hang out. Go to where they’re engaging. And listen to them. I think a lot of people forget that and want to go straight into data, metrics, spreadsheets, and all this stuff. When there is a human-to-human interaction happening within marketing every single day. And that is what you need to continue to focus on. Okay, so maybe that’s the beginning of the framework. So get to know the person—or the customer—or both.  Yeah. And it sounds really simple. It’s funny, when you put it that way, it’s just: listen to the person you’re trying to sell to. But it’s incredible how infrequently that actually happens. Because a lot of people will talk about, “My product is the best. My product is so good because it does this cool little thing that nobody else does.” But who really cares unless it’s actually solving a problem that somebody has? And unless they’re able to understand exactly how it’s going to make them feel in that moment when that problem is solved or how it connects to their core persona or whatever it might be. It’s a very simple framework. But it is the most important thing that a lot of people tend to neglect.  No, I love it. I love it. So what does the actual framework look like? I understand you go to Reddit, you go to Quora, and you listen. But what is the process? How do you even know which part of Reddit you should go to, what you should listen to, and who the customers are? Give me the rundown. What do you do when a new customer walks through the door and you want to figure out how to make them successful?  Yeah, of course. So I think Reddit is just the easiest example. I think it’s what a lot of people are familiar with, but it also provides value because it’s related to all the LLMs and what they like to cite as sources as well. Funny enough, one of the best ways to start is if you have a brand, a service, or something that you’re looking to build. Feed that into AI—Claude, ChatGPT, whatever works for you—and have it help you understand: “Hey, what subreddits should I be participating in?” If I want to sell vegetable seeds, for example—and that’s an example from a client we’ve worked with—or if I want to get more into gardening, where should I go?  It will point you to gardening, DIY gardening, seasonal gardening, and all these different places that have communities of people who are very specific when it comes to anything you want to know about gardening. Then you jump in there and see people talking about: “When should I start planting my tomatoes?” Or: “When should I do any transplanting?” Or: “How do I need to handle my watering schedule?” And then you have layers and layers of threads, topics, and information that you can gather from. People are giving it to you for free and telling you exactly how they handle those things.  And that turns into content. That turns into ways for you to engage with those people. It turns into ads because if you’re able to understand what their pain point is, then you can make an ad out of that. At the same time, you can pull a lot of that information using AI. But the biggest impact still comes from truly engaging with those people. So you said that when you figure out what those communities are talking about in their Quora or Reddit communities, then you can engage with them. You can create content, you can create ads, and you can engage. And I’m just wondering, are there other forms of engaging with customers other than through content and ads? Good question. So yeah, that’s the main part. You can directly comment within those Reddit threads, or you can start creating your own content within those Reddit communities. If you start to see a trend of multiple people asking, “How do I start planting my tomato seeds?” Or, “Where do I even start with this?” Then you can create an entire guide on your website. Build a blog post around it. Or you can get together with an influencer who’s able to make a video around it and show the entire process through a visual element as well. So you’re not just doing written content, but video too. And then you can even run ads around that.  Because one of the biggest things, for example, with this brand that I’m kind of alluding to, is that every single ad and every single piece of content they were putting out beforehand was very disconnected from the true gardener at the end of the day, or the true DIY gardener. Because everything they showed was a picture of this beautiful, perfect pepper or tomato that nobody ever experiences unless you’re operating a commercialized system with all of the technology they have access to. But somebody in their backyard is not going to have a perfectly round tomato or a perfectly formed pepper. And therefore, no one knows how to get there. So you have to show them the step-by-step process.  What soil do you need to buy? What seeds should you buy? And then you become part of that system because: “Oh, I need to buy seeds. Okay, I’m going to go to this company and buy seeds from them.” And they also helped me throughout this entire process by becoming the subject matter expert on what to do with tomato seeds. It becomes this kind of system that you naturally inject yourself into as you create content that connects with that person. Because the biggest thing was recognizing that all of the content they were putting out beforehand made people think: “Well, my food is never going to look like that if I plant it in my backyard.” Yeah. “But how can I get there so that I feel a lot less stressed about even starting?” And you’re providing this entire guide for me to follow so that I can become a better DIY gardener.  Yeah. I love it. It’s a great approach to basically figure out where to go, talk to the people, and then communicate with them and create helpful guides for them. And the influencer video—that’s also very clever. So that’s how you help drive growth for your clients. But how do you drive growth in your own business?  Yeah, good question. Funny enough, man, it is so much harder to do it for yourself when you are so focused on other people. Reflecting inward is always tough. But what we have recognized lately is that you have to have a good freaking offer. Because so many agencies in this space say the same stuff. I sat on Instagram for two hours one day and rifled through every single ad from marketing agencies in the space.  And everybody says the same thing: “You’re doing your ads wrong.” Or: “You have no idea what’s happening with your attribution.” Or: “Google Ads is making you lose money.” Or: “Meta Ads sucks.” And all these different things. And everyone is saying: “You should let us do a free audit for you.” Or: “Come talk to us and we’ll help show you what’s wrong.” It’s like, okay, there’s a pretty big gap there. I have to spend all this time talking to you just to figure out whether you’re a legitimate business and whether you’re actually going to solve my problem. And you’re not really offering anything other than: “Hey, let’s sit down and talk about it.” When everybody else is doing the exact same thing. So the offer across the industry is generally weak.  There are a few agencies that have well-built offers. What we personally figured out through A/B testing is that we don’t even try to lead with the marketing conversation. Because in some cases, businesses find it difficult to admit: “Hey, our marketing sucks.” Or: “Marketing is our problem.” But a lot of people can identify whether their website sucks. They can look at it and say it’s old or that it’s not converting well. It’s generally easier for people to make that connection than the marketing connection.  So we’ve built an offer around A/B testing. For just about any eCommerce business doing over $1 million in annual revenue, we’d love to do a free A/B test for them. We will build a landing page of their choosing. It could be their homepage. It could be a product page. It could be whatever. We will create a mock-up ourselves and come to the call with it. We’ll show them our version alongside theirs. They can decide whether it seems better or not. And if they want to move forward, we’ll implement it on their site for free. Then we’ll run an A/B test until we reach statistical significance and can determine whether our page or their page performs better.  Either way, there’s no cost to them. We just want to show that we’re capable of providing value. We want to demonstrate that we can create something better than what they currently have. If it works out, awesome. Let’s continue the conversation. If not, no harm, no foul. We weren’t able to improve it for them, and it doesn’t make sense to continue the conversation.  Yeah. That is impressive. So you’re actually building a competing site, and you show them that you could do a better job than they are, essentially. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And it’s… I don’t know. There’s somebody that I interact with who always says, “There are no sacred cows. There’s no ego in all of this.” It’s just, “We genuinely want to show that we can provide value in any way, shape, or form here.” It has garnered a lot of interest because it’s low friction. It’s, “Hey, at the very least, when we come to the call, we are going to show you something, and hopefully you like it.” And 100% of the time we’ve done this, everybody has loved it.  So it’s been a great source of driving more leads, more conversations, and more at-bats for the business. Simply by having an offer that people want to see value from, as opposed to: “Hey, we’re going to do an audit. There’s going to be a long turnaround time. Then we have to figure out the next steps. Then there’s going to be this big price tag,” or whatever it is. Whereas we’re just going to do something for you for free. If it works, great. If not, you didn’t lose any sleep over it.  Yeah. Love it. That’s pretty cool. And I think what’s really cool about it is that you do it without disrupting their existing business. Exactly. So they don’t feel like, “Okay, maybe it’s at no cost to me. Maybe it’s a marketing thing.” But at the same time, if you’re interfering with my customers, that’s actually a negative. Because it can create damage. That’s my reservation about people who offer to drive business for me. Yeah. But then they want to use my LinkedIn profile, and they can spoil my reputation online. And I’m never going to allow it. Because it interferes with my business. So I love that you found a way around that. That’s pretty cool.  Absolutely. Yeah, and we’re hoping that it just continues to grow. Fortunately, AI has allowed us to move a lot faster with this because I think that historically would have been a major holdup. Mocking up a page is not a very easy task. But because we’re able to understand the business and generate something relatively quickly through our experience and understanding of how a page should be structured, it works out really well. Yeah. Love it. So switching gears here, let me ask you this: What is something that you’re actively trying to figure out in your business?  Ooh, boy. Scale. I think the ability to scale something like this is where I’m trying to figure out what is going to break next. Historically, we’ve struggled to figure out things like: “Oh, we need a really good offer to drive cold outbound leads.” We have historically been a referral-only business. And while that’s worked, it certainly isn’t as sustainable long term as building a proper, predictable cold outbound system.  Now that we have something that is starting to work, and we’re seeing more leads come in, the question becomes: How do we scale this without the business breaking if we suddenly see a significant increase in leads? Because realistically, in the past, it’s been rare that we’ve had so many leads in the pipeline that we didn’t know how to handle them. But we’ve also recognized that the type of service we provide is elevated. We consider ourselves a boutique service. We know we’re not the cheapest in the market. But what we do know is that we can absolutely drive additional profit dollars to your business. Because we’re looking at the full marketing picture.  We’re not just focusing on PPC. We’re not just focusing on SEO. We’re not just focusing on organic social. We’re looking at how all of those things work together. And then we’re looking at the business as a whole and trying to drive an actual P&L impact. Not just say: “Oh, ROAS in Google Ads is good, so everything must be great.” No. That’s not always the case. As I mentioned earlier, that can happen while you’re still burning money because you’re simply retargeting people who already know about your business.  So the goal is understanding that we provide an elevated service and finding the right talent to help deliver it. So that as we continue to scale, we’re able to maintain the level of service that we know we’re capable of providing. And making sure that the people leading those client conversations are able to deliver on that promise every single time as well. Hopefully that answers the question, for the most part.  So if you have the deals coming through, the cold outreach is working, and your offer is working, is it just a question of finding the talent, or are there other things that could break?  Yeah. I think it’s hiring and talent for sure. And then the other piece is continuing to maintain the operational speed behind it as well. Because expectations in the industry are changing dramatically. We went from bi-monthly reporting to weekly reporting, and now people want to know how things are moving every single day. AI has sped things up to the point where people’s expectations are changing at a rate that we need to keep up with. And that is certainly one of the more difficult things to navigate.  Especially when there are 30 to 1,000 new AI tools coming out every single day. Then you need to figure out: “What’s the best one that I’m going to be able to utilize long term, instead of just dumping it and moving to a new one next week?” So yeah, the operational piece has been very interesting over the past couple of years. It went from everybody using ChatGPT, to all of these different AI transcription tools. We moved into Notion. Now we’re using Vector, which is popping off right now. Claude has obviously made a lot of strides as well. And it’s about figuring out how we continue to pivot across all of these different tools. And I’m barely scratching the surface with those examples.  We also have to make sure that the entire team is able to adapt to these changes over time. Because for so long, you could stick with a single tech stack and a handful of tools for years, and not much would change. But now, because of AI, things are adapting, changing, and improving incredibly quickly. And the expectations of the client are moving just as fast. So you need to be able to keep up with that. I’ve always wondered about this thing that Steve Jobs said: The two primary functions of a business are marketing and innovation. And you are doing one of the two primary parts of the business. You could even argue that marketing is innovation as well. So the two things converge. How is it possible for an agency to innovate for multiple clients on a continual basis?  Yeah. That just comes down to trusting the team and having the right people in the right place. And that’s why I think hiring is one of the biggest things that we need to focus on. Because AI has raised the floor for so many people. But it has also really shined a light on the people who are able to work alongside it efficiently, speed up their processes, and use their experience to make decisions really fast. It is more powerful than ever to have a creative mindset and the experience of seeing how things impact multiple different clients. And to understand how you can shift strategy at any point in time. It also requires having that childlike curiosity mindset.  Being willing not to accept everything as fact. Being willing to pivot at any point in time. It’s truly about making sure that the people around you are willing to adapt and accept that they are not going to be right all the time. But they’re willing to keep trying, keep learning, and keep figuring out what the next step is. And not fall into complacency. Because if you do, AI has probably already rocked your world at this point. So the biggest thing is having people around you, a support system, procedures, and training that allow that to happen naturally. And trusting that they will be able to follow that and see the vision—or at least try.  That’s fascinating. If there’s a company trying to figure out what to do, how to make sense of all these different platforms, SEO moving to GEO, AI, Reddit, Quora, rising advertising costs, TikTok, and all these other platforms coming online—and their head is spinning—what do you recommend they do? How do they select an agency? Of course, they should go to you. But how should they select an agency? What criteria should they use to select someone, whether that’s you or somebody else?  Yeah. I mean, really, it just comes down to being growth-minded. And maybe I’m not fully understanding the question, but if you have any passion or drive to grow what you’re doing, you need to surround yourself with people who are constantly looking to push the envelope. Whether that be an agency or an in-house team. And in some cases, it might not make sense for you to have an agency. That really depends on your brand guidelines and how closely you hold them to your chest. Because sometimes bringing in an outside agency can be very difficult.  It takes time to get them up to speed. If you’re looking to develop your own internal style of content because you have a lot of protection around the brand, then building that internally is going to make a heck of a lot more sense. Because they’re constantly going to be able to talk in your language. As opposed to an agency that wants to be an arm of your business, but at the end of the day, it’s difficult for that to always be the case. We try to live and breathe that as much as we can, but we also understand there are limitations. So I would say if you are a brand with extremely tight brand guidelines, then you need to train internally and make sure that is built into the culture and into the marketing team.  Otherwise, everything you put out from that point forward is going to be disjointed from what the brand actually means or is trying to stand for. Therefore, you need to have that in-house and you need more control over it. Otherwise, if you understand that other people have great ideas, and you want to leverage that, and you appreciate that they’re looking at hundreds, if not thousands, of brands and seeing how they succeed in the market, then an agency can be a beautiful way to go. And it’s generally more cost-effective in most cases. You’re going to have an agency with maybe three to five people—sometimes even more—overseeing your account.  And in many cases, that’s for the same cost as a single internal employee. So being able to leverage the minds of five different people with five different viewpoints of the world, and five different pairs of eyes looking at your website, versus just one… In my opinion, you’re going to win every time. Assuming you have the right team behind you. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. So essentially, you’re outsourcing your marketing function to an expert team. This is all they do. And they’re held to a high standard because they work with a lot of companies in a fast-moving environment. It’s similar to having an internal attorney versus using a law firm with high-flying attorneys who operate at the cutting edge. You can never really replicate that cutting-edge environment, which helps nurture those people on the other side. Yeah. Love it. So if you’re listening to this and you want to take your marketing to the next level, and you want an expert team at your service to figure out how to grow your brand across multiple channels—content, advertising, customer engagement, and all that stuff—then reach out to Grant. But where can they find you, Grant?  You can reach out to us through digitalposition.com. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn. I’m happy to chat with anybody. I’m more than happy to share anything I’ve learned along the way, whether you’re another agency, a brand, or whatever it might be. I firmly hold the belief that there is a massive sea of people out there to reach. And I’m happy to share any learnings that I’ve had. Because, boy, there’s so much to digest in this world, and I’m happy to share whatever I know. But yeah, digitalposition.com for anyone who would possibly want to work with us or chat. Otherwise, I’m on LinkedIn and happy to connect there as well.  Well, Grant McKinstrie, CEO of Digital Position, a full-stack agency that builds growth systems for eCommerce brands. Thanks for coming and sharing your experience and your view of the world. And if you enjoyed listening, make sure you follow us on YouTube and Apple Podcasts because every week I come with an exciting entrepreneur who is sharing the best of what they know. So thanks for coming, Grant, and thanks for listening.  Thank you so much for having me. Important Links: Grant’s LinkedIn Grant’s website

00:00 Welcome to Boys Club Live 00:34 Williamsburg Cold Open 01:14 Pride and Internet Bits 05:03 NoDi Micro Neighborhoods 07:06 Why NoDi Went Viral 12:01 Commit to the Bit 13:32 Timothée Chalamet Kalshi Ad 21:02 Neighbor Noise and Sports Vibes 23:52 Is Basketball Scripted 27:18 World Cup Tourist Freddy 31:09 America Middle Class Envy 32:08 NYC Grass Is Greener 32:30 Freddy Goes Viral 35:27 Do You Bet 37:24 Nick Devor (Barrons) 38:06 Kalshi Chalamet Ad 40:06 Sportsbooks Plateau 44:55 CFTC Draft Rules 48:15 World Cup Betting Boom 52:21 Polymarket US Volume 54:58 Sports Shift And Partnerships 57:42 Sportsbook Vs Event Contracts 01:01:07 Five Year Outlook 01:02:52 Kalshi vs Polymarket 01:03:53 Do Fees Matter 01:05:34 World Cup Betting Economics 01:07:30 Guest Swap and Research 01:08:07 David Rosenberg (Notion) 01:09:41 Career Bets Explained 01:13:38 Founder Psyop Debate 01:16:07 Fun Is the Moat 01:18:01 Notion as AI Company 01:20:57 Founder Advice in AI 01:26:01 Model Drops at Notion 01:29:06 Emrata Essay Discourse 01:35:32 Wrap and Thanks

1398. Vuelvo a poner los propósitos sobre la mesa justo cuando estoy a punto de cerrar la carpeta de esta séptima temporada y mirar tanto hacia atrás como hacia delante. Como hago cada año por estas fechas, he recuperado el episodio equivalente de la temporada anterior para comprobar si realmente he cumplido todo aquello que me propuse hace doce meses o si algunas tareas siguen pendientes esperando una nueva oportunidad. El primer gran objetivo que me marqué fue integrar Notion en mi día a día. Quería centralizar guiones, bases de datos, sorteos, eventos, tareas y prácticamente toda mi organización profesional. No puedo decir que lo domine al cien por cien, porque todavía sigo aprendiendo cosas nuevas, pero sí que ha supuesto un cambio enorme tanto para este podcast como para varios proyectos de clientes. Sin duda ha sido uno de los mayores avances de esta temporada. También repasé otro de los cambios importantes que introduje hace un año: la automatización de los audiogramas y la publicación de episodios en YouTube mediante Headliner y el feed RSS de la web. Los resultados han sido muy positivos. El canal ha ganado nuevos suscriptores y, sobre todo, ha multiplicado las horas de visualización y las visitas, ayudando a que el podcast siga creciendo en una plataforma que considero una más dentro del ecosistema del audio. Otro de los puntos que revisé fue el relacionado con los patrocinios. Me propuse crear un media kit más profesional para presentar el proyecto a posibles colaboradores. Lo hice, aunque reconozco que todavía tiene margen de mejora. Por eso lo considero un objetivo cumplido a medias y vuelve a aparecer en la lista para la próxima temporada. La web también ocupó un lugar importante dentro de mis planes a lo largo de este año. Mi intención era depender menos de plataformas externas y centrar los esfuerzos en llevar a los oyentes hacia mi propio espacio digital. Creo que ese objetivo sí se ha cumplido. Cada vez más enlaces, contenidos y llamadas a la acción apuntan directamente a la web del proyecto, reforzando una estrategia que sigo considerando fundamental para cualquier creador. A partir de ahí toca mirar al futuro. Entre los nuevos propósitos aparecen la integración de herramientas como Make con Notion y ChatGPT para agilizar procesos, la posible migración de varios podcast a nuevos servicios de hosting, la reflexión sobre el futuro de Podnights Madrid, el lanzamiento de un nuevo podcast y la continuidad de ese enorme trabajo de documentación y actualización de episodios antiguos que llevo realizando desde hace varias temporadas. Ahora solo queda esperar un año más para comprobar cuántos de estos nuevos objetivos acaban tachados de la lista y cuántos seguirán acompañándome en el siguiente ciclo de este metapodcast diario.¿Me acompañas?_____________ ¡Gracias por pasarte 'Al otro lado del micrófono' un día más para seguir aprendiendo sobre podcasting! Si quieres descubrir cómo puedes unirte a la comunidad o a los diferentes canales donde está presente este podcast, te invito a visitar https://alotroladodelmicrofono.com/unete Además, puedes apoyar el proyecto mediante un pequeño impulso mensual, desde un granito de café mensual hasta un brunch digital. Descubre las diferentes opciones entrando en: https://alotroladodelmicrofono.com/cafe. También puedes apoyar el proyecto a través de tus compras en Amazon mediante mi enlace de afiliados https://alotroladodelmicrofono.com/amazon La voz que puedes escuchar en la intro del podcast es de Juan Navarro Torelló (PoniendoVoces) y el diseño visual es de Antonio Poveda. La dirección, grabación y locución corre a cargo de Jorge Marín. La sintonía que puedes escuchar en cada capítulo ha sido creada por Jason Show y se titula: 2 Above Zero.  'Al otro lado del micrófono' es una creación de EOVE Productora.

Batman ’66 S3 Ep12 – The Foggiest Notion When the air clears, suspicions shroud Lord Ffogg and Lady Peasoup with Batman, Robin and Batgirl in pursuit. Clouds of man-made mist keep our heroes at bay, so they are free to steal away. Episode aired Thursday, November 30, 1967 Director: Oscar Rudolph Story: Elkan Allan Teleplay: […] The post BatChums Episode 108 – The Foggiest Notion appeared first on The ESO Network.

L'ensemble des liens utiles : Envie de vous inscrire à Yaniro Minute ? 1 conseil par newsletter. 1mn de lecture ? C'est ici : https://www.yaniro.co/yanirominuteEnvie d'envoyer à vos managers la version auto-administrée de notre formation au management ? C'est ici : https://yanirowiki.co/kitEt pour retrouver les meilleures pratiques RH directement dans notre Yaniro Wiki c'est ici : https://yanirowiki.co/Résumé de l'épisode

Aji and Sally are back together again, this time to discuss the different apps they use to make their workflows and To Do lists easier and quicker to achieve. Sally dives into the Notion calendar system which she uses to coordinate her many Google calendars, Aji looks back on using Jira to co-ordinate their international move, before they both reminisce about the benefits of using Alfred as people with ADHD. — There's still time to secure your place at thoughtbot's upcoming UK meet ups over the next month. London Tech Leader Meetup - Tuesday June 23rd Brighton Tech Leader Meetup - Wednesday June 24th Brighton Ruby - Thursday June 25th Evolve - Friday June 26th Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot's own Sally Hall and Aji Slater. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2026 thoughtbot, inc.

Running a business can feel overwhelming. Too many ideas, too many tools, and not enough time to make it all work. This summer, we're breaking down the tools that actually help us run and grow our business without burning out. Welcome to the Smart Tech Summer Mini Series. Each short episode focuses on one tool we use in our day-to-day—from email and organization to content creation, AI, and marketing. We cover platforms like SaneBox, Notion, Linktree, CapCut, Printful, Claude, Arvin, Megaphone AI, and Giphy. We walk through how each tool fits into our workflow, what problem it solves, and how you can start using it in your own business. If you're running a business, creating content, or just trying to stay organized, this series is for you. New mini episodes drop all summer. The right tools don't just save time—they change how you work. Connect with the Pet Shop Girls! Find us anywhere you like to connect! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/petshopgirls⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join us in the Indie Insider Pet Professional Facebook Group: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/share/g/18XEvTjxMj/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join The Pet Shop Girls: Off The Record Substack Community: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://substack.com/@psgofftherecord?utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-page⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Visit our website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.2petshopgirls.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get the Ultimate Video Making Tool Megaphone AI here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://gmm.one/0b0b4fd8-bfd8-4247-b46d-791cd813f28a⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our Partnership Programs for exclusive savings for Pet Pros: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://2petshopgirls.com/#03-1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get Carly's Pet Nutrition Foundation Course: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://app.retailbrilliance.com/courses/269?tab=about&destination=%2Fcourses%2Fbrowse%3Fsearch%3Dpet%2520nutrition%26destination%3D%252Fcourses%252Fbrowse%253F_gl%253D1*176foeq*_gcl_au*MTg4MjkwMjc1NS4xNzc4Nzg1MzA3*FPAU*MTg4MjkwMjc1NS4xNzc4Nzg1MzA3⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Pet Shop Girls Podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by our hosts and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of any sponsors or partners. Any business, marketing, or pet care advice shared on this podcast is general in nature and may not apply to your specific situation. The Pet Shop Girls Podcast and its hosts are not liable for any outcomes related to the use of the information discussed. This episode includes paid advertising.

I've seen a pattern of senior ICs deciding to quit to bet on themselves, but we rarely get to see what it took to get there.Julia Fei, Sr. Data Scientist at Notion (and my dear creator friend), just made her decision to leave her dream job to pursue something she's always been curious about. But it was a calculated, deliberate decision that she spent years preparing for.In this week's episode of Office Drama, we reveal the inner drama of Julia's thought process and the conversations she's had navigating the transition.In this ep, we talk about:→ why Julia quit Notion when she genuinely loved her team, her manager, and her job→ how to know if you're actually growing or just getting comfortable→ why "stability" is a scam→ the double life of being a creator in tech→ how to build a financial runway for the leap before you're ready to take it→ and how to know when it's finally time to take a risk on yourselfThis episode is for anyone who has done everything right and still felt like they were playing it too safe. Julia is one of the most calculated, self-aware people I know and watching her finally bet on herself after years of preparation is exactly the kind of story I started this show to tell.→ Find Julia:https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliafei/https://www.youtube.com/@juliafeihttps://www.instagram.com/julia.fei/https://www.tiktok.com/@julia.feiSubmit your Coworker Confessions

Chaos ist oft nur ein nicht dokumentierter Prozess. Liegt dein Durcheinander an fehlender Disziplin? Nein. Und genau darum geht es in dieser Folge mit Notion-Expertin Tatjana Kiefler. Wenn du als Musikerin* ein Release, Booking und deine Social-Media-Routine gleichzeitig stemmst, begegnet dir ständig dieser eine Satz: laut oder leise, von anderen oder aus deinem eigenen Kopf: »Ich bin kreativ, ich kann einfach nicht strukturiert arbeiten.« Dieser Satz kostet Musikerinnen* Zeit und Geld, denn er schneidet genau das ab, was eigentlich Freiheit schafft: eine Struktur, die deinen Kopf leert und kreative Energie zurückgibt. In dieser Folge spreche ich mit Notion-Expertin Tatjana Kiefler darüber, warum Struktur kein Korsett ist, sondern ein Container, und warum Projektorganisation für Musikerinnen* der unterschätzteste Hebel für mehr kreative Freiheit ist. Wir nehmen im Gespräch den Record-Release-Prozess als Beispiel, der über ein Jahr läuft, und zeigen, wie du ein riesiges Projekt in machbare Wochen-Häppchen zerlegst (und warum du dir bewusst freie Tage einplanen darfst). Das sind deine 3 Learnings aus der Folge: ✓ Struktur ist kein Korsett, sondern ein Container: Das Problem ist nie die Struktur an sich, sondern Systeme, die nicht zu dir passen. Notion lässt sich so bauen, dass es zu deinem Tagesgeschäft passt. ✓ Ein riesiges Projekt wird machbar, wenn du es zerlegst: Definiere klare Start- und Endpunkte und plane nicht mehr als sechs Fokus-Stunden pro Tag, sonst planst du dich systematisch ins Gefühl zu scheitern. ✓ Du musst nicht mit der perfekten Struktur starten: Fang mit deinen Aufgaben an, hol dir ein Template statt zehn, und lass dein System mit dir mitwachsen. Willst du mit deiner Musik Geld verdienen und bist bereit, in deine Karriere zu investieren? Dann schreib mir eine E-Mail an imke@raketerei.com. Ich lade dich zu einem kostenfreien Kennenlerncall ein, wir gucken gemeinsam, wo du gerade stehst und wie ich dich unterstützen kann, deine Projekte so zu strukturieren, dass mehr kreative Freiheit entsteht.

Hace mucho que no publico en YouTube.No “mucho” de esos muchos relativos de internet, donde alguien desaparece tres semanas y vuelve diciendo que ha estado en una cueva replanteándose su existencia.Mucho de verdad.El canal lleva tiempo parado.Y cada vez que pienso en volver, aparece la misma tentación: abrir Notion, pillar alguna de las ideas que tengo en la recámara, grabar un vídeo más o menos decente y publicar como si nada.Pero creo que esa sería la peor forma de volver.Porque mi problema con YouTube nunca ha sido tener ideas.Tampoco ha sido saber grabar.Ni editar.Ni entender más o menos qué puede funcionar.Mi problema ha sido la prioridad.Durante mucho tiempo he tratado YouTube como una cosa que se hace cuando hay energía, cuando aparece una idea clara, cuando tienes una semana algo más despejada o cuando te entra una pequeña crisis de “tendría que estar publicando más”.Ojo porque siempre he tenido un calendario editorial, una idea disponible y algún momento en el que me envalentono y digo “esta tarde grabo” pero luego no se da.No se da porque hacerlo así es una tontería. No se construye nada.Se publican vídeos sueltos.Algunos funcionan.Otros no.Te ilusionas.Te frustras.Desapareces.Vuelves.Repites.Una forma muy elegante de autoflajelarte con mp4 y Google Drive.Así que esta vez quiero hacerlo distinto.No quiero “volver a YouTube”.Quiero reconstruir mi forma de trabajar YouTube.Y creo que el verano es el mejor momento para hacerlo.No porque sea una época especialmente buena para publicar vídeos. De hecho, probablemente no lo sea.La gente está a otra cosa.Viajes, calor, niños sin colegio, terrazas, vacaciones y cero ganas de ver a un señor calvo hablando de estrategia de contenido desde su despacho.Pero precisamente por eso me parece buen momento para trabajar por debajo.* Sin la presión de tener que sacar algo ya.* Sin mirar cada vídeo como si fuese una prueba pública de si sigo teniendo o no algo que decir.* Sin convertir cada publicación en una pequeña votación de si debo continuar o no.La idea es usar estos meses para preparar la vuelta de septiembre.Y hacerlo con una idea sencilla:Si quiero publicar de forma consistente, no necesito más inspiración. Necesito una máquina mejor.La primera parte de esa máquina será mirar hacia atrásAnalizar qué contenidos funcionaron mejor en mi canal.En mi caso, como es un canal bastante pequeño, un vídeo de 1.000 o 1.500 visualizaciones ya me parecen bastantes.Quiero entender qué temas tuvieron más tracción, qué títulos prometían algo interesante, qué formatos aguantaban mejor, qué vídeos tenían comentarios de verdad y cuáles simplemente pasaron por ahí sin mucha historia.No para hacer refritos de contenido (aunque se que funcionaría bastante bien), sino para entender dónde había una conexión real y buenas decisiones de mi yo del pasado.La segunda parte será mirar hacia fueraQué está funcionando ahora en YouTube.Y no me refiero a lo típico de “el algoritmo quiere vídeos largos” o “ahora hay que hacer shorts” o cualquiera de esas frases que caducan en 48 horas.Quiero mirar creadores concretos.Gente que está liderando en espacios cercanos: creación, negocio digital, IA, estrategia, productividad, aprendizaje, escritura, marca personal…Y entender qué están haciendo.* Cómo abren los vídeos.* Cómo empaquetan las ideas.* Cómo convierten un tema aparentemente normal en algo que merece clic.* Qué estructuras repiten.* Qué tipo de promesa hacen.* Qué ritmo tienen.* Qué relación construyen con su audiencia.Porque al final el juego sigue siendo el mismo de siempre:Mirar qué funciona, entender por qué funciona y adaptarlo a tu propio territorio sin convertirte en una copia barata de nadie.Y tercera parte, cómo llevo todo eso al contenido de FailAgainPorque FailAgain no va de “cómo crecer en redes” en el sentido más plano.No me interesa hacer vídeos tipo:“5 hacks para publicar más” “Cómo vencer la procrastinación” “Mi sistema definitivo de contenido”Me da pereza hasta solo de pensarlo.Lo que me interesa es otra cosa.La creación de contenido como problema estratégico.* Por qué nos cuesta sostener una voz propia.* Por qué confundimos publicar con construir.* Por qué copiamos formatos que funcionan para otros pero no encajan con nuestro contexto.* Por qué la mayoría de creadores no tienen un problema de talento, sino de dirección, consistencia, criterio y sistema.Y ahora, además, hay una capa nueva que antes no estaba tan desarrollada: la inteligencia artificial.Cuando publiqué más en YouTube ya usaba IA, pero no como se puede usar ahora.No con agentes, ni sistemas de análisis para investigar, comparar, transformar piezas… hay tela de cosas nuevas.Y esto me interesa mucho porque creo que hay un espacio a cubrir muy interesante:* Cómo puede usar IA un creador sin volverse genérico.* Cómo te ayuda a pensar mejor sin sustituir tu criterio.* Cómo te permite producir más sin convertirte en una fábrica de contenido mediocre.* Cómo puedes usar agentes para analizar tu propio trabajo, estudiar referencias, detectar patrones, preparar guiones, ordenar ideas y aun así seguir sonando a ti.Esa es la parte que quiero explorar.Así que mi plan para este verano no es muy sexy:Mirar datos, revisar vídeos, estudiar referencias, diseñar formatos, preparar guiones, grabar pruebas y montar un sistema antes de volver a publicar.No anunciar una gran vuelta con vídeo épico de “he vuelto”.No prometer una frecuencia que luego no pueda sostener.Solo preparar el terreno.Si todo va bien, en septiembre me gustaría volver al canal con una cadencia razonable.Probablemente un vídeo cada dos semanas al principio.Pocos, pero buenos.Con una idea clara, con mejor empaquetado, con más intención y, sobre todo, con menos dependencia de que ese día me levante inspirado.Te iré contando el proceso por aquí.A ver si esta vez, en lugar de volver con fuerza, vuelvo con cabeza.Si estás también en ese punto de “quiero crear más, pero no quiero volver a hacerlo a lo loco”, quizá este sea buen momento para mirar tu propio sistema.Nos escuchamos en una semana :)PD: si tú también estás empezando a pensar en los contenidos de la temporada que viene, déjame un comentario.PD2: esta semana llego a los 10.000 suscriptores en YouTube. Loco. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.guitermo.com/subscribe

Apply to Join Churchfront Premium Apply to Join Churchfront Pro Free Worship and Production Toolkit Shop Our Online Courses Join us at the Churchfront Conference Follow Churchfront on Instagram or TikTok: @churchfront Follow on Twitter: @realchurchfront Gear we use to make videos at Churchfront Musicbed SyncID: MB01VWQ69XRQNSN     Churchfront Podcast — Josh Kelsey | How AI Is Transforming Church Ministry   Guest background: Josh Kelsey is the Lead Pastor of Vineyard Church in California. In this conversation, Josh shares how his church is actively using AI across nearly every department—from sermon preparation and curriculum creation to operations, worship ministry, and discipleship. He offers a practical vision for how church leaders can use AI to reclaim time, reduce burnout, and focus more deeply on shepherding people.   Key Topics   AI in the church: fear vs. opportunity Josh argues that many church leaders are approaching AI with unnecessary fear. While concerns around ethics and implementation are valid, he sees AI primarily as a tool—one that can dramatically increase effectiveness while freeing leaders to focus on ministry. He believes churches that embrace these tools thoughtfully will be able to pastor more effectively, not less.   Why churches are historically slow to adopt technology Churches and nonprofits are often years behind the business world when it comes to adopting new technology. Josh believes AI is creating one of the largest technological shifts of our generation, and many church leaders risk missing opportunities simply because they haven't taken time to understand what's actually possible.   Scaling ministry without losing community One of the most intriguing ideas discussed is whether AI can help churches scale without sacrificing the personal connection that often disappears as organizations grow. Instead of hiring more specialists for every operational challenge, churches may soon be able to use AI systems to maintain consistency, communication, and care at a much larger scale.   AI as a team of specialists Rather than thinking of AI as a chatbot, Josh encourages leaders to think of it as an entire team of specialists available on demand. Administrative support, curriculum development, data analysis, planning, project management, and content creation can all be assisted by AI, allowing pastors to spend more time on teaching, discipleship, and relationships.   The future of church software The conversation explores how tools like Planning Center, HubSpot, Notion, Logos, MultiTracks, and other church software platforms will likely become deeply integrated with AI through technologies like APIs and Model Context Protocol (MCP). Instead of manually moving information between platforms, leaders will increasingly interact with a single AI layer that understands and works across their entire ministry ecosystem.   How Josh uses AI for sermon planning Josh shares his personal workflow for annual sermon planning and weekly sermon preparation. What once required multiple staff meetings and days of planning can now be completed in minutes. He uses AI to help organize ideas, structure teaching series, review theological themes, and accelerate sermon preparation while maintaining full ownership over theological convictions and final content.   Using AI without losing your voice One of the biggest concerns among pastors is whether AI will replace authentic preaching. Josh argues that AI works best as a collaborator rather than a creator. By training AI on previous sermons, theological frameworks, and ministry values, leaders can use it to refine and organize their ideas while still maintaining their unique voice and convictions.   Curriculum creation and discipleship workflows Vineyard uses AI extensively to create small group curriculum, discipleship resources, class materials, slide decks, teacher guides, and parent resources. Tools like NotebookLM help transform existing content into multiple formats, dramatically reducing preparation time while increasing consistency across ministries.   AI-powered worship ministry Worship and production teams are also leveraging AI. Josh and his worship pastor discuss using tools like Suno to create custom music, countdown tracks, and ministry-specific content. They also explore future possibilities for creating custom stems, backing tracks, and other resources that could significantly reduce production workload.   The ethics of AI and transparency Throughout the conversation, Josh emphasizes the importance of transparency. Leaders should be honest about where AI is assisting their work while recognizing that many forms of ministry have always involved collaboration, research assistance, editors, and support staff. The key is maintaining integrity while leveraging powerful new tools.   A leveling of the playing field for small churches Perhaps the most exciting implication is what AI means for under-resourced churches. Pastors who lack staff, consultants, formal training, or large budgets can now access tools that help bridge those gaps. Josh believes AI may become one of the most powerful ministry equalizers the Church has ever seen.   Notable tools mentioned   • Claude • ChatGPT • Gemini • NotebookLM • Planning Center • HubSpot • Notion • Logos Bible Software • Suno • Zapier • MultiTracks • Google Workspace   Key Quote   "Imagine if you could free up 15 hours of your week to spend more time making sure the people in your church who are most forgotten actually get seen."   • • • • •   Disclaimer: This video and description contain affiliate links.

Gwenaelle Persiaux, psychologue. Dans ce moment extrait d'un épisode très écouté, je l'ai invitée à décortiquer quelque chose qu'on croit comprendre mais qu'on applique rarement à soi-même : la théorie de l'attachement.Dans cet épisode, nous parlons des quatre styles d'attachement, de pourquoi les évitants ont les zones aveugles les plus épaisses, et de pourquoi on peut être parfaitement compétent au travail tout en étant un désastre dans l'intimité. J'ai questionné Gwenaelle sur comment identifier son propre style sans se raconter d'histoires, et sur ce que le genre a encore à voir là-dedans.Citations marquantes"Si je suis dans un couple mais je ne l'investis pas vraiment, j'y suis sans y être, au moins je risque moins d'être blessée.""Plus on est insécure, plus il y a des défenses, donc moins on a accès à la connaissance de soi.""Ça ressurgit quand on devient parent. Ça ressurgit dans les grosses crises de couple. C'est là où on est beaucoup plus poreux.""On peut être sécure au boulot et puis, quand tu t'intéresses à leur vie amoureuse, c'est beaucoup moins sécure.""Plutôt que de le prendre avec la tête, je préfère toujours laisser parler le corps et la résonance du cœur."Big Ideas1. Les quatre styles ne sont pas des cases, mais des boussoles Sécure, évitant, anxieux, désorganisé : chacun correspond à une stratégie construite inconsciemment pour survivre à ses blessures d'enfance. Ce ne sont pas des étiquettes, ce sont des cartes de navigation intérieure. Pourquoi c'est important : comprendre le cadre avant de se chercher dedans évite les auto-diagnostics bâclés. Timestamp : 00:35 - 06:18*2. On peut être compétent là où on s'est sécurisé, blessé là où on ne l'a pas fait Un bon soignant peut être complètement dépassé dans son couple. L'expérience professionnelle construit une sécurité fonctionnelle, mais les noyaux traumatiques non résolus ressurgissent dans l'intimité. Pourquoi c'est important : le succès visible masque souvent une fragilité invisible. Timestamp : 06:40 - 08:53*3. Les évitants sont les champions du déni de leur propre profil Par définition, ceux qui évitent les émotions évitent aussi l'introspection. Leur zone aveugle est la plus épaisse. C'est souvent le regard de l'autre, conjoint ou ami proche, qui crée la fissure dans l'image qu'ils ont d'eux-mêmes. Pourquoi c'est important : l'auto-évaluation seule ne suffit pas. Timestamp : 10:47 - 11:56*4. Le genre n'est pas neutre dans le style d'attachement Culturellement, les hommes sont encore orientés vers l'inhibition émotionnelle (évitants), les femmes vers l'expression et la demande (anxieuses). Les études restent nuancées, mais l'observation clinique le confirme largement. Pourquoi c'est important : les conflits de couple rejoignent souvent ce croisement évitant/anxieux. Timestamp : 11:56 - 12:08*Questions posées dans l'interviewPeux-tu nous définir les différentes typologies d'attachement ?Est-ce que le style d'attachement est propre à la personne ou à la relation dans laquelle on se trouve ?Est-ce qu'on a le même style d'attachement dans toutes nos relations, professionnelles, amicales, amoureuses ?Comment identifier son propre style d'attachement quand on manque de recul sur soi-même ?Pourquoi a-t-on tendance à projeter le style de l'autre avant de regarder le sien ?Comment les défenses psychologiques bloquent-elles la connaissance de soi ?Quels outils concrets peut-on utiliser pour commencer à identifier son style ?Quel rôle jouent les personnes proches (conjoint, amis) dans ce travail d'identification ?Y a-t-il une différence de genre dans la répartition des styles d'attachement ?Dans quelle mesure la culture influence-t-elle l'expression ou l'inhibition émotionnelle ?Références citéesThéories et conceptsThéorie de l'attachement (cadre général) - mentionnée dès [00:35]Psychanalyse et notion d'inconscient, défenses psychologiques - [09:23]Concept de "noyaux traumatiques non résolus" (terminologie clinique) - [08:05]Notion de "persona" (étymologie grecque, masque) - [07:27]Ressources mentionnéesVidéos et livres sur l'attachement (non nommés explicitement) - [10:09]Timestamps clés (optimisés YouTube)00:00 - Introduction au "moment" Présentation du format et mise en contexte.00:35 - Les 4 styles d'attachement Gwenaelle pose les bases : sécure, évitant, anxieux, désorganisé. Une personne sur deux serait sécure. Les trois autres styles correspondent à des stratégies de survie psychologique construites face aux blessures d'enfance.02:06 - L'évitant : se protéger en ne sentant plus Profil détaillé du style évitant. Ces personnes ont appris que montrer leurs émotions était soit inutile (personne ne répondait), soit mal venu. Résultat : inhibition émotionnelle et distance relationnelle.03:39 - L'anxieux : seul, je n'y arrive pas Le style anxieux naît d'un environnement où les émotions débordaient sans être régulées. Ces personnes cherchent constamment validation, présence et réassurance. C'est de l'anxiété relationnelle, pas nerveuse.04:20 - Le désorganisé : le plus rare, le plus lourd Ce style oscille entre évitement total et demande fusionnelle, parfois d'une heure à l'autre. Toujours lié à des traumas lourds : maltraitance ou absence grave de figures parentales.06:18 - Style lié à la personne ou à la relation ? Le style s'homogénéise avec l'âge. C'est avant tout une manière d'être au monde, construite inconsciemment. Mais des subtilités existent : on peut être sécure au travail et désorganisé dans l'intimité.08:53 - Comment identifier son propre style ? Trois pistes : s'informer théoriquement jusqu'à ce que ça "résonne", interroger les proches qui nous connaissent vraiment, et si besoin, travailler avec un thérapeute. Les zones aveugles sont inversement proportionnelles à la sécurité.11:56 - Genre et attachement : les hommes évitants, les femmes anxieuses ? Observation clinique et culturelle : la société valide encore davantage l'expression émotionnelle chez les femmes, et l'inhibition chez les hommes. Ce croisement explique beaucoup de dynamiques de couple. Suggestion d'autres épisodes à écouter : #245 comprendre les secrets des liens affectifs avec Gwenaelle Persiaux (https://audmns.com/hNGTIqO) #259 Se sentir mal dans une société malade avec Gwenaelle Persiaux (https://audmns.com/EoyfCSz)Hébergé par Audiomeans. Visitez audiomeans.fr/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

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In this episode of The Product Podcast by Product School, Carlos González de Villaumbrosia sits down with Cristina Cordova, Chief Operating Officer at Linear, the product development system built for teams and agents. Linear raised $82 million in a Series C round in June 2025 at a $1.25 billion valuation. The company has been profitable since 2021, and serves over 20,000 paid business customers, from seed-stage startups to Fortune 100 enterprises, with a team of just 140 people. Before Linear, Cristina joined Stripe as one of its first employees, and led Platform and Partnerships at Notion.What you'll learn:Why keeping headcount intentionally lean is a strategic advantageReplacing traditional interviews with paid two to five-day projectsWhy PMs are the fastest-growing power users of agentic toolsKey takeaways:A small team is not a small business. Revenue, customers, and growth rate matter more than headcount.If you fully delegate your AI thinking, you lose your native understanding of how these products actually workAgentic workflows are now the default, not a feature. The companies that treat them that way will pull ahead.Credits:Host: Carlos Gonzalez de VillaumbrosiaGuest: Cristina CordovaSocial Links:Find out more about Product School hereFollow our Podcast on TikTok hereFollow Product School on LinkedIn here

Running a business can feel overwhelming. Too many ideas, too many tools, and not enough time to make it all work. This summer, we're breaking down the tools that actually help us run and grow our business without burning out. Welcome to the Smart Tech Summer Mini Series. Each short episode focuses on one tool we use in our day-to-day—from email and organization to content creation, AI, and marketing. We cover platforms like SaneBox, Notion, Linktree, CapCut, Printful, Claude, Arvin, Megaphone AI, and Giphy. We walk through how each tool fits into our workflow, what problem it solves, and how you can start using it in your own business. If you're running a business, creating content, or just trying to stay organized, this series is for you. New mini episodes drop all summer. The right tools don't just save time—they change how you work. Connect with the Pet Shop Girls! Find us anywhere you like to connect! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/petshopgirls⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join us in the Indie Insider Pet Professional Facebook Group: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/share/g/18XEvTjxMj/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join The Pet Shop Girls: Off The Record Substack Community: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://substack.com/@psgofftherecord?utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-page⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Visit our website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.2petshopgirls.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get the Ultimate Video Making Tool Megaphone AI here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://gmm.one/0b0b4fd8-bfd8-4247-b46d-791cd813f28a⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our Partnership Programs for exclusive savings for Pet Pros: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://2petshopgirls.com/#03-1⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get Carly's Pet Nutrition Foundation Course: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://app.retailbrilliance.com/courses/269?tab=about&destination=%2Fcourses%2Fbrowse%3Fsearch%3Dpet%2520nutrition%26destination%3D%252Fcourses%252Fbrowse%253F_gl%253D1*176foeq*_gcl_au*MTg4MjkwMjc1NS4xNzc4Nzg1MzA3*FPAU*MTg4MjkwMjc1NS4xNzc4Nzg1MzA3⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Pet Shop Girls Podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by our hosts and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of any sponsors or partners. Any business, marketing, or pet care advice shared on this podcast is general in nature and may not apply to your specific situation. The Pet Shop Girls Podcast and its hosts are not liable for any outcomes related to the use of the information discussed. This episode includes paid advertising.

In her new essay collection, “Freedom,” novelist and UC Davis creative writing director Zinzi Clemmons examines what freedom means in “a world buckling from the consequences of centuries of interlocking injustices.” She grapples with the complicated legacies of Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama and the #MeToo Movement — and explains why she's no longer an Afropessimist. Clemmons joins us to talk about what it means to consider freedom today for Black Americans, women and oppressed people around the world. Guests: Zinzi Clemmons, director of creative writing, UC Davis; author of the novel “What We Lose” and the new essay collection “Freedom" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do you do when life hands you unexpected free time — not a vacation, not a long weekend, but a recurring, reliable gift of unstructured hours every single week? That's exactly the situation Erin's best friend of over 30 years, Emily Gibson, found herself in when a shift in her employment created free Fridays from now through the end of the year. Instead of defaulting to scrolling, guilt, or vague intentions, Emily got intentional. She designed the Found Fridays project — a personal framework and Instagram series where every Friday is planned with purpose, organized into meaningful categories including rest and relaxation, house and home, friends and family, and fun and festive. Each Friday has a specific activity. Each activity is chosen on purpose. In this episode, Erin and Emily explore what it actually takes to move from "I have free time" to "I used that time in a way I'm proud of" — and why most of us fail to bridge that gap, even when the intention is there. What You'll Hear in This Episode How Emily went from a long weekend of wasted potential to designing a full semester of intentional Fridays Why she created categories instead of a to-do list — and how that distinction changes everything The role of accountability, audience, and public sharing in keeping the project alive What the Found Fridays framework looks like in practice: Notion docs, phone calendar scheduling, partner communication The "eat the frog" philosophy and why tackling one meaningful thing on a Friday makes the whole weekend feel lighter Why the project isn't really about Fridays — it's about learning to fall more in love with the life you already have How to scale the Found Fridays concept to fit your life, even if you don't have a full free day to work with The dopamine menu connection: building a list of what actually brings you joy versus what just consumes your time The Found Fridays Framework: Key Takeaways For anyone who finds themselves with unstructured time: Make the list first. Before the time arrives, write down everything you want to do, need to do, and have been avoiding — without filtering. Break it into categories. Not by task type, but by what you need — rest, accomplishment, connection, creativity. Pick from those buckets. Put it in your calendar and tell someone. Scheduling communicates commitment to yourself and to the people in your life. The video is not the goal. The thing is the goal. Accountability tools (like sharing publicly) work when they serve the project — not when they become the project. It's scalable. You don't need a whole free day. Thursday nights from 7 to 9 can hold a Found Thursday. The principle transfers. Guest Capsule: What's Framing Emily's Season Right Now Reading: The Assistant to the Villain series (whimsical fantasy, more approachable world-building than epic fantasy) Watching: Ted Lasso — "the antithesis to everything happening in the world right now" Scent: Citrus everything — Satsuma from The Body Shop, goji berry lemon and orange body lotion Soundtrack: Qveen Herby — "women getting shit done energy," the first thing she listens to every morning Accounts she loves: Christy Newrutzen (@christi.newrutzen) — "how long does it actually take to do the thing?" | Meredith Shaw, Toronto TV personality and plus-size style icon | and, obviously, Medium Lady Connect with Erin + Medium Lady Instagram: @medium.lady Website: www.mediumladycommunity.com Screenshot this episode and tag @medium.lady on Instagram — Erin loves hearing from listeners after episodes About Medium Lady Talks Medium Lady Talks is created and hosted by Erin, a millennial mother building the life that's made for her while fighting burnout, living intentionally, and embracing gratitude — even when she's grumpy. Each episode combines deep conversation, practical tools, and the kind of honesty that helps you maximize self-discovery and minimize self-judgment.  

David, Elysia, and Jean reunite to kick off their season three coverage of House of the Dragon, outlining what listeners can expect from the pod as the Dance of Dragons reaches its most explosive chapter yet. The team walks through their hosting lineup, with Elysia stepping in to lead episodes one and two while David is away and Jean on board as second chair for the full season, before David returns from episode three onward. Episodes will drop Tuesdays to Wednesdays at the latest each week, with a curated Notion show guide available for listeners who want character and actor context without risking spoilers on the open internet.Contact Us Questions or comments? Send emails to: hotd@thelorehounds.comOr, send us a voicemail! You can use the voicemail tool on our website, thelorehounds.com/contact OR record a note on your smartphone and email it to us at the same address.Links to Patreon, Supercast, Discord, and Network Affiliates https://linktr.ee/thelorehoundsAny opinions stated are ours personally and do not reflect the opinion of or belong to any employers or other entities.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

https://novacut.ai/  https://genaimeetup.com/  Anthropic has officially closed a $65 billion Series H at a $965 billion valuation, nearly 2.5x its valuation from just 100 days ago. Meanwhile, funding is flowing across the ecosystem: Frameworks AI at $15B, Baseten at $11B, OpenRouter's $113M Series B, and Cognition AI's $1B Series D. NVIDIA went on an open-source super week with Nemotron 3 Ultra, Cosmos 3, and Nemotron 3.5 ASR. Microsoft dropped 5 new MAI models. Google released Gemma 4 12B, and Anthropic shipped Opus 4.8. On the benchmarks front, DeepSWE crowns GPT-5.5 as the leader in long-horizon coding tasks, while ITBench shows even frontier models struggle with real-world SRE incidents — Claude Opus 4.7 tops out at just 47%. Plus: Cloudflare acquires VoidZero to build the future of AI-native edge development, and Google is paying SpaceX $920M/month for compute. Topics covered: • Anthropic's $65B Series H and path to $1T • Fireworks AI, Baseten, OpenRouter & Cognition funding rounds • Microsoft's 5 new MAI models • NVIDIA's open-source super week (Nemotron, Cosmos 3) • MiniMax M3, Gemma 4 12B, JetBrains Mellum2, Opus 4.8 • DeepSWE benchmark: GPT-5.5 leads long-horizon coding • ITBench: Frontier models under 50% on real SRE tasks • Cloudflare + VoidZero for AI-native edge dev • Google's $920M/month SpaceX compute deal #AI #Anthropic #NVIDIA #OpenAI #AInews #TechNews #LLM     Funding rounds Anthropic formally confirmed the closure of its $65 billion Series H funding round at a post-money valuation of $965 billion. This represents a 2.5-fold increase over its $380 billion Series G valuation from February 2026, adding $585 billion in value in approximately 100 days https://www.anthropic.com/news/series-h  Frameworks AI raising at 15B valuation representing a near fourfold increase from its $4 billion Series C valuation recorded in October 2025 processing 15 trillion tokens daily for major production clients including Cursor, Notion, and Perplexity https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/technology/articles/fireworks-ai-eyes-15-billion-174609357.html Baseten is raising 1B at 11B valuation annualized revenue, which skyrocketed from $200 million to $600 million over a single quarter https://techstartups.com/2026/05/26/ai-inference-startup-baseten-in-talks-to-raise-1-billion-at-11-billion-valuation/  OpenRouter has secured a $113 million Series B funding OpenRouter has experienced exponential traffic growth, with weekly production throughput expanding fivefold from 5 trillion to 25 trillion tokens over a six-month horizon https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260526953416/en/OpenRouter-Raises-%24113-Million-CapitalG-led-Series-B-as-Weekly-Volume-Explodes-to-25T-Tokens  Further up the stack: Cognition AI secured a $1 billion Series D round led by Lux Capital and 8VC https://cognition.ai/blog/series-d   Model Releases MAI models: MAI-Code-1-Flash: A 5-billion active parameter model optimized for ultra-low latency within GitHub Copilot and VS Code. MAI-Image-2.5: A high-fidelity image generation model ranking third on global image evaluation arenas, outperforming competing architectures like Nano Banana Pro. MAI-Transcribe-1.5: A multi-lingual speech processing engine offering fivefold speed improvements across 43 languages. MAI-Voice-2: Natural audio and voice generation across 15 languages, available at a highly competitive price point. Web IQ: A search-grounding API engineered to directly compete with Perplexity. https://microsoft.ai/models/    https://www.peoplematters.in/news/ai-and-emerging-tech/uber-imposes-dollar1500-monthly-ai-spending-limit-on-employees-amid-rising-costs-50073    Nvidia has executed an "Open-Source Super Week," positioning itself as a dominant software and model publisher: Nemotron 3 Ultra (best US open source open weights model but behind china): A massive 550-billion parameter MoE (55 billion active) designed with a 1-million token context window, optimized specifically for high-throughput, cyclical agent loops. It achieved peak throughput rates of 400 tokens per second on day-zero optimized clusters. Cosmos 3: A physical AI world-modeling framework comprising 16-billion Nano and 64-billion Super variants. Built on a Mixture-of-Transformers (MoT) architecture, Cosmos 3 natively binds textual, visual, auditory, and physical kinetic vectors. Nemotron 3.5 ASR: A highly compact 0.6-billion parameter streaming speech recognition model pushing sub-100 millisecond latencies across 40 language locales.   https://www.minimax.io/models/text/m3  MiniMax M3: A 1-million token context model hitting 59.0% on SWE-Bench Pro and 74.2% on MCP Atlas, though noted for high token consumption due to intensive internal self-validation loops.   https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/technology/developers-tools/introducing-gemma-4-12b/  Gemma 4 12B: Google's Apache 2.0 on-device model, which utilizes an encoder-free architecture that projects vision and audio vectors directly into the text-token space, bypassing separate CLIP-style encoders to minimize local memory footprints. https://www.jetbrains.com/mellum/  JetBrains Mellum2: A compact 12-billion parameter MoE (2.5 billion active) engineered for ultra-low latency routing and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) sub-agents within developer IDEs. Opus 4.8 https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-opus-4-8    https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/05/google-to-pay-spacex-920-million-a-month-for-xai-compute-capacity.html      Benchmarks: https://deepswe.d atacurve.ai/blog https://venturebeat.com/technology/deepswe-blows-up-the-ai-coding-leaderboard-crowns-gpt-5-5-and-finds-claude-opus-exploiting-a-benchmark-loophole (GPT 5.5 the winner in long horizon tasks) a highly complex software engineering benchmark focused on original, long-horizon tasks across five distinct programming languages. Comprising 113 chaotic tasks across 91 live, production-grade repositories, DeepSWE forces agents to generate 5.5 times more code and modify an average of 7 separate files per task compared to standard evaluations. On this challenging leaderboard, GPT-5.5 leads with a score of 70%, establishing a significant 16-percentage-point lead over contemporary alternatives I think older benchmarks where models reach ~90% accuracy can be considered saturated. Few percentage points don't give us any good signal.  https://research.ibm.com/publications/developing-ai-agents-for-it-automation-tasks-with-itbench  ITBench-AA, an evaluation framework focusing on live Kubernetes incident response and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) operations. Comprising 59 live, containerized SRE incident snapshots, the results are remarkably sobering: every frontier model scored under 50% on successful incident resolution, with Claude Opus 4.7 leading at 47% and GPT-5.5 following closely at 46%.   Edge AI announcements: https://www.cloudflare.com/press/press-releases/2026/cloudflare-acquires-voidzero-to-build-the-future-of-the-ai-native-web/  The consolidation of the AI-native developer stack has reached the runtime virtualization layer. Cloudflare recently completed the acquisition of VoidZero, the development group responsible for Vite, Vitest, Rolldown, and Oxc, backing the transaction with a $1 million open-source ecosystem fund. This acquisition is highly strategic; as autonomous agents write an increasing proportion of production software, local development environments, compilation pipelines, and bundlers must be optimized for execution speeds that match agent speeds. Cloudflare's goal is to construct a localized, full-stack edge playground. In this sandbox, AI agents can generate, test, bundle (utilizing the highly parallelized, Rust-based Oxc and Rolldown engines), and deploy entire web applications end-to-end within milliseconds. This architecture completely bypasses traditional local machine container bottlenecks, enabling high-velocity agent loops to execute in a fully sandboxed, web-scale edge runtime.

#187 Welcome back to Girl Club

- Counterpoint: LATAM Smartphone Shipments Up 2% in Q1FY26 - Counterpoint Sees Smartphone Shipments Dropping 14% YoY - Omdia and AppleInsider at Odds Over OLED MBP Launch Window - Ming-Chi Kuo Says Ternus Killed Apple Headset Development - Interest Drops on Apple Card Savings Account - New Neighbors for "Your Friends & Neighbors" Season-Three - Apple TV Drops a Trailer for "Lucky" - Sponsored by NordLayer: Get an exclusive offer - up to 22% off NordLayer yearly plans plus 10% on top with coupon code: macosken-10-NORDLAYER at nordlayer.com/macosken - Sponsored by Notion: Learn more about Notion's Developer Platform today at notion.com/macosken - Catch Ken on Mastodon - @macosken@mastodon.social - Send Ken an email: info@macosken.com - Chat with us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month. Support the show at Patreon.com/macosken

We've been so conditioned to think otherwise for so long now, that it feels like a breath of fresh air to say, hey, this is a good place with good people. Why do so many want to destroy it, internally?

- Goldman Sachs Pumped for Apple, A.I. and WWDC - UBS Stays Neutral on Apple and WWDC - JP Morgan Issue Upbeat Apple Note - Texas App Store Accountability Act Goes Into Effect Today - Apple Hands Global Financials Over to Indian Regulators - Apple Announces First Developer Center for Europe - Job Listings Indicate New Apple Store Planned for Japan - Four New Games Hit Apple Arcade Today - Apple Music Classical Partners on Relaunched Wigmore Hall Live - Sponsored by NordLayer: Get an exclusive offer - up to 22% off NordLayer yearly plans plus 10% on top with coupon code: macosken-10-NORDLAYER at nordlayer.com/macosken - Sponsored by Notion: Learn more about Notion's Developer Platform today at notion.com/macosken - Catch Ken on Mastodon - @macosken@mastodon.social - Send Ken an email: info@macosken.com - Chat with us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month. Support the show at Patreon.com/macosken

In this episode of the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast, host Josh Hadley shares seven practical ways his e-commerce business uses AI to optimize operations and scale growth. Drawing from his experience building an eight-figure brand across Amazon, TikTok Shop, and Shopify, Josh covers strategies including building custom GPTs, automating TikTok Shop listing optimization, streamlining hiring processes, leveraging Alexa data, analyzing meeting transcripts, scaling ad creative production, and cloning leadership decision-making into AI-powered SOPs. Josh emphasizes treating AI like a new team member requiring proper training, offering actionable, real-world insights over hype.Bullet Points:Practical applications of AI in e-commerce operationsOvercoming fears and misconceptions about AI adoptionCustom GPT development for task automationAI-driven optimization of product listings on TikTok ShopAutomating the hiring process with AI scoring systemsUtilizing AI for product insights through Amazon Alexa dataAnalyzing meeting transcripts for business insights and decision-makingScaling ad creative production using AI-generated video contentCloning leadership decision-making into AI Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)Viewing AI as a team member requiring onboarding and trainingTimestamps:00:02:00 Weekly Custom GPT CreationThe speaker's 35-person team is required to create or enhance a custom GPT weekly to automate their specific tasks.00:04:05 AI Agent for TikTok Shop OptimizationAn AI agent integrated with the TikTok Shop API continuously tests and optimizes product titles, descriptions, and main images weekly.00:08:32 Automating Hiring Case Study ScoringAI is used to automatically score applicant case studies based on a predefined rubric, saving hours of manual review time.00:11:29 Custom GPTs Integrated with AlexaCreating custom GPTs that analyze customer questions on Amazon Alexa to optimize product listings and improve Alexa recommendation rankings.00:12:11 Analyzing Company Meeting RecordingsAI analyzes transcripts from all company meetings to identify business constraints, track team progress, and provide a leadership pulse.00:13:56 Scaling Ad Creative ProductionUsing AI video generation tools to quickly produce a high volume of ad creative for Meta and TikTok campaigns.00:14:48Cloning Leadership Judgment and Decision-MakingUsing AI to document processes and decision-making frameworks from leaders, creating an internal knowledge base to empower team members.Links and Mentions:AI Tools:"ChatGPT": "00:02:00""Claude AI": "00:02:00""Fireflies AI Notetaker": "00:11:25""Veo3": "00:14:27""Notion": "00:16:24"E-commerce Platforms:"TikTok Shop": "00:04:05"Videos and Resources:"30 60 90 Day Onboarding Framework": "00:07:52""Episode on Cloning Yourself Utilizing AI": "00:15:24"Transcript:Josh Hadley 00:00:00  Today, I'm going to be walking through seven different ways that we are implementing AI into our e-commerce business and practical steps that you can take to implement it in your business as well. Welcome to the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast, I'm Josh Hadley. I've scaled my own ecommerce brand from 0 to 8 figures, and I'm actively building towards nine figures in sales. This podcast is where I document that journey and share the systems, the strategies, and the lessons learned in real time so that you can learn what actually matters and scale your own business. My name is Josh Hadley. First and foremost, I'm a man of faith. I'm a husband to a beautiful wife and also the father of four children. I've been selling in the e-commerce space for over a decade now, doing multi-million in revenue on Amazon, TikTok, shop and Shopify. And I am also the host of the number one business strategy podcast for ecommerce, and that is E-com breakthrough. Today, I want to dive into the practical use cases of how we're implementing AI into our business.Josh Hadley 00:00:58  Today. I hear a lot of noise going on in a lot of the e-commerce groups. There's a lot of like doom and gloom of, oh, you're getting left behind if you're not actually implementing AI in your business today, if you don't have an agent managing your PPC campaigns, you're late to the party, etc., etc. there's a lot of fear. And then what ultimately happens is there's a lot of entrepreneurs that because there's so much fear and anxiety around it and feel like they're already behind. They just stay stuck and they're just kind of like frozen because nobody's providing actionable content regarding like, here are the actual practical use cases of AI. Yes, there are some incredible features with Claude and integrating it to your email system, right. And being able to monitor your emails for you. Yes, there are some incredible ways to use ChatGPT and the new images that it's able to produce, right? Like, there's a lot of good things that are happening that way, but a lot of times the practical use cases where actually maximizes value in the business gets left to the side, or nobody's actually addressing them.Josh Hadley 00:02:00  So that's what I wanted to do today, is actually provide you with practical use cases that if you're an e-commerce brand, you can go replicate these exact same frameworks and implement AI in your own br...

In today's conversation, Brett sits down with CMO of Figma, Sheila Joglekar Vashee. Previously the second marketing hire at Dropbox, where she helped scale the company past $1 billion in revenue, she now leads marketing at Figma fresh off its IPO. In an industry that has spent a decade trying to turn marketing into something closer to hedge fund trading, Sheila argues the art was always the point — we just stopped talking about it. She unpacks how to run marketing as a portfolio of moonshots, why giving teams different goals breeds dysfunction, how to scale taste across an organization, and why old playbooks are obsolete, even as the fundamentals hold. In today's episode, we discuss: How to run marketing like a portfolio of moonshots The value of disruptive energy for senior marketers Why "Ubiquity is the opposite of cool" How to actually scale taste across an organization What great marketing looks like in the AI era Referenced: Apple: https://www.apple.com/ Dennis Woodside: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dennis-woodside-341302/ Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/ Dylan Field: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylanfield/ Figma: https://www.figma.com Francoise Brougher: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francoise-brougher-341a72/ Gap: https://www.gap.com/ Google Chrome: https://www.google.com/chrome/ Harley-Davidson: https://www.harley-davidson.com/ HubSpot: https://www.hubspot.com/ Notion: https://www.notion.com/ Opendoor: https://www.opendoor.com/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ Square: https://squareup.com/ The Web Is What You Make of It (Dear Sophie): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzOBOuyr-EU Urban Outfitters: https://www.urbanoutfitters.com/ Yamini Rangan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yaminirangan/ Where to find Sheila: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheilavashee/ X: https://x.com/sheilavashee Where to find Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986644/ X: https://x.com/brettberson Where to find First Round Capital: Website: https://firstround.com/ First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 00:07 What excellent marketing actually is in 2026 01:36 Why giving teams different goals creates dysfunction 02:36 The most important decision Sheila made as CMO last year 04:26 The real difference between an SVP and a CMO 06:05 Marketing is one engine - not separate pieces 07:15 The tension between brand and growth 09:25 The decisions a CMO should never be making 09:55 Running marketing like a portfolio of moonshots 12:46 "Ubiquity is the opposite of cool" 15:11 Why a few companies get a flywheel of momentum 16:44 The Silicon Valley clock and irrational perception cycles 19:25 How to actually scale taste across an org 21:09 What changes for a CMO in a post-LLM world 23:15 Why the artistic side of marketing never really left 26:05 Whether taste can ever be encoded in software 27:15 Telling an optimistic, yet realistic story about AI 30:50 You need to make people care 32:11 What surprised Sheila about being a public-company CMO 33:46 Why Figma won enterprise where Dropbox couldn't 35:25 Sheila's favorite campaign ever 37:10 Why announcement videos full of humans, lack humanity 38:55 Playbooks are obselete, but the fundamentals are not 40:25 Why marketing in 2026 demands disruptive energy 41:54 How Sheila architects her week 48:55 Where corporate politics actually come from 53:55 "Sheila, are you going to change the world in this job?" 58:09 What's unique about the CMO and CEO relationship

- 9to5Mac Sees Hope for a Smarter Siri - IDC, Counterpoint Sing MacBook Neo Praises - State and Federal Officials Take Apple to Task Over Maryland Store Closure - Microsoft Hobbling Office for Mac 2019 in Mid-July - Apple Watch Global Running Day Activity Challenge is Today - Nintendo Music App Gets Support for iPad, CarPlay, and Siri - Apple TV Outs Trailer for "Silo" Season-Three - Apple Design Awards Winners Named Ahead of WWDC - Sponsored by NordLayer: Get an exclusive offer - up to 22% off NordLayer yearly plans plus 10% on top with coupon code: macosken-10-NORDLAYER at nordlayer.com/macosken - Sponsored by Notion: Learn more about Notion's Developer Platform today at notion.com/macosken - Catch Ken on Mastodon - @macosken@mastodon.social - Send Ken an email: info@macosken.com - Chat with us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month. Support the show at Patreon.com/macosken

Sasha Orloff sits down with Solon Angel, CEO of Remitian, to explore why tax payments remain one of fintech's most overlooked infrastructure problems. They discuss the outdated systems still powering tax compliance, how AI agents are enabling a new payments layer for accountants and taxpayers, and why the convergence of regulatory change, fraud prevention, and agentic AI could transform the $7 trillion tax payment ecosystem into a seamless, deadline-free experience. -- SPONSORS: Notion Boost your startup with Notion—the ultimate connected workspace trusted by thousands worldwide! From engineering specs to onboarding and fundraising, Notion keeps your team organized and efficient. For a limited time, get 6 months of Notion AI FREE to supercharge your workflow. Claim your offer now at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://notion.com/startups/puzzle⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Puzzle

Kelsey (AI Operations Coordinator at CIT) and Kyle (President & CEO) explain how they built an AI “morning briefing” and daily recap workflow that functions like an executive assistant, pulling context from connected tools such as Outlook/365, Teams, Monday.com or Notion, SharePoint, and a ticketing system. Kyle describes using Claude Code with simple slash commands (e.g., /morning and /daily recap) to surface meetings, open tasks, priorities, and prep context, then updating to-dos throughout the day to avoid relying on an inbox as a task list. They demonstrate Claude's integrations, scheduled briefings, and “skills,” clarify skills vs. agents (and token/cost benefits), and discuss persistent memory via tools like Monday/Notion. They share a universal setup guide and prompt template, touch on security/governance cautions, and briefly explain OpenClaw and its risks.00:00 Morning Briefing Intro00:30 Building an AI Assistant01:30 Morning and Daily Recap03:44 Inbox Overload Problem05:16 Live Demo Setup05:29 Connecting Work Tools07:03 Skills Explained09:59 Agents vs Skills14:18 Morning Briefing Walkthrough15:17 Persistent Memory Systems17:29 Email and Schedule Highlights18:53 Tickets and File Examples19:36 Manual vs Auto Memory24:40 Choosing Notion or Monday30:37 Make It Exist Then Good30:57 Next Skill Idea Triaging31:45 Cited AI Summaries32:22 Universal Setup Guide33:02 Tool Stack Options33:43 Add Personal Sparkle35:48 Data Governance PSA38:25 Setup Paths and Automation39:03 Cowork and Agent Actions40:38 Copilot and Platform Roadmap47:13 Prompt Template Walkthrough50:00 OpenClaw Explained53:36 Sandboxing and Safety58:13 Wrap Up and Resources

- Citi's High on Edge A.I. Possibility Heading Into WWDC - Apple Shares Drop in Wake of Dell Announcement - Apple Revs the Promo Engines for WWDC26 - Apple Invites Developers to Star Wars Flick Next Tuesday - Gruber Holding WWDC Talk Show Live Next Tuesday - Apple Issues iOS 26.5.1 for iPhone Air and iPhone 17 - Apple Outs Bug Fixing macOS Tahoe 26.5.1 - Apple TV Ranks High in Streaming "Quality" List - Zoë Kravitz Cast to Lead Feature Film for Apple - "Pluribus," Washington, and Pfeiffer Honored with Gotham Television Awards - Sponsored by NordLayer: Get an exclusive offer - up to 22% off NordLayer yearly plans plus 10% on top with coupon code: macosken-10-NORDLAYER at nordlayer.com/macosken - Sponsored by Notion: Learn more about Notion's Developer Platform today at notion.com/macosken - Catch Ken on Mastodon - @macosken@mastodon.social - Send Ken an email: info@macosken.com - Chat with us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month. Support the show at Patreon.com/macosken

Did you like the episode? Send me a text and let me know!!How to Scale From 0 to 100 Customers: The Startup Distribution GuideThe Zero-to-One Blueprint: How Startups Find Their First 100 UsersEpisode DescriptionIn this episode of Business Conversations with Pi and PIET 2.0, Scoob, Pi, and PIET tackle the ultimate "Zero-to-One" startup hurdle: Where and how do I find my very first 10 to 100 customers when I have zero brand awareness, no marketing budget, and an imperfect prototype?Pulling from the battle-tested playbooks of Y Combinator, Close CRM, and top digital growth experts, this masterclass breaks down why doing things that "spectacularly fail to scale" is the only reliable way to build a foundation for massive growth. If you are an early-stage founder trying to map out a clear customer acquisition strategy, this blueprint is built for you.⏱️ Episode Timestamps[00:00:00] — Introduction to Episode 2.0Scoob introduces AI co-hosts Pi and PIET 2.0 to tackle real-world entrepreneurial growth and user acquisition bottlenecks.[00:00:50] — The Counterintuitive 100 Fanatics RuleAn analysis of Airbnb co-founder Brian Chesky's core philosophy: Why it is infinitely better to have 100 people who absolutely love your product than a million who just sort of like it.[00:02:40] — The Archetype of the "Innovator"How to filter your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) based on raw pain intensity. Why early adopters buy half-finished, buggy software to solve an acute workflow disruption.[00:04:15] — Case Studies in Pain-Point ValidationExamining the early go-to-market strategies of Notion (targeting tech-savvy power users) and Brooklinen (targeting young urban professionals priced out of luxury department stores).[00:05:30] — The Trap of Generic Cash FlowWhy casting too wide of a net on Day 1 breaks your product roadmap feedback loop and creates a "Frankenstein monster" product that serves no one well.[00:07:15] — The Apollo 13 Scaling ParadoxSteli Efti's crucial warning against premature scaling. Why building a marketing funnel for 10,000 users before you have 10 is an entrepreneurial trap.[00:08:30] — Brute Force Acquisition TacticsHow Close CRM co-founder Steli Efti secured his first 7 B2B clients with zero lines of code written by manually targeting newly funded seed startups on Crunchbase.[00:10:00] — The 50-Profile LinkedIn Direct Outreach FormulaThe mathematical breakdown of hyper-personalized, founder-to-professional cold messaging. How to systematically manufacture a warm network with a 10–20% response rate.[00:12:15] — Moving From 10 to 100: The Hub-and-Spoke Distribution ModelHow to stop hunting individual footprints in the desert and start borrowing existing digital ecosystems.[00:13:00] — Historical Guerilla Growth HacksHow Netflix embedded inside fringe DVD bulletin boards, Etsy traveled to physical arts and crafts fairs, and Morning Brew manually collected emails via physical clipboards in college lecture halls.[00:14:40] — Navigating Digital Watering Holes SafelyThe rules of community reciprocity: How to launch on platforms like Reddit, Discord, or Hacker News without looking like a spammer.[00:15:45] — Building the Repeatable Growth EngineAn in-depth look at Lenny Rachitsky's journey. Why long-term hockey-stick growth only happens after a linear trend line of relentless, high-quality content consistency.[00:18:30] — Paradigm Shift: Customers as Unsalaried Co-FoundersPi and PIET reframe the entire acquisition process as a collaborative product development exercise.

Running a business can feel overwhelming. Too many ideas, too many tools, and not enough time to make it all work. This summer, we're breaking down the tools that actually help us run and grow our business without burning out. Welcome to the Smart Tech Summer Mini Series. Each short episode focuses on one tool we use in our day-to-day—from email and organization to content creation, AI, and marketing. We cover platforms like SaneBox, Notion, Linktree, CapCut, Printful, Claude, Arvin, Megaphone AI, and Giphy. We walk through how each tool fits into our workflow, what problem it solves, and how you can start using it in your own business. If you're running a business, creating content, or just trying to stay organized, this series is for you. New mini episodes drop all summer. The right tools don't just save time—they change how you work. Connect with the Pet Shop Girls! Find us anywhere you like to connect! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/petshopgirls⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join us in the Indie Insider Pet Professional Facebook Group: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/share/g/18XEvTjxMj/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join The Pet Shop Girls: Off The Record Substack Community: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://substack.com/@psgofftherecord?utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-page⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Visit our website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.2petshopgirls.com⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get the Ultimate Video Making Tool Megaphone AI here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://gmm.one/0b0b4fd8-bfd8-4247-b46d-791cd813f28a⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our Partnership Programs for exclusive savings for Pet Pros: ⁠⁠⁠https://2petshopgirls.com/#03-1⁠⁠⁠ Get Carly's Pet Nutrition Foundation Course: ⁠⁠⁠https://app.retailbrilliance.com/courses/269?tab=about&destination=%2Fcourses%2Fbrowse%3Fsearch%3Dpet%2520nutrition%26destination%3D%252Fcourses%252Fbrowse%253F_gl%253D1*176foeq*_gcl_au*MTg4MjkwMjc1NS4xNzc4Nzg1MzA3*FPAU*MTg4MjkwMjc1NS4xNzc4Nzg1MzA3⁠⁠⁠ The Pet Shop Girls Podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by our hosts and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of any sponsors or partners. Any business, marketing, or pet care advice shared on this podcast is general in nature and may not apply to your specific situation. The Pet Shop Girls Podcast and its hosts are not liable for any outcomes related to the use of the information discussed. This episode includes paid advertising.

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May was the kind of month that shifts things. Not just on the surface but underneath, in the infrastructure, in the systems, in the way the whole operation runs. I'm pulling back the curtain on everything that happened this month inside my life and business, from opening formal AI seats to every single team member, to fully integrating Notion as the company operating system, to welcoming new team members, relaunching YouTube, and making a decision that is going to give my family the summer we have worked so hard for. There is also a big announcement in this one. If you have been wondering what it actually looks like when a Life and Business Operating System starts working the way it is supposed to, this is the episode to listen to all the way through. xoxo, Chelsi Jo . . . . . Learn how to build your Life and Business Operating System in a free 20-minute interactive masterclass

The Enlightened Family Business Podcast Ep. 161: AI Is Coming Fast — What Family Businesses Should Do Now with Jack Potvin   In this episode of the Enlightened Family Business Podcast, host Chris Yonker is joined by AI product builder Jack Potvin for a fast-moving, practical conversation about artificial intelligence and what privately held and family businesses need to do — right now — to stay competitive. Jack built his AI foundation working on one of the world's first computer vision models for sports before the rise of large language models, and now dedicates his work to helping independent businesses harness this technology before the window closes. Chris and Jack make the case for why family businesses — historically outperformers — are at a critical inflection point: large corporations are pouring tens of billions into AI adoption, and the playing field will not stay level for those who wait. Together they explore what AI actually is, the two core value drivers of efficiency and capability expansion, where to start when your team is at zero, why governance policies matter more than most owners realize, which specific tools deliver immediate value, and what AI genuinely cannot replace — deep domain expertise, broken process diagnosis, and nuanced human judgment. They also dive into real-world case studies from a beverage manufacturer and an insurance agency that have completely transformed their operations through AI, and close with a grounded, practical framework for family business leaders ready to take their first meaningful steps. Episode Chapters ·       0:00   Welcome and Framing the Opportunity ·       1:00   Meet Jack Potvin — From Sports AI to Family Business Adoption ·       4:06   Why Family Businesses Are at a Competitive Inflection Point ·       7:28   What Is AI? Defining LLMs, Efficiency, and Capability Expansion ·       13:18  Should Your Company Have an AI Policy? ·       16:04  Addressing the Fear: Job Loss, Data Privacy, and the Real Risks ·       22:10  Where to Start: Daily Drivers, Existing Tools, and Filling the Gap ·       26:54  Best AI Tools Right Now: Read AI, Whisper Flow, Notion, Gamma ·       30:29  Operational Efficiency, Analytics, and Business Development ·       31:11  Two Real-World Case Studies: Beverage Manufacturer and Insurance Agency ·       35:23  What AI Is Great At — and Where Humans Must Lead ·       40:40  AI for Business Development, Outbound, and CRM Automation ·       45:59  Strategic Planning, Knowledge Bases, and Building Your Company's AI Brain ·       50:20  Q&A and Closing Resources   Websites ·       businessautomation.com ·       chrisyonker.com   About Jack Potvin Jack Ryan Potvin is an entrepreneur and AI strategist focused on helping businesses adopt practical artificial intelligence solutions that improve efficiency, decision-making, and competitive positioning. As the founder of Business Automation, Jack works with companies to integrate AI into everyday business operations — from automating workflows and improving internal knowledge systems to enhancing marketing, sales, and strategic insight. Jack specializes in translating rapidly evolving AI capabilities into practical tools that business leaders can implement today, without requiring large technical teams or massive technology investments. He is particularly passionate about helping family-owned and employee-owned companies adopt AI in ways that strengthen their long-term competitiveness while preserving the leadership values and culture that make these businesses successful.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Have you ever written a process that nobody followed? Or built a folder of SOPs that your team politely ignored and you quietly stopped updating? That was a big struggle for today's featured guest, but six weeks before this conversation, he and his team built something that solved a problem most agency owners have tried and failed to fix for years: an AI context engine that makes their operating procedures actually stick. In this episode, he walks through exactly how it works, how they structured shared and personal context layers, how to get your team started without overwhelming them, and why giving AI an outcome rather than a task is the thing most founders are still getting wrong. Andy Janaitis is the founder of PPC Pitbulls, a boutique digital marketing agency focused on Google Ads and Meta Ads for small to medium businesses. His background is in industrial engineering, data science, software engineering, and product management. Throughout these different stages of his career, he always worked at agencies. So naturally, when it came to starting his own business that seemed like the obvious choice. He launched the agency in 2020 alongside a former colleague, the same week his first child was born and COVID hit. PPC Pitbulls' differentiator is measurement: every ad dollar is tracked, client behavior on-site is understood, and optimization follows the data rather than intuition. In this episode, we'll discuss: Andy's solution to the common owner SOP problem Shared context vs. personal context Get next-level results by providing outcomes, not tasks Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources This episode is brought to you by Wix Studio: If you're leveling up your team and your client experience, your site builder should keep up too. That's why successful agencies use Wix Studio — built to adapt the way your agency does: AI-powered site mapping, responsive design, flexible workflows, and scalable CMS tools so you spend less on plugins and more on growth. Ready to design faster and smarter? Go to wix.com/studio to get started. The SOP Problem Most Agencies Have Given Up On Every agency owner knows the rhythm. You write the process. You put it in ClickUp or Notion or a shared drive. You announce it to the team. Three months later nobody is using it, and you are back to making every decision yourself because it is faster than watching the system fail in real time. Andy has run this loop and now, just six weeks before the recording, managed to use AI to create a tool that changed everything. It was an AI context engine that pulled from every client touchpoint, including meeting recordings, email, and Slack, and converted that information into living context files the team can query in real time. The key detail is what happens when someone wants to update a shared file. Every central skills file has an owner. Changes get queued for approval rather than overwriting existing rules. What used to be a static document that slowly went stale is now a system that learns, updates, and actually enforces how the agency operates. Shared Context vs. Personal Context: Why the Distinction Matters The context gathered in this way is structured across the team in two tiers: First tier: The central bank holds client context, agency-wide skills files, and general operating rules. That lives in a shared Google Drive folder that auto-syncs to every team member's desktop. Second tier: Personal context, meaning individual rules that only apply to a specific person's workflow, like filtering certain emails that have nothing to do with the agency. The reason this distinction matters is that most teams building shared AI context run into one of two problems: the files are so locked down nobody updates them, or they are so open that updates overwrite each other and nothing is reliable. The queue-and-approve structure Andy built threads that needle. Team members can flag a better way to do something. The file owner reviews it. If it makes sense, it gets merged into the main store. The agency gets smarter without the chaos of everyone editing the same file in real time. Start With One Specific Thing, Not the Whole System Most founders decide to build an AI operating system and then make the mistake of trying to build everything at once, load too much context into a single document, and end up with a system so heavy it cannot function efficiently. Jason describes his own early version as trying to get every person in the company to approve a single letter change. The architecture was right but the structure was wrong. Andy's starting point recommendation is specific enough to actually follow: Pick one workflow. The one that creates the most friction or the most inconsistency. Open Claude desktop, describe what you want, identify the tool or source you want to pull from, and ask it to build a file structure that keeps client context organized and retrievable. The plan it generates is not perfect. That is fine. You approve, adjust, and run it. From that first working piece, everything else becomes an iteration. The common mistake is waiting for a complete vision before starting. The agencies making real progress right now started with something small six weeks ago and have been adding ever since. Give It an Outcome, Not a Task The tactical shift that runs through this entire conversation is the difference between assigning AI a task and giving it an outcome. A task is "write me a sales proposal." An outcome is "we need to win this client, here is everything we know about them, here is our agency's positioning, here is what a strong proposal from us looks like, produce a first draft." The output from the second prompt is not in the same category as the output from the first. This is the same principle that makes or breaks the first few hires at a growing agency. Most founders who have struggled with underperforming team members can trace it back to the same root: they handed someone a task without ever communicating the outcome they were trying to reach. AI amplifies both good and bad briefing habits instantly. Give it strong context and a clear destination, and it operates well above expectations. Give it a vague instruction and ignore the output quality, and the tool looks broken when the real problem is the brief. Building the context engine is how you make that outcome-focused briefing the default rather than the exception. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Esta semana voy a escribirte un poco más de lo normal.Voy a escribirte más porque vamos a abrir una nueva edición de Más Listo que la IA, la formación que hacemos Víctor Millán y yo para aprender a usar inteligencia artificial con un poco de criterio, algo de método y esa pizca de pillería que también nos caracteriza.Prefiero decirlo así, de frente: esta semana voy a vender.* No voy a fingir que no estoy vendiendo.* No voy a esconder que esto es una campaña comercial debajo de una montaña de “contenido de valor”.* Y no voy a hacer como si cada correo hubiera nacido de una epifanía espontánea cuando, en realidad, forma parte de una secuencia pensada para que una persona pueda decidir si entra o no entra en la formación.Pero precisamente por eso quería escribir este correo antes de empezar.Porque una cosa es vender y otra muy distinta es convertir la venta en una persecución.Harto de humo y cuentas atrásDurante estos días he estado pensando cómo ordenar esta campaña y me he dado cuenta de que el bloqueo no estaba en escribir los emails. Eso, más o menos, termina saliendo.El bloqueo estaba en otra parte: en decidir qué tipo de conversación quiero tener contigo durante una semana en la que voy a aparecer más de lo habitual en tu correo electrónico.Podría hacer lo clásico.Un primer email de “el mundo ha cambiado”. Otro de “esto es una oportunidad histórica”. Otro de “mira todo lo que incluye”. Y luego ya sabes: preguntas frecuentes, últimas 24 horas, última llamada, ahora sí que sí, cierro carrito, esta vez no es broma.Todo eso que sabemos que funciona. O que suele funcionar.Pero me da bastante pereza.Y, sobre todo, no encaja demasiado con mi forma de trabajar.No porque vender me parezca mal. Al revés. Vender me parece una parte fundamental del trabajo creativo.Lo que me da pereza es esa forma de vender que parece diseñada para que las dos partes terminen incómodas: quien vende, porque siente que está apretando demasiado; quien recibe, porque siente que le están intentando colocar algo con calzador.Y Más Listo que la IA no es una compra de pim pam.Cuesta 249 euros.Se puede pagar en tres plazos, sí, pero sigue siendo una decisión que merece pensarse. No es “me compro este cacharrito porque hoy estoy animado”. Es una formación. Es tiempo. Es atención. Es confiar en que lo que hay dentro va a ayudarte a trabajar mejor, pensar mejor y construir un sistema más sólido para usar inteligencia artificial sin convertirte en su becario.Por eso no quiero que nadie entre por nervios.No quiero que alguien compre porque siente que se queda fuera, se agobia, paga y ya veremos.Quiero que, si alguien entra, sienta que ha tomado una buena decisión.Y si no entra, también.Esa frase es importante para mí.Porque vender bien no debería consistir en reducir la capacidad crítica del lector hasta que compra.No debería consistir en sintetizarlo todo en un punto de dolor, apretarlo hasta que moleste y esperar a que la persona pague para dejar de sentir presión.Creo que vender bien debería consistir en darte mejores elementos para decidir.Y en que, después, puedas sentirte bien con la decisión que has tomado.El precio, en grandeCuando alguien se plantea pagar 249 euros por una formación, las preguntas importantes no deberían ser “¿cuánto tiempo queda?” o “¿qué bonus voy a perder si no pago a tiempo?”.Al menos no solo esas.Para mí, las preguntas importantes son mucho más terrenales:* ¿Necesito saber mucho de inteligencia artificial para entrar?* ¿Puedo hacerlo a mi ritmo?* ¿Cuánto tiempo voy a necesitar para aplicar todo esto?* ¿Tendré acompañamiento durante el proceso?* ¿Es una suscripción o un pago único?* ¿Tiene sentido si trabajo por cuenta ajena?* ¿Es realmente para mí o estoy comprando otra cosa que luego se quedará muerta en una carpeta?Preguntas de personas reales.Preguntas que yo también me hago cuando compro formaciones. Y más todavía cuando son una inversión potente, de dinero y de tiempo.Esas son las preguntas que quiero resolver esta semana.No de pasada.No escondidas al final en una sección de preguntas frecuentes, como quien barre migas debajo de la alfombra.Quiero que sean el centro de la conversación.Porque si una campaña no responde a las dudas reales de la persona que está valorando comprar, creo que no está vendiendo. Está generando ruido alrededor de una oferta para que, entre el humo, alguien termine entrando medio perdido.Y no quiero eso.Mi intención con esta secuencia de correos no es repetir “compra, compra, compra” con distintos sinónimos.Quiero que cada correo tenga una función.* Uno irá a explicar por qué esta formación no va de saber mucho sobre IA, sino de recuperar criterio en un momento en el que todo el mundo tiene herramientas, pero no necesariamente dirección para usarlas.* Otro irá a aterrizar cómo se aplica esto sin convertirlo en una tarea infinita en Notion, en Drive o en cualquiera de esas pequeñas tumbas digitales donde cada uno acumula sus buenas intenciones.* Otro servirá para explicar para quién tiene sentido y para quién no. Porque no, no creo que esto sea para todo el mundo, y decirlo me parece más honesto que venderlo como si fuera una vitamina universal.* Y cerraré con otro correo para resolver dudas prácticas: precio, formato, acompañamiento, qué incluye la formación, cómo se puede pagar, los plazos y, sobre todo, la decisión final.La idea es sencilla.Si te interesa Más Listo que la IA, estos correos deberían darte el contexto suficiente para tomar una decisión con claridad.Y si no te interesa la formación, al menos podrás leerlos como una especie de despiece en directo de una campaña de venta que intenta no tratar al lector como si fuera idiota.Vas a poder ver cómo intento plasmarlo.Y creo que eso también puede interesarte como creador, como profesional o como persona que quizá en algún momento tenga que vender un producto, un servicio, una idea o un proyecto.No prometo que vaya a salir perfecto.Seguramente habrá momentos en los que me pase de prudente. Otros en los que quizá me quede corto. Y otros en los que tenga que recordarme que vender no es pedir perdón por existir, que es una de esas cosas en las que algunos caemos demasiado.Pero sí sé lo que quiero evitar.* No quiero escribir una campaña basada en FOMO barato.* No quiero que el argumento principal sea “corre, que esto se acaba”.* No quiero apoyarme en la urgencia como si la persona al otro lado no pudiera razonar si no le pongo una cuenta atrás delante.Aunque habrá urgencia, claro. Hay una apertura, una fecha y unas condiciones concretas.Pero no quiero que ese sea el motivo por el que alguien entre.No quiero que la única idea que quede después de todos estos correos sea “compra antes de que suba el precio”.Si después de una semana de emails esa es la única idea clara, la campaña no era una campaña.Era una alarma en tu móvil con enlaces.Lo que quiero intentar es otra cosa.Quiero explicarte bien qué problema resuelve Más Listo que la IA, para quién tiene sentido, qué cambia cuando empiezas a usar inteligencia artificial con método en lugar de ir saltando de herramienta en herramienta, y por qué creemos que esta formación puede ayudarte a trabajar mejor si estás en ese punto.No desde la presión.Desde el encaje.Desde la idea de que comprar también puede ser una decisión razonada, no una rendición después de recibir 300 impactos de venta.Así que este correo es un aviso y, a la vez, una especie de contrato.Esta semana te voy a vender.Pero voy a intentar hacerlo enseñándote la estrategia, respondiendo dudas reales y respetando tu capacidad de decisión.Si entras, quiero que sepas por qué entras.Si no entras, quiero que sepas por qué no.Y si por el camino te sirve ver cómo se piensa una campaña por dentro, aunque no compres nada, entonces este experimento ya habrá merecido un poco la pena.Un abrazote This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.guitermo.com/subscribe

Penn State football surges ahead of James Franklin and Virginia Tech, as Matt Campbell secures 20 early commits, outpacing expectations and silencing doubts about recruiting prowess. With stars like Carter Blattner and top targets like Abraham Sesay and Ifeanyi Emedobi in the spotlight, the Nittany Lions' focus shifts to landing elite edge rushers and playmaking wide receivers like Khalil Taylor and DeSean Hall to complete a loaded class. Is Campbell building a Big Ten powerhouse in record time? Zach Seyko and recruiting specialist Brian Smith debate the Penn State-Virginia Tech recruiting battle and analyze Steve Sarkisian's controversial remarks about the James Franklin firing. Key topics include Penn State's needs at linebacker and safety, the program's improved wide receiver recruiting under new staff—including Kashif Moore—and why Campbell's X's and O's philosophy, not just recruiting, hold the key to Penn State's trajectory. Can the Nittany Lions break through Big Ten barriers and meet fans' championship expectations? Everydayer Club If you never miss an episode, it's time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join the community: https://theportal.supercast.com/ Support us by supporting our sponsors! Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast Rugiet Get 15% off your treatment → https://rugiet.com/lockedonnhl Rugiet. Performance medicine for men. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get one-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The new AIEWF website is live! CFPs close in 2 days and we will run our first New Engineer Orientation this weekend, get your tickets booked ASAP as they -will- sell out. Take the AI Engineering Survey and get >$2k in credits and free AIE WF tickets!One of the central tensions in the agents industry is that even while there are major decacorn agent labs like Sierra, Decagon, Notion and Cursor being built up, it is also true that it has never been easier to DIY agents, with a plethora of agent frameworks like LangGraph and Pydantic and Flue, and managed agents from Anthropic and Gemini and Amazon. There has been a wave of companies building their own background agents from Shopify to Stripe to Paradigm to Razorpay, and even Cognition's friends Ramp have built their own coding agent with other friend Modal.You'd think Cognition might feel a bit threatened, but they're not - even after all this, they were way oversubscribed for the $1B Series D they just announced:Walden Yan, coiner of context engineering and Chief Product Officer/Cofounder of Cognition, invited OpenInspect's Cole Murray to talk about why the Devin is in the Details.Full conversation live on the pod today: In retrospect, async agents were the most AGI pilled bet you could make in 2024 - the models weren't good enough yet to vibecode, and people didn't trust AI enough to let it rip, nobody (including early Cognition) was sure about the form factors. Now it is obvious:* The first wave of AI coding tools made the developer faster but remain heavily in the loop. Copilor and Cursor's tab autocomplete are prime examples However, the workflow was still heavily centered around and bottlenecked by the developer's local workflow: a developer in an IDE, watching the model, accepting or rejecting changes, and pushing code one interaction at a time.* The second wave was local agents: Claude Code, Windsurf, Cursor's agents pane: first one and increasingly many terminals all running concurrently.* The current Age of Async Agents points to a different future focused more on agent orchestration which drives end-to-end development.According to previous guest Steve Yegge, there are finer-grained 8 levels to agent adoption, but we have collapsed it into three.As Cursor's Michael Truell put it in The third era of AI software development:Cursor is no longer primarily about writing code. It is about helping developers build the factory that creates their software. This factory is made up of fleets of agents that they interact with as teammates: providing initial direction, equipping them with the tools to work independently, and reviewing their work.The agent should not sit solely inside the developer's flow. It should be setup to work in the background so that you can give it a task, a repo, a machine, a shell, a browser, tests, memory, and review loops to go do the work somewhere else.In less than a year, the sentiment has shifted from avoiding multi-agent systems:to suggesting approaches that actually work:From coining “context engineering” to building the infrastructure behind Devin's 7x PR growth and jump from 16% to 80% of commits across Cognition repos, Walden Yan has had a front-row seat to the background-agent shift. In this episode, Cognition co-founder and CPO Walden Yan joins swyx alongside Cole Murray, creator of OpenInspect, to unpack why everyone is building their own Devin, what changed after the December 2025 model inflection, and why “spec to pull request” is now becoming a real production workflow.We go deep on the architecture of background agents: harness-in-the-box vs out-of-the-box, why Devin separates the “brain” from the machine, why repo setup is still one of the hardest problems, why Docker is not always enough, and how full VMs, snapshots, scoped secrets, GitHub bots, Slack integrations, and video-based testing all fit together. Walden and Cole also dig into memory, MCP limitations, multi-agent orchestration, AI code review, SRE auto-triage, PMs shipping code from Slack, Windsurf 2.0, hybrid frontier/sub-frontier systems, and the real failure mode of uncontrolled vibe coding: your codebase regressing to your worst engineer.And as agents eat software… and software eats the world… you can draw the conclusion on what is next:We discuss:* Why the engineering world is waking up to background agents and cloud agents* The December 2025 model inflection that made spec-to-PR workflows practical* Devin's 7x merged PR growth and rise from 16% to 80% of commits* Why Cole built OpenInspect as an open-source background-agent system* The economics of $20/seat agent products and why monetization is tricky* What Cognition actually sells beyond Devin: infra, onboarding, integrations, and adoption* Harness in the box vs out of the box, and why architecture matters* Why Devin separates the brain from the machine for security and permissions* Repo setup, scoped secrets, Docker Compose, and agent-ready dev environments* Why full VMs matter when agents need to run real applications and test them* Android, macOS, Windows, nested virtualization, and machine-specific agent work* Why testing is much harder than “computer use”* Screenshots, video verification, and the “I know it works” merge moment* GitHub UX, Devin Review, AI reviewers, and agents responding to PR comments* Why MCP alone is not enough for first-class Slack and enterprise integrations* Memory, Knowledge, skills, Claude.md, and why retrieval is still unsolved* Devin's auto-generated memories and the challenge of memory pruning* Always-on agents as permanent PMs for issues, tickets, and product areas* Sub-agents, meta-Devin management, and what multi-agent systems actually add* Why pure auto-merge vibe coding breaks down after about two weeks* AI code smells, lint rules, reward hacking, and Semgrep for agent-written code* GitAI, inline context, and preserving the “why” behind code changes* Local testing, mock servers, older codebases, and preparing companies for agents* Windsurf 2.0 and the handoff between local foreground agents and cloud background agents* SRE auto-triage, support workflows, and agents as first responders* PMs, marketing, and non-engineers creating pull requests from Slack* AI agent budgets, $1k-$5k per engineer spend, and hybrid frontier/sub-frontier systems* The rise of autonomous coding factories and who Cognition is hiringWalden Yan* X: https://x.com/walden_yan* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/waldenyan/Cole Murray* X: https://x.com/_colemurray* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colemurray/* OpenInspect / Background Agents: https://github.com/ColeMurray/background-agentsTimestamps00:00:00 Introduction00:00:43 Why Everyone Is Building Their Own Devin00:01:57 Devin's 2025 Ramp: 7x PR Growth and 80% of Commits00:03:49 OpenInspect and the Rise of Open-Source Background Agents00:07:59 What Cognition Actually Sells Beyond Devin00:09:56 Background Agent Architecture: Harness In vs Out of the Box00:12:08 Separating the Brain from the Machine00:14:07 Repo Setup, Secrets, Docker, and Full VMs00:19:13 Why Testing Is Harder Than Computer Use00:22:40 Video Verification and the “I Know It Works” Merge Moment00:23:19 GitHub UX, Devin Review, and AI Code Review00:25:42 MCP, Slack, and Enterprise Agent Integrations00:28:59 Memory, Knowledge, and Always-On Agents00:36:16 Sub-Agents, Multi-Agent Orchestration, and Meta-Devin00:43:55 Vibe Coding, Auto-Merge, and Codebase Decay00:48:38 Agent Infra, VPCs, Cloud Providers, and Fast VM Restore00:52:25 AI Code Smells, Reward Hacking, and Code Review Systems00:56:10 Making Codebases Agent-Ready00:58:30 Windsurf 2.0 and the Local-to-Cloud Agent Handoff01:01:15 SRE Auto-Triage, PMs Shipping Code, and Agent Use Cases01:04:32 Agent Budgets, Hybrid Models, and Autonomous Coding Factories01:06:51 Hiring at Cognition and OpenInspect Consulting01:07:45 OutroTranscriptIntroduction: Walden Yan, Cole Murray, and Context EngineeringSwyx [00:00:00]: All right, we're in the studio with Walden Yan, co-founder of Cognition, CPO.Walden [00:00:08]: Happy to be here.Swyx [00:00:09]: Which is a cool title. And coiner of context engineering.Walden [00:00:15]: Although I think there are many people who'd used the terms in various ways beforehand, but I did find that people, both internally and externally, enjoyed the upgrade from prompt engineering or model wrapping into maybe a more thoughtful way to build agents.Swyx [00:00:33]: For those who haven't caught up on that, I have on screen the Don't Build Multi-Agents post, which you should go read on and we might refer to, and Cole Murray, who created OpenInspect.Cole [00:00:43]: Great to be here.Swyx [00:00:43]: So let's talk about it. Everyone is building their own Devins. What's going on?The December Shift: From Handholding Models to Autonomous PRsCole [00:00:51]: So I think the engineering world is waking up to this idea of background agents, cloud agents, whatever you'd like to call it. And I think we saw a shift around the December timeframe of 2025, where the models Opus 4.5 and GPT 5.2, they reached a capability where we moved away from handholding the model and being able to actually more or less autonomously drive the model. And what I mean by that is that we could pretty much go from a specification to a completed pull request, assuming the spec was good enough, with very little friction. And that paradigm alone, I think, changed a lot of how we interact with agents, and opened this world where background agents became more practical.Swyx [00:01:41]: I think for Cole, everyone experienced this in December, but I feel like there was just this increasing ramp, right? There was this moment which was, I think, Sonnet 3.7, where, You guys rewrote Devin in one night or something. So describe 2025 or how it felt from your side.Walden [00:02:01]: In retrospect, we always thought it was ramping up, but then even now, over the last three, four months from today, it's been ramping up even faster. So it's almost funny to be talking about how, big of a leap Sonnet 3.7 was, and honestly, a lot of it was stripping out parts of Devin that were no longer needed with that jump in of intelligence. But I also just think that a lot of the recent leaps, especially, you look at, models like Opus and the latest GPT models, they are reaching levels of autonomy where people are actually finding that they actually can just be hands-off. And people who were once debating, “Oh, do I need to be in the weeds with my model in the IDE? Can I just completely move it off into the cloud?” That's a more serious conversation, and we've seen that in all of our growth charts. Internally there's this funny graph where our usage has, of PRs, our merged PRs, has grown 7X since I forget what it was called.Swyx [00:02:57]: I think Dev, maybe tweeted that. Yes.Walden [00:03:01]: it grew like 7X over, the last, I think it was, two months, three months, something like that. And then you see our engineering headcount growth. It's, gone up by, 10% or something.Swyx [00:03:11]: We were, we were afraid To release this. So this is Devin commit percentages on all Devin repos, was 16% in January and now 80% in March.Walden [00:03:25]: It's a big shift right now. And so it makes sense that a lot of people are now thinking about, buying Devin, but also maybe, trying to build their own and there's Lots of I have a lot of fun building Devin, so I can see why other people would want to build their own cloud agents as well. Matt, well, maybe it's good to hear, what initially inspired you to try to build OpenInspect?OpenInspect: Ramp, Cloud Agents, and Open SourceCole [00:03:49]: OpenInspect came about, through primarily my clients observing how they were using tools like Claude, OpenAI's Codex at the time, and seeing some of the friction that they were having with it. Primarily the Claude was being used through Slack, and a big issue they ran into was that the sessions that were launched were specific to whoever called it via Slack. And so if a PM was the one who invoked the session and they would then go to pass context to engineering can't see the session. And that in itself was a deal breaker because the PM, “Hey, engineering, can you jump in?” But there's nothing to jump in on unless they're copy-pasting out or the single response that came back. And so seeing some of these problems, I had built a similar architecture internally, just to experiment with, test out different ideas as this trend of moving off of localhost was starting to become, And as Ramp released their blog post, I had a lot of the pieces for this already in place, and just thought it would be funny to, see what Claude could do just purely from the blog post. And on my X account, there's actually a thread of where I live tweeted, going through thisCole [00:05:14]: comparing GPT and Claude as both of them are going through it.Swyx [00:05:17]: On the announcement thing or something else?Cole [00:05:19]: right after it got released. We can put it in the show notes. Yeah, it was helpful that I had already knew how to verify the system. I knew what I was looking for. I think Ramp did a great job of really illustrating, the technical aspects of how to build something. It was much more than just like, “Hey, we built a great system.” It was, “And here's how you can build it too.” And so, I resonated a lot with that, just with the problems that I was already seeing, and I thought that, looking around, I didn't really see anything in the open source community that, met this type of system. I think there's a lot that run, in localhost like Superset, Conductor, and many others.But nothing that was actually running in the cloud. And so, I built it, and I thought it was interesting to just open source it and allow anyone to then have a foundation that they can mix and match on top of.The Business of Background Agents: Open Source vs. DevinSwyx [00:06:16]: So literally after Devin was launched was, there was OpenDevin Which became All Hands. I don't know if you tried that orWalden [00:06:22]: I was going to say, one of the things that interested me a lot with OpenInspect was, you didn't try to go make it then something you monetize. There are a lot of, I think, these open source projects would then go and really try to, raise VSwyx [00:06:36]: That's why no OpenDevin. Yeah.Walden [00:06:38]: yeah, and how did you think about that? I thought that was very interesting.Cole [00:06:44]: I thought, and just what I had seen across my clients, was that having a background agent system is going to become a critical infrastructure within their company. And so because of that, I think that I wanted to open source it so that they could fork it and put in whatever customization they wanted. To that question though, I get asked all, “Oh, are you going to raise? Are you going to turn this into a service?”Walden [00:07:08]: I'm sure you've gotten offers.Cole [00:07:09]: but primarily I don't want to do that for a few reasons. One, I think that I don't want to compete for, $20 a seat. I think that is just a really difficult business. I think it's very easy to copy the main pieces of it. Again, I built this fairly quickly. And I think because you are not owning, I guess, the entire stack, it's hard to monetize. You have money being made at the sandbox layer with Daytona, E2b, many other players. You have money being made at the model layer. And you sit in this weird in-between gray area where what are you actually selling? You're selling, I guess, the infrastructure. You're selling, the integrations maybe.Swyx [00:07:55]: let's ask the guy. What are you What are you selling?Walden [00:07:59]: Well, yeah, there's multiple layers to this in practice, and actually it's funny you mentioned the infrastructure, ‘cause when we got started building Devin as well, we had to go figure out how to make the infrastructure as well because,Swyx [00:08:10]: You had to build this two years before everyone else,?Swyx [00:08:15]: Including, the model sideWalden [00:08:17]: It was not, it was not very polished at the start, when we just built it off of raw VMs from cloud providers like EC2, the boot up time was so slow, I think, And especially then, turning off the machines, saving them, and then to be able to bring them back up again when the, when you want Devin to wake up again later. It would just be out cold for like 10 minutes because that's just how long these systems took. They were not built for this repeated down and up usage. And so we actually had to go do all of that. And as a result now, one thing we offer when we go and sell Devin to people is, you don't have to worry about all the compute side of things. We'll make it work. We'll make it work in your cloud if you want it to. But aside from the product, and I want to go into the agents and the tuning of the intelligence part later, but I think a big part of what we do at Cognition as well is to just make sure that your company learns and uses and adopts these coding agents. ‘Cause I think for especially the largest enterprises in the world, you find that there is a lot of people who want to move over to using AI for their day-to-day workloads. But because of the way projects are planned, because, not everyone is literate in using AI in these ways, having a team of engineers who can actually go in and onboard you, set up all the integrations you need, the automations you need to really get to that level of, leverage with AI, is super helpful. And so We do that. We show thought partners to the customers that we work with as well.Swyx [00:09:56]: So let's talk about, architectural stuff. I think that's always, that is something that was the topic of conversation between the two of you. Is this, the mental model that you want to start with or something else? I'll just leave the floor open to you guys.Agent Architecture: Harness in the Box vs. Out of the BoxCole [00:10:11]: I think, maybe we can start here as just a general what are the pieces of a background agent system. And then maybe we can go into some of the nuances of, Decisions that you can make.Swyx [00:10:22]: But I guess I also Like, what, maybe what Walden is saying is the agent is like in this open code box, I guess. Right? This is infra, and then there's, that's the agent. And you had this discussion about whether you put the agent in here or in Out externally. Can you tease that out?Cole [00:10:39]: In a background agent systems, you have a decision to make of where the agent is actually going to run. This is typically described as the harness in the box or out of the box. With running the agent in the box, you're making some trade-offs by doing that. The negative trade-off you're making is primarily security. Because the agent is running in that box, unless you otherwise design it, all of your secrets need to go into that box as well. And given the nature of AI, it can be unpredictable, and you could very easily end up accidentally exfilling your secrets, or other unintended behavior. Now, the out of the box is the idea that we are going to have the actual agent running not directly in the sandbox, and we will have, quote-unquote, the brain of the agent running in some type of worker, control plane. That sandbox then is going to serve as the hands where the brain is basically operating and making tool calls into that environment to manipulate it. I guess other trade-off that you're making between the two systems is that, in my opinion, running it out of the box is much more complex because, you have state that has to be managed, whereas if you're running it in the box, all of the state of that agent is actually in the box, and yes, it's you could persist it elsewhere, but it's all localized and you have less concerns to worry about.Walden [00:12:08]: I think a lot of that, what you mentioned, is why we actually from the start built Devin to what we called separate the brain from the machine. The other thing that this allows you to do is reuse any existing infrastructure you have for dev boxes Perhaps. And so you don't have to worry as much about making a new type of dev box that has all the dependencies the brain needs, as you mentioned, the secrets the brain needs as well. One thing that we've seen some customers run into is, you have a GitHub app and you want Devin, your agent, whatever, be able to interact with GitHub through this application, but then you have different users with different actual permissions. If they are all interacting through the same GitHub app and there's no actual, separation between the system that decides, what it does and the actual secrets on the machine, then you run into an issue where, okay, it's hard to do the separation. But in practice, with Devin, it's much easier because we just say whatever you put on the machine, that is, the scope of basically what the user is free to do, what the agent is free to do. So only put the most scoped secrets on that machine, and then the brain is fully not accessible from the machine. So you don't have to worry about messing with the, any of the most secure parts of the brain if the user is free to do whatever they want with the machine.Swyx [00:13:31]: I was going to just bring, I have this, chart from OpenAI, where I don't know if this is, in the box, out of the box. That is something that they do use to describe it. And then also recently Anthropic did, managed agentsSwyx [00:13:44]: Which is, this is their thing. I don't know. It's all, it's all variations of the same pattern, right?Cole [00:13:49]: So this would be out of the box.Swyx [00:13:51]: Which, is preferable for them because it's less work?Cole [00:13:56]: I would say it's more work.Swyx [00:13:58]: It's more work?Cole [00:13:58]: But it, in my opinion, it is the better architecture of the two. It's just, you're taking on a bit of complexity by doing that.Repo Setup, Docker, and VM-Based Development EnvironmentsWalden [00:14:07]: One thing I've not seen a lot of other players do well is how do you manage what's actually on the box? And this can be complex for many reasons. Let's say you have a big repository that's changing and updating a lot with changing dependencies. How do you make sure that the working environment of the agent actually stays up to date, has all the credentials it needs to, let's say, run the app and test it, and all the things you want your autonomousSwyx [00:14:34]: So a repo setup.Walden [00:14:35]: Exactly. So in, internally At Cognition, we call this repo setup.Cole [00:14:39]: The hardest part ofWalden [00:14:40]: It's been a perennial problem since the start of the company, of how do we help people get this set up? Because not everyone just has, working cloud environments working out of the box. And do you find this to be a common problem withSwyx [00:14:53]: How do you solve it?Walden [00:14:53]: Your clients?Cole [00:14:54]: This is a very common problem, and through my consulting, this is a lot of what I help teams do. A lot of teams don't really have great developer environment setups, if any. A lot of the times it's, “Go talk to Bob and get the secrets,” and that obviously doesn't work when the agent needs to actually set this up. And so a lot of that, most teams are using Docker Compose or some type of microservices. And so for theSwyx [00:15:19]: Even in prod?Cole [00:15:20]: Not in prod. With the OpenInspect, you are using this primarily to interact, and make code changes. There is other use cases, but you can hook, whether through CLI, MCPs, other tools, you can then hook that into your production systems primarily for, SRE type use cases. But you are not, necessarily, trying to test your prod internal microservice through the system.Walden [00:15:48]: And you mentioned Docker Compose. I think one direction we saw some of our friends take early on was, using Docker containers as the level of abstraction for their models. There's lots of reasons, I think, why Docker containers are not great. One thing is, Docker container's not really a true security boundary, for one. But the other is, if you are running real applications, a lot of times those applications use Docker, and then you have to think about Docker in Docker, which is, really weird. And so I think part of, the really hard challenge of getting VMs to work, why did we do that? Well, it was because we realized that you actually needed, full VMs to be able to do these types of things. And especially nowadays where there's actually value in running the application and clicking around and sending you screen recordings of these things. The value just, keeps adding on top of that. But it is a decision I see people run into when they try to build their own systems, is, “Oh, do we, in addition to this, do we put the agent in the machine or out of the machine? Do we use Docker? Do we use something else?” What do you recommend people nowadays?Cole [00:16:57]: I think Docker is a good solution for maybe not running the agent, but running your infrastructure, because that is more or less the same setup your engineers are probably already using. If they're not, then I don't know what they're using. But they're probably already using Docker Compose.Swyx [00:17:14]: I've always had a small candle for web containers. I don't know if you guys have tried them before.Swyx [00:17:19]: To me, they were, supposed to be like Docker Light.Cole [00:17:22]: Is it?Swyx [00:17:22]: I don't know.Cole [00:17:22]: No, I haven't tried it. But yeah, I think any environment that you've set up that is a good experience for your developer naturally lends itself to being easy to set up for the agent. And once you figure out that local developer story, you've more or less solved the agent in a sandbox, environment setup. OpenInspect does have hooks as well, where you can, run a setup SH script that will pre-install everything. You can then pre-snapshot that build so it starts instantly, and then there is a second hook to actually then, restore the state of the sandbox when it comes back. And so you can already have all of those microservices running and basically get the same experience that you would on your machine within the sandbox.Testing Agents: Computer Use, Screenshots, and Real App WorkflowsWalden [00:18:08]: Another thing that we've been thinking a lot about is like Different VM service offerings. Have you had customers where they needed like macOS specific VMs or like Windows specificWalden [00:18:20]: VMs?Walden [00:18:22]: There are like many technologies in the world that only work on specific types of machines, right? If you're building a.NET application that has to run on Windows or like, maybe more commonly if you want to build iOS or macOS Does that workSwyx [00:18:32]: Does Commission supportSwyx [00:18:33]: Choices like that?Walden [00:18:35]: The fundamental architecture we do, because we do the separation, it does support, but the actual work in progress is happening right now on these. Another thing that we've actually recently added support now for, it's in beta, is doing Android development. To do that, we needed to support, I think, nested virtualization within our machines because the VM itself is like a, is a virtualized Firecracker instance, and then you had to then run another Android emulator inside. And there's like weird performance issues that like, it, which is why it's like still in beta. We have to think through these problems, but it unlocks a lot for anyone who wants to do Android development.Swyx [00:19:13]: I was trying to find like a reference video for the testing thing. I couldn't find it, but I think you worked on the testing, capability. Why call it testing and not like computer use or I don't know, it's, what's the general Category of problem?Walden [00:19:26]: I think that when people think about the ability of an AI to run your app and test it, I think they actually over-index on the computer use part of it because computer use in my mind is the literal, okay, you want what button you want to click. Can you emit the right coordinates to go click that button? I think testing is actually a really interesting likeWalden [00:19:48]: Problem-solving, challenge for these AIs because if you wanted to do arbitrary testing, imagine you make a change that spans the frontend and the backend, maybe, even some other like even more deeply nested service. To actually test that change, we have to reason through what-- how do you first run these applications to orchestrate with each other with the right version of the code? Then, okay, how do I trigger the feature or how do I make the thing actually happen? And this can get arbitrarily hard, maybe you have to be an admin. Maybe a certain thing has to be feature flagged on. Maybe, you have to like run two sessions and then send us a very specific word into one of them to trigger a specific behavior. And figuring out how do you do that requires a lot of code base context, requires, a lot of orchestration that we've specifically done. And in some cases, we found that you actually, no one frontier model can actually do this full end-to-end task itself.Walden [00:20:42]: We've seen cases where we actually had to orchestrate different frontier models together to solve this problem together. That is where we spend most of our time when we think about this testing problem, not so much the computer use part. Computer use for what it's worth has gotten a lot better with recent models and it's made that part of the job certainly easier.Swyx [00:20:58]: Especially with like even 4.7, that they released yesterday, apparently like way better in terms of the vision stuff, which is going to be encompassing computer use.Walden [00:21:08]: Having evals for all these as well is something that like takes a while to build up. And having the evals be right is tricky as well. Do you ever see like, clients who are building their own agents have to start standing up evals to make sure things don't regress?Swyx [00:21:25]: Not so much evals in the traditional sense, but specific to the testing part that has just gone in. I just added support for screenshots And in theory you can also do video. I need to put in a plugin to do that. But they do show up natively, and it was a very heavily requested feature, especially after Cursor's recording came out. I think that was very enlightening for everyone of like, “Oh, this is a very good feature to actually have.”, I think with Devin you guys have had this for a while.Swyx [00:21:57]: Oh, yeah. See how screenshots work. Yeah, I don't know if there's anything, super and not obvious. It's like once what feature to build, you can just prompt it and it Will mostly work.Walden [00:22:09]: I think to Walden's point, though, the computer use is a subset of the larger testing problem, and I think that's very specific to the code base that you're working and it's not something that, out of the box that you could just solve it. The-- you do need the code base context to actually know how to test it. And I think in the case of a background agent system, you fortunately do have that code base locally that what is changing and could then inspect it and use that to drive the model.Swyx [00:22:40]: For those who haven't seen it before, this is an example of how it works. You, after the PR is done, you click testing approved, and then it sends you back a video. What I really like is that it labels, It's very small here, but it actually labels what it's testing. And then it-- and then you actually see the cursor and everything. So I don't know, yeah, the engineering in this, just Whatever you want to show. ‘cause this is like, this is one of those like, oh, few of the AGI moments, right? ‘cause Once I look at this, I actually don't I wish I can just merge inside Of Slack instead of going to GitHub ‘cause I don't need to see the code. I know it works.Walden [00:23:19]: Maybe a new feature in Cursor. Yeah, the annotations at the bottom was also a big difference for me when I, when I added those.Swyx [00:23:27]: It's just like, what am I looking at? What are you trying to demonstrate?Walden [00:23:30]: Exactly. There's a surprisingly long tail of small details that ends up making a big difference for this end metric of like how fast do you actually merge the code in. One experience that we spent a lot of time tuning early on was what is the right experience on GitHub for these tools. Because I think, most tools out there when you build the agent, you'll think about, oh, it'll create the PR for you. We try to take that a step further and say, “Oh, what if we actually made sure you could interact Devin, with direct Devin directly on GitHub?” And so we made sure that you can comment on GitHub, and Devin would actually receive those comments and address them back. But there's actually quite a bit of tuning you have to do here because you can imagine that actually like-We recently have Devin Review, for example. Devin Review will post comments on his own PR And then Devin has to then goGitHub Workflows: Devin Review, Comments, and PR AutomationSwyx [00:24:23]: He answers his own comments, which is Really loopy. So like, yeah, I like that it just updates here that it's, that I have commented But usually it's just me saying like, “Hey, merged, fix any merge conflicts.”Walden [00:24:37]: The, so when Devin fixes his own comments, you might be scared that, oh, maybe I'll infinite loop. But we've put a lot of work into making sure it doesn't, both by making sure that the comments are high signal, but also that the agent is thoughtful about what comments it immediately goes and tries to fix, and what comments it's like, “Wait a second, I think you're wrong.” Actually, that's one of my favorite moments is when Devin tells me that I'm wrong, when I try to get it to do something different. But tuning that behavior, actually makes a big difference in terms of how useful the actual GitHub experience is.Cole [00:25:06]: I think to touch on that as well, I think having the AI reviewer integrated into the system is a critical part of this background system. OpenInspect does have that. It has a GitHub code reviewer that you can control the prompt. It does do comments as well. It doesn't do them automatically yet. The capability is there, but it's not fully used.Swyx [00:25:27]: So you have to ask for it?Cole [00:25:28]: you do, yeah. You can tag it on GitHub, and then whatever you named your, GitHub bot, it will then follow up on it. It will then, if you have merge conflicts or whatever you have asked it to resolve, it will then resolve it, but it doesn't do it automatically yet.Integrations: Slack, MCP, and First-Party Agent InterfacesWalden [00:25:42]: Well, I'm curious, what is, the most common thing that people end up requesting, that they still need on top of OpenInspect when you help them go implement it?Cole [00:25:52]: I think a lot of it comes down to actually integrating it into the company. It's one thing to have the background agent system set up, but if it isn't actually integrated into your larger ecosystem, it isn't that useful. It is useful to be able to kick off sessions, but what we really want to be able to do is hook it into all of our other systems, whether that is the production database with read-only credentials, the logs, a Confluence or internal knowledge-based system. I think that is where I see the huge leap for companies, and that can be a challenge for companies as well who are maybe not familiar with exactly how to approach it, especially if they're in environments that have more compliance type things where, access control can be pretty big and how do you deliberately think about these problems, I find to be, one of the problems that comes with a system like this.Walden [00:26:46]: The thing we found is So, MCPs, obviously it has been like this, really big explosion of, oh, you can go, integrate it with all these different things. But to actually get the integration right and the and get the right experience, oftentimes we found that we had to go build our own ad hoc things. I think Slack is a great example of this. You could give your agent a Slack MCP and okay, it can post messages back to you on Slack. But we actually use Devin like a coworker in Slack, and that's how it's been built from the ground up. But to do that, you actually need to, support webhooks that come back, right? And then Devin has to respond in a natural way and then hopefully don't spam your threads too much and annoy the people in your company. So you got to tune that experience just right. Especially when there's a lot of back and forths, we find that we actually have to go beyond the simple MCP integrations in these places.Swyx [00:27:39]: I just pulled up the MCP marketplace. I know this is a Fair amount of work. Is the answer to eventually take first party control of all the top MCPs? Is that theWalden [00:27:48]: I would love a world where you could have something that's more expressive than MCP. That, goes both ways, not just a set of tools, but a proper system that interacts back and lets it Have the right experience with all these interfaces.Swyx [00:28:03]: So there actually is sampling in the MCP spec, but nobody Uses it, right?Walden [00:28:07]: And so I think that's the other part is, actually we found that when the MCP spec starts to get too complicated, it starts to lose its original promise of Being like a simple one-step connect. Now then we have to go figure out how to support all these different variations of things and It starts to look a lot like just building the first party integrations in a lot of these cases now.Cole [00:28:29]: I think it matters, too, how critical it is to your company, right? If this is something that nearly every session is going through, it probably makes sense to own it so that you can make optimizations on top of it Versus just whatever is off the shelf.Swyx [00:28:43]: Awesome. Other than MCPs, what else, sorry, well, I don't know if that's Narrowing in too much on, integrations. But what else? What other elements of building OpenInspect or Devin that you guys really sink on?Memory and Knowledge: What Agents Should RememberCole [00:28:59]: I think, a problem that comes up very frequently is this idea of memories or knowledge base.Swyx [00:29:05]: Oh, boy. How do you solve it?Cole [00:29:08]: so not solved yet, is the short answer.Cole [00:29:11]: it's something, there's a open issue for it, someone asking about it.Swyx [00:29:16]: There's, I, D Wiki hasn't indexed anything about memory yet.Cole [00:29:20]: how I'm seeing it solved across my clients is primarily through skills. I find that skills can be a good gap within that or updating Claude MD, but I think memory as a whole is a pretty unsolved problem, and it is why I've been hesitant to add it. I think there is parts of memory and that can be addressed, but I think as a whole it's a very difficult retrieval problem.Swyx [00:29:44]: Oh my God. RAMP didn't write anything about memory? I see zero search results.Walden [00:29:50]: No. Memory can be quite tricky to get right because it's the retrieval, but also the generation of the memories that can be really tricky. You don't want it to just like Remember very specific details.Swyx [00:29:59]: Walk us through the Devin memory journey because I know there's been a journey.Walden [00:30:03]: the first version of memory that like stuck around for a while was A system we have called Knowledge. And the idea was we wanted it to pick up things over time and not need the user to be proactive about teaching Devin things. So, okay, any time you remind Devin, “Wait, no, that's not quite the way you're supposed to use Git”Like, we actually want Devin to say, “Hey, do you want me to actually just remember this for the future?” And for you to just basically quickly approve or reject and for it to build up over time. ‘Cause I find that, 95%, I think, or some crazy stat like that of the memories that Devin has are all through these auto-generated things. Very few people actually just want to sit down and write big docs on Here's how you're supposed to work with the technology, et cetera. The generation and the retrieval has been something that we've been trying to tune a lot over the years. Generation, you don't want it to remember something like, if you asked one time to like, “Oh, please open as a draft PR,” you don't want to be like, “Oh, everyone forever now should get their PRs as draft PRs.” But you do want some, conveyor. Maybe you want to say like, “Oh, Cole generally likes, things to be created as draft PRs.” Same with retrieval, if you have thousands of these memories, how do you actually make sure they're retrieved at the right time? And that can be quite tricky to do right without exploding the context with a bunch of useful yeah, useless information. Surprising amount of just, eval work to just make sure that, memory is, remains a reliable system as new models come and go.Cole [00:31:31]: Do you have anything that you could share on, memory pruning? And like the temporal aspect of memory?Swyx [00:31:36]: Deleting and forgetting?Walden [00:31:39]: The, today, the, So the things they could do is it could edit memories. And so if your memory used to say like, “Oh, Cole likes to open everything as like a draft PR,” then you can imagine, “No, don't do that.” And then it'll say, “Oh, do you want me to update the memory to be Cole now want everything as, open PRs?” I think that at the same time we don't know if this is going to be the final version of the system. Whatever we have here will probably, translate into the new system that we'll be coming up with. But I think one big difference between two years ago and today is these agents are really good at using anything that resembles a file system natively. And so part of us are, is thinking, “Oh, should we rebuild memories to feel more like a file system that we let the agent navigate on its own?” That's been an interesting exploration. Also similar ideas in the scale space.Swyx [00:32:35]: I am pulling up OpenClaude's memory thing right now. So memory, OpenClaude has like this like daily memory journal thing, right? And you can I mean, that is a file system you can grep through and is a source of truth. I don't know if it's the best. It's probably super noisy, but at least, if you lose something you can discover it or you can apply some, forgetting algorithm to, more ancient memories that don't get recalled again or something. I don't know.Walden [00:33:01]: One thing we've been trying to do to push the boundaries of how you use agents at your company is letting an agent basically have a very similar file, a memory.md or something, and just like be your permanent PM for a specific set of issues maybe. So we have like some Slack channels internally, maybe a Slack channel dedicated to, a specific product like DeepWiki maybe. And you can imagine that, or you want a Devin that never stops, it's just always awake, but it has this like memory dock that it can just maintain for itself about, okay, what are like the number one priorities of what we have to fix and prioritize? Who is responsible for some upcoming work? Maybe they'll even Devin will even tag you on some recurring basis. And so it's been an interesting move to see, okay, how can we actually use Devin for more than just engineering? Can we actually upstream above the engineering process and maybe it's just Devin creating tickets, which then maybe some humans do, but then maybe other Devins do.Swyx [00:34:00]: One of my more fun automations is go research competitors and just suggest stuff to me on a weekly basis. That's the automation. I can't find it right now, but basically it just like, “Look at competitors and suggest things.” “And here are three things that you've suggested that I don't want any more of,” and you just stick that in the prompts. But like I wish actually So for like when I, for example, when I reject a PR, I wish that it updated memory so that I can then just not have to go up, go back and update the scheduled, sync, but anyway, feature request.Walden [00:34:31]: what? We might change it soon. I guess OpenInspect, in the time you've been around, has there been anything you tried to implement but then you had to like undo and like do a different way?OpenInspect Architecture: Webhooks, Control Planes, and Agent StateCole [00:34:41]: Nothing yet, but something that is on my mind. The initial way that I built it was that each of the integrations lives as its own package. And so you have The Slack bot, which is what's handling the webhooks, and then is basically interacting with the control plane. As I'm seeing the system starting to be more integrated, specifically with the GitHub bot integration, I'm considering bringing that all into the central control plane because especially now I want to start, And a request that I'm getting is the ability to monitor, the actual, pull requests being merged, as well as just tracking ofSwyx [00:35:19]: What do I have open?Cole [00:35:21]: What do I have open? How many of these are getting merged? How many comments are showing up? To just understand the health of the system. And so in the case of a GitHub app, you only have one webhook. And so then it's a question of do I put that webhook in that GitHub bot package? That's weird. It doesn't really make sense to live there because that package is more for like the code reviewer. Or do I like centralize it? So that's something that's on my mind of, making that decision. I think the other one we touched on earlier is the harness in the box versus out of the box. I think long term the architecture will eventually come back out of the box. Some of the newer tools that I've added are calling back into the control plane so that you don't have the secrets in the sandbox. And so I think long term I probably will pull the actual, agent out of the box, but I think for now it's fine.Subagents and Multi-Agent Systems: When Parallelism Helps or HurtsSwyx [00:36:16]: Just, a quick question on pulling the agent out of the box. I'm One thing I'm very bullish on this year is agents calling other agents or spawning sub-agents or Whatever you want to call it. Does that make it harder or easier? I can't tell. Because if the harness is in the box, you can just spin up more boxes. If the harness is outside the box, then you're, it's less easy because you are, you have a unicorn pet of a, of a harness that's, living outside the box.Cole [00:36:45]: In theory it would be the same way, right? Whether, one agent has launched many, sub-sessions within it, OpenInspect, for example, can launch sub-sessions and actually create other environments and then monitor them. In the case where it is out of the box, that would basically just be an additional session that's running. And so that session is also running outside of the box. It's running in your worker plane, wherever you're running this. And then you really just have to think about how does your top level agent then interact with it. I do think it can be more complex, just ‘cause again, you have now a more difficult architecture. But I think if you figured it out once, it's probably fine.Swyx [00:37:26]: Well, then I'm just, throwing it open to you in terms of, I call this like meta Devin management. Which is like the, Devin's calling Devins or Devin scheduling Devins or querying trajectories or anything like that. What have you built or unshipped, anything?Cole [00:37:46]: I think one of the surprising things we've seen is that a lot of the ways that, these, separate agents work with each other, and you want them to, parallelize their work, has still mostly followed the same manager sub-agents regime. And a lot of people I think are excited about this world where you have swarms of agents that, talk with each other all over the place. We've actually given Devin an MCP so they can just go arbitrarily message other Devins And create new Devins, et cetera. But I guess, it somehow creates, a really chaotic world in that sense. And so we've still found that most practical use on a day-to-day basis has been one single Devin.Cole [00:38:33]: Figuring out how to segregate the work and get, have other Devins work on it in, a relatively isolated sense, each with their own boxes Not sharing machines, so there's, a very little room for conflict is the regime that you have to create today.Swyx [00:38:50]: I'll call out, the experiments from Cursor, right? This is Wilson Lin's work on Single agent to multi-agent, and you're obviously famously on the side of don't build multi-agent. But they went through the whole thing, only to arrive at, this Which is exactly what Devin has, I think.Cole [00:39:08]: I think there will be a revision to that post at some point AboutSwyx [00:39:12]: Tell us about itCole [00:39:12]: I think multi-agents were very much not at all possible a year ago. You do see more multi-agent experiments today, but you can argue, are they really multi-agents, or are they just just, tool calls,? There are people who, will create sub-agents to go look for XYZ file, XYZ implementation. Has really nice context management benefits because all of the tool calls and tokens that it spends then get collapsed back to just the answer for the main agent. There's a lot of benefits to doing this. We basically have Devin do this with Deep Bookie, make a call out to Deep Bookie, give you back the results, but that feels like a tool call,? It's not like these, two collaborators actually talking back with each, back and forth with each other. But I think the thing that gives me the most bullishness that multi-agents might actually be possible is actually what I said earlier about Devin will actually sometimes tell me I'm wrong and push back, and I think that demonstrates a level of maturity and communication today that makes a multi-agent world possible. One, can two agents who have seen different information come back to each other and actually figure out who is right, what is the correct implementation? They're not just, yes men. Claude, I guess is like, used to just say, what is it? “You're right,” or,Swyx [00:40:25]: “You're absolutely right.”Cole [00:40:26]: “You're absolutely right.” Yeah.Swyx [00:40:28]: The Have you seen, did you seeCole [00:40:29]: The age is overSwyx [00:40:30]: The Codex app troll in Topic? This is the Codex app. Inside of Settings, there's a little, there's a little Easter egg, right? So if you go to, the Themes or Appearance, right? There's all these, color codes, and the top is absolutely, and it's the Topic's colors. Which is such a troll. Anyway.Model Behavior: Pushback, Adversarial Prompts, and Agent SkepticismCole [00:40:53]: I love that Easter egg. Did you discover that yourself?Swyx [00:40:54]: No, it was, someone was, tweeting about it And I was like, I was like, “Is this true?” Because, sometimes people just tweet stuff to, get a rise out of you. But yeah, there you go, in Topic colors.Cole [00:41:06]: Yeah. So yeah, we're out of this regime where, it just says you're absolutely right, and they can have real conversations and real back and forths.Swyx [00:41:13]: You can prompt it as well to be more adversarial or whatever. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, that, I mean, to me, that is more intelligence, right? That is not just something that's, a dumb tool, it's actually pushing back on you I think. Yeah.Cole [00:41:24]: when you mentioned, of course, the blog posts. There was one blog they had where they fed a swarm of agents together and built a browser.Swyx [00:41:34]: That was I think that was the one.Cole [00:41:36]: You can have, likeSwyx [00:41:37]: I think it's the same oneCole [00:41:37]: Creation of it. We found a surprising success of, don't do a swarm or anything, just have one Devin, it does its own context management. Just let it keep running for a while and give it some crazy tasks. I think we asked it to, rebuild, a Windows OS system. And it managed to do it just like, going on for long enough. It'sSwyx [00:41:55]: Was this Andrew's thing?Cole [00:41:58]: there were lots of demos that we ended up not posting, ‘cause at some point we'd just be posting way too much a bunch of, Demos. But I love that because it shows that I think the multi-agent thing still has, a bit of exciting sexiness to it, which is maybe still beyond still, the actual delta it adds to the capabilities of these systems. But it's absolutely the future. I think we're heading in that direction and we can see the progress being made there already.Swyx [00:42:25]: If I were to, make one super minor pushback because I don't feel that confident about it yetCole [00:42:33]: Go for itSwyx [00:42:33]: But I've had Ryan Lopopolo from OpenAI on the pod And he's a super slop cannon, right? Oh my God, that's my coding agent being done. I downloaded this, Peon Ping. I don't know if you guys have heard this. It takes like-, sound packs from popular games like, Command and Conquer and Warcraft, and then it plays it whenever it's done. And so it's like, “Work,” or whatever, “At your command,” or something. Anyway, what I got from the Cursor code base and from Ryan's thing was that there's a slop cannon approach where you try to loosen the single agent's, bottleneck, and I feel like that is, probably an, a very important thing to try to figure out. I don't think anyone's, really solved it. Because then you just have more reviewer slop on top of the agent slop To try to wrangle it all. Ryan will probably very strongly object that I say that he hasn't solved it, but he thinks he's He thinks he's completely solved it. But I think it's still I think it's, very important, ‘cause, that is a bottleneck, right? I feel Devin is slow sometimes Because I'm like, well, yeah, this is very readable and very sensible, but also it is slower than it could be if I just, I want a button to just say, “Just ramp this up 1,000 next parallel, in parallel and just, see what happens,”? And I don't know if that's, feasible at some point in the future.Code Review, Entropy, and AI SlopWalden [00:43:55]: I And we've also run experiments internally where we've basically tried to build entire products, true products that we knew we would eventually ship, but for now, let's try to see if we can do it just by purely, vibe coding on top of each other, auto merge, no code review at all. And then there's this benchmark of how many weeks can you go onto this for Before you say, “We have the trashiest code base.”Walden [00:44:18]: “Let's actually rewrite it from scratch.”Swyx [00:44:19]: Start a new factory, yeah. What'd you find?Walden [00:44:21]: I think we found that the state-of-the-art in December was you can probably, run this for about two weeks. By the end of those two weeks, you'd find that, hey, you want to, change the color of a button. Well, it turns out this button is implemented in, 10 different places, and they, have All these different variations, and oh, you forgot one of them, and actually it's a slightly different color in one spot. And you're like, “Okay, this is too much to work with. Let's actually try to do code review at the same time.” And make sure that we're on top of our software, actually cleaning it up a bit And making sure it's done in a scalable way.Cole [00:44:54]: I think building on that, the idea of, you don't have to look at code, I think is generally a bad idea. And the meme that I have for thatWalden [00:45:03]: What timeline, all right, is Do you think that statement will be true on?Cole [00:45:06]: I think probably for a while it'll be true that you should continue to look at your code. A problem that I see a lot of teams run into that I work with who are embracing AI native, AI first coding, is The meme that I have is that your code base regresses to your worst engineer, because that engineer who is, very gung-ho about AI and is not auditing their code, their pattern starts cementing into the code, and now the AI is referencing their patterns. And so now their if/else block that, is 20 if/elses back and forth, the AI is seeing that as the pattern of how things are done and starts to then exponentially grow this slop. And I find to your point, a pretty good approach to that is having scheduled cleanup, whether by humans or through systems, that are looking for duplication. They then address that. You'll end up with like 12 helpers for how to format a date. And you need to address that, because otherwise it will continue to sprawl.Swyx [00:46:09]: Within balance, I think it's fine to have some duplication, and then sometimes To have garbage collection, right? Yeah. The What I've been, talking about with a lot of engineering leaders is that you want to be very strict about the boundaries between modules, and it's your job as an architect, as a CTO, whatever, to say like, “Okay, here's the hard contract between you guys and you guys. Whatever you do inside this black box is your business. You do whatever. But between these guys, let's be, really damn clear, and any movement must be signed off by a human or me,” or. Then, and like that's that. I don't know if you have any other modifications or advice.Walden [00:46:44]: Well, I guess generally on the topic of, where humans can be useful, I found that ‘cause, some of these, really deep infra problems, sometimes just having a human that just has, really deep expertise can make a big difference. I've actually seen this come into play when actually building agents. So we've had a few friends now, try building their own coding agents, and I think one same problem that I recurringly heard a lot of them run into was this problem of like, “Oh, Grep is really slow on our agents' machines.” And so a lot of them, I assume because they're using AI and they themselves don't have, super deep infra background knowledge, say, “Okay, we're going to go build our own custom Grep index. It's going to be really fast,” and use that as a way around this problem. When we ran into this problem About like, maybe like a year and a half ago when we were, in the early days of building Devin, we obviously didn't have AI then. We just asked our, how to, how to do this. You can just swap out a new Grep index, so.Infrastructure Details: Grep, File Systems, and SandboxesSwyx [00:47:45]: What do you mean you hand-coded Devin? What?Walden [00:47:48]: It's like, can you believe we hand-wrote this code? And we had, our infra people who are really amazing, they were looking into it and they're like, “Oh, what? We realized that actually the root cause of this problem is actually super simple, but like fine-grain detail,” which is that a lot of these virtual machines actually underlying them don't use real file systems. They use these, network file systems where things are actually cached over the network actually in S3. So when you're Grepping, you're actually making network calls Every time you're doing these things, and that's why Grep is extremely slow on these machines. And so again, goes back to, what is all of the crazy infra work that we had to do to actually get these machines working. If you try to do this yourself, there are tons of small details like this, and so we had to eventually go swap out that network file system. ButSwyx [00:48:35]: I think there's a write-up about it, right? Silas did one about the virtual file system.Walden [00:48:38]: Oh, that was a whole other thing. TheSwyx [00:48:39]: Oh, that's a different thingWalden [00:48:40]: The BlockDev file storage formatSwyx [00:48:42]: I'll bring it upWalden [00:48:42]: Which is, a file system format that we built so that the VMs could be spun up and down very quickly. Basically, the intuition behind this is-Imagine you have, a terabyte of disk, and your agent only, wrote, a hundred lines of code on top of that disk. How long does it, say, take to, save and re-bring up that disk? And most systems, because you're not optimizing for this case, it's just, on the order of a terabyte of work because you have to Save all of that and bring it back up. In our system, we try to build a file system that incrementally builds on top of each other. So every time you save and bring the machine back up, you're only doing work that is proportional to effectively the diff in the file system. And so this, shaves off a lot of time in the boot-up process of Devin. I think we This is actually now outdated. We have a newer system inside of Devin. But yeah, there's a lot of tiny details you have to get right here to actually get the day-to-day experience of Devin to be good.Swyx [00:49:39]: It's, not technically agents, but it is agent infra, and when you sell an agent as a company, you sell agent plus agent infra.Walden [00:49:46]: At least the way we do it be And the other The nice thing about having the agent infra being done together is, you We get to deploy Devin in whatever environment we want now. We don't need to wait for some underlying infra provider to also go and support VPC or on-prem or FedGovCloud, for instance. So we can actually go and figure out, okay, since we own the infrastructure, how can we get that set up for you?Cloud Providers: Modal, Daytona, and Enterprise SandboxesSwyx [00:50:12]: Whereas you're Cloudflare dependent.Cole [00:50:15]: so Cloudflare runs the control plane. The sandboxes, Modal is supported. A contributor just added Daytona. E2B is on the roadmap, and I think there's an abstraction in place that if any contributor wants to add a new provider, they can add that in.Walden [00:50:32]: Well, what are, How are the customers you work with Do they generally try to then go set up a contract with another one of these third-party providers? Do they try to do the VMs in-house?Cole [00:50:44]: most of them I see using Modal. I think Modal has a greatWalden [00:50:48]: Shout out Modal.Swyx [00:50:48]: Shout out Modal.Cole [00:50:50]: I think Modal has a great offering. It captures all of the sandbox pieces you need, snapshots being a pretty big piece of that, and given that they also offer GPUs, I think it's a pretty nice offering as a whole.Swyx [00:51:04]: no debate there.Walden [00:51:07]: Modal is great, especially, I think their container offering is, the most natural, and so especially if you are willing to, forego, the full VM requirements Modal is, a really vast place you can spin something up on.Swyx [00:51:20]: Is there a point So Modal's very Python, and I feel like most workload, has really shifted to JavaScript. I don't know if you guys Get the same feeling. So, okay, when I started Landspace and IE and all these things, I was like 50/50 Python and JS, right? That's roughly. I think that's wrong now. I think JS has won. I don't know if you guys Like, I Maybe I'm overstating it, and maybe for cognition, there's, C# and Java and what have you. But for, new greenfield apps, do you feel that Do you get that sense? Does it matter?Cole [00:51:52]: I think that most of the libraries that I see in this space are Python native first, especially in theCole [00:51:58]: Observability space. That said, I think that there is a pretty big appeal of having your entire system in one language. Especially when you have both your frontend and backend communicating, you can have one central type Which is very nice.Swyx [00:52:11]: That's my case against Modal, which is Then you have to run JS. You can run JS inside Modal. It's just, one extra step That, isn't native to the runtime. I don't know ifWalden [00:52:22]: I don't knowSwyx [00:52:23]: Reviews. Do you have numbers? I don't know.Walden [00:52:25]: the one thing I don't like about Python is whenever AI, whenever it writes Python, it always does, the weirdest patterns, andSwyx [00:52:32]: Oh, because it's, mixing two and three or what?Walden [00:52:34]: I think it's something mixing two and three, yeah. The I don't know if you see this. It always tries to do, has attribute on objects as likeCole [00:52:41]: Oh, my God.Walden [00:52:41]: But it's like But that you shouldn't be doing that. It should error if there wasSwyx [00:52:45]: Because it's training on library code?Cole [00:52:47]: I think it's more of, likeCole [00:52:48]: From what I've seen, it's more of, a reward hacking mechanism where it doesn't want to basicallyWalden [00:52:54]: It'll never error.Cole [00:52:54]: It doesn't want the code to fail. And so it Even when it knows it has the attribute, it'll call getattr on a, and for a lot of my clients who have moved towards more autonomous coding, we've put that in as a lint rule That if you do getattr, your pull request is going to fail.Slop Signatures: Comments, Backwards Compatibility, and TypesSwyx [00:53:12]: Ooh, this is a fun topic. Can you tell me more about this? What else is a sign of AI coding that you have to put guards in?Walden [00:53:21]: So we were talking just before this about Opus 4.7. One of the things this new model likes to do is it writes lots of comments. Not like, it'll, comment every line, but it'll write, paragraph, PRDs, on top of every function. But I will say, to its credit, these aren't slop, descriptions like they were before. “Oh, here's what this function does.” It's like, “Oh, here's actually the r

What if the right tools could help you scale your business without adding more chaos to your life? In this episode, I'm pulling back the curtain on the exact digital and non-digital tools I use to run my coaching and education business—from course platforms and AI tools to productivity systems, banking, podcasting, and content creation. After nearly 10 years of creating content online, I've refined the systems that actually save me time, simplify my workflow, and help me serve clients better. I'm sharing the platforms I personally use every day, the mistakes I made early on (yes, including trying to avoid paying for Zoom

You already have the strategy. So why aren't you using it?That list on your phone, in your Notion, in your notebook -- it's full of things you know you need to do. You've paid for the courses. You've downloaded the freebies. You've listened to the podcasts. And yet, here you are, still not doing the thing. This episode is for you.This is my first episode back from maternity leave after welcoming my daughter Avery, and honestly? Coming back into this work has given me so many unlocks. This episode is one of them. We're not talking about more strategy today. We're talking about why you already have what you need but you're still not moving forward -- and what's actually keeping you stuck.WHAT YOU'LL HEAR:- Why the "learning loop" is actually a sophisticated form of procrastination (and how to spot it in yourself)- The real reason you keep buying courses and never finishing (or implementing) them- How your subconscious brain is running a protection program that keeps you exactly where you are- The difference between a strategy gap and a belief gap - and why only one can be solved with information- A client story that will feel uncomfortably familiar if you've been spinning in overwhelm for months- Three questions to ask yourself right now that will reveal what you're truly avoiding- What "safety" actually looks like in your subconscious - money stories, success fear, time stories, and more- Why subconscious reprogramming (not another course) is what actually breaks the cycle- What Rewired Retail is and how it combines advanced wholesale strategy with subconscious mindset workRESOURCES MENTIONED:- Buyerside Pitch Kit: Your entire wholesale pitch strategy for every type of retailer in one spot. Created for you by a buyer so you know exactly what to say (and when) to convert your pitches. Grab it here! - Rewired Retail Mastermind: A 6-month high-touch mastermind for scaling product brand founders that rewires your mindset AND uplevels your strategy. Join or get on the waitlist here - Listen to Episode 92: The Mindset Shift to Redefine What Success Looks Like (For YOU)Listen on AppleListen on SpotifyLOOKING TO GROW YOUR WHOLESALE BUSINESS?Retail Pitching

Is it possible to remain calm and focused when everything around us is getting faster, noisier and seemingly more demanding?  I think it is, and in this week's episode, I'll share some of my insights so you, too, can remain productive in a quiet, focused way.  Links: Email Me | Twitter | Facebook | Website | Linkedin   Learn more about the Quiet Productivity Method here Get Your Copy Of Your Time, Your Way: Time Well Managed, Life Well Lived   The Working With… Weekly Newsletter Carl Pullein Learning Centre Carl's YouTube Channel Carl Pullein Coaching Programmes Subscribe to my Substack  The Working With… Podcast Previous episodes page   Script | 418 Hello, and welcome to episode 418 of the Your Time, Your Way Podcast. A podcast to answer all your questions about productivity, time management, self-development, and goal planning. My name is Carl Pullein, and I am your host of this show.  Recently, I had a call with one of my coaching clients who is completely on board with AI. He's gone down the usual rabbit hole of ChatGPT, then Claude, then back to ChatGPT, then to Google's Gemini and now he's obsessed with Claude again.  It reminded me of the late twenty-teens when everyone was switching between Evernote, Notion, Apple Notes, and then Roam Research. It was an amusing merry-go-round.  One of the ironic things about my client is that he'd had to wake up at 5:00 am to review the materials for a workshop he was delivering that day because he suddenly thought Claude might not have given the correct information, and he needed to check everything before 9:00 am.  I asked him how long he usually took to prepare for a workshop like this, and he replied that it normally took three or four hours. However, he said emphatically, with Claude's help, it's taking him around six to eight hours. I did point out the obvious. With AI's help, it's taking twice as long, but he dismissed that, saying AI was the future and that by doing it this way, he was learning and would eventually be faster.  Fair point.  But he did have to wake up two hours earlier than normal. Not something I would enjoy doing.  This reminded me that life, whether it's our personal or our professional lives, shouldn't be lived at speed. Life should be lived at our own pace.  Two YouTube videos I recently watched emphasised this. One was by Matt D' Avella, and the other was from Samurai Matcha.  In Matt's video, entitled I Tried to Optimise my Life. It made it Worse, Matt pointed out that trying to live a productive life left him feeling frustrated. All the curated lists and time blocks on his calendar just set him up for failure.  If he didn't clear his to-do list or he was unable to follow his time blocks, he'd end the day feeling that he'd failed. This left him feeling miserable all evening and wondering what was wrong with him. Then I watched Samurai Matcha's video entitled “10 Real Japanese Organisation Tricks”, in which he explained why his girlfriend's organisation philosophy was brilliant.  Her philosophy was that the goal of organising is to always know where everything is. This meant that things were stacked so you could see what was in a cupboard or refrigerator as soon as you opened the door. That clothes were arranged so that, just by looking in a wardrobe, you could instantly see what was in there.  It isn't about having everything look pretty and tidy, only to be unable to find what you are looking for. It's about knowing instantly where everything is.  So there you have one person trying to optimise everything and setting himself up for failure every day. And another who is essentially working by her own logic, making her life as simple and easy as possible.  You can guess who was the more relaxed, settled and happy with life.  And this is the point. Life's not about optimising everything. We're human beings, but we're trying to turn ourselves into machines that can be programmed to wake up at a particular time, jump into a bath of freezing water, do a two-hour morning exercise routine, spend an hour writing morning pages and then finish it all off with twenty minutes of meditation.  That's not what life is about at all.  One way to get started in creating a calmer, quieter way of living is to begin with your non-negotiables. What are the things you must do each day? There are the obvious ones, such as sleeping, brushing your teeth, washing and eating. Most of those our bodies have ways of ensuring we do them. We get sleepy, and we get hungry.  But what other things would be non-negotiable for you?  For me, taking Louis out for his walk, doing a little exercise and enjoying a cup of tea with my wife when she gets home from university are non-negotiable at a personal level.  At a professional level, my non-negotiable is spending 2 hours a day creating. That could be writing, recording or planning. It doesn't matter what I create; all that matters is that I create something.  And that's it. Together, that's around four to five hours a day.  Once you have established what your non-negotiables are, it becomes easy to say no to things that could interfere with them.  Another way to bring some calm and quiet back into your life is to focus on time not what you have to do.  Let me explain.  Most of what comes at us each day is not within our control. You do not know how many Slack or Teams messages you will get today. Neither do you know how many emails you will get nor what you will be asked to do.  What you do know is how much time you can dedicate to these inputs.  Over the years, I've learnt that if I allow 40 minutes or so each day to respond to my actionable messages and emails, I'll mostly stay on top of my communications. Sure, occasionally I am behind, but as I can see I am getting behind, I can allow a little extra time to catch up if necessary.  I also know that if I have two hours a day to create, I'll always hit my publication schedule.  If you work on projects, what would happen if you dedicated 2 hours a day to quiet, focused work on them? No distractions, no interruptions, just quiet, focused work. From the people I've worked with who have done this, they're amazed at just how much work they get done each week. And how deadlines no longer become stressful or missed.  Two hours may not seem much, but over a working week, that's ten uninterrupted hours. Ten hours you know you will not be interrupted by anyone.  The great thing about this approach is that you gain control over your time. And with a little consistency, you soon find yourself on top of your work.  You also learn where your limits are.  I know my brain gets tired around the 90-minute to 2-hour mark of focused work.  Sure, there are days I would love to spend three hours in focused work, but experience has taught me that the extra hour is a wasted hour. I make more mistakes; I start snatching a quick look at my messages and emails, looking for anything to distract me. That pile of washing suddenly needs to be put away, or those cups and dishes need washing and putting away.  Once you know your limits, you can work within them.  This approach is a more human way to go about your day. It's not optimised to create impossible days, leaving you feeling exhausted, unfulfilled and disappointed with yourself.  It's set up to work with your strengths and, more importantly, with your biorhythms. Your body's natural rhythms.  The advantage of this kinder, calmer way of going about your day is that you naturally slow down. You have the space to deal with the urgencies and the demands of your bosses, clients and colleagues. And that results in fewer mistakes, leaving you with less corrective work to do.  The problem with being human is that we are really quite fragile. My client, who woke up at 5:00 am to fix Claude's mistakes, will find the afternoon a dead zone. He'll be exhausted and trying to operate at 100% with less than five hours of sleep.  That lack of sleep will likely affect his food choices at lunchtime. He'll probably grab a quick sandwich or something else high in carbohydrates, which will spike his insulin levels, leaving him feeling drowsy afterwards.  And then we're also susceptible to all sorts of bugs and illnesses, which can have a debilitating effect on our energy levels.  Again, not within our control unless we seal ourselves off from the outside world. Not a great idea.  I can assure you that the best approach to managing time and improving your productivity is to be human about it. Work with you and your natural state, rather than trying to be like a machine.  Take care of your three foundations: get enough sleep, eat healthy and move frequently.  Then, have a plan for the day. Not a minute-by-minute plan, but one that takes care of your non-negotiables, allows for some focused work time and has enough flexibility to take care of unknowns that will inevitably pop up throughout the day.  Since the 1980s, technological advances have consistently promised us less work and more leisure time. And yet that's never materialised. Instead, the opposite happens.  Smartphones took business communications out of the office and made them omnipresent, leaving us with no place to hide. The desktop computer eliminated the typing pool and left managers and executives responsible for crafting their own letters and emails.  Cloud computing eliminated the filing cabinet and placed company documents within our reach 24/7, even when we were supposed to be on vacation.  What's more, all this technological advancement has sped everything up. And it's this speeding up that has left us with so much more to do. What used to take us three or four days to do is now expected to be done in an hour.  That's where the problem is.  Fortunately, there are ways to mitigate this: be human. Make your own decisions about what you work on and when. Wrestle back control of your calendar and protect time to do the things that matter.  These are simple steps, not easy to implement initially, but worth putting the effort into implementing them.  As Matt D'Avella has discovered, and Samurai Matcha's girlfriend already knew, keeping things human, simple and logical to yourself is the best way to live in a calm, quiet, focused way. Now, before I go, if what you've heard today in this podcast resonated with you and you want to learn more, my Quiet Productivity Method programme will do just that.  Recently updated to cover your non-negotiables, the superb daybook system and how to plan your days and weeks so you are living within your time means, this programme will teach you, step by step, how to create a system that works for you. How to find time for what you want, and much more. In addition, you will also become a part of the Quiet Productivity Method community, where you can share ideas, ask questions and join the monthly live sessions that will answer your questions and hold you accountable as you move away from the unsustainable task-based systems of old and towards a sustainable, humane, time-based system.  I do hope you can join me.  Thank you for listening, and it just remains for me now to wish you all a very, very productive week.   

This week is the Day Trip Megamix.1. Purple Disco Machine - Disco Cherry 00:00:442. Elderbrook - Afters 00:02:393. Hayden James - Hold Tight 00:05:124. Soraya - Danse de L'amour 00:07:195. Josh Baker - Subsonic 00:10:186. CID ft. Chris Moody - Better World 00:12:587. Julian Fijma - Get Stupid 00:14:438. HILLS - Bullseye 00:17:349. LUMI - SWEAT 00:18:2110. SCRIPT - Headshake 00:21:0411. BUNT. - Crown 00:24:2512. ChaseWest - Scream! 00:25:4013. Gordo - Hombres y Mujeres 00:28:0114. RUZE - GANSTAR 00:31:4415. WELKER - Tussy 00:36:1116. Layla Benitez - Coming Down 00:38:5617. SIDEPIECE & Westend - Take Your Places 00:40:5518. camoufly - Touch 00:44:4219. Olive F - Umami 00:47:4820. Swimming Paul - Mutt 00:50:4721. Weska - Helix 00:55:1522. Cloonee - XTC 00:57:2923. GREG 99 - Get Stupid 01:00:5524. Green Velvet vs. MEDUZA, GENESI & Essentia - La La Land 01:03:1725. Loco Dice - Megalodon 01:06:0026. Kolter - Red Alert 01:08:1427. Riordan & Silva Bumpa - Lifting 01:12:1228. HI-LO - REESE 01:14:2329. HNTR - Victory 01:17:1830. Sidney Charles - Astral Express 01:19:4231. Adam Beyer, Kyozo & HNTR - Hypnotic 01:22:3632. Obskür - Falling Back 01:25:5833. Discip - Elevator 01:29:1034. Roddy Lima - AWAKE 01:32:1435. Wes Pierce - ZULU 01:36:0236. Odd Mob - Losing Control 01:38:0337. Shermanology & Champion - Badder 01:41:2238. LP Rhythm - Versatile 01:43:0239. Gaskin - Ultraman 01:45:5240. Riordan & Bushbaby - Strong Rhyme 01:49:5041. it's murph - Chemicals 01:52:1342. Lilly Palmer - Escape 01:54:3543. NOTION & Nate Sib - UNCONDITIONAL 01:55:5844. Ben Hemsley - Angel 01:57:2245. Sonny Fodera, Jazzy & D.O.D - Somedays 01:58:46

In the latest episode of Executive Function, Brett sits down with Graham Moreno, Head of GTM at Parallel Web Systems. Before Parallel, Graham scaled Windsurf's GTM organization from three sellers to seventy-five in under a year, served as President through the Cognition acquisition, and earlier built and led enterprise sales teams at Grafana Labs and MongoDB. In this conversation, he unpacks why the AI-era backlash against structured enterprise sales misreads the data, how to design a process that raises the floor for ordinary reps without capping the ceiling for stars, and why selling to AI-native customers compresses an eight-week cycle into five business days. In today's episode, we discuss: Why in-person enterprise rollouts still beat product-led motions Building a robust sales process that still leaves room for unscripted moments Why the three highest-leverage early sales hires aren't sellers at all The case for outsized commission accelerators for star sellers — and the kind of person they attract Why most AI companies are skipping the in-person sales work that enterprise customers actually want References: Ahead: https://www.ahead.com Amazon: https://www.amazon.com Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com Attio: https://www.attio.com Augment Code: https://www.augmentcode.com/ Cognition: https://cognition.ai Cursor: https://cursor.com Dani McCabe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-mccabe/ Datadog: https://www.datadoghq.com GitHub Copilot: https://github.com/features/copilot HubSpot: https://www.hubspot.com Jeremy Powers: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremypowers/ JPMorgan: https://www.jpmorgan.com Matt McClernan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattmcclernan/ MongoDB: https://www.mongodb.com Nicole Rettinger: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-rettinger-23b20465/ Notion: https://www.notion.com OpenAI: https://openai.com Parag Agrawal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paragagr/ Parallel: https://parallel.ai Snowflake: https://www.snowflake.com University of Chicago: https://www.uchicago.edu Windsurf: https://windsurf.com Where to find Graham: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grahammoreno/ Where to find Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson Where to find First Round Capital: Website: https://firstround.com/ First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 00:32 Has the sales playbook changed in the AI era? 02:13 Why "showing up" beats letting the marketplace decide 06:50 Why great salespeople sell to engineers and executives in one motion 11:37 Selling to AI-native buyers who grew up on ChatGPT 13:49 Same seller, different tempo: 8 weeks vs. 8 business days 15:57 How AI-native buyers handle build vs. buy decisions 17:48 The rep who taught a champion's son guitar over Zoom 19:03 Raising the floor without capping the ceiling 22:09 Why too much process narrows the kind of seller you attract 25:46 The three pillars of GTM excellence 31:00 Building peers who are 80% aligned, not 100% 38:03 Whether AI is changing what good enablement looks like 41:35 Selling against direct and implied competitors at once 42:45 Instrumenting the funnel from stage zero to close 45:57 Why post-sales should always roll up to the revenue leader 48:19 The case for outsized commissions 52:02 The 96 hours of panic before Cognition acquired Windsurf 53:04 How far out should a GTM leader be planning? 57:53 What a normal week looks like in hypergrowth

You do not need another productivity app. You do not need a prettier Notion dashboard. And you definitely do not need to spend another six hours researching “the perfect creator setup” instead of actually pitching brands, sending emails, or making offers.Today, I'm breaking down the best tools for content creation that I actually recommend to travel creators in 2026 — but more importantly, I'm talking about the mindset shift you need if you want to make money as a travel creator and finally learn how to become a full time content creator.Because the truth is: tools don't build businesses. Actions do.If you're trying to figure out how to quit your job as a travel content creator, build recurring revenue, and stop treating your creator business like a hobby, this episode is for you.In this episode, I talk about: Why “productive procrastination” keeps creators stuck  The biggest mistake travel creators make when trying to grow income  Why your email list matters more than social media followers  The exact tools I use and recommend to creator clients  How to organize your creator business without feeling chaotic  Why Threads is wildly underrated for market research and audience growth  The boring business habits that actually create recurring revenue  What revenue-generating activities creators should focus on every week  How to stop obsessing over tools and start acting like a business owner The Tools I Recommend for Travel Creators in 2026Email Marketing + Selling Products KitBusiness Organization AirtableWorkspace + Communication Gmail + Google WorkspaceScreen Recording Alternative Google VidsAudience Growth + Market Research ThreadsKey Takeaways From This EpisodeThe creators making consistent money are not the ones with the fanciest tech stack.They're the creators: sending the pitch emails  following up with warm leads  building relationships  talking about their offers  emailing their audience  repeating what works Boring builds businesses.And honestly? That's the shift nobody talks about when teaching people how to become a full time content creator.

Free Guide to Build Your Personal AI Wiki: https://clickhubspot.com/fcmt Ep. 425 You can create a second brain in 15 minutes and for free. Kipp and Matt Wolfe (Future Tools) dive into how to build your own "second brain" using tools like Obsidian and Codex, so you can finally make use of all the information you're gathering. Learn more on setting up a personal wiki to organize your knowledge, harnessing AI-powered agents to automate and interlink content, and turning your information hoarding into proactive recommendations and smarter business decisions. Mentions Matt Wolfe https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-wolfe-30841712/ Future Tools https://futuretools.io/ Obsidian https://obsidian.md/ Obsidian Web Clipper https://obsidian.md/clipper Codex https://openai.com/codex/ Claude Code https://code.claude.com/docs/en/overview Cursor https://cursor.com/ Andrej Karpathy https://karpathy.ai/ Visual Studio Code https://code.visualstudio.com/ Notion https://www.notion.com/ Get our guide to build your own Custom GPT: https://clickhubspot.com/customgpt 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  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.