When it comes to innovation, Twilio CEO and co-founder Jeff Lawson has simple advice: "Build or die." Lawson straddles the line of software developer and CEO, giving him a rare perspective on the common ways the two sides misunderstand each other. It also gave him an early, deep understanding of developers’ needs in a software platform — which has been borne out in Twilio’s success. Lawson joined Greylock general partner Sarah Guo for Iconversations to discuss business trajectory, and what he sees happening in the future of software and the internet. 
You can read a transcript of this episode here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/software-with-superpowers/
You can watch the interview on our YouTube channel here: 
https://youtu.be/6OEmqCJ2wJk
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Twilio's Jeff Lawson | Software with Superpowers

How do tech startups go from idea…to iconic? Greymatter’s weekly podcast features interviews with VCs, founders, and tech visionaries on everything from AI, marketplaces, and cybersecurity as well as company-building strategies like growth, finding product-market-fit, and recruiting top talent. Founders and VCs offer candid accounts of success, failure, and adaptation. Greymatter delivers practical insights mixed with the bold optimism that defines entrepreneurship.

Technology

Tech News

Podcasting

Gadgets

Software How-To

Business

Investing

Careers

Management & Marketing

Business News

Shopping

Entrepreneurship

Guest episode of Product-Led AI, a new podcast series hosted by Greylock partner Seth Rosenberg featuring conversations with leading AI builders.
Adept CEO and co-founder David Luan has been riding the LLM wave since the early days of the modern AI boom: an early OpenAI employee, he led the company’s engineering team before serving as the tech lead for Google Brain’s work on LLMs. He co-founded Adept in 2022 to develop multimodal agents built to work alongside humans in any profession. Believing computers should work more like humans and not the other way around, Adept has stood out for its human-centric approach to AGI. 
In this episode, David talks about the moment he realized building a new product (and a startup) was a faster track to AGI; breaks down the frameworks for Adept; and shares his view of a future where AI functions almost invisibly below all software we use. 
Check out the whole series at productledaipod.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Product-Led AI: Adept CEO David Luan on Upleveling Human Work

Guest episode of Product-Led AI, the new series hosted by Greylock partner Seth Rosenberg where he chats with builders who put the power of AI into products that people love.
This week, AI visionary (and fellow Greylock partner) Reid Hoffman talks with Seth about the main opportunities in the application layer of AI, with an extra deep dive on AI-powered networks and marketplaces. Having been instrumental in building and scaling several iconic networks throughout his career, Hoffman has learned the core fundamentals of building these types of businesses don't change much - they just look different, depending on the latest tech platform shift. 
About the series: Investor and former product builder Seth Rosenberg talks with founders about their inspiration and process to build, test, and continually reimagine how AI and humans work together. You can find more about the series at productledaipod.com.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Product-Led AI: Reid Hoffman on AI-Powered Networks

Special guest episode of Product-Led AI, a new podcast hosted by Greylock partner Seth Rosenberg. In this series, he focuses on the central question: How do you make AI useful?
While plenty of money and attention goes to large language models and GPUs, it takes a different skill set to build AI products that change the way we work, learn, and live. We’re seeing this in AI co-pilots, AI-first networks and marketplaces, and entirely reimagined software categories where AI is solving long-standing challenges in new ways. But how do they actually do it?
Investor and former product builder Seth Rosenberg talks with founders about their inspiration and process to build, test, and continually reimagine how AI and humans work together. You can find more about the series at productledaipod.com.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing Product-Led AI

Greylock general partner Jacob Andreou reads his essay on how to build valuable products during moments of technology transitions. Having previously led product and growth for one of the iconic native apps of the mobile era (Snap), Andreou developed a perspective on some of the best (and worst) strategic and tactical decisions companies can make during tech shifts. It starts by asking an important question: Are you building a novel solution to an enduring need, enabled by new technology?
Using lessons learned from his hands-on experience at Snap and observations across other companies, Andreou provides a framework for evaluating your product and company to ensure you are building a transformative product and not a toy.
You can read the full essay, "From Ports to Transformations: Strategies for Building Enduring Consumer Products During Tech Shifts here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/building-enduring-consumer-products-during-tech-shifts/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jacob Andreou | From Ports to Transformations

Building a defensible system of intelligence at a time when LLMs are becoming commoditized (and when all the classic moats like economies of scale are more important than ever) isn’t easy. But Instabase, which provides an applied AI platform for enterprise organizations to run various operational processes, has managed to accrue a large customer base and recently hit $2 billion valuation. The company has gained traction largely because they've taken cues directly from customers since day one while incorporating the latest technology advances to continually expand their product, making it useful across hundreds of different use cases for a range of industries.
Greylock general partner and Instabase board member Jerry Chen spoke with Instabase CEO and founder Anant Bhardwaj about the company’s journey amid the fast-changing AI landscape.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Twilio's Jeff Lawson | Software with Superpowers

Download our free app to listen on your phone