Behind the Craft

Alex is the product lead for Codex and Romain runs developer experience. They gave me a rare inside look at how the Codex team operates, including how they build products with Codex and how they ship without traditional specs and roadmaps. Alex also has some spicy takes on the future of PM and what actually matters when hiring.

We talked about:

(00:00) Live demo: Building a game in seconds with Codex Spark

(04:29) "For specs, we write like 10 bullets and that's it"

(08:09) "Our designers now write more code than eng 6 months ago"

(15:30) "We plan short and long term, never medium term"

(22:11) How Alex actually spends his day as Codex PM

(32:06) The traditional career ladder no longer makes sense

(39:20) What the Codex team looks for when hiring (it's not your resume)

Thanks to our sponsors:

Linear: AI agents for modern teams https://linear.app/behind-the-craft

Granola: AI meeting notes that don't suck https://granola.ai/peter

Replit: From 0 to full stack app in 2 min https://replit.com/?utm_source=creator&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=creator_program&utm_content=peteryang

📌 Get the takeaways: https://creatoreconomy.so/p/inside-openais-codex-team-how-they-ship-with-ai-agents-alex-romain

Where to find Alex and Romain:

Alex: https://x.com/embirico

Romain: https://x.com/romainhuet

Website: https://openai.com/codex/

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Jenny is the head of design for Claude. She gave me a rare inside look at how Anthropic operates — including how she uses Cowork to design and build products and the real story behind how Cowork was built. Anthropic is shipping new features almost everyday and it was fascinating to see how they do it.

Jenny and I talked about:

(00:00) How design work has changed at Anthropic

(04:30) "My secret is that I actually use Co-work for most things now"

(05:19) Cowork demo: From messy user feedback into product insights

(14:41) "Every Monday Cowork gives me 3 vetted product ideas"

(23:09) The real story behind Cowork's development (10 days?)

(27:18) Exclusive look: Cowork prototypes that didn't ship

(34:01) How product planning works at Anthropic

(38:10) "If you feel like the ground is shifting, it's because it is."

Thanks to our sponsors:

Linear: AI agents for modern teams https://linear.app/behind-the-craft

Granola: AI meeting notes that don't suck https://granola.ai/peter

Replit: From 0 to full stack app in 2 min https://replit.com/?utm_source=creator&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=creator_program&utm_content=peteryang

📌 Get the takeaways: https://creatoreconomy.so/p/inside-anthropic-claude-cowork-tutorial-jenny-wen

Where to find Jenny:

X: https://x.com/jenny_wen

Website: https://jennywen.ca/

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Felix is an expert at using Claude Code and Figma MCP to design and build apps. Watch as he demos how you can build apps that look exactly like their Figma designs, build a game from a FigJam flow cart, and convert code back to Figma components that you can tweak.

Felix and I talked about:

(00:00) 3 products Felix designed and built in Claude Code

(06:36) Building an animated world map from a screenshot

(7:50) Felix's app that analyzes how good your landing page is

(13:17) Demo: Figma design to working website in 15 min

(23:07) Demo: FigJam flowchart to a working game

(31:30) A UX reviewer skill for design feedback

(40:19) How to export code back to Figma as editable designs

(45:10) Why most designers aren't adapting fast enough

Thanks to our sponsors:

Linear: The AI agent platform for modern teams https://linear.app/behind-the-craft

Granola: The AI meeting notes app that saves you hours. https://granola.ai/peter

Replit: From 0 to full stack app in 2 min https://replit.com/?utm_source=creator&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=creator_program&utm_content=peteryang

Get the takeaways: https://creatoreconomy.so/p/master-claude-code-figma-mcp-for-design-felix-lee

Where to find Felix:

X: https://x.com/felixleezd

Website: https://adplist.org/

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Geoff is the CPO of Ramp and runs one of the most AI-native orgs I’ve seen. He showed me an amazing Claude Code PM skill that his team uses to go from idea to product and shared live demos of Ramp’s internal AI agents for customer research, data analysis, and more. Geoff also shared 5 specific tactics Ramp followed to go from barely anyone using AI to non-engineers shipping production code.

Geoff and I talked about:

(00:00) "If you're not using Claude Code, you're probably underperforming"

(04:45) Voice of customer agent (demo): 8 days of research in 8 minutes

(07:57) Analyst agent (demo): Get insights and pull data using English

(13:08) The best Claude Code PM skill I've ever seen

(15:20) "50% of Ramp's code is written AI. It'll probably be 80% soon."

(16:38) Inspect agent (demo): Building a production feature in 5 min

(28:21) The two directions the PM role is splitting into

(34:05) Ramp's L0-L3 framework for getting every employee to build with AI

(36:36) The AI interview question Ramp asks every PM candidate

(39:15) "Management is probably dead...optimize to be the best builder in the world."

Thanks to our sponsors:

Linear: The AI agent platform for modern teams https://linear.app/behind-the-craft

Granola: The AI meeting notes app that saves you hours. https://granola.ai/peter

Replit: From 0 to full stack app in 2 min https://replit.com/?utm_source=creator&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=creator_program&utm_content=peteryang

Get the takeaways and the PM skill: https://creatoreconomy.so/p/inside-ramp-the-32b-company-ai-agents-geoff-charles

Where to find Geoff:

X: https://x.com/geoffintech

Website: https://ramp.com/📌 Subscribe to this channel – more interviews coming soon!

Tom is the CEO of Pencil, one of the coolest AI design tools that I’ve ever tried. Watching 6 AI agents design a beautiful app in real-time will genuinely blow your mind. Tom showed me how it all works under the hood (a simple JSON file?!) and how you can use Pencil to design right where you code in Cursor, Claude Code, and more.

Tom and I talked about:

(00:00) Watch 6 AI agents design an app together

(03:09) Demo: Designing a travel app with an AI agent swarm

(08:20) Redesigning screens in different styles on the fly

(13:20) The Pencil extension that turns Cursor into a design tool

(15:07) One prompt to go from visual design to React website

(19:00) Using design systems to keep your AI output consistent

(22:02) From side project to 100K users in 8 weeks

(27:44) Why vibe coding reminds Tom of the Flash era

(30:05) Humanizing AI with cursors, craft, and personality

Thanks to our sponsors:

Linear: The AI agent platform for modern teams https://linear.app/behind-the-craft

Granola: The AI meeting notes app that saves you hours. https://granola.ai/peter

Replit: From 0 to full stack app in 2 min https://replit.com/?utm_source=creator&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=creator_program&utm_content=peteryang

Get the takeaways: https://creatoreconomy.so/p/i-watched-6-ai-agents-design-an-app-in-real-time-tom-krchaWhere to find Tom:

X: https://x.com/tomkrcha

Website: https://www.pencil.dev/Subscribe to this channel - more interviews coming soon!

Carl has gone deeper on Claude Code than any product leader that I know. He showed me exactly how to connect Claude Code to Google Workspace, Slack, Reddit, and Linear to get work done without opening any of these other apps. Watch as he demos how to prep for meetings, update tickets, and post Slack updates all from the terminal.

Carl and I talked about:(00:00) Why you should connect Claude Code to your apps

(02:01) Google Workspace: Using Claude to prep for meetings

(09:35) Linear: Creating tickets from PRD

(13:16) Slack: Sharing status updates from terminal

(20:04) Reddit: Monitoring subreddit discussions

(21:47) The daily-standup command that pulls from multiple tools

(25:08) The folder setup Carl uses for his Claude Code OS

(33:36) The consult-the-council skill that works with multiple AI agents

(35:50) How to get Claude Code to generate system design diagrams

Thanks to our sponsors:

Linear: The AI agent platform for modern teams https://linear.app/behind-the-craft

Granola: The AI meeting notes app that saves you hours. https://granola.ai/peter

Replit: From 0 to full-stack app in 2 min https://replit.com/?utm_source=creator&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=creator_program&utm_content=peteryang

Get the takeaways: https://creatoreconomy.so/p/connect-claude-code-to-google-slack-reddit-carl-vellotti

Where to find Carl:

X: https://x.com/carlvellotti

Website: https://ccforpms.com/

GitHub: https://github.com/carlvellotti/carls-product-os

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Nat gave his OpenClaw bot, Felix, $1,000 to build its own business 3 weeks ago. Since then, it’s made $14,718 by launching its own website, info product, and X account. Nat walked through exactly how he set up his OpenClaw bot to run its own business — from the 3-layer memory system, to multi-threaded chats, to security best practices.

Nat and I talked about:

(00:00) Meet Felix: The OpenClaw bot building its own business

(03:49) “I’m going to sleep. Build a product that makes me money.”

(08:03) How to set up multiple OpenClaw chats to build 5 projects at once

(11:06) How Felix is able to ignore prompt injections on X/Twitter

(14:42) The wild story of how Felix ended up with $100K+ in crypto

(17:24) The 3-layer memory system that makes it all work

(22:14) Heartbeat, cron jobs, and delegating to Codex

(26:41) Ask this question to make your OpenClaw bot more capable

(32:14) Recap: how to set up your own bot to build a business

Thanks to our sponsors:

Linear: The AI agent platform for modern teams https://linear.app/behind-the-craft

Granola: The AI meeting notes app that saves you hours. https://granola.ai/peter

Replit: From 0 to full stack app in 2 min https://replit.com/?utm_source=creator&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=creator_program&utm_content=peteryang

Get the takeaways: https://creatoreconomy.so/p/use-openclaw-to-build-a-business-that-runs-itself-nat-eliason

Where to find Nat:

X: https://x.com/nateliason

Felix on X: https://x.com/felixcraftai

Website: https://felixcraft.ai

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Eno is the co-founder of Factory and the most AI-native founder I know. He gave me a live demo of how he builds apps with AI agents, but what really blew my mind was his product management skill that writes PRDs, prioritizes features, and much more. We also had some real talk about competing in the white hot AI coding space.

Eno and I talked about:

(00:00) What makes Droid different from other AI agents

(03:46) Live demo: Building a speed reading app from meeting notes

(08:11) The difference between spec mode and plan mode

(12:04) How real engineers use AI agents vs vibe coders

(16:33) Skills vs MCPs vs hooks: When to use each one

(19:02) Eno's PM skill that completely blew my mind

(22:46) Why Factory hires product engineers vs. PMs

(27:09) How a 40-person team competes with Cursor and Anthropic

Thanks to our sponsors:

Linear: The AI agent platform for modern teams. https://linear.app/behind-the-craft

Granola: The AI meeting notes app that saves you hours. https://granola.ai/peter

Replit: From 0 to full stack app in 2 min. https://replit.com/?utm_source=creator&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=creator_program&utm_content=peteryang

Get the takeaways: https://creatoreconomy.so/p/full-tutorial-use-ai-agents-for-coding-and-product-eno-reyes

Where to find Eno:

X: https://x.com/EnoReyes

Website: https://factory.ai/

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Kieran my favorite Claude Code power user and teacher. In our interview, he walked through his Compound Engineering system that makes Claude Code better every time you use it. This same system has been embraced by the Claude Code team and others. Kieran is like Morpheus introducing me to the matrix, so don’t miss this episode 🙂

Kieran and I talked about:

(00:00) The compound engineering loop: Plan, work, assess, compound

(03:40) Live demo: The /workflows command to plan your app

(13:25) How to use Claude Skills as just-in-time context

(25:27) Why you should always ask Claude to ask you questions first

(30:00) Live demo: Using Playwright MCP as your AI QA team

(35:03) Code reviews by AI agents playing security, architect, and more

(40:33) The LFG command: one prompt to go from 0 to production

(46:39) Slash commands vs sub-agents vs skills — when to use each

Get the takeaways: https://creatoreconomy.so/p/how-to-make-claude-code-better-every-time-kieran-klaassen

Where to find Kieran:

X: https://x.com/kieranklaassen

Website: https://cora.computer/

GitHub: https://github.com/EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin

📌 Subscribe to this channel – more interviews coming soon!

Peter is the creator of OpenClaw (formerly Molt - the name keeps changing 😅), the hottest AI right now with 2M visitors in a week. In our interview, Peter shared is personal favorite use cases including using Claw to check in to flights, control his home, and more. We also talked about his hot takes such as no plan mode or MCPs.

Peter and I talked about:

(00:00) “It’s like having a new weird friend that lives on your computer”

(03:43) “It sent me a voice message but I never set that up”

(09:04) How to install OpenClaw in one line

(14:53) “It watched my security camera all night and found this”

(16:07) Using OpenClaw to check in flights, change lights, and adjust his bed

(19:42) Why 80% of your phone apps will disappear

(22:20) Peter’s AI coding hot takes: No plan mode, MCPs suck, and more

(36:56) The way to learn AI is to play

Thanks to our sponsors:

Linear: The AI agent platform for modern teams https://linear.app/behind-the-craft

Granola: The AI meeting notes app that saves you hours. granola.ai/peter

Replit: From 0 to full stack app in 2 min https://replit.com/?utm_source=creator&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=creator_program&utm_content=peteryang

📌 Get the takeaways: https://creatoreconomy.so/p/how-openclaws-creator-uses-ai-peter-steinbergerWhere to find Peter:

X: https://x.com/steipete

Website: https://openclaw.ai/

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