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Peter Deng has led product teams at OpenAI, Instagram, Uber, Facebook, Airtable, and Oculus and helped build products used by billionsâincluding Facebookâs News Feed, the standalone Messenger app, Instagram filters, Uber Reserve, ChatGPT, and more. Currently heâs investing in early-stage founders at Felicis. In this episode, Peter dives into his most valuable lessons from building and scaling some of techâs most iconic products and companies.
What youâll learn:
1. Peterâs oneâsentence test for hiring superstars
2. Why your product (probably) doesnât matter
3. Why you donât need a tech breakthrough to build a huge business
4. The five PM archetypes, and how to build a team of Avengers
5. Counterintuitive lessons on growing products from 0 to 1, and 1 to 100
6. The importance of data flywheels and workflows
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Brought to you by:
ParagonâShip every SaaS integration your customers want
Pragmatic InstituteâIndustryârecognized product, marketing, and AI training and certifications
ContentsquareâCreate better digital experiences
â
Where to find Peter Deng:
⢠X: https://x.com/pxd
⢠LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterxdeng/
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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Introduction to Peter Deng
(05:41) AI and AGI insights
(11:35) The future of education with AI
(16:53) The power of language in leadership
(21:01) Building iconic products
(36:44) Scaling from zero to 100
(41:56) Balancing short- and long-term goals
(47:12) Creating a healthy tension in teams
(50:02) The five archetypes of product managers
(55:39) Primary and secondary archetypes
(58:47) Hiring for growth mindset and autonomy
(01:15:52) Effective management and communication strategies
(01:19:23) Presentation advice and self-advocacy
(01:25:50) Balancing craft and practicality in product management
(01:30:40) The importance of empathy in design thinking
(01:35:45) Career decisions and learning opportunities
(01:42:05) Lessons from product failures
(01:45:42) Lightning round and final thoughts
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Referenced:
⢠OpenAI: https://openai.com/
⢠Artificial general intelligence (AGI): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_general_intelligence
⢠Head of ChatGPT answers philosophical questions about AI at SXSW 2024 with SignalFireâs Josh Constine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgbgI0R6XCw
⢠Professors Are Using A.I., Too. Now What?: https://www.npr.org/2025/05/21/1252663599/kashmir-hill-ai#:~:text=Now%20What
⢠Herbert H. Clark: https://web.stanford.edu/~clark/
⢠Russian speakers get the blues: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11759-russian-speakers-get-the-blues/
⢠Ilya Sutskever (OpenAI Chief Scientist)âBuilding AGI, Alignment, Future Models, Spies, Microsoft, Taiwan, & Enlightenment: https://www.dwarkesh.com/p/ilya-sutskever
⢠Anthropicâs CPO on what comes next | Mike Krieger (co-founder of Instagram): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/anthropics-cpo-heres-what-comes-next
⢠Kevin Systrom on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinsystrom/
⢠Building a magical AI code editor used by over 1 million developers in four months: The untold story of Windsurf | Varun Mohan (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-untold-story-of-windsurf-varun-mohan
⢠Microsoft CPO: If you arenât prototyping with AI, youâre doing it wrong | Aparna Chennapragada: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/microsoft-cpo-on-ai
⢠The rise of Cursor: The $300M ARR AI tool that engineers canât stop using | Michael Truell (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-rise-of-cursor-michael-truell
⢠Building Lovable: $10M ARR in 60 days with 15 people | Anton Osika (CEO and co-founder): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-lovable-anton-osika
⢠Granola: https://www.granola.ai/
⢠Inside Bolt: From near-death to ~$40m ARR in 5 monthsâone of the fastest-growing products in history | Eric Simons (founder and CEO of StackBlitz): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-bolt-eric-simons
⢠OpenAIâs CPO on how AI changes must-have skills, moats, coding, startup playbooks, more | Kevin Weil (CPO at OpenAI, ex-Instagram, Twitter): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/kevin-weil-open-ai
⢠Fidji Simo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fidjisimo/
⢠Airtable: https://www.airtable.com/
⢠George Lee on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geolee/
⢠Andrew Chen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewchen/
⢠Lauryn Motamedi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurynmotamedi/
⢠Twilio: https://www.twilio.com/
⢠Nick Turley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholasturley/
⢠Ian Silber on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iansilber/
⢠Thomas Dimson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasdimson/
⢠Joey Flynn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joey-flynn-8291586b/
⢠Ryan OâRourkeâs website: https://www.rourkery.com/
⢠Joanne Jang on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jangjoanne/
⢠Behind the founder: Marc Benioff: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-founder-marc-benioff
⢠Jill Hazelbaker on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jill-hazelbaker-3aa32422/
⢠Guy Kawasakiâs website: https://guykawasaki.com/
⢠Eric Antonow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonow/
⢠Sachin Kansal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sachinkansal/
⢠IDEO design thinking: https://designthinking.ideo.com/
⢠The 7 Steps of the Design Thinking Process: https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/design-thinking-process
⢠Linearâs secret to building beloved B2B products | Nan Yu (Head of Product): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/linears-secret-to-building-beloved-b2b-products-nan-yu
⢠Jeff Bezosâs quote: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27778175
⢠Friendster: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendster
⢠Myspace: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myspace
⢠How LinkedIn became interesting: The inside story | Tomer Cohen (CPO at LinkedIn): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-linkedin-became-interesting-tomer-cohen
⢠âSmileâ by Jay-Z: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSumXG5_rs8&list=RDSSumXG5_rs8&start_radio=1
⢠The Wire on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/the-wire
⢠Felicis: https://www.felicis.com/
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Recommended books:
⢠Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind: https://www.amazon.com/Sapiens-Humankind-Yuval-Noah-Harari/dp/0062316095
⢠The Design of Everyday Things: https://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Revised-Expanded/dp/0465050654
⢠The Silk Roads: A New History of the World: https://www.amazon.com/Silk-Roads-New-History-World/dp/1101912375
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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].
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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
Andrew Wilkinson is the coâfounder of Tiny, a holding company that quietly owns more than three dozen profitable internet and consumer brands, including Dribbble and the AeroPress coffee maker. Starting as a teenage barista and web designer, heâs created a portfolio approaching $300âŻmillion in yearly sales (and he was personally worth over $1 billion at one point)âall without ever raising venture capital.
In this conversation, youâll learn:
1. The âfish where the fish areâ framework for spotting highâmargin niches no one else notices
2. The exact agent stack (Lindy, Replit, Limitless, and more) that supercharges Andrewâs day-to-day productivity (and has replaced his assistant)
3. How Andrew evaluates companies in less than 15âŻminutes using Buffettâstyle moats and âlazy leadershipâ
4. Telltale signs you should shut down (or never start) that startup idea
5. His journey from crippling anxiety to clarity through SSRIs and ADHD medication
6. His prediction that most knowledge work will be automatedâand the skills to teach your kids now
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Brought to you by:
SauceâTurn customer pain into product revenue
EnterpretâTransform customer feedback into product growth
MiroâA collaborative visual platform where your best work comes to life
â
Where to find Andrew Wilkinson:
⢠X: https://x.com/awilkinson
⢠LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/awilkinson/
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Where to find Lenny:
⢠Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
⢠X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
⢠LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Introduction to Andrew Wilkinson
(04:07) Finding the right business idea
(07:18) Avoiding common business pitfalls
(11:58) Finding your unfair advantage
(17:08) Fish where the fish are
(20:08) Why boring is good
(25:30) Bootstrapping vs. venture capital
(31:20) Lessons from acquiring and managing businesses
(36:47) Avoiding people problems
(42:39) Leveraging AI in business and life
(49:30) The Limitless device
(53:13) Job displacement and AIâs future impact
(58:20) Advice for new grads
(01:02:50) Parenting in the age of AI
(01:05:26) The pursuit of happiness beyond wealth
(01:10:10) Mental health and medication
(01:16:45) Lightning round and final thoughts
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Referenced:
⢠Andrewâs post on X with the Charlie Munger quote: https://x.com/awilkinson/status/1265653805443506182
⢠Metalab: https://www.metalab.com/
⢠Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/
⢠AeroPress: https://aeropress.com/
⢠Brian Armstrong on X: https://x.com/brian_armstrong
⢠Warren Buffettâs quote: https://quotefancy.com/quote/931119/Warren-Buffett-I-am-a-better-investor-because-I-am-a-businessman-and-a-better-businessman
⢠Flow: https://www.getflow.com/
⢠Instacart: https://www.instacart.com/
⢠Things: https://culturedcode.com/things/
⢠Dustin Moskovitz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmoskov/
⢠Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/
⢠Serato: https://serato.com/
⢠Chris Sparling on X: https://x.com/_sparling_
⢠Lindy: https://www.lindy.ai/
⢠Replit: https://replit.com/
⢠Behind the product: Replit | Amjad Masad (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-product-replit-amjad-masad
⢠David Ogilvy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ogilvy_(businessman)
⢠Malcolm Gladwellâs website: https://www.gladwellbooks.com/
⢠Inside Bolt: From near-death to ~$40m ARR in 5 monthsâone of the fastest-growing products in history | Eric Simons (founder and CEO of StackBlitz): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-bolt-eric-simons
⢠Building Lovable: $10M ARR in 60 days with 15 people | Anton Osika (CEO and co-founder): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-lovable-anton-osika
⢠Limitless: https://www.limitless.ai/
⢠Perplexity: https://www.perplexity.ai/
⢠Claude: https://claude.ai/
⢠ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/
⢠Gemini: https://gemini.google.com/app
⢠William Gibsonâs quote: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/681-the-future-is-already-here-it-s-just-not-evenly
⢠Palm Treo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Treo
⢠Sam Altman on X: https://x.com/sama
⢠Dario Amodei on X: https://x.com/darioamodei
⢠Anthropicâs CPO on what comes next | Mike Krieger (co-founder of Instagram): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/anthropics-cpo-heres-what-comes-next
⢠Challengers on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/challengers/umc.cmc.53cuz33n4e74ixj8whccj87oc
⢠Matic vacuum: https://maticrobots.com/
⢠Jerzy Gregorekâs quote: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/8652595-hard-choices-easy-life-easy-choices-hard-life
⢠Tiny: https://www.tiny.com/
⢠Dribbble: https://dribbble.com/
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Recommended books:
⢠The Laws of Human Nature: https://www.amazon.com/Laws-Human-Nature-Robert-Greene/dp/0525428143
⢠How to Get Rich: One of the Worldâs Greatest Entrepreneurs Shares His Secrets: https://www.amazon.com/How-Get-Rich-Greatest-Entrepreneurs/dp/1591842719
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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].
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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
Maor Shlomo is the founder of Base44, an AI-powered app builder that he bootstrapped to an over $80 million acquisition by Wix in just six months. As a solo founder (with severe ADHD), he hit $1 million ARR just three weeks after launch and grew the product to more than 400,000 users, all while navigating two wars in Israel and never raising a dollar of outside funding.
What youâll learn:
1. The growth playbook that took Base44 from three friends to 400,000 users without spending any money on marketing
2. How he hasnât written a single line of front-end code in three monthsâand how to structure your code repository to make it easier for AI to write your code
3. His AI productivity stack that allowed him to compete against heavily funded competitors
4. Why being a solo founder in AI might be the ultimate advantage (and the wedding story that almost killed the business)
5. The story of signing the $80M acquisition deal while war broke out with Iran
6. How to identify when to sell vs. stay independent (and why Maor chose acquisition despite being highly profitable)
7. The counterintuitive product decision that tripled activation by removing a âhelpfulâ feature
8. How building in public on LinkedIn drove more growth than any paid channel
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Brought to you by:
SauceâTurn customer pain into product revenue: https://sauce.app/lenny
DscoutâThe UX platform to capture insights at every stage: from ideation to production: https://www.dscout.com/
ContentsquareâCreate better digital experiences: https://contentsquare.com/lenny/
â
Transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-base44-bootstrapped-startup-success-story-maor-shlomo
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My biggest takeaways (for paid newsletter subscribers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/i/167384119/my-biggest-takeaways-from-this-conversation
â
Where to find Maor Shlomo:
⢠X: https://x.com/ms_base44
⢠LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maor-shlomo-1088b4144/
â
Where to find Lenny:
⢠Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
⢠X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
⢠LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Introduction to Maor and Base44
(08:16) The origin story: how Base44 came to be
(14:55) Bootstrapping and solo founding: challenges and insights
(22:52) Productivity hacks and tech stack for solo founders
(27:23) How to get started using Base44
(28:47) Thoughts on raising money
(34:05) Distribution in the age of AI
(36:09) Ambition and goals
(40:05) Growth strategies: from first users to thousands
(51:32) Building in public
(57:42) The solo founder journey
(01:00:23) Community support
(01:03:23) Hackathons and partnerships
(01:06:42) The importance of velocity in product development
(01:08:20) Technical stack and infrastructure insights
(01:15:24) Activation lessons
(01:18:19) The acquisition journey with Wix
(01:25:14) Final thoughts and advice for founders
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Referenced:
⢠Base44: https://base44.com/
⢠Retool: https://retool.com/
⢠Tzofim: https://www.israelscouts.org/
⢠Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/
⢠RescueTime: https://www.rescuetime.com/
⢠Cursor: https://www.cursor.com/
⢠Wix: https://www.wix.com/
⢠The rise of Cursor: The $300M ARR AI tool that engineers canât stop using | Michael Truell (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-rise-of-cursor-michael-truell
⢠Building Lovable: $10M ARR in 60 days with 15 people | Anton Osika (CEO and co-founder): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-lovable-anton-osika
⢠Inside Bolt: From near-death to ~$40m ARR in 5 monthsâone of the fastest-growing products in history | Eric Simons (founder and CEO of StackBlitz): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-bolt-eric-simons
⢠Behind the product: Replit | Amjad Masad (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-product-replit-amjad-masad
⢠Everyoneâs an engineer now: Inside v0âs mission to create a hundred million builders | Guillermo Rauch (founder and CEO of Vercel, creators of v0 and Next.js): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/everyones-an-engineer-now-guillermo-rauch
⢠Snowflake: https://www.snowflake.com
⢠Yoav Orlev on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yoav-orlev-4a044b72
⢠WhatsApp: https://www.whatsapp.com/
⢠Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/
⢠Google: https://about.google/
⢠MongoDB: https://www.mongodb.com/
⢠Deloitte: https://www.deloitte.com/
⢠Render: Render.com
⢠Claude 4: https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-4
⢠Gemini: https://gemini.google.com/app
⢠Cloudflare: https://www.cloudflare.com/
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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].
Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky are the co-creators of the Design Sprint (the famous five-day product innovation process) and authors of the bestselling book Sprint. After decades of working with over 300 startups in the earliest stages, they discovered that most startups fail not because they canât build, but because they build the wrong thing. The very beginning of a startup is your highest-leverage moment, and most teams waste months or years by skipping a few critical early questions. Jake and John developed the Foundation Sprint to help startups validate ideas and compress months of work into just two days.
What youâll learn:
1. The step-by-step Foundation Sprint process that compresses three or four months of validation into two daysâincluding templates you can use immediately
2. Why differentiation is the #1 predictor of startup success (with the 2x2 framework that you can use with your team)
3. The three fundamental questions every founder should answer before writing a line of code
4. The ânote and voteâ technique that eliminates groupthink and gets honest answers from your colleagues
5. The seven âmagic lensesâ for choosing between multiple product ideas
6. The biggest mistake engineers make when building with AI tools
7. The paradox of speed: why âbuilding nothing firstâ can get you to product-market fit faster
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Brought to you by:
BrexâThe banking solution for startups: https://www.brex.com/product/business-account?ref_code=bmk_dp_brand1H25_ln_new_fs
ParagonâShip every SaaS integration your customers want: https://www.useparagon.com/lenny
CodaâThe all-in-one collaborative workspace: https://coda.io/lenny
â
Transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-foundation-sprint-jake-knapp-and-john-zeratsky
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My biggest takeaways (for paid newsletter subscribers):
https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/i/167485876/my-biggest-takeaways-from-this-conversation
â
Where to find Jake Knapp:
⢠X: https://twitter.com/jakek
⢠LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jake-knapp/
⢠Website: https://jakeknapp.com/
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Where to find John Zeratsky:
⢠X: https://twitter.com/jazer
⢠LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnzeratsky/
⢠Website: https://johnzeratsky.com/
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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Introduction to Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky
(04:41) Origins of the Design Sprint
(11:06) The Foundation Sprint process
(14:40) Phase one: The basics
(16:57) Case study: Latchet
(28:50) Phase two: Differentiation
(36:24) The importance of differentiation
(40:15) Thoughts on price differentiation
(43:37) Case study: Mellow
(46:04) Custom differentiators
(49:30) The mini manifesto
(52:02) Phase three: Approach to the project
(54:50) Magic lenses activity
(01:02:39) Prototyping and testing
(01:10:00) Real-world examples and success stories
(01:15:15) Motivation behind The Foundation Sprint
(01:17:15) The outcome of the sprint: The founding hypothesis
(01:19:28) The Design Sprint
(01:28:19) The role of AI in prototyping
(01:36:50) Final thoughts and resources
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Referenced:
⢠Introducing the Foundation Sprint: From the creators of the Design Sprint: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/introducing-the-foundation-sprint
⢠Making time for what matters | Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky (authors of Sprint and Make Time, co-founders of Character Capital): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/making-time-for-what-matters-jake
⢠Eli Blee-Goldman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eli-blee-goldman/
⢠Character Capital: https://www.character.vc/
⢠Character Labs: https://www.character.vc/labs
⢠Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/
⢠Shopify: https://www.shopify.com/
⢠Naming expert shares the process behind creating billion-dollar brand names like Azure, Vercel, Windsurf, Sonos, Blackberry, and Impossible Burger | David Placek (Lexicon Branding): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/naming-expert-david-placek
⢠Sonos: https://www.sonos.com/
⢠Vercel: https://vercel.com/
⢠Windsurf: https://windsurf.com/
⢠April Dunford on product positioning, segmentation, and optimizing your sales process: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/april-dunford-on-product-positioning
⢠Positioning: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/positioning
⢠10 things we know to be true: https://about.google/company-info/philosophy/
⢠Gandalf: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandalf
⢠Frodo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frodo_Baggins
⢠Mordor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordor
⢠35 years of product design wisdom from Apple, Disney, Pinterest, and beyond | Bob Baxley: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/35-years-of-product-design-wisdom-bob-baxley
⢠The Primal Mark: How the Beginning Shapes the End in the Development of Creative Ideas: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/publications/primal-mark-how-beginning-shapes-end-development-creative-ideas
⢠Base44: https://base44.com/
⢠Solo founder, $80M exit, 6 months: The Base44 bootstrapped startup success story | Maor Shlomo: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-base44-bootstrapped-startup-success-story-maor-shlomo
⢠Google Meet: https://meet.google.com/
⢠Blue Bottle Coffee: https://bluebottlecoffee.com
⢠Reclaim: https://reclaim.ai/
⢠The official Foundation Sprint + Design Sprint template: https://www.character.vc/miro-template
⢠Rippling: https://www.rippling.com/
⢠Latchet: https://latchet.com/
⢠Mellow: http://getmellow.com/
⢠AxionOrbital: https://axionorbital.space/
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Recommended books:
⢠Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days: https://www.amazon.com/Sprint-audiobook/dp/B019R2DQIY
⢠Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day: https://www.amazon.com/Make-Time-Focus-Matters-Every/dp/0525572422
⢠Click: How to Make What People Want: https://www.amazon.com/Click-Make-What-People-Want/dp/1668072114
Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].
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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
Dan Shipper is the co-founder and CEO of Every. With just 15 people, Every publishes a daily AI newsletter, ships multiple AI products, and operates a million-dollar-a-year consulting armâall while their engineers write virtually zero code. Itâs the most radical example of AI-first operations, and Dan is a prolific writer who has become a leading voice on how AI is transforming the way we build and work.
Learn:
1. Why Dan thinks AI wonât steal jobs en masseâand may actually reshore many jobs to the U.S.
2. The most underrated AI tool for non-programmers
3. An inside look at Everyâs AI-first workflow
4. Why every company needs an âAI operations leadâ
5. How Danâs team uses an arsenal of AI agents (Claude, Codex, âFriday,â âCharlieâ) in parallel, treating each AI like a specialist with unique strengths
6. Why generalists will thrive in an AI-first world, as rigid job titles blur and everyone becomes a âmanagerâ of AI tools
7. Danâs playbook for making any company AI-firstâfrom the CEO setting the example, to hosting internal prompt-sharing sessions, to upskilling teams on AI tools
â
Brought to you by:
CodeRabbitâCut code review time and bugs in half. Instantly: https://coderabbit.link/lenny
DXâA platform for measuring and improving developer productivity: https://getdx.com/lenny
PostHogâHow developers build successful products: https://posthog.com/lenny
â
Transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-every-dan-shipper
â
My biggest takeaways (for paid newsletter subscribers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/i/167681269/my-biggest-takeaways-from-this-conversation
â
Where to find Dan Shipper:
⢠X: https://x.com/danshipper
⢠LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danshipper/
⢠Podcast: https://every.to/podcast
â
Where to find Lenny:
⢠Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
⢠X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
⢠LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Welcome and introduction
(04:04) Hot takes on AI and job reshoring
(07:06) The power of Claude Code for non-coders
(14:35) The future of AI in business operations
(18:45) AIâs role in enhancing human skills
(22:26) The evolution of AI tools and their applications
(25:40) Building an AI-first company
(29:50) Innovative AI operations and team dynamics
(35:35) Dan's AI stack
(41:26) Compounding engineering
(48:29) The impact of AI on learning and development
(50:10) Accelerating career growth with AI
(51:36) Revolutionizing code review and workflow
(53:07) The importance of coding knowledge
(57:26) Building AI-driven products
(01:02:01) Innovative fundraising strategies
(01:08:45) Consulting and AI adoption in companies
(01:17:01) The allocation economy and future skills
(01:20:12) The value of generalists in the AI age
(01:24:07) Lightning round and final thoughts
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Referenced:
⢠Claude Code: https://www.anthropic.com/claude-code
⢠Gemini CLI: https://blog.google/technology/developers/introducing-gemini-cli-open-source-ai-agent/
⢠Microsoft Copilot: https://copilot.microsoft.com/
⢠Cursor: https://www.cursor.com/
⢠Base44: https://base44.com/
⢠Solo founder, $80M exit, 6 months: The Base44 bootstrapped startup success story | Maor Shlomo: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-base44-bootstrapped-startup-success-story-maor-shlomo
⢠The rise of Cursor: The $300M ARR AI tool that engineers canât stop using | Michael Truell (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-rise-of-cursor-michael-truell
⢠Platoâs Argument Against Writing: https://fs.blog/an-old-argument-against-writing/
⢠From ChatGPT to Instagram to Uber: The quiet architect behind the worldâs most popular products | Peter Deng: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-quiet-architect-peter-deng
⢠Granola: https://www.granola.ai/
⢠Tobi Lutkeâs post on X about context engineering: https://x.com/tobi/status/1935533422589399127
⢠Tobi LĂźtkeâs leadership playbook: Playing infinite games, operating from first principles, and maximizing human potential (founder and CEO of Shopify): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/tobi-lutkes-leadership-playbook
⢠Every: https://every.to/
⢠Cora: https://www.cora.computer/
⢠Sparkle: https://makeitsparkle.co/
⢠Spiral: https://spiral.computer/
⢠Lex: https://lex.page/
⢠Nathan Baschez on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nbashaw/
⢠Kate Lee on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-lee-506768/
⢠Katie Parrott on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katieparrott/
⢠Animalz: https://www.animalz.co/
⢠Rachel Woods on X: https://x.com/rachel_l_woods
⢠Nityesh Agarwal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nityeshaga
⢠Claude Opus 4: https://www.anthropic.com/claude/opus
⢠Codex: https://openai.com/index/introducing-codex/
⢠Superwhisper: https://superwhisper.com/
⢠Wispr Flow: https://wisprflow.ai/
⢠Notion: https://www.notion.com/
⢠Kieran Klaassen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kieran-klaassen/
⢠Friday: https://www.friday.run/
⢠Charlie: https://www.gocharlie.ai/product/ai-agents/
⢠Avengers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avengers_(Marvel_Cinematic_Universe)
⢠Alex Duffy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-d/
⢠Danny Aziz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannyaziz/
⢠Dia: https://www.diabrowser.com/
⢠Reid Hoffmanâs website: https://www.reidhoffman.org/
⢠Starting Line VC: https://www.startingline.vc/
⢠Walleye Capital: https://walleyecapital.com/
⢠At This $10 Billion Hedge Fund, Using AI Just Became Mandatory: https://every.to/podcast/at-this-10-billion-hedge-fund-using-ai-just-became-mandatory
⢠Reflexive AI usage is now a baseline expectation at Shopify: https://x.com/tobi/status/1909251946235437514
⢠Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski on Getting AI to Do the Work of 700 Customer Service Reps: https://www.sequoiacap.com/podcast/training-data-sebastian-siemiatkowski/
⢠The Pin Factory: https://www.adamsmithworks.org/pin_factory.html
⢠Deadwood on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/deadwood
⢠Joel Spolsky on X: https://x.com/spolsky
⢠Jason Friedâs website: https://world.hey.com/jason
⢠Jason Fried challenges your thinking on fundraising, goals, growth, and more: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/jason-fried-challenges-your-thinking
⢠Sam Harrisâs website: https://www.samharris.org/
⢠Bill Simmons on X: https://x.com/billsimmons
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Recommended books:
⢠War and Peace: https://www.amazon.com/War-Peace-Vintage-Classics-Tolstoy/dp/1400079985
⢠Anna Karenina: https://www.amazon.com/Anna-Karenina-Leo-Tolstoy/dp/0143035002
⢠Playing and Reality: https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Reality-Routledge-Classics-86/dp/0415345464
⢠The Death of Ivan Ilyich: https://www.amazon.com/Death-Ivan-Ilyich-Leo-Tolstoy/dp/1468014315
⢠A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: https://www.amazon.com/Swim-Pond-Rain-Russians-Writing/dp/1984856022
⢠The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World: https://www.amazon.com/Master-His-Emissary-Divided-Western/dp/0300245920/
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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].
Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
Benjamin Mann is a co-founder of Anthropic, an AI startup dedicated to building aligned, safety-first AI systems. Prior to Anthropic, Ben was one of the architects of GPT-3 at OpenAI. He left OpenAI driven by the mission to ensure that AI benefits humanity. In this episode, Ben opens up about the accelerating progress in AI and the urgent need to steer it responsibly.
In this conversation, we discuss:
1. The inside story of leaving OpenAI with the entire safety team to start Anthropic
2. How Metaâs $100M offers reveal the true market price of top AI talent
3. Why AI progress is still accelerating (not plateauing), and how most people misjudge the exponential
4. Benâs âeconomic Turing testâ for knowing when weâve achieved AGIâand why itâs likely coming by 2027-2028
5. Why he believes 20% unemployment is inevitable
6. The AI nightmare scenarios that concern him mostâand how he believes we can still avoid them
7. How focusing on AI safety created Claudeâs beloved personality
8. What three skills heâs teaching his kids instead of traditional academics
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Brought to you by:
SauceâTurn customer pain into product revenue: https://sauce.app/lenny
LucidLinkâReal-time cloud storage for teams: https://www.lucidlink.com/lenny
FinâThe #1 AI agent for customer service: https://fin.ai/lenny
â
Transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/anthropic-co-founder-benjamin-mann
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My biggest takeaways (for paid newsletter subscribers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/i/168107911/my-biggest-takeaways-from-this-conversation
â
Where to find Ben Mann:
⢠X: https://x.com/8enmann
⢠LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-mann/
⢠Website: https://benjmann.net/
â
Where to find Lenny:
⢠Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
⢠X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
⢠LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
â
In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Introduction to Benjamin
(04:43) The AI talent war
(06:28) AI progress and scaling laws
(10:50) Defining AGI and the economic Turing test
(12:26) The impact of AI on jobs
(17:45) Preparing for an AI future
(24:05) Founding Anthropic
(27:06) Balancing AI safety and progress
(29:10) Constitutional AI and model alignment
(34:21) The importance of AI safety
(43:40) The risks of autonomous agents
(45:40) Forecasting superintelligence
(48:36) How hard is it to align AI?
(53:19) Reinforcement learning from AI feedback (RLAIF)
(57:03) AI's biggest bottlenecks
(01:00:11) Personal reflections on responsibilities
(01:02:36) Anthropicâs growth and innovations
(01:07:48) Lightning round and final thoughts
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Referenced:
⢠Dario Amodei on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dario-amodei-3934934/
⢠Anthropic CEO: AI Could Wipe Out 50% of Entry-Level White Collar Jobs: https://www.marketingaiinstitute.com/blog/dario-amodei-ai-entry-level-jobs
⢠Alexa+: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DCCNHWV5
⢠Azure: https://azure.microsoft.com/
⢠Sam Altman on X: https://x.com/sama
⢠Opus 3: https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-3-family
⢠Claudeâs Constitution: https://www.anthropic.com/news/claudes-constitution
⢠Greg Brockman on X: https://x.com/gdb
⢠Anthropicâs Responsible Scaling Policy: https://www.anthropic.com/news/anthropics-responsible-scaling-policy
⢠Agentic Misalignment: How LLMs could be insider threats: https://www.anthropic.com/research/agentic-misalignment
⢠Anthropicâs CPO on what comes next | Mike Krieger (co-founder of Instagram): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/anthropics-cpo-heres-what-comes-next
⢠AI prompt engineering in 2025: What works and what doesnât | Sander Schulhoff (Learn Prompting, HackAPrompt): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/ai-prompt-engineering-in-2025-sander-schulhoff
⢠Unitree: https://www.unitree.com/
⢠Arthur C. Clarke: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke
⢠How Reinforcement Learning from AI Feedback Works: https://www.assemblyai.com/blog/how-reinforcement-learning-from-ai-feedback-works
⢠RLHF: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinforcement_learning_from_human_feedback
⢠Jared Kaplan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jared-kaplan-645843213/
⢠Mooreâs law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law
⢠Machine Intelligence Research Institute: https://intelligence.org/
⢠Raph Lee on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphaeltlee/
⢠âThe Last Questionâ: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Question
⢠Beth Barnes on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethmbarnes/
⢠âThe Last Questionâ: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Question
⢠Good Strategy, Bad Strategy | Richard Rumelt: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/good-strategy-bad-strategy-richard
⢠Pantheon on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81937398
⢠Ted Lasso on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/ted-lasso/umc.cmc.vtoh0mn0xn7t3c643xqonfzy
⢠KurzgesagtâIn a Nutshell: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsXVk37bltHxD1rDPwtNM8Q
⢠5 tips to poop like a champion: https://8enmann.medium.com/5-tips-to-poop-like-a-champion-3292481a9651
â
Recommended books:
⢠Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies: https://www.amazon.com/Superintelligence-Dangers-Strategies-Nick-Bostrom/dp/0198739834
⢠The Hacker and the State: Cyber Attacks and the New Normal of Geopolitics: https://www.amazon.com/Hacker-State-Attacks-Normal-Geopolitics/dp/0674987551
⢠Replacing Guilt: Minding Our Way: https://www.amazon.com/Replacing-Guilt-Minding-Our-Way/dp/B086FTSB3Q
⢠Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters: https://www.amazon.com/Good-Strategy-Bad-Difference-Matters/dp/0307886239
⢠The Alignment Problem: Machine Learning and Human Values: https://www.amazon.com/Alignment-Problem-Machine-Learning-Values/dp/0393635821
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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].
Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
Asha Sharma leads AI product strategy at Microsoft, where she works with thousands of companies building AI products and has unique visibility into whatâs working (and whatâs not) across more than 15,000 startups and enterprises. Before Microsoft, Asha was COO at Instacart, and VP of Product & Engineering at Meta, notably leading product for Messenger.
What youâll learn:
1. Why weâre moving from âproduct as artifactâ to âproduct as organismâ and what this means for builders
2. Microsoftâs âseasonsâ planning framework that allows them to adapt quickly in the AI era
3. The death of the org chart: how agents are turning hierarchies into task networks and why âthe loop, not the laneâ is the new organizing principle
4. Why post-training will soon see more investment than pre-trainingâand how to build your own AI moat with fine-tuning
5. Her prediction for the âagentic societyââwhere org charts become work charts and agents outnumber humans in your company
6. The three-phase pattern every successful AI company follows (and why most fail at phase one)
7. The rise of code-native interfaces and why GUIs might be going the way of the desktop
8. What Asha learned from Satya Nadella about optimism
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Brought to you by:
EnterpretâTransform customer feedback into product growth: https://enterpret.com/lenny
DXâThe developer intelligence platform designed by leading researchers: http://getdx.com/lenny
FinâThe #1 AI agent for customer service: https://fin.ai/lenny
â
Transcript: â https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-80000-companies-build-with-ai-asha-sharma
â
My biggest takeaways (for paid newsletter subscribers): â https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/i/171413445/my-biggest-takeaways-from-this-conversationâ
â
Where to find Asha Sharma:
⢠LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aboutasha/
⢠Blog: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/author/asha-sharma/
â
Where to find Lenny:
⢠Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
⢠X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
⢠LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
â
In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Introduction to Asha Sharma
(04:18) From âproduct as artifactâ to âproduct as organismâ
(06:20) The rise of post-training and the future of AI product development
(09:10) Successful AI companies: patterns and pitfalls
(12:01) The evolution of full-stack builders
(14:15) âThe loop, not the laneââthe new organizing principle
(16:24) The future of user interfaces: from GUI to code-native
(19:34) The rise of the agentic society
(22:58) The âwork chartâ vs. the âorg chartâ
(26:24) How Microsoft is using agents
(28:23) Planning and strategy in the AI landscape
(35:38) The importance of platform fundamentals
(39:31) Lessons from industry giants
(42:10) Whatâs driving Asha
(44:30) Reinforcement learning (RL) and optimization loops
(49:19) Lightning round and final thoughts
â
Referenced:
⢠Copilot: https://copilot.microsoft.com/
⢠Cursor: https://cursor.com/
⢠The rise of Cursor: The $300M ARR AI tool that engineers canât stop using | Michael Truell (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-rise-of-cursor-michael-truell
⢠Inside ChatGPT: The fastest growing product in history | Nick Turley (Head of ChatGPT at OpenAI): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-chatgpt-nick-turley
⢠GitHub: https://github.com
⢠Dragon Medical One: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/health-solutions/clinical-workflow/dragon-medical-one
⢠Windsurf: https://windsurf.com/
⢠Building a magical AI code editor used by over 1 million developers in four months: The untold story of Windsurf | Varun Mohan (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-untold-story-of-windsurf-varun-mohan
⢠Lovable: https://lovable.dev/
⢠Building Lovable: $10M ARR in 60 days with 15 people | Anton Osika (CEO and co-founder): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-lovable-anton-osika
⢠Bolt: http://bolt.com
⢠Inside Bolt: From near-death to ~$40m ARR in 5 monthsâone of the fastest-growing products in history | Eric Simons (founder and CEO of StackBlitz): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-bolt-eric-simons
⢠Replit: https://replit.com/
â˘Behind the product: Replit | Amjad Masad (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-product-replit-amjad-masad
⢠He saved OpenAI, invented the âLikeâ button, and built Google Maps: Bret Taylor on the future of careers, coding, agents, and more: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/he-saved-openai-bret-taylor
⢠Sierra: https://sierra.ai/
⢠Spark: https://github.com/features/spark
⢠Peter Yang on X: https://x.com/petergyang
⢠How AI will impact product management: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-ai-will-impact-product-management
⢠Instacart: http://instacart.com/
⢠Terminator: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminator_(franchise)
⢠Porch Group: https://porchgroup.com/
⢠WhatsApp: https://www.whatsapp.com/
⢠Maslowâs Hierarchy of Needs: https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
⢠Satya Nadella on X: https://x.com/satyanadella
⢠Perfect Match 360°: Artificial intelligence to find the perfect donor match: https://ivi-fertility.com/blog/perfect-match-360-artificial-intelligence-to-find-the-perfect-donor-match/
⢠OpenAIâs GPT-5 shows potential in healthcare with early cancer detection capabilities: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/openais-gpt-5-shows-potential-in-healthcare-with-early-cancer-detection-capabilities/articleshow/123173952.cms
⢠F1: The Movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16311594/
⢠For All Mankind on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/for-all-mankind/umc.cmc.6wsi780sz5tdbqcf11k76mkp7
⢠The Home Depot: https://www.homedepot.com/
⢠Dewalt Powerstack: https://www.dewalt.com/powerstack
⢠Regret Minimization Framework: https://s3.amazonaws.com/kajabi-storefronts-production/sites/2147500522/themes/2148012322/downloads/rLuObc2QuOwjLrinx5Yu_regret-minimization-framework.pdf
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Recommended books:
⢠The Thinking Machine: Jensen Huang, Nvidia, and the Worldâs Most Coveted Microchip: https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Machine-Jensen-Coveted-Microchip/dp/0593832698
⢠Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0593466497
Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].
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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
My biggest takeaways from this conversation:
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