Podcasts about prototyping

Can a $21 window help a nation survive a war? Harry Blakiston Houston, founder of Insulate Ukraine, joins Grant Gibson for this landmark 150th episode to discuss how a simple double-layer window — made from PET and manufactured entirely in Ukraine — is helping families stay warm, creating local employment, and offering a sense of normality in a country shattered by Russia's invasion. In this episode, we dive into what 'material intelligence' looks like when designing under the most extreme constraints.We discuss:Cardboard to PET: How early cardboard prototypes evolved into a $21, locally-manufactured double-layer window.Trust, Innovation and Empathy: The values driving Insulate Ukraine's work, and why they matter in a crisis.Ukraine's Civic Heroes: Celebrating the people keeping the country running.An Unlikely Origin: How the death of the Queen helped lead to the founding of Insulate Ukraine.Designing Under Fire: The particular difficulty of R&D in the humanitarian aid sector, and building an installation system from scratch.Harry also reflects on day-to-day life in a war-torn country, working with whatever materials people had to hand, growing up in Northern Ireland, how Catholicism and boarding school shaped his thinking, and why he wants to rethink the development sector altogether.Find out more and donate at insulate-ukraine.org.Explore more: Visit materialmatters.design for more on our fairs and conferences.Support the show

Ist die ganze KI-Entwicklung am Ende nur ein riesiges trojanisches Pferd des Kapitalismus? In dieser Episode zieht Marco die rosarote Tech-Brille aus und blickt radikal kritisch auf die jüngste Google I/O-Konferenz. Zwischen astronomischen Token-Volumina ohne echte Bemessungsgrundlage , dem Frust über fehlerhaften Code beim Prototyping und der schleichenden Monopolstellung von Google stellt sich eine fundamentale Frage: Wo bleibt der Mensch bei diesem ganzen Zirkus? Marco plädiert für eine dringende Erdung, den Schutz der eigenen Datenhoheit und erklärt, warum das neue Live-Format „Messy Middle Madness“ genau der richtige Ort für diese ehrlichen Diskussionen ist. Schnall dich an für eine Folge voller wirrer, aber verdammt wichtiger Gedanken im AI-Zeitalter.

SummaryIn this episode, Tyler Wells, co-founder and CTO of BrainGrid.ai, shares his extensive experience in entrepreneurship, AI development, and the evolving role of software engineers in the age of AI. Discover insights on building AI-driven platforms, managing projects, and the future of software creation.TakeawaysEntrepreneurship journey and lessons learnedBuilding AI platforms and managing projectsThe role of human ingenuity versus AI automationChapters00:00 Introduction to Tyler Wells and His Journey02:55 The Entrepreneurial Journey: Lessons from Failures05:41 Transitioning from Employee to Entrepreneur10:15 The Impact of AI on Business and Employment11:14 Building with AI: The Evolution of BrainGrid14:14 The Role of Engineers in an AI-Driven World24:05 The Future of Software Engineering and AI Pilots27:07 Challenges in Software Development with AI32:14 Transforming Ideas into Actionable Plans40:47 Navigating the Challenges of Non-Technical Users47:18 Prototyping vs. Production: Understanding the Difference53:06 The BrainGrid Framework: Build, Verify, TrustConnect with Tyler: https://www.braingrid.ai/https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerswells/Credits:Hosted by Ryan RoghaarProduced by Ryan RoghaarTheme music: "Perfect Day" by OPM  The Eggs Podcast Spotify playlist:bit.ly/eggstunesThe Plugs:The Show: eggsthepodcast.com@eggsthepodcast on X and InstagramMike "DJ Ontic": Shows and info: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠djontic.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@djontic on twitterRyan Roghaar:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠rogha.ar⁠

Jamie Leupold shares the journey of creating the innovative Unbell, a versatile weight training product inspired by Y-bells and designed for unbalanced training. Discover the design process, challenges, and future plans for this unique fitness tool.Chapters00:00 Introduction to Unbell and Jamie Leupold05:19 The Concept Behind Unbell09:09 Prototyping and Design Process16:09 Manufacturing and Production Plans18:28 Target Market and Early Adopters21:13 Feedback and First Impressions25:53 Success Metrics and Future Plans28:41 Collaboration and AI in Product DevelopmentCheck out the UNbell: https://unbell.com/

Während Deine Konkurrenz ihre App bereits verkauft, ist Dein Team noch beim Mockup.Was, wenn Prototypen in Minuten statt Wochen entstehen könnten? …darüber sprechen wir in diesem #KIundTECH Podcast Interview.In dieser Episode spricht Holger Winkler mit Jens Rusitschka, von Kick & Boost über AI-gestütztes Rapid Prototyping und was es konkret bedeutet, Figma und Penpot hinter sich zu lassen. Statt wochenlanger Mockup-Zyklen entstehen erste klickbare Prototypen heute in Minuten – direkt aus dem Workshop-Scribble. Wer als Produkt- oder UX-Team nicht jetzt umdenkt, riskiert, vom Markt überholt zu werden. Warum sollten Sie dieses Interview nicht verpassen?Sie erfahren, warum führende Start-ups Figma komplett aus ihrem Prozess gestrichen habenSie verstehen, welche Rolle UX- und Produkt-Designer im AI-Zeitalter wirklich spielen – und warum sie wichtiger sind denn jeSie lernen, welche Skills Produkt- und Tech-Teams jetzt aufbauen müssen, um wettbewerbsfähig zu bleibenSie bekommen eine ehrliche Einschätzung zur Qualitätsfrage: Wann liefert AI-Prototyping wirklich gute Ergebnisse?Sie erhalten konkrete Empfehlungen, wie Unternehmen AI-First-Kompetenzen schrittweise und ohne Risiko aufbauenTakeaways aus dem Interview:AI Rapid Prototyping kombiniert Produkt- und Nutzerkontexte mit Prompt Engineering, um klickbare Prototypen in Minuten statt Wochen zu erstellenDie Qualität steht und fällt mit dem Setup: Nutzerkontexte, Style Guides und klare Guidelines sind entscheidendWer als UX- oder Produkt-Designer seine Prozesse nicht beschleunigt, riskiert, vollständig aus dem Entwicklungsprozess herauszufallenPrompt Engineering und ein grundlegendes Verständnis von Softwarearchitektur werden zu Pflichtkompetenzen für Design- und ProduktteamsAI ohne erfahrene Designer produziert schlechte Ergebnisse – die Technologie macht gute Leute besser, ersetzt sie aber nichtUnternehmen sollten AI-First-Skills in kleinen, risikoarmen Projekten aufbauen – nicht mit dem ersten großen KundenprojektDie besten Ergebnisse entstehen, wenn A-Mitarbeiter mit echtem Interesse die neuen Methoden intern vorantreibenÜber #KIundTECH – der KIundTECH Podcast:KI & TECH in Unternehmen und Gesellschaft: Wettbewerbsvorteil oder Sargnagel?Was machst Du daraus?Wir sprechen mit Anwendern und Vordenkern über Chancen, Risiken und Auswirkungen von KI – klar, praxisnah und auf den Punkt. Damit unsere Hörer schneller die richtigen Entscheidungen treffen können.Mehr erfahren: https://kiundtech.com/ Holger Winkler auf LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/holger-winkler/ Du möchtest einen Gast vorschlagen oder selber zu uns in die Sendung kommen?Alle Informationen und ein Bewerbungsformular findest du auf unserer Webseite!

BONUS: AI Won't Just Change How You Work — It Will Reshape Your Organization The Global Agile Summit is around the corner, and the AI in Organizations track is one you don't want to miss. In this episode, track co-hosts Michael Dougherty and Michał Parkoła walk us through what they've built — from the thinking behind the track name to the sessions that stood out, and why this isn't just another AI conference lineup. Why "AI in Organizations" — Not Just "AI" "AI will not only be useful to existing organizations, but it will reshape organizations in a very significant way, the same way cars reshaped cities."   Michael and Michał drew a deliberate line with the track name. Michael points out that AI has been around for decades — it didn't start with ChatGPT. The real shift now is AI agents scaling to enterprise level, replacing automation that used to require specialized tools. Claude Enterprise holds about 29% of the enterprise AI market, Gemini around 15%. But Michał pushes the framing further: the first-order effect is applying AI to existing work. The second-order effect — the one he's most interested in — is how AI will reshape organizations themselves. New species of companies will emerge, smaller teams will achieve what used to require hundreds of people, and some existing organizations won't survive the transition. That's the conversation this track is designed to start. Filtering the Signal From the Slop "There was a bit of AI slop in the submissions. There was a lot of talk that, unfortunately, was meta-talk — there was no real value that I could glean."   When session submissions came in, Michael was disappointed by how many were surface-level — big promises with no practical takeaway. The ones that stood out were practitioners showing what they actually do. Dave Westgarth, for example, demonstrated how he uses AI with Lovable and Claude embedded in Miro whiteboards to enhance real team interactions. On Michał's side, the standout was Max Pirata, who challenged the "vibe coding is slop" narrative. His argument: the quality of large-scale software has never depended on the infallibility of individual engineers — it depends on disciplined engineering processes. The same applies to agentic engineering. Your first attempt at vibe coding will be rough, but there are ways to apply engineering discipline to AI-assisted development. That's what Max will be talking about at the summit. Prototyping at the Speed of Thought — And the Human Bottleneck "Now I've got 20 prototypes that I can choose from. Which ones are the best? Which ones do I need to clear out? Product managers now have a different game they play."   Two sessions capture opposite sides of the AI-in-organizations tension. Dave Westgarth's "Vibe UX: Prototyping at the Speed of Thought" shows how vibe coding lets you build full working systems instead of Figma mockups — so fast that the bottleneck shifts from creation to selection. Product managers and product owners now face a new challenge: clearing the closet of AI-generated options rather than validating a single bet. On the other side, Shawn Wallack's session — "Even With AI, Your System Will Never Be Better Than Its People" — brings the counterpoint. Michael explains the systems-thinking angle: AI does what you tell it, fast and accurately, but that speed reveals human bottlenecks everywhere else. He shares the cautionary example of AI declining twice the insurance claims humans did, with the human-in-the-loop rubber-stamping instead of actually checking — leading to a class action lawsuit. The lesson: AI doesn't remove the need for human judgment, it makes it more critical. Gojko Adzic on Spec-Driven Development and Building AI Products "True to his roots, he is exploring spec-driven development now, which is one of the popular threads in agentic engineering."   Gojko Adzic — the author of Specification by Example and Impact Mapping — brings heavyweight credibility to the track. Michał reveals that while Gojko is exploring spec-driven development in the context of agentic engineering, the interview focused more on his hands-on experience building his own AI products. For attendees, this means real practitioner insights from someone who literally wrote the book on how specifications drive software quality — now applying those principles in an AI-first world. From Beginner to Builder — Who This Track Is For "My favorite case would be people who will quit their jobs and start new companies that will be able to achieve wonderful things with much smaller teams than we would otherwise imagine possible."   The track is designed to meet people wherever they are. Pierre Beaning covers the basics of using Claude for beginners. Jason Little — who Michael describes as a "techno nerd" and "grand poobah" — shows how to build and scale multi-agent systems for business. The spectrum runs from "I've only used AI to plan a vacation" to "I'm orchestrating agent teams." But Michał's vision for the ideal attendee is bolder: someone who walks away ready to start a company. Michael backs this up with the story of an AI unicorn — $1.8 billion valuation, one guy and his brother, in the pharmaceutical industry, just a few months old. Hype? Maybe. But Michał's pragmatic take lands it: "If you make a few million, even if it dies later, that's not such a bad thing." The goal of the track is to blow away the fog — throw flares into key spots so people can sketch a map of what's possible and decide which areas deserve a follow-up. About Michael Dougherty Michael Dougherty is the Co-author of Shift: From Product to People, leadership coach with 30+ years helping organizations adopt people-centered, agile ways of working. Co-owner of the Global Agile Summit.   You can link with Michael Dougherty on LinkedIn and find out more at shiftingpeople.com. About Michał Parkoła Michał Parkoła is an Agile practitioner based in Warsaw, Poland. Previously hosted the Value-Centric Product Development track at Agile Online Summit 2024. He is building Tapestry, an AI planning assistant.   You can link with Michał Parkoła on LinkedIn and check out Tapestry at growwithtapestry.com.

Wie Entwickler echte Serienteile in wenigen Minuten herstellen. Im Gespräch zeigen Johannes Lutz und HoliMaker‑Experte Udo Eckloff, wie manuelle Spritzgussgeräte in Kombination mit 3D‑gedruckten Formen eine völlig neue Geschwindigkeit und Präzision in der Produktentwicklung ermöglichen. Durch extrem niedrige Kosten, schnelle Iterationen und echte Serienmaterialien wird der HoliMaker zur Brücke zwischen 3D‑Druck und klassischem Werkzeugbau - ideal für Prototyping, Kleinserien und hochpräzise Funktionsmuster. Ob Medtech, Consumer Products oder Maschinenbau: Entwickler gewinnen neue Freiheit, vermeiden teure Fehler und heben ihre Innovationskraft auf das nächste Level.

Mit Henrik Pitz (CERPRO) Staffel #13 Folge #1 | #Marketing_021 Der Podcast über Marketing, Vertrieb, Entrepreneurship und Startups *** www.cerpro.io/ www.linkedin.com/in/henrik-pitz/ *** Im Podcast „Marketing From Zero To One“ spricht Henrik Pitz (COO & Co-Founder) von CERPRO über die Gründung des Berliner KI-Startups, das die Qualitätssicherung in der Fertigungsindustrie automatisiert. Zentrale Learnings sind die Bedeutung früher Kundeninteraktion, der Pivot hin zu einem einzigen und klar fokussierten Feature sowie der erfolgreiche Einsatz von Social Media (insbesondere Instagram) zur Produktvalidierung und anfänglichen Kundengewinnung. Zudem gibt Henrik Einblicke in den praktischen Einsatz von KI bei CERPRO, insb. in Produktentwicklung, Marketing, Vertrieb und Automatisierung, sowie deren Einfluss auf Personalentscheidungen und das eigene Geschäftsmodell. Abschließend gibt er konkrete Tipps für Gründerinnen, Gründer und Berufseinsteiger im KI-Zeitalter. *** 00:00 – Intro & Kontext (KI-Startup-Serie, CERPRO) 02:01 – Hintergrund & Weg ins Gründen 06:01 – Einstieg ins Startup & Accelerator-Erfahrung 09:03 – Erste Produktideen, Fehler & Pivot 11:18 – Problem & Lösung: KI in der Qualitätssicherung 14:46 – Validierung & erste Leads über Social Media 16:30 – Zielgruppe & ungewöhnlicher Kanal (Instagram) 20:16 – Marketingstrategie & erste Kunden 23:29 – Wachstum auf 100+ Kunden & Vertrieb 26:48 – Teamstruktur & Rollen der Gründer 28:32 – Hiring & Aufbau nach Funding 30:12 – Fundraising & Investorenperspektive 32:07 – KI im Produkt: Use Case & Technologie 35:21 – Eigene Modelle vs. LLMs 36:57 – Einfluss von KI auf Produktentwicklung 39:47 – Im Wettbewerb mit GenAI 42:10 – KI im Unternehmen (Vertrieb, Marketing, Prozesse) 45:28 – Prototyping als zentraler Growth Hack 46:43 – KI-Agenten & zukünftige Entwicklungen 47:58 – Tipps für Berufseinsteiger 51:36 – Tipps für Gründerinnen und Gründer 54:37 – Team, Kultur & Arbeitsweise bei CERPRO 56:15 – Karrieremöglichkeiten & gesuchte Profile

What do you do when your entire business model collapses almost overnight? For Sven Klatt and the team at Vineburg Machining, the answer wasn't to retreat—it was to reinvent. After losing their three largest customers to overseas outsourcing in the early 2000s, the company made a bold decision: walk away from high-volume commodity work and rebuild from the ground up around complex, high-mix machining that couldn't easily leave the U.S. That transformation didn't just change what they made—it changed how they thought. From investing in CNC technology to embracing five-axis machining, Vineburg steadily evolved into a shop capable of tackling highly technical aerospace and defense work. But even with three shifts running, Sven kept running into the same frustrating reality: too many machines sitting idle when people weren't there to run them. Instead of accepting that limitation, he decided to solve it. What started as a rough sketch for a better pallet system turned into a fully functional in-house automation solution—one designed specifically for high-mix environments, tight shop footprints, and real-world machinist workflows. After years of testing, breaking, and refining, that internal tool became something much bigger. In this episode, Sven shares the full journey—from survival-driven reinvention to building a lights-out automation system that now powers their shop and has entered the market through a strategic partnership. Along the way, he reveals hard-earned lessons on risk-taking, continuous improvement, workforce challenges, and what it really takes to maximize spindle uptime without burning out your team. You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in... (3:11) Sven's journey to Vineburg and the shop's high-volume origins (8:06) Investing in five-axis machining and unlocking new growth (11:17) Running three shifts and maximizing shop flexibility (14:02) The problem: idle machines and limited labor capacity (16:24) From failed purchase to building a custom solution in-house (19:52) Prototyping, testing, and proving the system in production (21:06) Using automation to extend machining hours and increase uptime (23:19) Check out the Hennig WorkFlow pallet automation system (24:10) Winning work through value, capability, and risk-taking (28:01) Standardizing production and improving customer partnerships (30:14) Designing the system: footprint, capacity, and simplicity (37:21) Making the system operator-friendly with intuitive controls (39:38) Head to the DN Solutions Manufacturing Without Limits event (40:36) The impact of the pallet system on Vineburg Machining (42:12) Tooling, process control, and making lights-out reliable (47:30) Scaling automation to reduce reliance on night shifts (49:59) Get a free report of opportunities in your industry from FacturMFG.com/chips (53:28) Partnering with Hennig to bring the product to market (56:26) The breakthrough moment and realizing its full potential (58:48) A shop could pay off the system within the first year (1:01:11) Lessons learned: testing, delegation, and stepping out of the bottleneck Resources & People Mentioned Check out the Hennig WorkFlow pallet automation system Head to the DN Solutions Manufacturing Without Limits event Get a free report of opportunities in your industry from FacturMFG.com/chips Connect with Sven Klatt Connect on LinkedIn Vineburg Machining  Connect With Machine Shop Mastery The website LinkedIn YouTube Instagram Subscribe to Machine Shop Mastery on Apple, Spotify

Today, in episode 324, Adrian is rewinding one of our most popular episodes ever: breaking down the New Product Introduction (NPI) process and why it's the difference between a smooth product launch… and a costly failure. If you've ever: Rushed into tooling too early Hit quality issues in production Faced unexpected delays or rising costs There's a good chance your NPI process wasn't solid. In this episode, Renaud and Adrian walk through what NPI actually looks like in practice, not theory, and how it helps you validate your design, test assumptions, and reduce risk before scaling production. What you'll learn What the NPI process really is (and what most people get wrong) The key stages: requirements → feasibility → prototyping → tooling → pilot run → mass production Why skipping steps leads to expensive problems later How to balance speed vs risk depending on your product and volume Real examples of what goes wrong without a structured process Why this episode matters Too many companies treat NPI as optional, or rush through it to “save time.” In reality, that's usually what creates: Quality failures Supplier issues Cost blowouts Delayed launches This episode explains how to avoid that.   Episode Sections: 00:00:12 — Introduction 00:02:24 — Rewind to the NPI Process 00:05:04 — Understanding the NPI Process 00:08:09 — Prototyping and Feasibility 00:12:57 — Tooling and Production Samples 00:18:01 — Pilot Run and Testing 00:20:56 — Assessing the NPI Process 00:26:08 — Balancing Risks and Quality 00:26:31 — Closing Remarks and Future Topics   Related content… The NPI Process (Includes graphic) Analysing the (NPI) New Product Introduction Process & its Benefits [Podcast] The New Product Introduction Process Guide (Long Read) Remember, we can help you develop and manufacture your new product following our structured NPI process to reduce your risks, and more.   This episode is brought to you by The Sofeast Group and includes links in the show notes to our blog posts and resources, and recommended books. For help with manufacturing in Asia, inspections, auditing, new product development, contract manufacturing, 3PL warehousing and fulfillment, visit sofeast.com.  Get in touch with us Connect with us on LinkedIn Contact us via Sofeast's contact page Subscribe to our YouTube channel Prefer Facebook? Check us out on FB

In dieser Folge spricht Felix Behm mit Joël Heil Escobar, Co-Founder des Young Founders Network, über Unternehmertum in jungen Jahren, neue Arbeitsbilder und die Frage, warum viele aus der Generation Z viel bewegen wollen, aber nicht mehr zu jedem Preis. Joël erzählt von seinem eigenen Weg: von YouTube und ersten Online-Projekten über gescheiterte E-Commerce-Versuche bis hin zum Aufbau eines der größten Netzwerke für Gründerinnen und Gründer unter 25 in Deutschland. Es geht um Mut, um fehlende Vorbilder, um die Lücken im deutschen Gründungsökosystem und um die Rolle von KI als Werkzeug und Sparringspartner. Gleichzeitig wird deutlich, dass junge Menschen nicht arbeitsfaul sind, sondern stärker auf Sinn, Wertschätzung und gute Bedingungen achten. Eine Folge über Gründergeist, Bildung, Verantwortung und darüber, was sich ändern muss, damit aus Ideen tatsächlich Unternehmen werden. In dieser Folge geht es um: warum Gen Z arbeiten will, aber andere Bedingungen erwartet Joëls Weg vom YouTube-Kanal zum Young Founders Network was junge Gründerinnen und Gründer in Deutschland wirklich brauchen warum Mut oft der größte Engpass beim Gründen ist welche Rolle KI beim Gründen, Lernen und Prototyping spielt weshalb unternehmerisches Denken schon in Schulen wichtiger werden sollte Mehr Infos zu Felix Behm erhältst du unter www.felixbehm.de Folge direkt herunterladen

Chip updates us on his community collabs, Gimpy came down with a sickness so was out of commission, the guys update each other on their progress. Chip is currently in the prototype phase of each project.youtube available: https://youtu.be/ut6bpN5pyKE

Oliver Rößling und Alois Krtil diskutieren den Paradigmenwechsel von Copilot zu Agent: KI sitzt heute nicht mehr neben dem Piloten, sie fliegt selbst. Agentenflotten, die man nur noch orchestriert, werden zur neuen Normalität, was klassische Organisationsstrukturen fundamental herausfordert. Gleichzeitig erodiert die Grenze zwischen Prototyp und Produkt: Agentische Architekturen ermöglichen heute SLA-konforme, sicherheitsgeprüfte Softwareentwicklung, die früher erfahrene Teams voraussetzte.Für Europa sehen beide reale Chancen, besonders durch Leapfrogging, Federated Learning und eine starke Forschungslandschaft. Regeln werden nicht als Innovationsbremse verstanden, sondern als historisch bewährte Skalierungsinfrastruktur.Key LearningsDer Shift von Copilot zu Agent vollzieht sich schneller als erwartet, Agentenflotten sind bereits CommodityVibe Coding ist Prototyping, Agenti Coding ist Produktion, der Unterschied ist nicht kosmetischToken-Limits treiben Open-Source-Adoption und Architekturdenken, nicht jede Aufgabe braucht das stärkste ModellLeapfrogging macht Digitalisierungsrückstände paradoxerweise zum VorteilEuropas regelbasierte Tradition und Forschungsstärke sind ein USP für dezentrale, vertrauenswürdige SystemeAGI wird Infrastruktur, still und ohne großes Geschäftsmodell, ähnlich wie das Internet

In this episode of the Bold and Inspired Leaders Podcast, join Spencer Green, Director of Technology Strategy, for our series of “Spencer Kills It,” a myth‑busting look at how smart tech teams build what actually works. Today, Spencer is joined by his team: Joe, Director of QA, Jake, Head of Product, and Drake, Business Development Manager, who will discuss rapid AI prototyping and early validation, structured QA testing, and iteration. They'll reveal how disciplined processes clarify ideas faster, uncover hidden development issues sooner, and turn business visions into scalable, reliable products. Listen to Learn: Why early prototyping is the ultimate clarity tool for founders and developers alike How AI-driven prototypes reshape timelines from idea to validation to launch What quality assurance actually means for reliability, scalability, and investor confidence Why and how continuous iteration keeps your tech relevant long after launch Why your tech stack drives long-term business growth, not just on a lone project If you're a founder, business leader, or visionary ready to make smarter tech decisions and turn inspiration into sustainable innovation, follow, subscribe, and stay tuned to the Bold and Inspired Leaders podcast, produced by the INSPIRED Vibe team! INSPIRED Vibe Socials: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/inspirethevibe/posts/?feedView=all Instagram: @inspirethevibe Facebook: @inspirethevibe TikTok: @inspirethevibe YouTube: @inspirethevibe More from Spencer: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/aKO-Zq1jUfY

In this interview, James Dean explains how prototyping strengthens business analysis by turning complex requirements into visual, collaborative conversations. Prototyping helps clarify user needs, and reduce rework. It also helps stakeholders better understand user journeys, validate assumptions, and provide timely feedback. James argues that even imperfect prototypes add value by revealing gaps early and supporting better decision-making through shared understanding. He points out that visual collaboration enhances engagement, separates needs from wants, and supports clearer, more informed decision-making throughout the analysis and delivery process. See the YouTube video at https://youtu.be/hSQb16d-9LI.See the book's website at evolvinganalyst.com.

Discover why using production-grade materials for prototyping can save inventors thousands of dollars and prevent costly manufacturing failures. Learn how to choose the right prototyping methods and materials to validate your product idea effectively. Learn more at https://www.rabbitproductdesign.com/proto-k Rabbit Product Design City: Palo Alto Address: 2100 Geng Rd Ste 210 Website: https://www.rabbitproductdesign.com/

Indie developers often feel stuck between moving quickly and building something worth committing to. Move too slow and momentum fades. Move too fast, and you risk committing to ideas before they've been properly tested. So today, we're going to dive into how smarter prototyping helps teams validate ideas earlier, learn faster, and make stronger development decisions. And we'll also look at how the right tools can support faster iteration without becoming a distraction. Episode Shownotes Link: https://rengenmarketing.com/447

Book a consultation hereUnlock the future of AI-powered prototyping and software tools that can revolutionize your productivity — if you're tired of slow development cycles and endless bottlenecks, this episode is a game-changer. Dan Hafner shares how he's been able to 10x his output in just two months using innovative software tools like Claude Code and Vibe Code, transforming the way he builds client projects and internal applications.From seamlessly recreating complex marketplaces with payments and roles to revising existing apps in a fraction of the time, Dan reveals the secret sauce that's propelling entrepreneurs and developers into a new era of rapid innovation. You'll discover how to leverage AI and cutting-edge software tools to document, rebuild, and enhance existing applications in record time, along with specific workflows for turning recorded walkthroughs into fully functional code instantly.The episode also explores why traditional prototyping methods are being replaced by these AI-driven software tools and the real-world impact of Apple's recent crackdown on vibe coding apps. Learn how to embed AI into your project pipeline to accelerate time-to-market and reduce costs. For founders, developers, and designers alike, mastering these tools is essential for staying competitive and pushing boundaries.This episode provides a glimpse into the future of software development, where AI-enhanced workflows make rapid prototyping and cost-effective building the new normal. Dan Hafner's innovative insights empower you to jumpstart your projects and embrace a world of endless creative potential—perfect for anyone eager to accelerate innovation. Hit play and see how AI and software tools are rewriting the rules of prototyping.

Send us Fan MailIn part two of this three-part series on accelerating the speed of engineering, Aaron Moncur and Brad Hirayama shift the focus from individual habits to team workflows. Drawing from patterns that have surfaced across 300+ Being An Engineer interviews, they explore how better systems can help teams move faster from idea to hardware to validation. Brad and Aaron dig into practical ways to reduce wasted time and avoid preventable mistakes: defining requirements clearly, validating what actually matters, prototyping early, running strong design reviews, using checklists, testing options in parallel, involving manufacturing sooner, and centralizing project data so engineers can spend less time searching and more time building. Along the way, they share real stories from quoting automated equipment, catching costly design flaws, improving drawing quality, and avoiding production headaches. This episode is packed with actionable insight for engineers, engineering leaders, and product teams who want to streamline development without sacrificing quality. If you care about building better products faster, this conversation offers a clear playbook for improving the workflow behind the work. Aaron Moncur, host  Subscribe to the show to get notified so you don't miss new episodes every Friday.The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment like cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us at www.teampipeline.usWatch the show on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@TeamPipelineus 

Many people hold back from pursuing their passion because they believe the market is already saturated. They assume someone else has already done it better, faster, or earlier. But the truth is simple: there is always room for your dream. Even in a world with over eight billion people, every individual brings a unique perspective, personality, and way of doing things. While many people may offer similar products or services, no one can deliver them exactly the way you can. The difference often lies in small innovations, personal style, and the courage to express your authentic ideas. Sometimes all it takes is one small improvement—one "extra pocket"—to make something ordinary become extraordinary. Key Highlights There's always room for your dream No matter how crowded a market may seem, there is always space for fresh ideas and new perspectives. Your uniqueness is your competitive advantage Even if many people do the same thing, no one does it exactly the way you do. Your personality, creativity, and approach make the difference. Imposter syndrome holds many people back People often doubt themselves and think, "Who am I to do this?" That doubt prevents many great ideas from ever reaching the world. Clarity and courage are essential First, you must gain clarity about your passion and purpose. Then you need the courage to act on it, especially when it feels different from what others are doing. Small innovations create big impact Sometimes success comes from a simple improvement—like adding a small feature that makes a product more useful or enjoyable. Example: Standing out through small changes Even in a crowded clothing market, brands succeed by improving small details, such as comfort, design, or functionality. Those little differences can make customers loyal. Your "extra pocket" is your unique idea Think about the times you've said, "If only they did it this way, it would be better." That insight might be the innovation you're meant to create. Avoid echo chambers When you only talk to people who share your beliefs and doubts, you reinforce limitations instead of discovering opportunities. Act on ideas, don't just think about them Many people have great ideas but never move forward. Prototyping, testing, and sharing your concept with trusted people can turn ideas into reality. Execution matters more than information Learning and consuming content is valuable, but real growth comes when you apply what you learn. Final Thoughts At the end of life, many people regret the ideas they never acted on. The dream they postponed. The innovation they never shared. Your idea does not have to be completely new—it just needs your perspective, your creativity, and your execution. Sometimes one small improvement or one unique twist can change everything. So ask yourself: What's the idea that keeps coming back to you? Because one idea, well executed, can transform your business, your career, and your life. And the world may be waiting for the unique contribution only you can bring.

This week's episode comes to you from a very snowy New York, where Sarah and Helen are launching the US edition of Learn Like a Lobster - in the middle of the biggest blizzard in ten years. Despite battling icy steps and snowy conditions, they're diving into a topic that could transform how you approach ideas at work: prototyping.Borrowing brilliance from Nesta, Sarah and Helen explore a practical 4-part framework to help you move from “this might be a good idea” to something tangible, testable and useful.Episode 541

This week, Jen shares with Pete a new phrase she's coined, in order to turn dreams into aspirational prototypes. Specifically, in this episode Jen and Pete talk about: How might we move inch by inch towards our goal? In what ways might defining the perfect day or week or schedule or calendar be useful to us? What are some different ways to think about the relationships in our lives, our goals for the next ten years, and our overarching dreams of what our reality could be? To hear all episodes and read full transcripts, visit The Long and The Short Of It website: https://thelongandtheshortpodcast.com/. You can subscribe to our Box O' Goodies here (https://thelongandtheshortpodcast.com/) and receive a weekly email full of book and podcast recommendations, quotes, videos, and other interesting things that Jen and Pete are noodling on.  To get in touch, send an email to: hello@thelongandtheshortpodcast.com. Learn more about Pete's work here (https://humanperiscope.com/) and Jen's work here (https://jenwaldman.com/).

Du willst ein Hardware-Side-Project starten, aber schon der Gedanke an Löten, Platinen und CE-Regeln lässt dich nervös am Kaffee nippen? Willkommen im echten Leben zwischen Breadboard-Euphorie und EMV-Labor-Realität. In dieser Episode merkst du schnell, warum Hardware gleichzeitig super zugänglich und gnadenlos ehrlich ist. Und warum ein einziges Niesen ein ganzes ESP-Modul in den Feierabend schicken kann.Wir nehmen dich mit in die Maker Welt rund um ESP32, ESP8266 und ESPHome, also Open Source Firmware und YAML Konfiguration für IoT Geräte, perfekt für Home Assistant. Andrej Friesen, Smart-Hütte-Podcast-Host und Organizer eines Home-Assistant-Meetups, erzählt die komplette Story hinter PokyPow, einem kleinen Board fürs PC-Frontpanel. Damit kannst du deinen Gaming- oder Home-Server-PC über Home Assistant starten, stoppen, den Power-Button als Sensor nutzen und sogar eine Art Parental Control oder Katzenschutz aktivieren. Dazu gibt es Learnings zu Optokopplern, externer Antenne im PC-Gehäuse, Prototyping mit EasyEDA und JLCPCB sowie Outsourcing über Upwork.Und dann wird es ernst: CE-Kennzeichnung ist keine Zertifizierung, EMV-Tests können von 1700 bis 35000 Dollar kosten, Distribution ist ein eigenes Projekt und CrowdSupply kann Fulfillment, Retouren und Payment abnehmen. Wenn du Bock auf Open Source, Meetups, Tech Community und Networking hast, ist das hier deine Einladung zum Mitmachen. Am Ende bleibt nur ein Motto: "fuck around and find out."Unsere aktuellen Werbepartner findest du auf https://engineeringkiosk.dev/partnersDas schnelle Feedback zur Episode:

In this episode of Crazy Wisdom, Stewart Alsop sits down with Andre Oliveira, founder of Splash N Color, a bootstrapped 3D printing e-commerce business selling consumer goods on Amazon. The two cover a lot of ground — from how Andre went from running 40 FDM printers out of South Florida to offshoring manufacturing to China, to how he's using Claude Code to automate inventory management and generate supplier RFQs across 200+ SKUs. The conversation stretches into bigger territory too: the San Francisco AI scene, the rise of AI agents and what they mean for the future of the internet, whether local on-device AI will eventually replace cloud-based tools, and why building physical products will stay hard long after software becomes easy. It's a candid, wide-ranging conversation between two self-taught builders figuring things out in real time. Follow Andre on X: @AndreBaach.Timestamps00:00 — Andre introduces Splash N Color, his Amazon-based 3D printing e-commerce business and explains the grind of running 40 FDM machines in South Florida.05:00 — The conversation shifts to Claude Code and how Andre built an inventory automation system to manage sales velocity and RFQs across 200+ SKUs.10:00 — Stewart and Andre compare notes on Opus 4.6, debate Codex vs Claude, and Andre breaks down the new Agent Teams feature in Claude Code.15:00 — Discussion turns to the San Francisco AI scene, the viral OpenClaw launch event that drew 700 people, and what's capturing the city's imagination right now.20:00 — The pair wrestle with data privacy, the illusion of it since 2000, and whether full transparency of personal data might actually serve people better.25:00 — Stewart pitches his vision of local on-device AI replacing cloud tools entirely, and they debate the 10–15 year timeline for mainstream societal adoption.30:00 — Andre traces his origin story: a high school dropout from Brazil who spotted a 3D printing opportunity on Facebook Marketplace and got lucky timing with COVID.35:00 — They explore whether AI-generated 3D models and DfAM will automate physical manufacturing, and why proprietary specs keep the space stubbornly hard.Key InsightsLifestyle businesses deserve more respect. Andre spent months feeling inadequate scrolling through Twitter watching founders announce funding rounds, before realizing his cash-flowing, location-independent business was already the goal. The social media version of entrepreneurial success warped his perception of what he actually had built.Claude Code is becoming an operating system. Stewart describes running Claude Code as having a second OS on top of MacOS — one that makes the underlying machine legible in ways it never was before. Both guests use it not just for coding but as a primary interface for understanding and operating their businesses.Agent Teams changes how work gets done. Andre explains that Claude's new multi-agent feature lets you assign a team lead and specialized roles that communicate with each other in parallel, essentially running an autonomous task force inside your terminal — a meaningful leap beyond single-instance prompting.Physical manufacturing will stay hard. Even as AI-generated 3D models improve, tolerances of 0.5 millimeters can mean the difference between a product working or not. Design for manufacturing is a separate discipline from design itself, and proprietary specs mean open source models rarely hit commercial quality.The internet is heading toward agents. Both guests agree that AI agents will increasingly handle tasks humans currently do manually online — booking services, making payments, coordinating logistics — with the human internet potentially becoming secondary to a machine-to-machine layer.Iteration is the real value of 3D printing. Andre pushes back on 3D printing as a business unto itself, framing it instead as a prototyping tool. The true value is rapid iteration on housing, tolerances, and fit — not the printer, but the speed of the feedback loop it enables.Technology compounds in layers. Andre closes with a tech-tree analogy: each generation normalizes the tools of the previous one and builds the next layer on top. Agentic coding today is what the internet was in the 90s — the foundation for something we can't yet fully see.

This week @adafruit we're showcasing the IoT Art Display with PyPortal and CircuitPython. Prototyping a simple NeoPixel LED lightbar for MIDI controllers. Shop talking about sculpt coating on 3D prints. This week's time lapse features an articulating toy inspired by Punch the Monkey. PyPortal Art Display Guide: https://learn.adafruit.com/pyportal-art-display Adafruit PyPortal https://www.adafruit.com/product/4116 https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/adafruit-industries-llc/4116/10230008 QT PY RP2040 https://www.adafruit.com/product/4900 NeoPixel Strip with JST https://www.adafruit.com/product/3919 NeoPixel Driver BFF https://www.adafruit.com/product/5645 Keyboard Sale: https://www.adafruit.com/category/1029 Timelapse Tuesday PunchPal Flexy Orangutan By GEEKDECO https://makerworld.com/en/models/2440810-punchpal-articulated-comfort-orangutan#profileId-2678435

This week @adafruit we're showcasing the IoT Art Display with PyPortal and CircuitPython. Prototyping a simple NeoPixel LED lightbar for MIDI controllers. Shop talking about sculpt coating on 3D prints. This week's time lapse features an articulating toy inspired by Punch the Monkey. PyPortal Art Display Guide: https://learn.adafruit.com/pyportal-art-display Adafruit PyPortal https://www.adafruit.com/product/4116 https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/adafruit-industries-llc/4116/10230008 QT PY RP2040 https://www.adafruit.com/product/4900 NeoPixel Strip with JST https://www.adafruit.com/product/3919 NeoPixel Driver BFF https://www.adafruit.com/product/5645 Keyboard Sale: https://www.adafruit.com/category/1029 Timelapse Tuesday PunchPal Flexy Orangutan By GEEKDECO https://makerworld.com/en/models/2440810-punchpal-articulated-comfort-orangutan#profileId-2678435

In this episode I'm joined by Jim Morris.  We chat about the wake-up call that pushed him from building first to testing first. Jim and I discuss loyalty programs no one wanted, roadmaps filled with sequenced risk, AI prototypes that hallucinate and the uncomfortable reality that confidence often replaces evidence.We also dig into something deeper: why smart teams ignore data, why leaders fall in love once an idea hits the roadmap, and why testing isn't about better UX,  it's about real value.Jim shares how he even tests his own teaching process for students at Berkeley.Because as he puts it:“We can build stuff. But if people don't use it, we're just creating product debt.”Enjoy my conversation with Jim Morris.TakeawaysTesting is crucial to ensure product effectiveness and user engagement.Data analysis can reveal the true usage of product features.Mindset plays a significant role in how product ideas are perceived and developed.Not all ideas will succeed; testing helps identify the viable ones.User motivation is key to the success of features and programs.Prototyping tools can enhance the testing process but require careful implementation.Learning from failures in testing is essential for growth and improvement.Roadmaps should be flexible to adapt to changing priorities and evidence.It's important to focus on the core value proposition of a product.Continuous experimentation and adaptation are vital in product management.Guest LinksWebsite: https://productdiscoverygroup.com/LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmorrisstanford/ If your leadership team is about to make a big strategic bet, the real risk usually isn't the idea, it's the assumptions behind it that haven't been surfaced yet. A Decision Sprint is a focused 6–12 week engagement where we extract, map, and test those risks so leaders can make a clear Commit, Correct, or Cut decision before major capital moves. Learn more or apply at precoil.com.

On this episode of the Swell Season Surf Podcast, we welcome board industry vet, Jamie Meiselman to the show! We  trace his journey from cold-water surfing in Westfield, New Jersey and the DIY dawn of Northeast snowboarding to a lifetime of innovation across board sports. Jamie reflects on his early roots in skate, surf and competitive snowboarding, pioneering boot technology with Burton and Airwalk, and his years shaping the voice of the industry as Managing Editor of Transworld Snowboarding during its explosive growth in the early 90s. After earning an MBA at Columbia, he pursued an ambitious surf-focused wave pool project that ultimately collapsed, shaping his philosophy on risk, resilience, and iteration. In 2017, Jamie returned to his core passion and founded Solite, introducing the first heat-moldable surf bootie and building a lean, performance-driven brand now respected worldwide. This conversation explores obsession, reinvention, craftsmanship, wave pool evolution, and the mindset behind creating products that truly improve function — closing with reflections on shaping, favorite boards, and the perfect eternity wave.Follow Jamie's company Solite Boots on Instagram @solitebootsand you can check out the latest selection at https://soliteboots.com/The Swell Season Surf Podcast is recorded by The NewsStand Studio at Rockefeller Center in the heart of Manhattan and is distributed by The Swell Season Surf Radio Network. For more information, you can follow @swellseasonsurfradio on Instagram or go to our website: www.swellseasonsurf.com Music: Artist: Sure SureSong: This Must be the PlaceAlbum: Sure Sure00:00 Welcome to the Swell Season Surf Podcast + Jamie Meiselman's Wild Resume04:18 Risk, Failure & the Brutal Early Wave Pool Dream (1999–2004)07:08 Franken-Boots, First Patents & Burton/K2 Innovation Stories10:47 The Obsession Advantage: How Jamie Thinks, Learns & Gets Distracted (AI Tools)13:21 Building a Lean Niche Brand: Solite's Focus, Marketing & Why Performance Wins19:02 Growing Up in NJ: Skateparks, Hamptons Summers & Learning to Surf23:32 Early Snowboarding DIY Era: Woodshop Boards, Ski-Shop Roots & Tinkering Mindset28:07 Solite Origin Story: From Seamless EVA Surf Gloves to Heat-Moldable Boots32:42 Staying Small on Purpose: Competitors, Core Values & Avoiding the ‘Next Nike' Trap35:46 Founder Reality Check: Freedom vs 7-Day Weeks, Support Systems & Family Balance41:58 Less Is More: Letting Kids Learn With Guardrails42:53 Balancing Marriage, Work, and Empty-Nester Life43:42 Surf vs Snowboard: Family Interests & Learning Curves46:17 Living Inland vs Beachside: Staying Hungry for Waves49:40 Dartmouth Days: Choosing Mountains, Quitting Lacrosse for Snowboarding52:03 Starting a Snowboard Club + Early Skiers vs Snowboarders Tension54:41 The ‘Urinal Meeting' That Launched a Transworld Writing Career57:09 Why Surfing Stays #1 (and Chasing Feel Over Progression)01:00:06 From Shaping Curiosity to DIY Boardbuilding as a Step-by-Step Process01:05:52 Boots, Concave Decks, and Performance-Enhancing Gear Ideas01:09:17 Inside Transworld's Boom: Ads, Trade Shows, and Snowboarding's Explosion01:13:30 From Airwalk to Burton: Boot Wars, Culture Shock, and the Wave-Pool Seed01:19:45 From Water Parks to Surf Pools: The Wave Pool Spark01:20:27 Prototyping the Dream: Trade Shows, Engineers & Early Wave Tech01:21:42 Business School as a Launchpad: Columbia, Seed Money & Raising Capital01:24:09 The Hard Part: Rejection, Anxiety, and Getting to the First Million01:26:20 The Fatal Flaw: Adjustable Bottom Contours and Why the Pool Kept Breaking01:28:11 When It Fell Apart: Boardroom Confidence, Bad Partners & Lessons Learned01:29:43 The Randall's Island “What If”: NYC Indoor Surfing That Never Happened01:32:18 Bouncing Back: Mindset After Failure and Building Smarter at Solight01:35:48 Solight's Growth Playbook: DTC vs Wholesale, Dealers, and Global Distribution01:40:17 Marketing Breakthrough: Pros in Cold Water and the Slater Boots Moment01:43:19 What's Next for Solight: New Products, Hats, and “No Me-Too Gear” Philosophy01:47:57 Surfer Questionnaire + The Perfect Eternal Wave (and Wave Pools Today)01:54:34 Closing Thoughts: The Future of Surfing, Wave Pool Communities & Sign-OffBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/swell-season-surf-radio--3483504/support.

In this episode of Startup Hustle, Matt Watson interviews John Morlan, founder and CEO of Smarter Risk, about the transformative impact of AI on startups. John shares his journey of integrating AI into his business, enhancing productivity, and improving collaboration with developers. He discusses the balance between product-led and sales-led growth strategies, the importance of knowledge management, and the challenges of achieving product-market fit. The conversation emphasizes the necessity of hands-on involvement from founders and the evolving role of AI in business operations.⏱️ Episode Breakdown00:00 Introduction to AI in Startups00:57 John's Journey with AI04:58 Prototyping and Development with AI09:47 Balancing Coding and Leadership15:03 Sales vs. Product-Led Growth19:51 Building a Knowledge Base with AI24:57 Final Thoughts on AI and ProductivityLinks & ResourcesConnect with John Morlan on LinkedInWhat Smart CTOs Are Doing Differently With Offshore Teams in 2025Subscribe to the Global Talent SprintFull Scale – Build your dev team quickly and affordablyIf you're trying to get your team out of the basement and into real product ownership, this episode is your playbook. Stop being a ticket factory. Build teams that think, create, and lead.Follow the show, rate it, and send this to someone who's still trying to do “real Scrum.” They need it more than you do.

Send a textIn this episode, we explore the College of Charleston's Life Design Center and how it helps students move from uncertainty to action through individualized coaching, practical tools, and community support.What You Will LearnWhat the College of Charleston's Life Design Center is and how it helps students build clarity and confidence with practical tools and coaching. Life Design Center How Life Design differs from traditional advising or career planning by focusing on individualized support and real-world experimentation. What students can expect in a first visit, including the kinds of questions coaches ask to help students clarify what they want and what to try next. The difference between Design My Charleston (for early college exploration) and Life Launch: Design My Life (for students preparing for graduation), and how students can start in either place. How to take the first step, including where to find the Life Design Center and when to drop in. Where to go next on campus for degree planning and job or internship preparation, including Academic Advising and the Career Center. Resources from this episode:Life Design 

Alan Byrne, Product Leader for Mozilla's Firefox extensions ecosystem, argues that the best product work is less doctrine and more judgement. In conversation with LRandy Silver, he breaks down why prioritisation frameworks like RICE and MoSCoW often masquerade as science while quietly embedding subjectivity—and why he prefers writing clear “what and why” statements over chasing false precision.From his experience at QuickBooks and Twitter, Alan explores when PRDs are genuinely valuable (complex systems, high risk, trust and safety concerns) and how to keep them lean enough to stay useful. The discussion also digs into the tension between moving a metric and doing right by users, the dangers of gamifying growth, and how product managers can translate customer problems into narratives that align engineers, executives, and sales.Chapters03:30 Product as philosophy04:41 Studying product vs learning in the field07:25 The real job: understand users and their “why”08:21 Why prioritisation frameworks often fail in practice10:58 Decision-making without false precision13:14 Goal-led roadmaps and narrative alignment14:22 Metrics, ethics, and avoiding gamification traps18:35 When PRDs help, and how to keep them lean22:37 Prototyping, vibe coding, and where it falls apart25:14 Communication, compromise, and working documents27:36 Preventing overbuild and defining “good enough”30:39 Handling “can't you just…” from sales and marketing33:28 What Alan wishes he knew five years ago34:49 Explaining product management to non-product peopleOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath. Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

SummaryIn this conversation, David J Bland and Dan Olsen discuss the evolution of product management, the impact of vibe coding, and the importance of cross-functional collaboration. They explore the challenges of prototyping, user research, and the role of AI in product development. The discussion emphasizes the need for strong product management fundamentals and the future of product management in a rapidly changing landscape.TakeawaysThe awareness of product management has significantly increased over the years.Vibe coding allows for rapid prototyping and testing without heavy technical resources.Cross-functional collaboration is essential for successful product development.User research is becoming more valued in product management.Prototyping should focus on learning rather than just building.AI can assist in generating ideas but lacks judgment in prioritization.The pace of innovation in product tools is accelerating rapidly.Understanding customer problems is crucial for product success.Rushing to high fidelity prototypes can lead to missed opportunities in the problem space.Product management fundamentals will be key in differentiating successful products.Guest LinksWebsite: https://dan-olsen.com/LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danolsen98/YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/danolsenLean Product Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/lean-product/ Vibe Coding Product Brief: https://dan-olsen.com/vibe-coding/Vibe Coding Spectrum: https://dan-olsen.com/vibe-coding/The Lean Product Playbook: https://amzn.to/1EYCUdP Struggling to decide which bets deserve more time, money, and people?Join my AI-Assisted Decision Workshop and learn how to use AI to surface assumptions, map risk, and reach a Commit, Correct, or Cut decision in just 3 hours.

Tiffany Yeh, MD is the CEO and Co-Founder of Eztia Materials, a climate-tech venture developing energy-efficient cooling materials to protect people from extreme heat. With a mission to advance hard tech solutions at the climate-health nexus, Tiffany draws on her unique background as a physician, engineer, and public health advocate to build technologies that improve global health in a warming world.(01:13) - Dr. Ye's Background & Inspiration (01:52) - The Heat Challenge(05:20) - Singapore and the Power of Cooling(06:32) - Why Construction Has Been Slow to Adapt (07:22) - The Human Factor(08:14) - HydroVolt Technology(09:29) - Business Model, Distribution & Competition(11:19) - Worker Comfort (15:32) - Hidden Productivity Crisis Brewing(18:18) - Feature: Blueprint: The Future of Real Estate 2026 in Vegas on Sep. 22-24 (19:21) - The Secret Sauce Behind HydroVolt (20:31) - Prototyping & Real-World Applications (21:32) - Measuring Impact & ROI (23:34) - Pitching to VCs & Investors(25:31) - Product Roadmap(29:08) - Collaboration Superpower: Lionel Messi

Ryan Stephen (https://x.com/Ryan__Stephen) is a product designer at Microsoft, but the reason I wanted to interview him is because he's the man behind some of my favorite design experiments on Twitter.So in this episode Ryan gives us a behind-the-scenes look at his creative process, the tools in his stack, and how he approaches effective storytelling in design.Some highlights:- How Ryan sparks creativity- The power of putting your work on Twitter- How Ryan thinks about investing in his career- Ryan's mental model for fidelity and prototyping- The lessons Ryan's learned about effective storytelling- The tools and techniques Ryan uses to make ideas feel real- + a lot more

What happens when business owners stop treating Ai like a trend and start using it as a real execution advantage?In this episode, I answer practical questions from founders, business owners, and creators who want to know how Ai Accelerator Live works in the real world. The conversation covers how to use Ai inside an existing business, how to build and market a new idea faster, how to involve team members, and how to turn founder knowledge into valuable assets, offers, and opportunities.I explain why speed to market matters more than ever, why community and weekly practice help people stay current, and why Ai is most powerful when it helps founders amplify their superpowers instead of replacing them. From lead generation and hiring to onboarding, founder branding, IP, and pitch decks, this session shows how entrepreneurs can move from ideas to execution with more clarity and far less friction.In this episode:Why Ai is most useful when it helps founders execute fasterHow founders can use Ai for marketing, lead generation, and outreachWhy founder brands are becoming more valuable in the Ai eraHow teams can use Ai without feeling replaced by itWhy community and weekly implementation matter more than tool obsessionHow to identify bigger business problems and opportunities fasterWhy speed to prototype, pitch, and market creates an advantageHow recordings, transcripts, and prompts extend the value after the eventTIMESTAMPS00:00 Why this Q&A matters 00:55 What Ai Accelerator Live is really for 02:10 In-person vs virtual access 04:29 Existing businesses vs new ideas 05:40 Who you meet in the room 07:28 Best tools and platforms to focus on 10:10 What if you do not know where to start 11:26 Why the event is one day 13:10 What the virtual experience looks like 17:46 Helping teams overcome fear of Ai 19:14 How to prepare before attending 21:09 Founder brands and superpowers 25:47 Prototyping ideas and raising money 27:33 The advantage of early adoption 32:00 Hiring and building an Ai-forward culture 34:37 Protecting IP created with Ai 40:36 Using Ai for lead generation 49:06 How to use the recordings after the eventDiscover More

For more thoughts, clips, and updates, follow Avetis Antaplyan on Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/avetisantaplyan⁠In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with Alex Shartsis, serial founder, former corporate development lead, and current CEO of Skyp.ai—to unpack the real cost of “growth at all costs.” With scars and exits to back his views, Alex offers a candid breakdown of what founders get wrong about product-market fit, fundraising traps, and the often-misunderstood economics of scaling.Together, they explore why bootstrapping is back in vogue, how over-raising can kill flexibility, and how AI is redefining what it means to be a lean operator. Alex draws from his time at Perfect Price and now Skyp.ai to expose the hidden “footwork” behind successful GTM strategies and why most SaaS founders underprice out of insecurity. The conversation is loaded with tactical advice—from navigating platform creep to testing pricing thresholds—and peppered with war stories from the front lines of both venture-backed and bootstrapped journeys.Whether you're scaling an AI startup or building quietly with customer revenue, this episode challenges conventional wisdom and lays out what durable, customer-obsessed growth looks like in 2026.TakeawaysMany founders mistake a short burst of sales or demand for true product-market fit, leading to premature scaling and churn.Financial acquirers focus on cash flows; strategic acquirers pay for fit. Most founders don't deeply understand either.Venture capital often creates misaligned incentives. Founders lose control over exits and may be pushed to chase unsustainable valuations.Bootstrapping forces discipline: every dollar must generate near-term return, every decision must align with customer need.Raising too early or too much reduces urgency, increases burn, and often leads to wasteful bets and bloated teams.SaaS buyers increasingly value smaller vendors who prioritize service over scale.Advice is context-dependent: founders must be careful not to blindly copy tactics that worked in a different market or macro.AI tools enable hands-on execution and eliminate layers of communication, especially for lean teams.Founders often “hide their footwork”—the unseen details that actually drive GTM success.Customer proximity and rapid iteration beat slide decks and assumptions every time.Chapters00:00 Growth at All Costs Is Dead01:07 What Acquirers Really Care About02:35 The Mirage of Product-Market Fit05:10 Amazon vs. Realistic Unit Economics06:44 When Losing Money Is Okay—And When It's Not08:01 The Advice Trap: When Playbooks Expire10:01 The SurveyMonkey Blueprint (And Its Limits)13:06 How Bootstrapping Forces Better Decision-Making17:34 Owning the Downside: Founders vs. VCs20:13 Building a $5M Business Without Needing a Billion-Dollar Exit22:30 Platform Creep and Product Dilution27:53 Customer Success Is the Real Differentiator29:49 Jiu-Jitsu and GTM Footwork36:39 How AI Changes How Work Gets Done44:43 Prototyping, Building, and Speed with AI Tools46:41 Pricing Insecurity and Willingness to Pay51:01 You Are Not Your Customer: Pricing Psychology53:48 Cheap Gym Memberships, Expensive LessonsAlex Shartsis's Social Media Link:https://www.linkedin.com/in/shartsis/Resources and Links:⁠⁠https://www.hireclout.com⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.podcast.hireclout.com⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/hirefasthireright⁠

In this episode of I See What You're Saying, we explore how human-centered design and disciplined listening intersect to solve the right problems with educator and design thinking instigator David Phillips. Together, we unpack why finding problems worth solving matters more than rushing to solutions, and how curiosity, observation, and patience fuel better communication, collaboration, and innovation.David shares practical frameworks for applying design thinking beyond product development, revealing how leaders can uncover hidden constraints, earn candid feedback, and create environments where people feel safe to think, speak, and contribute honestly. From the dangers of data delusion to the power of prototyping, beginner's mindset, and asking better questions, this conversation highlights how listening is the foundation of meaningful progress in business and human relationships.Join us as we examine why innovation is a contact sport, how to get comfortable being wrong, and what it really takes to design solutions that people will adopt, trust, and sustain.Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction: Why Solving the Right Problem Matters(04:10) What Human-Centered Design Really Means(09:00) Why Data Fails Without Context(12:55) The Danger of Solving the Wrong Problem Well(16:20) A Practical Design Thinking Framework(20:00) Why Innovation Requires Behavior Change(24:15) Prototyping to Get Honest Feedback(29:00) Learning to Get Comfortable Being Wrong(33:00) Ego, Identity, and Resistance to Change(37:00) Why Innovation Is a Contact Sport(45:00) Asking Better Questions to Drive Better Decisions(50:20) How Environment Shapes Human Behavior(58:30) Finding Problems Worth Solving(01:05:20) Final Takeaways and Where to Learn MoreGuest InformationDavid Phillips | LinkedIn Faster Glass – Innovation Training, Facilitation, and Consulting - Resources Mentioned in the EpisodeScout Mindset – Julia Galef (TEDx Talk) Why You Think You're Right — Even If You're Wrong

Summary In this episode of the AI for Sales podcast, host Chad Burmeister speaks with Drew Falkman, an expert in digital innovation and product management. They discuss the transformation of customer experience through AI, the rapid prototyping capabilities now available, and the importance of balancing AI with human touch. Drew shares insights on misconceptions about AI, the ethics surrounding its use, and the future of vibe coding. The conversation also touches on the startup culture, non-compete agreements, and emerging technologies in the AI space. Takeaways Drew Falkman is an expert in digital innovation and product management. AI is transforming customer experience by streamlining processes. Prototyping can now be done in days instead of weeks or months. Misconceptions about AI can lead to over-reliance on its outputs. It's crucial to validate AI-generated information. Vibe coding allows anyone to create apps without extensive coding knowledge. Emerging technologies are rapidly changing the landscape of AI. Non-compete agreements can hinder innovation in startups. Ethics in AI is a shared responsibility among developers and users. The future of AI will require a balance between automation and human involvement. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to AI for Sales Podcast 03:04 Drew Falkman's Journey in Digital Innovation 05:50 Transforming Customer Experience with AI 08:44 Case Studies in Product Development 11:14 Misconceptions and Ethics in AI 14:06 Balancing AI with Human Touch 17:01 Future of Tech and Vibe Coding 19:58 Exploring New AI Tools 22:39 The Importance of Sharing Ideas 25:21 Ethics and Responsibility in AI The AI for Sales Podcast is brought to you by BDR.ai, Nooks.ai, and ZoomInfo—the go-to-market intelligence platform that accelerates revenue growth. Skip the forms and website hunting—Chad will connect you directly with the right person at any of these companies.

Tyson Singer (Head of Tech & Platforms @ Spotify) joins us to unpack how Spotify is transforming its product development lifecycle across creation, experimentation and maintenance to shift from "localized speed" to "systematic speed." We explore why the industry's current obsession with the "Build It" phase of development is shortsighted, and how Spotify is aggressively deploying AI in the "Think It" (prototyping/strategy) and "Maintain It" (fleet management) phases. Tyson also details the internal tools driving this shift, including AiKA and Honk, and shares why the future of engineering relies on moving from I-shaped specialists to T-shaped generalists. ABOUT TYSON SINGERTyson Singer is the SVP of Technology & Platforms at Spotify, where he leads technology infrastructure, developer experience, cybersecurity, and finance IT. Tyson is the executive behind Spotify's internal developer portal, Backstage, and Spotify's experimentation system, Confidence, which are now both commercially available. He has a background as an engineer, architect, and product lead, and he holds a Master's in Computer Science from Stanford University. Tyson is also an avid outdoor adventurer. This episode is brought to you by Retool!What happens when your team can't keep up with internal tool requests? Teams start building their own, Shadow IT spreads across the org, and six months later you're untangling the mess…Retool gives teams a better way: governed, secure, and no cleanup required.Retool is the leading enterprise AppGen platform, powering how the world's most innovative companies build the tools that run their business. Over 10,000 organizations including Amazon, Stripe, Adobe, Brex, and Orangetheory Fitness use the platform to safely harness AI and their enterprise data to create governed, production-ready apps.Learn more at Retool.com/elc SHOW NOTES:Tyson's 9-year journey @ Spotify: From the "crucible" of hyper-growth to leading Tech & Platforms (3:46)The pivot from "localized speed" to "systematic speed" (7:27)Core principles of Spotify's Platform org: Partnering with customers & "Taking the pain away" (10:37)The "Think it, Build it, Ship it, Tweak it" lifecycle framework & why the industry obsession with "Build It" (coding agents) is missing the bigger picture (14:57)How Spotify is investing in the "Think It" phase: AI prototyping with deep business context (16:49)AiKA (AI Knowledge Assistant): Context engineering for humans and bots (18:47)"Honk": Spotify's internal framework for large-scale automated code changes (22:17)Addressing the decline of code quality and the bottleneck of human PR reviews (25:50)Probabilistic vs. Deterministic code reviews: A new approach to quality checks (29:43)Identifying bottlenecks to company value outside of R&D (Legal, Licensing, etc.) (32:12)Why systems change is fundamentally about people and identity shifts (35:57)Rapid fire questions (38:49) This episode wouldn't have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-HostJerry Li - Co-HostNoah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan's also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Product management is being rewritten in real time, and AI is doing the editing.Matt sits down with Jerel Velarde, product manager at Full Scale Ventures, to discuss how AI is reshaping the relationship between PMs and engineering. We dive into what Jerel calls prompt prototyping, how expectations for product velocity have changed, and why the best PMs today are blending design, strategy, and code—all while staying laser-focused on validation over output.If you're a founder, CTO, or product leader trying to navigate the new frontier of product development, this one's for you.Key Discussion PointsIs “Product Manager” even the right title anymore?The new definition of PM: focused on outcomes, not artifactsHow PMs are using AI to validate fasterHow to lead product in a startup vs. a scale-upHow to think about MVPs when AI can build anythingResources & LinksConnect with Jerel on LinkedInProduct Driven - Get the BookSubscribe to the Product Driven NewsletterWhat Smart CTOs Are Doing Differently With Offshore Teams in 2025Subscribe to the Global Talent Sprint

Gab and Nim are the co-founders of a startup called Dessn which allows designers to prototype in the context of their production codebase (without any of the setup).So I asked them to hook it up to the Inflight repo and give me a little demo to see what's possible.I'm pretty sold

What does it mean to be an AI-native employee—and why will they win? In this episode of CPO PLAYBOOK, Thibault Imbert, Chief Product and Growth Officer at The Brief, breaks down the tools, mindsets, and skills redefining productivity and creativity in the AI era. From mastering conversational AI to prototyping in real time with voice and visual tools, Thibault shares what it takes to thrive in a rapidly evolving workplace. We explore how creative tools are changing the way we ideate, build, and communicate—and why 70% is the new zero when it comes to speed and experimentation. You'll learn: • Why mastering conversational AI is now a business advantage • How visual creation tools accelerate innovation • What “AI-native” workflows look like in real teams • How to go from idea to prototype using voice and visual AI • Why empathy still matters—even in an AI-first world Whether you're building products, leading teams, or just trying to keep up with AI, this episode will leave you rethinking how you work. Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Setting the Stage 04:30 The Journey of AI Transformation 09:52 Mastering Conversational AI 15:52 Visual Creation and Concepting Ideas 23:10 Voice as a Creative Output 27:45 Prototyping and Building in Real Time 32:58 Innovative Tools for Research and Presentation

We talk a lot about using AI at startups…But what are more established companies doing to scale AI prototyping?What are the best ways to use AI to prototype with your design system?That's what today's episode is all about because we're talking with Lewis Healey (https://x.com/Lewishealey) and Kylor Hall (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylorhall/) about how they scaled AI prototyping at Atlassian.Some highlights

In this expert interview, Sarah Doody is joined by Patrick Neeman, Director of UX & AI Experiences at Workday, to pull back the curtain on how UX hiring actually works today—and where candidates are getting tripped up.Patrick brings a rare perspective: he's led UX teams, taught UX at General Assembly, worked inside applicant tracking systems, and now hires designers in an AI-driven product environment. Together, Sarah and Patrick unpack the biggest misconceptions about ATS systems, why portfolios often fail the six-second test, how soft skills influence hiring decisions, and what senior designers really need to focus on to stand out in today's market.This episode is especially valuable if you're making it to interviews but not offers, feeling unsure how AI fits into your skillset, or questioning whether your resume and portfolio are helping—or hurting—you.What You'll Learn in This Episode:✔️ Why companies are often bad at hiring—and how that impacts candidates✔️ The truth about ATS filters, knockout questions, and resume formatting✔️ Why two-column resumes fail ATS systems (and what to do instead)✔️ What hiring managers notice in the first 6 seconds of reviewing a resume✔️ How soft skills like alignment, collaboration, and communication influence hiring✔️ Why decks often outperform portfolio websites in UX interviews✔️ How AI tools like Lovable are changing expectations for prototyping✔️ The role of “weak ties” in landing jobs—and why relationships matter more than applications✔️ Red flags candidates should avoid during interviews and outreach✔️ Why being “nice to work with” is a real career advantageLinks From This Episode:Patrick's Book: uxGPT: Mastering AI Assistants for User Experience Designers and Product Management ProfessionalsPatrick's Article: What's makes an effective UX professionalPatrick's Article: What's your Ideal Designer Profile?The Strength of Weak Ties: A Network Theory RevisitedThe ADP Checklist: Resources about Resumes, Portfolios and Interviews for UX ProfessionalsTimestamps:00:00 Introduction to Sarah Doody and Career Strategy Lab00:38 Welcoming Patrick Neiman: Insights into UX Hiring01:19 Patrick's Background and Experience04:19 The State of the UX Job Market07:21 The Importance of Writing Skills in UX08:49 Applicant Tracking Systems and AI in Hiring13:28 Contract Roles in UX: Myths and Realities14:42 Standing Out as a UX Candidate17:48 Soft Skills: The Superpower of UX Professionals22:05 Tips for Early Career UX Designers24:15 Prototyping vs. Figma: The Future of Design24:28 The Value of Personal Projects in Portfolios24:57 Challenges in Redesigning Complex Systems26:10 Misconceptions About Hiring Software27:23 The Six-Second Resume Test29:16 Networking and the Power of Weak Ties33:10 Tips for Advancing in Your UX Career41:46 Balancing Figma and AI-Assisted Design Tools43:21 Final Thoughts and Advice for Job Seekers

Bending Spoons is the acquisition machine of the tech world. They have acquired the likes of Evernote, Vimeo, Eventbrite, Streamyard and more. However, they never open their gates to the secrets behind Evernote's product machine. Today that changes with Federico Simionato joining 20Product. Fede has been a Product Lead at Bending Spoons for 8 years where he has led product teams at Evernote, WeTransfer and more.   AGENDA: 03:02 From Dentist Games to $11BN Bending Spoons 04:54 Advice for Aspiring Product Managers 05:38 Building a Coveted Brand at Bending Spoons 07:43 Evaluating and Testing New Product Ideas 13:35 How Evernote has Mastered User Retention 25:24 The Impact of AI on Product Design and Prototyping 31:19 How Bending Spoons Does Product Launches and Lessons Learned 33:27 How Every Product Team Should Do Monthly Updates to Users 36:38 Recording and Transparency in Updates 38:06 Lessons from Failed Product Launches 45:14 Structuring Teams and Acquisitions 47:12 Monetization Strategies and Push Notifications 57:21 Quick Fire Round: Insights and Reflections  

In this second part of my three-part series (catch Part I via episode 182), I dig deeper into the key idea that sales in commercial data products can be accelerated by designing for actual user workflows—vs. going wide with a “many-purpose” AI and analytics solution that “does more,” but is misaligned with how users' most important work actually gets done.   To explain this, I will explain the concept of user experience (UX) outcomes, and how building your solution to enable these outcomes may be a dependency for you to get sales traction, and for your customer to see the value of your solution. I also share practical steps to improve UX outcomes in commercial data products, from establishing a baseline definition of UX quality to mapping out users' current workflows (and future ones, when agentic AI changes their job). Finally, I talk about how approaching product development as small “bets” helps you build small, and learn fast so you can accelerate value creation.    Highlights/ Skip to: Continuing the journey: designing for users, workflows, and tasks (00:32) How UX impacts sales—not just usage and  adoption(02:16) Understanding how you can leverage users' frustrations and perceived risks as fuel for building an indispensable data product (04:11)  Definition of a UX outcome (7:30) Establishing a baseline definition of product (UX) quality, so you know how to observe and measure improvement (11:04 ) Spotting friction and solving the right customer problems first (15:34) Collecting actionable user feedback (20:02) Moving users along the scale from frustration to satisfaction to delight (23:04) Unique challenges of designing B2B AI and analytics products used for decision intelligence (25:04) Quotes from Today's Episode One of the hardest parts of building anything meaningful, especially in B2B or data-heavy spaces, is pausing long enough to ask what the actual ‘it' is that we're trying to solve. People rush into building the fix, pitching the feature, or drafting the roadmap before they've taken even a moment to define what the user keeps tripping over in their day-to-day environment.   And until you slow down and articulate that shared, observable frustration, you're basically operating on vibes and assumptions instead of behavior and reality.   What you want is not a generic problem statement but an agreed-upon description of the two or three most painful frictions that are obvious to everyone involved, frictions the user experiences visibly and repeatedly in the flow of work.   Once you have that grounding, everything else prioritization, design decisions, sequencing, even organizational alignment suddenly becomes much easier because you're no longer debating abstractions, you're working against the same measurable anchor.   And the irony is, the faster you try to skip this step, the longer the project drags on, because every downstream conversation becomes a debate about interpretive language rather than a conversation about a shared, observable experience. __ Want people to pay for your product? Solve an *observable* problem—not a vague information or data problem. What do I mean? “When you're trying to solve a problem for users, especially in analytical or AI-driven products, one of the biggest traps is relying on interpretive statements instead of observable ones.   Interpretive phrasing like ‘they're overwhelmed' or ‘they don't trust the data' feels descriptive, but it hides the important question of what, exactly, we can see them doing that signals the problem.   If you can't film it happening, if you can't watch the behavior occur in real time, then you don't actually have a problem definition you can design around.   Observable frustration might be the user jumping between four screens, copying and pasting the same value into different systems, or re-running a query five times because something feels off even though they can't articulate why.   Those concrete behaviors are what allow teams to converge and say, ‘Yes, that's the thing, that is the friction we agree must change,' and that shift from interpretation to observation becomes the foundation for better design, better decision-making, and far less wasted effort.   And once you anchor the conversation in visible behavior, you eliminate so many circular debates and give everyone, from engineering to leadership, a shared starting point that's grounded in reality instead of theory." __ One of the reasons that measuring the usability/utility/satisfaction of your product's UX might seem hard is that you don't have a baseline definition of how satisfactory (or not) the product is right now. As such, it's very hard to tell if you're just making product *changes*—or you're making *improvements* that might make the product worth paying for at all, worth paying more for, or easier to buy. "It's surprisingly common for teams to claim they're improving something when they've never taken the time to document what the current state even looks like. If you want to create a meaningful improvement, something a user actually feels, you need to understand the baseline level of friction they tolerate today, not what you imagine that friction might be. Establishing a baseline is not glamorous work, but it's the work that prevents you from building changes that make sense on paper but do nothing to the real flow of work. When you diagram the existing workflow, when you map the sequence of steps the user actually takes, the mismatches between your mental model and their lived experience become crystal clear, and the design direction becomes far less ambiguous. That act of grounding yourself in the current state allows every subsequent decision, prioritizing fixes, determining scope, measuring progress, to be aligned with reality rather than assumptions. And without that baseline, you risk designing solutions that float in conceptual space, disconnected from the very pains you claim to be addressing." __ Prototypes are a great way to learn—if you're actually treating them as a means to learn, and not a product you intend to deliver regardless of the feedback customers give you.  "People often think prototyping is about validating whether their solution works, but the deeper purpose is to refine the problem itself. Once you put even a rough prototype in front of someone and watch what they do with it, you discover the edges of the problem more accurately than any conversation or meeting can reveal. Users will click in surprising places, ignore the part you thought mattered most, or reveal entirely different frictions just by trying to interact with the thing you placed in front of them. That process doesn't just improve the design, it improves the team's understanding of which parts of the problem are real and which parts were just guesses. Prototyping becomes a kind of externalization of assumptions, forcing you to confront whether you're solving the friction that actually holds back the flow of work or a friction you merely predicted. And every iteration becomes less about perfecting the interface and more about sharpening the clarity of the underlying problem, which is why the teams that prototype early tend to build faster, with better alignment, and far fewer detours." __ Most founders and data people tend to measure UX quality by “counting usage” of their solution. Tracking usage stats, analytics on sessions, etc. The problem with this is that it tells you nothing useful about whether people are satisfied (“meets spec”) or delighted (“a product they can't live without”). These are product metrics—but they don't reflect how people feel. There are better measurements to use for evaluating users' experience that go beyond “willingness to pay.”  Payment is great, but in B2B products, buyers aren't always users—and we've all bought something based on the promise of what it would do for us, but the promise fell short. "In B2B analytics and AI products, the biggest challenge isn't complexity, it's ambiguity around what outcome the product is actually responsible for changing.   Teams often define success in terms of internal goals like ‘adoption,' ‘usage,' or ‘efficiency,' but those metrics don't tell you what the user's experience is supposed to look like once the product is working well.   A product tied to vague business outcomes tends to drift because no one agrees on what the improvement should feel like in the user's real workflow.   What you want are visible, measurable, user-centric outcomes, outcomes that describe how the user's behavior or experience will change once the solution is in place, down to the concrete actions they'll no longer need to take.   When you articulate outcomes at that level, it forces the entire organization to align around a shared target, reduces the scope bloat that normally plagues enterprise products, and gives you a way to evaluate whether you're actually removing friction rather than just adding more layers of tooling.   And ironically, the clearer the user outcome is, the easier it becomes to achieve the business outcome, because the product is no longer floating in abstraction, it's anchored in the lived reality of the people who use it."   Links Listen to part one: Episode 182  Schedule a Design-Eyes Assessment with me and get clarity, now.

How do you redesign a newsroom's entire workflow when AI is no longer a single tool, but a collection of agents, voice interfaces, and ambient intelligence changing how journalism gets produced?This week on Newsroom Robots, host Nikita Roy is joined by Markus Franz, Chief Technology Officer at Ippen Digital, one of Germany's largest digital media networks with more than 80 online news and media portals. This episode was recorded live at the Digital Growth Summit in Stuttgart, where Markus shared how his team is building some of the most forward-looking AI experiments in European media.Markus leads Ippen Digital's Incubator Lab, an innovation unit focused on reimagining how publishing and AI-driven experiences will evolve. With 16 years inside the company, Markus has been central to Ippen's digital transformation and now leads efforts around multi-agent architectures and building adaptive workflows for the newsroom.In this conversation, Markus breaks down how his lab is experimenting with multi-agent “virtual teams,” voice-first newsroom interfaces, multimodal content production and an ambient AI-powered newsroom where intelligent systems support journalists in real time. He shares what his team has learned from early prototypes, why the biggest challenges are cultural rather than technical, and how news organizations should think about guardrails, platform dependency, and the rise of self-evolving models.This episode covers: 02:22 – Why Ippen Digital built an Incubator Lab and how it's structured as a future-focused R&D unit04:49 – What multi-agent systems look like inside a newsroom9:42 – The case for voice as the next major interface for both journalists and audiences14:41 – The shift from human-in-the-loop to human-on-the-loop workflows17:40 – Guardrails for agent systems: grounding, bounding, editorial policies19:33 – The vision for an ambient newsroom powered by AI companions and real-time intelligence27:31 – Why vendor lock-in and self-evolving LLMs pose new strategic risks30:08 – Multimodal personalization and rethinking how news is experienced34:27 – Why most AI pilots fail and what experimentation looks like in practice49:19 – Markus's personal AI stack and how he uses these tools day-to-daySign up for the Newsroom Robots newsletter for episode summaries and insights from host Nikita Roy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Stay within your means and never bet what you can't afford to lose."Episode SummaryIn this episode, Big Keith and I sit down with Graig Davis, founder of NeoMag, to talk about his dedication to American manufacturing, his Second Amendment journey, and the story behind creating one of the most innovative everyday carry products in the firearms industry. From reminiscing about childhood gun cabinets and Thanksgiving traditions to deep dives into engineering, prototyping, and thoughtful product design, Graig shares how a simple need led him from building prototypes in his basement to running a thriving business dedicated to helping Americans protect their families. We also discuss the importance of responsible gun ownership, mentorship in business, and the balance of function versus form in making gear that truly lasts.Call to Action1. Join our mailing list: Thegunexperiment.com2. Subscribe and leave us a comment on Apple or Spotify3. Follow us on all of our social media: Instagram Twitter Youtube Facebook4. Be a part of our growing community, join our Discord page!5. Grab some cool TGE merch6. Ask us anything at AskMikeandKeith@gmail.com5. Be sure to support the sponsors of the show. They're a big part of making the show possible.Show SponsorsSpecial thanks to our show sponsors:Flatline Fiber Company: Get serious savings on gun gear and accessories for Black Friday at Flatlinfiberco.com, but you can use our code TG20 for 20% off, all year round.Onsite Firearms Training: Professional firearms training to turn shooters into defenders. Visit oftlc.us to find courses nationwide.Coopers Cask Coffee: Whether you are headed to the rang or the office get some of the best single origin roasts and spirit infused flavors for your morning caffeine fix at Coopers Coffee.Key TakeawaysGraig Davis' Second Amendment journey started as a kid, influenced by hunting traditions and the desire to protect his family.American manufacturing and local sourcing are at the heart of NeoMag's mission, even when it means more work and higher costs.Prototyping with 3D printing has transformed the design process—speeding up innovation and allowing for endless tweaks before production.Every new NeoMag product is inspired by personal need, customer feedback, and the belief that function should never be sacrificed for cost.Responsible gun ownership means demystifying firearms, teaching safety, and focusing on education over...

Grant Lee is the co-founder of Gamma, the AI-powered presentation tool that's one of the hottest and most interesting AI startups in the world right now. They're valued at over $2 billion, and they hit $100 million ARR in just over two years, with a lean team of just around 30 people. Unlike many fast-growing AI startups, Gamma has been profitable for most of its history, has not raised significant funding, and they built a massive business in a category most investors dismissed. In fact, one investor told Grant his idea was “the dumbest idea he had ever heard.”We discuss:• How Gamma found product-market fit by rethinking their onboarding• Their process for building a “word-of-mouth machine”• How they leveraged more than 1,000 micro-influencers instead of big names• Why focusing on the “first 30 seconds” transformed their business• Their approach to pricing that led to profitability within months• How Grant thinks about building a durable “GPT wrapper” business—Brought to you by:Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security.Justworks—The all-in-one HR solution for managing your small business with confidenceMiro—A collaborative visual platform where your best work comes to life—Where to find Grant Lee:• X: https://x.com/thisisgrantlee• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grantslee—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction to Grant Lee and Gamma(05:59) The founding story of Gamma(09:52) Achieving product-market fit(15:43) Self-awareness as a founder(17:17) The power of onboarding(20:41) The original insight that led to Gamma(22:42) Founder-led marketing and growth tactics(29:20) Sharing online(37:40) Getting to $100M ARR(41:19) Influencer marketing as a growth strategy(54:08) Virality is not an accident(58:30) Investing in brand before paid ads(01:02:04) Tips for getting started with performance marketing(01:04:49) Prototyping and user feedback(01:16:12) Adapting and moving quickly(01:19:21) The concept of GPT wrapper companies(01:22:16) Deep dive into workflow and model utilization(01:29:06) Pricing strategies(01:34:53) Hiring philosophy and practices(01:43:24) Betting big on high performers(01:45:03) Final thoughts and lightning round—References: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-50-people-built-a-profitable-ai-unicorn—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

How Haley Pavone turned a college injury into an eight-figure convertible footwear brand built on curiosity, grit, and smart, sustainable growth.For more on Pashion Footwear and show notes click here Subscribe and watch Shopify Masters on YouTube!Sign up for your FREE Shopify Trial here.