Simon Willison is a prolific independent software developer, a blogger, and one of the most visible and trusted voices on the impact AI is having on builders. He co-created Django, the web framework that powers Instagram, Pinterest, and tens of thousands of other websites. He coined the term “prompt injection,” popularized the terms “AI slop” and “agentic engineering,” and has built over 100 open source projects, including Datasette, a data analysis tool used by investigative journalists worldwide. What makes Simon unique is that he’s made the leap from traditional software engineering to AI-native development more fully and visibly than almost anyone—and he’s been documenting everything he learns in real time on his blog, SimonWillison.net. In our in-depth conversation, Simon shares: 1. Why November 2025 was the inflection point when AI coding agents crossed from “mostly works” to “actually works” 2. How Simon writes 95% of his code from his phone now and why he’s mentally exhausted by 11 a.m. 3. Why mid-career engineers (not juniors) are most at risk right now 4. The three agentic engineering patterns Simon uses daily (red/green TDD, templates, hoarding) 5. The next leap: the “dark factory” pattern where nobody writes or reviews code and AI does its own QA 6. Why prompt injection is an unsolved security problem and the “lethal trifecta” that will likely lead to an AI Challenger disaster 7. Why the pelican riding a bicycle became the unofficial benchmark for AI model quality — Brought to you by: WorkOS—Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs Vanta—automate compliance, manage risk, and accelerate trust with AI — Episode transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/an-ai-state-of-the-union — Archive of all Lenny's Podcast transcripts: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxi4s2w998p1gvtpu4193/AMdNPR8AOw0lMklwtnC0TrQ?rlkey=j06x0nipoti519e0xgm23zsn9&st=ahz0fj11&dl=0 — Where to find Simon Willison: • X: https://x.com/simonw • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonwillison • Website: https://simonwillison.net • Agentic Engineering Patterns: https://simonwillison.net/guides/agentic-engineering-patterns — 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 Simon Willison (02:40) The November 2025 inflection point (08:01) What’s possible now with AI coding (10:42) Vibe coding vs. agentic engineering (13:57) The dark-factory pattern (20:41) Where bottlenecks have shifted (23:36) Where human brains will continue to be valuable (25:32) Defending of software engineers (29:12) Why experienced engineers get better results (30:48) Advice for avoiding the permanent underclass (33:52) Leaning into AI to amplify your skills (35:12) Why Simon says he’s working harder than ever (37:23) The market for pre-2022 human-written code (40:01) Prediction: 50% of engineers writing 95% AI code by the end of 2026 (44:34) The impact of cheap code (48:27) Simon’s AI stack (54:08) Using AI for research (55:12) The pelican-riding-a-bicycle benchmark (59:01) The inherent ridiculousness of AI (1:00:52) Hoarding things you know how to do (1:08:21) Red/green TDD pattern for better AI code (1:14:43) Starting projects with good templates (1:16:31) The lethal trifecta and prompt injection (1:21:53) Why 97% effectiveness is a failing grade (1:25:19) The normalization of deviance (1:28:32) OpenClaw: the security nightmare everyone is looking past (1:34:22) What’s next for Simon (1:36:47) Zero-deliverable consulting (1:38:05) Good news about Kakapo parrots — References: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/an-ai-state-of-the-union — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

Claire Vo is the host of our sister podcast, “How I AI,” a former product executive and engineer, and founder of an AI startup called ChatPRD. Claire now runs her business, podcast, and family life with the help of nine OpenClaw agents running on multiple Mac Minis and old laptops. In this episode, Claire shares her journey from OpenClaw skeptic (it deleted her family calendar the first time she tried it) to true believer, and gives a masterclass in using AI agents in real life. We discuss: 1. The exact step-by-step process to install and set up OpenClaw (it’s easier than you think) 2. How to avoid the biggest OpenClaw mistakes (don’t install it on your main computer) 3. Actual use cases that have changed Claire’s life (e.g. family scheduling, inbound sales, podcast prep, and course management) 4. Why multiple specialized agents beat one general-purpose agent 5. The security risks everyone worries about—and how to handle them 6. Browser limitations, memory issues, and practical workarounds — Brought to you by: Mercury—Radically different banking Omni—AI analytics your customers can trust Orkes—The enterprise platform for reliable applications and agentic workflows — Where to find Claire Vo: • X: https://x.com/clairevo • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairevo • Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@howiaipodcast • Website: https://clairevo.com • ChatPRD: https://www.chatprd.ai — 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 Claire and OpenClaw (08:00) The journey from OpenClaw skeptic to believer (11:50) What OpenClaw actually does that’s useful (13:35) OpenClaw vs. other AI agent products (17:05) How to actually install OpenClaw: the basics (18:49) Setting up like you’d onboard a real assistant (20:41) Security and privacy considerations (24:53) Live demo: Installing OpenClaw step-by-step (28:47) Setting up Q: an agent for her kids’ homework (34:08) Understanding “soul,” “identity,” and “memory” (40:40) The unlock: multiple agents, not just one (45:02) How to run multiple agents on one machine (47:28) Jesse Genet’s homeschooling use case (49:58) Real examples and use cases (56:41) Finn, Claire’s family agent (1:00:05) Sage the Course Bot (1:02:15) Common issues and workarounds (1:08:08) The Exa/Perplexity web search workaround (1:09:29) Memory management and context overload (1:12:09) Pro tip: Screen sharing to manage Mac Minis (1:14:18) Using Google Workspace for agent collaboration (1:16:24) What makes OpenClaw special (1:20:15) The “yappers API” and ramble mode (1:22:04) Using Claude Code as your OpenClaw brain surgeon (1:25:16) Bringing management skills to AI agents (1:29:32) Why this matters (1:32:37) Lightning round and final thoughts — Referenced: • OpenClaw: https://openclaw.ai • Claude Cowork: https://claude.com/product/cowork • Fry’s Electronics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fry%27s_Electronics • Peter Steinberger on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steipete • Telegram: https://telegram.org • WhatsApp: https://www.whatsapp.com • Fin: https://fin.ai • Why OpenClaw feels alive even though it’s not (this AI has a heartbeat but not a brain): https://x.com/clairevo/status/2017741569521271175 • 5 OpenClaw agents run my home, finances, and code | Jesse Genet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96Vl8s3EQhk • Executive Playbook for AI in Engineering, Product, and Design: https://maven.com/clairevo/ai-native-epd-org • Zach Davis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zach-m-davis/ • ChatGPT Atlas: https://chatgpt.com/atlas • Perplexity Comet: https://www.perplexity.ai/comet • Browser (OpenClaw-managed): https://docs.openclaw.ai/tools/browser • Buffer: https://buffer.com • Brave: https://brave.com/search/api/ • Exa: https://exa.ai • Hilary Gridley on X: https://x.com/yourgirlhils • How to become a supermanager with AI: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-become-a-supermanager-with • How custom GPTs can make you a better manager | Hilary Gridley (Head of Core Product at Whoop): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDMkkOC-EhI • How to debug a team that isn’t working: the Waterline Model: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-debug-a-team-that-isnt-working • Jensen Huang on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenhsunhuang • How I built a 1M+ subscriber newsletter and top 10 tech podcast | Lenny Rachitsky: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-i-built-a-1m-subscriber-newsletter • Age of Attraction on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81779095 • Oura Ring: https://ouraring.com/ • Eight Sleep: https://www.eightsleep.com • Hoopsalytics: https://hoopsalytics.com • DJI Osmo smartphone gimbal: https://www.amazon.com/DJI-Stabilizer-Tracking-Extension-Stabilization/dp/B0FJ2L67HJ?ref_=ast_sto_dp • Silent basketball: https://www.amazon.com/Rzkipdy-Silent-Basketball-Size-27-5/dp/B0FHFSQWPP/ref=sr_1_9 • Marc Andreessen: The real AI boom hasn’t even started yet: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/marc-andreessen-the-real-ai-boom — Recommended books: • Treasure Island: https://www.amazon.com/Treasure-Island-Robert-Louis-Stevenson/dp/1505297400 • Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: https://www.amazon.com/Alices-Adventures-Wonderland-Illustrated-Illustrations/dp/991673268X • Charts for Babies: A Picture Book: https://www.amazon.com/Charts-Babies-Picture-Book/dp/1419785184 — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

Jessica Fain is a product leader at Webflow and former Chief of Staff to the CPO at Slack, where she worked alongside April Underwood and many past podcast guests including Stewart Butterfield, Annie Pearl, Tamar Yehoshua, and Noah Weiss. She’s spent her career learning how executives actually make decisions—and why most people completely misunderstand the process. We discuss: 1. Why great ideas often don’t get buy-in 2. Why executive calendars are “like strobe lights” and why the first 30 seconds of a meeting matter so much 3. Why executives are usually optimizing for a global maximum while you are often optimizing locally 4. The best question Jessica uses when a leader says something that seems wrong: “That’s so interesting. What led you to believe that?” 5. Why you should go in to learn, not to convince 6. Why showing only one option is a mistake 7. Why AI will make influence more important, not less — Brought to you by: Omni—AI analytics your customers can trust Lovable—Build apps by simply chatting with AI Vanta—Automate compliance, manage risk, and accelerate trust with AI — Episode transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-art-of-influence-jessica-fain — Archive of all Lenny's Podcast transcripts: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxi4s2w998p1gvtpu4193/AMdNPR8AOw0lMklwtnC0TrQ?rlkey=j06x0nipoti519e0xgm23zsn9&st=ahz0fj11&dl=0 — Where to find Jessica Fain: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-fain-79b8989 — 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 Jessica Fain (03:53) Why influence is the highest-leverage skill in product (04:47) Why great ideas fail without executive buy-in (06:00) How executives actually think (09:05) The fundamentals: context-setting, communication, and empathy (10:22) Stop pitching for approval—start co-creating with execs (12:59) Influence vs. politics (and why people get it wrong) (15:44) How to disagree with execs without losing trust (17:20) Going in to learn, not to convince (19:08) How to present ideas (26:05) The Minto-style approach and tailoring your communication to each exec (28:22) Why Jessica doesn’t like the question “What’s top of mind for you?” (30:24) Understanding incentives to unlock buy-in (32:10) Aligning product work with company strategy (35:10) Quick summary (37:31) Disarming the executive (40:49) Speed matters: why fast follow-up builds momentum (43:32) How to run high-impact meetings (the 60-second rule) (47:00) Why influencing execs is part of your job (49:15) Asking for more resources and thinking in 10x bets (52:23) What to do when your idea gets rejected (54:18) Clarifying information (56:50) How to build trust and make ideas stick (58:30) Shrinking big ideas into experiments (01:02:27) Common mistakes people make when influencing leaders (01:06:00) How to grow into your next role (01:09:32) How AI is changing influence and product work (01:17:55) Using AI to simulate exec feedback and improve pitches (01:21:15) Protecting our brains from overwhelm (01:22:44) Lightning round and final thoughts — Referenced: • Box: https://www.box.com • Slack: https://slack.com • Brightwheel: https://mybrightwheel.com • Webflow: https://webflow.com • April Underwood on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprilunderwood • Lessons in product leadership and AI strategy from Glean, Google, Amazon, and Slack | Tamar Yehoshua (Product at Glean, ex-Google and Slack): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/you-dont-need-to-be-a-well-run-company-to-win-tamar-yehoshua • Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com • Behind the scenes of Calendly’s rapid growth | Annie Pearl (CPO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-scenes-of-calendlys-rapid • Calendly: https://calendly.com • Glassdoor: https://www.glassdoor.co.in/index.htm • The 10 traits of great PMs, how AI will impact your product, and Slack’s product development process | Noah Weiss (Slack, Foursquare, Google): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-10-traits-of-great-pms-how-ai • Ethan Eismann on X: https://x.com/eeismann • Slack founder: Mental models for building products people love ft. Stewart Butterfield: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/slack-founder-stewart-butterfield • Ilan Frank on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilanfrank • Checkr: https://checkr.com • Ali Rayl on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alirayl • Rachel Wolan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelwolan • How Webflow’s CPO built an AI chief of staff to manage her calendar, prep for meetings, and drive AI adoption | Rachel Wolan: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-webflows-cpo-built-an-ai-chief • Barbara Minto’s website: https://www.barbaraminto.com • How Slack invests in big little details through Customer Love Sprints: https://slack.design/articles/sweating-the-small-stuff • Building product at Stripe: craft, metrics, and customer obsession | Jeff Weinstein (Product lead): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-product-at-stripe-jeff-weinstein • The Enneagram Institute: https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-descriptions • The Pitt on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/The-Pitt-Season-1/dp/B0DNRR8QWD • Towel warmer: https://www.amazon.com/FLYHIT-Large-Towel-Warmer-Bathroom/dp/B0CB5K34L2 • Casa: https://getcasa.com • Jimi Hendrix: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_Hendrix • Greek Theatre: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Theatre_(Los_Angeles) — Recommended books: • Pachinko: https://www.amazon.com/Pachinko-National-Book-Award-Finalist/dp/1455563927 • Homegoing: https://www.amazon.com/Homegoing-Yaa-Gyasi/dp/1101971061 • A History of Burning: https://www.amazon.com/History-Burning-Janika-Oza/dp/1538724243 • The Overstory: https://www.amazon.com/Overstory-Novel-Richard-Powers/dp/039335668X — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

Jacob Warwick is an executive negotiation coach who helps senior operators negotiate better salary, equity, titles, and severance packages. He has worked with leaders across tech and Hollywood, was previously a founder and CEO himself, and has helped clients secure millions in additional compensation. His approach focuses on collaboration over confrontation, understanding motivations, and treating job searches like enterprise sales processes. We discuss: 1. Why a simple “What’s the chance there’s a little more here?” often unlocks a 20% bump 2. Why Jacob sees 40% average movement when negotiations are run well 3. When negotiation actually starts (hint: it’s much earlier than you think) 4. Why information + timing create power 5. The biggest mistakes people make when negotiating 6. How to navigate the important “What’s your comp expectation?” question without anchoring too low 7. Why the best interviews feel more like discovery calls than interrogations — Brought to you by: Orkes—The enterprise platform for reliable applications and agentic workflows Mercury—Radically different banking Omni—AI analytics your customers can trust — Episode transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-tactical-playbook-for-getting-more-comp — Archive of all Lenny's Podcast transcripts: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxi4s2w998p1gvtpu4193/AMdNPR8AOw0lMklwtnC0TrQ?rlkey=j06x0nipoti519e0xgm23zsn9&st=ahz0fj11&dl=0 — Where to find Jacob Warwick: • Substack: https://www.execsandthecity.com • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ExecsandtheCity • Website: https://www.thinkwarwick.com • Complete Job Search Course: https://www.execsandthecity.com/p/complete-job-search-course — 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 Jacob Warwick (04:12) How much comp people leave on the table (07:52) Why you shouldn’t feel greedy asking for more (09:45) What founders should know about negotiation (13:03) How Jacob works behind the scenes (15:35) The biggest mistakes people make when negotiating (19:30) Home-field advantage and controlling the conversation (23:02) The step-by-step approach to negotiating an offer (30:17) Jacob’s passion and why these tips don’t work on kids (32:04) Who should speak first about compensation (35:36) Understanding power (39:52) Breaking out of salary bands by focusing on pain points (45:45) Brief summary (47:20) Selling the vacation: How to visualize success (50:07) Controlling the narrative and planting seeds (59:01) Jacob’s role as hype man (01:01:05) Positioning yourself like a product (01:02:49) Making the process frictionless for hiring managers (01:06:20) Flipping the interview to extract information (01:12:17) Five tactical tips for negotiating comp (01:21:45) What to do when negotiations fall apart (01:25:05) Why negotiation is different for every individual (01:28:55) Why outcomes aren’t predetermined (01:32:52) Wild Hollywood negotiation stories (01:37:35) The first step you should take after getting an offer (01:40:30) Jacob’s personal mission (01:44:42) Lightning round and final thoughts — Referenced: • The ultimate guide to negotiating your comp: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ultimate-guide-to-negotiating • Sam Altman on X: https://x.com/sama • Tom Brady on X: https://x.com/TomBrady • Career Huddle: Interview & Negotiation Master Class with Jacob Warwick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgjWTiSj8E8 • Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com • Julia Roberts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Roberts • Matt Damon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Damon • Steven Spielberg: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Spielberg • Marc Andreessen: The real AI boom hasn’t even started yet: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/marc-andreessen-the-real-ai-boom • Chris Voss’s quote: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/10181396-remember-never-be-so-sure-of-what-you-want-that • Chris Voss on X: https://x.com/fbinegotiator • Werewolf: https://playwerewolf.co • Modes of persuasion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modes_of_persuasion • How to use tactical empathy: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/christophervoss_tacticalempathy-negotiation-customerexperience-activity-7361004118808670212-oeRy • ZOPA, BATNA and Win-Win in Negotiation: https://www.parallelprojecttraining.com/blog/zopa-batna-and-win-win-in-negotiation • Marvel: https://www.marvel.com • Negotiation Made Simple podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2227030 • Luca on Disney+: https://www.disneyplus.com/browse/entity-f28b825f-c207-406b-923a-67f85e6d90e0 • Minuscule: https://www.youtube.com/user/Minuscule • Claude Cowork: https://claude.com/product/cowork • Macrofactor: https://macrofactor.com • Whoop: https://www.whoop.com • Gemini: https://gemini.google.com/app • The Cody Dieruf Foundation: https://breathinisbelievin.org • Cystic Fibrosis Foundation: https://www.cff.org — Recommended books: • Negotiation Games: https://www.amazon.com/Negotiation-Games-Routledge-Advances-Theory/dp/0415308941 • Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion: https://www.amazon.com/Influence-Psychology-Persuasion-Robert-Cialdini/dp/006124189X • You Can Negotiate Anything: How to Get What You Want: https://www.amazon.com/You-Negotiate-Anything-Herb-Cohen/dp/0806541229 • Negotiation Made Simple: A Practical Guide for Solving Problems, Building Relationships, and Delivering the Deal: https://www.amazon.com/Negotiation-Made-Simple-Relationships-Delivering/dp/1400336325 • Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity: https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Candor-Kick-Ass-Without-Humanity/dp/1250103509 • High Output Management: https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp/0679762884 • How to Win Friends and Influence People: https://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/0671027034 — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

People have been asking me to sit on the other side of the mic for a long time. With my wife’s debut children’s book, Charts for Babies, coming out next month, we figured: why not do it together? What followed was one of the most honest conversations I’ve had on this podcast. Michelle asked things no one else would think to ask—and many things I’ve never shared publicly. You’ll hear about the specific moments that pushed me to start the newsletter, how I think about quality and iteration, what most stresses me out, and the scariest moment of my life. This was so fun, and so special, and I hope you like it. We discuss: 1. The collection of moments that led me to what I do now 2. When I added a paywall, and how I knew it was working 3. The hidden treadmill behind shipping a newsletter post and podcast episode every week 4. The most stressful moments I’ve had in business and in life 5. How I think about stress, consistency, and keeping the business small — Pre-order Charts for Babies: https://www.amazon.com/Charts-Babies-Picture-Book/dp/1419785184 — Brought to you by: WorkOS—Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs: https://workos.com/lenny Metaview—The AI platform for recruiting: https://metaview.ai/lenny DX—The developer intelligence platform designed by leading researchers: https://getdx.com/lenny — Episode transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-i-built-a-1m-subscriber-newsletter — Archive of all Lenny's Podcast transcripts: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxi4s2w998p1gvtpu4193/AMdNPR8AOw0lMklwtnC0TrQ?rlkey=j06x0nipoti519e0xgm23zsn9&st=ahz0fj11&dl=0 — Where to find Michelle Rial: • X: https://x.com/TheRialMichelle • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellerial • Website: https://www.michellerial.com — 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 and role reversal (04:06) What would Lenny be doing without the newsletter? (07:20) The moments that led to starting the newsletter (09:58) Does Lenny still enjoy the work? (12:42) Stress management and misophonia (14:00) The psychedelic trip that changed everything (15:45) Online happiness course and baseline optimization (17:30) Thunder round: Lenny’s misophonia worst sounds (20:20) What makes Michelle’s charts so shareable (23:55) Where chart ideas come from (and why meditation helps) (26:59) Where does “Lenny” come from? (28:54) Being recognized in public (31:24) Early projects (36:30) Michelle and Lenny’s yin and yang (37:49) Missing office culture (but not really) (39:37) Lenny’s face blindness (40:47) The $100M fraud attack story (42:50) Michelle’s childbirth emergency (47:22) Michelle’s creative process (51:58) Lenny’s favorite children’s books (54:00) Product management lessons in parenting (55:31) Defining product management in five words (58:23) Why Michelle pivoted to children’s books (01:01:30) The power of iteration and real experience — Resources and episode mentions: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-i-built-a-1m-subscriber-newsletter — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

Jenny Wen leads design for Claude at Anthropic. Prior to this, she was Director of Design at Figma, where she led the teams behind FigJam and Slides. Before that, she was a designer at Dropbox, Square, and Shopify. — We discuss: 1. Why the classic discovery → mock → iterate design process is becoming obsolete 2. What a day in the life of a designer at Anthropic looks like, including her AI tool stack 3. Whether AI will eventually surpass humans in taste and judgment 4. Why Jenny left a director role at Figma to return to IC work at Anthropic 5. The three archetypes Jenny is hiring for now 6. Why chatbot interfaces may be more durable than most people expect — Brought to you by: Mercury—Radically different banking: https://mercury.com/?utm_source=lennys&utm_medium=sponsored_newsletter&utm_campaign=26q1_brand_campaign Orkes—The enterprise platform for reliable applications and agentic workflows: https://www.orkes.io/ Omni—AI analytics your customers can trust: https://omni.co/lenny — Episode transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-design-process-is-dead — Archive of all Lenny's Podcast transcripts: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxi4s2w998p1gvtpu4193/AMdNPR8AOw0lMklwtnC0TrQ?rlkey=j06x0nipoti519e0xgm23zsn9&st=ahz0fj11&dl=0 — Where to find Jenny Wen: • X: https://x.com/jenny_wen • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennywen • Substack: https://jennywen.substack.com • Website: https://jennywen.ca — 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 Jenny Wen (04:23) Why the traditional design process is dead (06:33) The two new types of design work (10:00) How widespread this shift will be (13:00) Day-to-day life as a designer at Anthropic (18:45) Jenny’s AI stack (20:03) Why Figma still matters for exploration (22:25) Advice for working with engineers (24:19) How to maintain craft, quality, and trust in the AI era (27:35) Will AI ever have “taste”? (31:38) The future of chatbot interfaces (35:33) Moving from director back to IC (41:00) The 10-day build of Claude Cowork (46:06) Hiring: the three archetypes (50:44) Advice for new and senior designers (54:42) The value of “low leverage” tasks for managers (57:52) Why the best teams roast each other (01:01:45) The legibility framework (01:07:22) Lightning round and final thoughts — Referenced: • Figma: https://www.figma.com • Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com • v0: https://v0.app • Navigating a Design Career with Jenny Wen | Figma at Waterloo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHcBPMh2ivk • Claude Cowork: https://claude.com/product/cowork • Use Claude Code in VS Code: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/vs-code • Claude Code in Slack: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/slack • Lex Fridman’s website: https://lexfridman.com • Head of Claude Code: What happens after coding is solved | Boris Cherny: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/head-of-claude-code-what-happens • OpenClaw: https://openclaw.ai • OpenAI’s 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 • Marc Andreessen: The real AI boom hasn’t even started yet: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/marc-andreessen-the-real-ai-boom • Socratica: https://www.socratica.info • Anthropic’s CPO on what comes next | Mike Krieger (co-founder of Instagram): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/anthropics-cpo-heres-what-comes-next • Radical Candor: From theory to practice with author Kim Scott: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/radical-candor-from-theory-to-practice • Evan Tana’s ‘legibility matrix’ on X: https://x.com/evantana/status/1927404374252269667 • How to spot a top 1% startup early: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-spot-a-top-1-startup-early • Palantir: https://www.palantir.com • Stripe: https://stripe.com • Linear: https://linear.app • Notion: https://www.notion.com • Julie Zhuo’s website: https://www.juliezhuo.com • Sentimental Value: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27714581 • The Pitt on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/The-Pitt-Season-1/dp/B0DNRR8QWD • Noah Wyle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Wyle • ER on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0FWZSDYRP • Retro: https://retro.app • Granola: https://www.granola.ai — Recommended books: • Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity: https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Candor-Kick-Ass-Without-Humanity/dp/1250103509 • The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York: https://www.amazon.com/Power-Broker-Robert-Moses-Fall/dp/0394480767 • Insomniac City: New York, Oliver Sacks, and Me: https://www.amazon.com/Insomniac-City-New-York-Oliver/dp/162040494X — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

Jeetu Patel is the president and chief product officer at Cisco, where he leads a team of 30,000 people and is playing a central role in the massive AI infrastructure buildout happening right now. Previously, he spent five years as CPO at Box and 17 years running his own startup. Recently Jeetu organized an AI summit featuring industry leaders like Jensen Huang, Sam Altman, Marc Andreessen, and Fei-Fei Li. We discuss: 1. How Cisco went AI-first across 90,000 employees 2. His six-part framework for building great companies: timing, market, team, product, brand, distribution 3. Why he says he couldn’t have done this job without AI 4. His “right to win” strategic framework 5. His communication framework for preventing “packet loss” across an organization 6. Why he flips “praise in public, criticize in private” and does the exact opposite 7. The important communication lesson his mother taught him — Brought to you by: Sentry—Code breaks, fix it faster: https://sentry.io/lenny Framer—Build better websites faster: https://framer.com/lenny Samsara—Saving lives with AI built for physical operations: https://samsara.com/lenny — Episode transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/ai-is-critical-for-humanitys-survival — Archive of all Lenny's Podcast transcripts: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxi4s2w998p1gvtpu4193/AMdNPR8AOw0lMklwtnC0TrQ?rlkey=j06x0nipoti519e0xgm23zsn9&st=ahz0fj11&dl=0 — Where to find Jeetu Patel: • X: https://x.com/jpatel41 • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeetupatel • Website: https://blogs.cisco.com/author/jeetupatel — 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 and welcome (04:15) Insights from Cisco’s Al summit (08:45) Transforming Cisco into an Al-first company (15:33) What Cisco actually does in the Al infrastructure stack (19:09) The future of Al (24:36) Raising kids in the AI era (29:46) “Permission to play” framework (36:50) Lessons from great CEOs (42:02) Leading at scale (50:54) Why Jeetu inverts the ‘praise in public, criticize in private’ rule (57:45) Surrounding yourself with good human beings (58:35) Lessons from loss (01:03:21) Career advice: platforms, hunger, and preparation (01:10:21) The six-part framework for building great companies (01:19:05) Lightning round and final thoughts — Resources and episode mentions: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/ai-is-critical-for-humanitys-survival — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

Boris Cherny is the creator and head of Claude Code at Anthropic. What began as a simple terminal-based prototype just a year ago has transformed the role of software engineering and is increasingly transforming all professional work. We discuss: 1. How Claude Code grew from a quick hack to 4% of public GitHub commits, with daily active users doubling last month 2. The counterintuitive product principles that drove Claude Code’s success 3. Why Boris believes coding is “solved” 4. The latent demand that shaped Claude Code and Cowork 5. Practical tips for getting the most out of Claude Code and Cowork 6. How underfunding teams and giving them unlimited tokens leads to better AI products 7. Why Boris briefly left Anthropic for Cursor, then returned after just two weeks 8. Three principles Boris shares with every new team member — Brought to you by: DX—The developer intelligence platform designed by leading researchers: https://getdx.com/lenny Sentry—Code breaks, fix it faster: https://sentry.io/lenny Metaview—The AI platform for recruiting: https://metaview.ai/lenny — Episode transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/head-of-claude-code-what-happens — Archive of all Lenny's Podcast transcripts: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxi4s2w998p1gvtpu4193/AMdNPR8AOw0lMklwtnC0TrQ?rlkey=j06x0nipoti519e0xgm23zsn9&st=ahz0fj11&dl=0 — Where to find Boris Cherny: • X: https://x.com/bcherny • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bcherny • Website: https://borischerny.com — 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 Boris and Claude Code (03:45) Why Boris briefly left Anthropic for Cursor (and what brought him back) (05:35) One year of Claude Code (08:41) The origin story of Claude Code (13:29) How fast AI is transforming software development (15:01) The importance of experimentation in AI innovation (16:17) Boris’s current coding workflow (100% AI-written) (17:32) The next frontier (22:24) The downside of rapid innovation (24:02) Principles for the Claude Code team (26:48) Why you should give engineers unlimited tokens (27:55) Will coding skills still matter in the future? (32:15) The printing press analogy for AI’s impact (36:01) Which roles will AI transform next? (40:41) Tips for succeeding in the AI era (44:37) Poll: Which roles are enjoying their jobs more with AI (46:32) The principle of latent demand in product development (51:53) How Cowork was built in just 10 days (54:04) The three layers of AI safety at Anthropic (59:35) Anxiety when AI agents aren’t working (01:02:25) Boris’s Ukrainian roots (01:03:21) Advice for building AI products (01:08:38) Pro tips for using Claude Code effectively (01:11:16) Thoughts on Codex (01:12:13) Boris’s post-AGI plans (01:14:02) Lightning round and final thoughts — References: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/head-of-claude-code-what-happens — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

Brian Halligan co-founded HubSpot, ran it as CEO for about 15 years, and now coaches Sequoia’s fastest-growing founders as their in-house CEO coach. We discuss: 1. His LOCKS framework for evaluating founders 2. Why you should build your team like the 2004 Red Sox 3. Why hiring “spicy” candidates beats consensus picks 4. Why enterprise sales will be the last white-collar job AI replaces 5. Some of my favorite “Halliganisms” — Brought to you by: Sentry—Code breaks, fix it faster: http://sentry.io/lenny Datadog—Now home to Eppo, the leading experimentation and feature flagging platform: https://www.datadoghq.com/lenny WorkOS—Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs: https://workos.com/lenny — Episode transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/sequoia-ceo-coach-why-its-never-been — Archive of all Lenny's Podcast transcripts: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxi4s2w998p1gvtpu4193/AMdNPR8AOw0lMklwtnC0TrQ?rlkey=j06x0nipoti519e0xgm23zsn9&st=ahz0fj11&dl=0 — Where to find Brian Halligan • X: https://x.com/bhalligan • LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/brianhalligan • Delphi: https://www.delphi.ai/bhalligan • Podcast: https://sequoiacap.com/series/long-strange-trip — 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 Brian Halligan (03:56) The perpetual state of constructive dissatisfaction (05:25) Coaching CEOs (07:49) The art of interviewing and hiring (11:21) Getting the most out of reference calls (13:10) Homegrown talent vs. big company hires (16:31) Traits of successful CEOs (19:40) Brian’s LOCKS framework for evaluating founders (21:34) Are great CEO’s born or made? (23:41) Giving effective feedback (25:54) The future of go-to-market strategies (31:56) Understanding forward deployed engineers (34:17) How the CEO role has evolved over the last 20 years (38:10) Halliganisms (01:01:18) The CEO’s role in scaling a company (01:02:41) Lightning round and final thoughts — Referenced: • Dev Ittycheria on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dittycheria • HubSpot: https://www.hubspot.com • Parker Conrad on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/parkerconrad • McKinsey & Company: https://www.mckinsey.com • Brian Chesky’s new playbook: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach • Jensen Huang on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenhsunhuang • Winston Weinberg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/winston-weinberg • James Cadwallader on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsca • Gabriel Stengel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabestengel • He saved OpenAI, invented the “Like” 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 • Scaling Entrepreneurial Ventures: https://orbit.mit.edu/classes/scaling-entrepreneurial-ventures-15.392 • OpenClaw: https://openclaw.ai • Ruth Porat on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruth-porat • Mike Krzyzewski: https://goduke.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/coaches/mike-krzyzewski/4159 • Dalai Lama’s 18 Rules for Living: https://www.prm.nau.edu/prm205/Dalai-Lama-18-rules-for-living.htm • Zigging vs. zagging: How HubSpot built a $30B company | Dharmesh Shah (co-founder/CTO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-from-30-years-of-building • Kareem Amin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kareemamin • Glassdoor: https://www.glassdoor.com • Tobi Lütke’s 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 • Katie Burke on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-burke-965767a • Jerry Garcia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Garcia • Bob Weir: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Weir • Phil Lesh: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Lesh • Ron “Pigpen” McKernan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_%22Pigpen%22_McKernan • Marc Andreessen: The real AI boom hasn’t even started yet: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/marc-andreessen-the-real-ai-boom • The American Revolution: https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-american-revolution • Delphi: https://www.delphi.ai • Sonos: https://www.sonos.com • Yamini Rangan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yaminirangan • The Boston Red Sox: https://www.mlb.com/redsox — Recommended book: • Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band in History: https://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Lessons-Grateful-Dead-Business/dp/0470900520 — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

Sherwin Wu leads engineering for OpenAI’s API platform, where roughly 95% of engineers use Codex, often working with fleets of 10 to 20 parallel AI agents. We discuss: 1. What OpenAI did to cut code review times from 10-15 minutes to 2-3 minutes 2. How AI is changing the role of managers 3. Why the productivity gap between AI power users and everyone else is widening 4. Why “models will eat your scaffolding for breakfast” 5. Why the next 12 to 24 months are a rare window where engineers can leap ahead before the role fully transforms — Brought to you by: DX—The developer intelligence platform designed by leading researchers Sentry—Code breaks, fix it faster Datadog—Now home to Eppo, the leading experimentation and feature flagging platform — Episode transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/engineers-are-becoming-sorcerers — Archive of all Lenny's Podcast transcripts: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxi4s2w998p1gvtpu4193/AMdNPR8AOw0lMklwtnC0TrQ?rlkey=j06x0nipoti519e0xgm23zsn9&st=ahz0fj11&dl=0 — Where to find Sherwin Wu: • X: https://x.com/sherwinwu • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherwinwu1 — 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 Sherwin Wu (03:10) AI’s role in coding at OpenAI (06:53) The future of software engineering with AI (12:26) The stress of managing agents (15:07) Codex and code review automation (19:29) The changing role of engineering managers (24:14) The one-person billion-dollar startup (31:40) Management lessons (37:28) Challenges and best practices in AI deployment (43:56) Hot takes on AI and customer feedback (48:57) Building for future AI capabilities (50:16) Where models are headed in the next 18 months (53:35) Business process automation (57:22) OpenAI’s ecosystem and platform strategy (01:00:50) OpenAI’s mission and global impact (01:05:21) Building on OpenAI’s API and tools (01:08:16) Lightning round and final thoughts — Referenced: • Codex: https://openai.com/codex • OpenAI’s 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 • OpenClaw: https://openclaw.ai • The creator of Clawd: “I ship code I don’t read”: https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/the-creator-of-clawd-i-ship-code • The Sorcerer’s Apprentice: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorcerer%27s_Apprentice_(Dukas) • Quora: https://www.quora.com • Marc Andreessen: The real AI boom hasn’t even started yet: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/marc-andreessen-the-real-ai-boom • Sarah Friar on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-friar • Sam Altman on X: https://x.com/sama • Nicolas Bustamante’s “LLMs Eat Scaffolding for Breakfast” post on X: https://x.com/nicbstme/status/2015795605524901957 • The Bitter Lesson: http://www.incompleteideas.net/IncIdeas/BitterLesson.html • Overton window: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window • Developers can now submit apps to ChatGPT: https://openai.com/index/developers-can-now-submit-apps-to-chatgpt • Responses: https://platform.openai.com/docs/api-reference/responses • Agents SDK: https://platform.openai.com/docs/guides/agents-sdk • AgentKit: https://openai.com/index/introducing-agentkit • Ubiquiti: https://ui.com • Jujutsu Kaisen on Crunchyroll: https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GRDV0019R/jujutsu-kaisen?srsltid=AfmBOoqvfzKQ6SZOgzyJwNQ43eceaJTQA2nUxTQfjA1Ko4OxlpUoBNRB • eero: https://eero.com • Opendoor: https://www.opendoor.com — Recommended books: • Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs: https://www.amazon.com/Structure-Interpretation-Computer-Programs-Engineering/dp/0262510871 • The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering: https://www.amazon.com/Mythical-Man-Month-Software-Engineering-Anniversary/dp/0201835959 • There Is No Antimemetics Division: A Novel: https://www.amazon.com/There-No-Antimemetics-Division-Novel/dp/0593983750 • Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future: https://www.amazon.com/Breakneck-Chinas-Quest-Engineer-Future/dp/1324106034 • Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company: https://www.amazon.com/Apple-China-Capture-Greatest-Company/dp/1668053373 — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

Lazar Jovanovic is a full-time professional vibe coder at Lovable. His job is to build both internal tools and customer-facing products purely using AI, while not having a coding background. In this conversation, he breaks down the tactics, workflows, and framework that let him ship production-quality products using only AI. We discuss: 1. Why having no coding background can be an advantage when building with AI 2. Why most of your time should go to planning and chat mode, not prompting 3. What to do when you get stuck: his 4x4 debugging workflow 4. The PRD and Markdown file system that keeps AI agents aligned across complex builds 5. Why kicking off four or five parallel prototypes is the best way to clarify your thinking 6. Why design skills and taste are going to be the most important skills in the future 7. His “genie and three wishes” mental model for making the most of AI’s limitations 8. How product, engineering, and design roles are converging—and what that means for your career — Brought to you by: Strella—The AI-powered customer research platform: https://strella.io/lenny Samsara—Saving lives with AI built for physical operations: https://samsara.com/lenny WorkOS—Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs: https://workos.com/lenny — Episode transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/getting-paid-to-vibe-code — Archive of all Lenny's Podcast transcripts: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxi4s2w998p1gvtpu4193/AMdNPR8AOw0lMklwtnC0TrQ?rlkey=j06x0nipoti519e0xgm23zsn9&st=ahz0fj11&dl=0 — Where to find Lazar Jovanovic: • X: https://x.com/lakikentaki • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lazar-jovanovic • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@50in50challenge • Starter Story course: https://build.starterstory.com/build/ai-build-accelerator?via=lazar (code LAZAR15 for 15% off) — 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 Lazar and professional vibe coding (04:53) What a professional vibe coder actually does day-to-day (09:26) Why non-technical backgrounds can be an advantage (12:24) The importance of self-awareness (14:42) His “genie and three wishes” mental model (17:43) Developing taste and judgment in the age of AI (21:46) The parallel project approach for better outcomes (29:30) Creating dynamic context windows with PRDs (36:56) Why elite vibe coders focus on planning, not coding (44:43) Creating MD files to guide AI development (50:57) Why prototyping still matters (56:50) Why “good enough” is no longer good enough (01:00:53) The future of engineering in an AI world (01:05:14) What to do when you get stuck: his 4x4 debugging workflow (01:14:27) Helping agents learn from their mistakes (01:15:35) Why watching agent output is more important than code (01:19:08) The incredible pace of AI development (01:22:55) Why emotional intelligence will become more valuable (01:28:30) How to become a professional vibe coder (01:30:10) Why building in public is the fastest path to opportunities (01:37:03) Final thoughts on focusing on quality over tech stack — Referenced: • The new AI growth playbook for 2026: How Lovable hit $200M ARR in one year | Elena Verna (Head of Growth): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-new-ai-growth-playbook-for-2026-elena-verna • Elena Verna on how B2B growth is changing, product-led growth, product-led sales, why you should go freemium not trial, what features to make free, and much more: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/elena-verna-on-why-every-company • The ultimate guide to product-led sales | Elena Verna: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ultimate-guide-to-product-led • 10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/10-growth-tactics-that-never-work-elena-verna • Lovable: https://lovable.dev • Lovable + Shopify: https://lovable.dev/shopify • Everyone’s an engineer now: Inside v0’s 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 • Mobbin: https://mobbin.com • Dribbble: https://dribbble.com • 21st.dev: https://21st.dev • Lovable base prompt generator: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-67e1da2c9c988191b52b61084438e8ee-lovable-base-prompt • Lovable PRD generator: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-67e1e85fbeac8191a69b95c6d5c42ef6-lovable-prd-generator • Felix Haas’s newsletter: https://designplusai.com • Bauhaus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus • Glassmorphism: https://www.figma.com/community/plugin/1197106608665398190/glassmorphism • UI style guide: http://uistyle.lovable.app • Cloudflare: https://www.cloudflare.com • Ben Tossell on X: https://x.com/bentossell • The rise of Cursor: The $300M ARR AI tool that engineers can’t stop using | Michael Truell (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-rise-of-cursor-michael-truell • Peter Thiel says AI will be ‘worse’ for math nerds than for writers: https://www.businessinsider.com/peter-thiel-ai-worse-for-math-professionals-than-writers-2024-4 • Andrej Karpathy on X: https://x.com/karpathy • The 100-person AI lab that became Anthropic and Google’s secret weapon | Edwin Chen (Surge AI): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/surge-ai-edwin-chen • Why experts writing AI evals is creating the fastest-growing companies in history | Brendan Foody (CEO of Mercor): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/experts-writing-ai-evals-brendan-foody • Slumdog Millionaire: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1010048 — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

Dr. Becky Kennedy is a clinical psychologist, the bestselling author of Good Inside, and the founder of a parenting platform used by millions. Known for her practical, psychology-based approach to parenting, Dr. Becky shares how the same principles that help parents raise resilient children can make you a much more effective leader. In this conversation, she breaks down why all human systems—whether families or companies—operate on the same fundamental principles, and how understanding these dynamics can make you more effective in every relationship. We discuss: 1. Why repair—not perfection—defines strong leadership 2. Why you need to connect before you correct to build cooperation and trust 3. The “most generous interpretation” framework for handling difficult behaviors 4. How to correctly set boundaries (vs. making requests) 5. The power of “I believe you, and I believe in you” 6. What it looks like to be a “sturdy” leader — Brought to you by: Merge—Fast, secure integrations for your products and agents: https://merge.dev/lenny Metaview—The AI platform for recruiting: https://metaview.ai/lenny Framer—Builder better websites faster: https://framer.com/lenny — Episode transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/dr-becky-on-the-surprising-overlap — Archive of all Lenny's Podcast transcripts: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxi4s2w998p1gvtpu4193/AMdNPR8AOw0lMklwtnC0TrQ?rlkey=j06x0nipoti519e0xgm23zsn9&st=ahz0fj11&dl=0 — Where to find Dr. Becky Kennedy: • X: https://x.com/GoodInside • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drbecky • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drbeckyatgoodinside • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drbeckyatgoodinside • Website: https://www.goodinside.com — 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 Dr. Becky Kennedy (05:14) Connecting parenting and leadership (08:40) The power of repair (11:05) Connecting before correcting (17:45) Good Inside framework at work (22:08) The most generous interpretation (MGI) (25:46) Curiosity over judgment (27:07) Understanding behavior change (31:08) What potty training can teach us about workplace behavior (34:40) Naming your intention (35:41) Sturdy leadership (40:52) How to set boundaries well (46:33) The role of leadership and consensus (50:50) The importance of being “locatable” (52:40) A powerful story of betrayal and realization (57:12) Building resilience over happiness (01:00:34) The power of the phrase “I believe you, and I believe in you.” (01:09:08) The Good Inside community and resources (01:16:22) AI corner (01:19:52) Good Inside’s mission (01:22:26) Lightning round and final thoughts — Referenced: • Shreyas Doshi on pre-mortems, the LNO framework, the three levels of product work, why most execution problems are strategy problems, and ROI vs. opportunity cost thinking: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/episode-3-shreyas-doshi • Radical Candor: From theory to practice with author Kim Scott: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/radical-candor-from-theory-to-practice • From ChatGPT to Instagram to Uber: The quiet architect behind the world’s most popular products | Peter Deng: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-quiet-architect-peter-deng • Punch: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punch_(play) • Figma: https://www.figma.com • Andrew Hogan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahhogan • 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 • Lovable: https://lovable.dev • Building Lovable: $10M ARR in 60 days with 15 people | Anton Osika (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-lovable-anton-osika • Claude: https://claude.ai • ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com • Secrets We Keep on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81697668 • K Pop Demon Hunters on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81498621 • Liberty puzzles: https://libertypuzzles.com — Recommended books: • Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity: https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Candor-Revised-Kick-Ass-Humanity/dp/1250235375 • Good Inside: A Practical Guide to Resilient Parenting Prioritizing Connection Over Correction: https://www.amazon.com/Good-Inside-Guide-Becoming-Parent/dp/0063159481 • Leave Me Alone!: A Good Inside Story About Deeply Feeling Kids: https://www.amazon.com/Leave-Me-Alone-Inside-Feeling/dp/1250413117 • The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact: https://www.amazon.com/Power-Moments-Certain-Experiences-Extraordinary/dp/1501147765/ • The Messy Middle: Finding Your Way Through the Hardest and Most Crucial Part of Any Bold Venture: https://www.amazon.com/Messy-Middle-Finding-Through-Hardest/dp/0735218072 • Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration: https://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Inc-Expanded-Overcoming-Inspiration/dp/0593594649 — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

Marc Andreessen is a founder, investor, and co-founder of Netscape, as well as co-founder of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). In this conversation, we dig into why we’re living through a unique and one of the most incredible times in history, and what comes next. We discuss: 1. Why AI is arriving at the perfect moment to counter demographic collapse and declining productivity 2. How Marc has raised his 10-year-old kid to thrive in an AI-driven world 3. What’s actually going to happen with AI and jobs (spoiler: he thinks the panic is “totally off base”) 4. The “Mexican standoff” that’s happening between product managers, designers, and engineers 5. Why you should still learn to code (even with AI) 6. How to develop an “E-shaped” career that combines multiple skills, with AI as a force multiplier 7. The career advice he keeps coming back to (“Don’t be fungible”) 8. How AI can democratize one-on-one tutoring, potentially transforming education 9. His media diet: X and old books, nothing in between — Brought to you by: DX—The developer intelligence platform designed by leading researchers Brex—The banking solution for startups Datadog—Now home to Eppo, the leading experimentation and feature flagging platform — Episode transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/marc-andreessen-the-real-ai-boom — Archive of all Lenny's Podcast transcripts: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxi4s2w998p1gvtpu4193/AMdNPR8AOw0lMklwtnC0TrQ?rlkey=j06x0nipoti519e0xgm23zsn9&st=ahz0fj11&dl=0 — Where to find Marc Andreessen: • X: https://x.com/pmarca • Substack: https://pmarca.substack.com • Andreessen Horowitz’s website: https://a16z.com • Andreessen Horowitz’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@a16z — 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 Marc Andreessen (04:27) The historic moment we’re living in (06:52) The impact of AI on society (11:14) AI’s role in education and parenting (22:15) The future of jobs in an AI-driven world (30:15) Marc's past predictions (35:35) The Mexican standoff of tech roles (39:28) Adapting to changing job tasks (42:15) The shift to scripting languages (44:50) The importance of understanding code (51:37) The value of design in the AI era (53:30) The T-shaped skill strategy (01:02:05) AI’s impact on founders and companies (01:05:58) The concept of one-person billion-dollar companies (01:08:33) Debating AI moats and market dynamics (01:14:39) The rapid evolution of AI models (01:18:05) Indeterminate optimism in venture capital (01:22:17) The concept of AGI and its implications (01:30:00) Marc's media diet (01:36:18) Favorite movies and AI voice technology (01:39:24) Marc's product diet (01:43:16) Closing thoughts and recommendations — Referenced: • Linus Torvalds on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linustorvalds • The philosopher’s stone: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher%27s_stone • Alexander the Great: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great • Aristotle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle • Bloom’s 2 sigma problem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom%27s_2_sigma_problem • Alpha School: https://alpha.school • In Tech We Trust? A Debate with Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen: https://a16z.com/in-tech-we-trust-a-debate-with-peter-thiel-and-marc-andreessen • John Woo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Woo • Assembly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_language • C programming language: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_(programming_language) • Python: https://www.python.org • Netscape: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape • Perl: https://www.perl.org • Scott Adams: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Adams • Larry Summers’s website: https://larrysummers.com • Nano Banana: https://gemini.google/overview/image-generation • Bitcoin: https://bitcoin.org • Ethereum: https://ethereum.org • Satoshi Nakamoto: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satoshi_Nakamoto • Inside ChatGPT: The fastest-growing product in history | Nick Turley (Head of ChatGPT at OpenAI): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-chatgpt-nick-turley • Anthropic co-founder on quitting OpenAI, AGI predictions, $100M talent wars, 20% unemployment, and the nightmare scenarios keeping him up at night | Ben Mann: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/anthropic-co-founder-benjamin-mann • Inside Google’s AI turnaround: The rise of AI Mode, strategy behind AI Overviews, and their vision for AI-powered search | Robby Stein (VP of Product, Google Search): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-google-built-ai-mode-in-under-a-year • DeepSeek: https://www.deepseek.com • Cowork: https://support.claude.com/en/articles/13345190-getting-started-with-cowork • Definite vs. indefinite thinking: Notes from Zero to One by Peter Thiel: https://boxkitemachine.net/posts/zero-to-one-peter-thiel-definite-vs-indefinite-thinking • Henry Ford: https://www.thehenryford.org/explore/stories-of-innovation/visionaries/henry-ford • Lex Fridman Podcast: https://lexfridman.com/podcast • $46B of hard truths from Ben Horowitz: Why founders fail and why you need to run toward fear (a16z co-founder): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/46b-of-hard-truths-from-ben-horowitz • Eddington: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31176520 • Joaquin Phoenix: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joaquin_Phoenix • Pedro Pascal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Pascal • George Floyd: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Floyd • 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 • Grok Bad Rudi: https://grok.com/badrudi • Wispr Flow: https://wisprflow.ai • Star Trek: The Next Generation: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092455 • Star Trek: Starfleet Academy: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8622160 • a16z: The Power Brokers: https://www.notboring.co/p/a16z-the-power-brokers — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

Jason Cohen is a four-time founder (including two unicorns, one being WP Engine) and an investor in over 60 startups, and has been sharing his lessons on company building at A Smart Bear for nearly 20 years. In this episode, Jason shares his methodical five-step framework for diagnosing stalled growth—a problem that faces almost every team. We discuss: 1. Jason’s five-step framework: logo retention, pricing, NRR, marketing channels, target market 2. A small tweak that’ll double response rates on your cancellation surveys 3. Why “it’s too expensive” is almost never the real reason customers cancel 4. The “elephant curve” of growth 5. How repositioning the same product can increase revenue 8x 6. When to reconsider if growth is even the right goal for your business — Brought to you by: 10Web—Vibe coding platform as an API Strella—The AI-powered customer research platform Brex—The banking solution for startups — Episode transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/why-your-product-stopped-growing — Archive of all Lenny's Podcast transcripts: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxi4s2w998p1gvtpu4193/AMdNPR8AOw0lMklwtnC0TrQ?rlkey=j06x0nipoti519e0xgm23zsn9&st=ahz0fj11&dl=0 — Where to find Jason Cohen: • Preorder Jason’s book: https://preorder.hiddenmultipliers.com/ • X: https://x.com/asmartbear • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncohen • Blog: https://longform.asmartbear.com • Website: https://wpengine.com — 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 Jason Cohen (05:19) Jason’s writing journey (08:25) Questions to ask when your product stops growing (18:17) Getting real customer feedback (20:27) Analyzing cancellation reasons (26:54) Onboarding and activation (29:35) Quick summary (35:46) Revisiting pricing strategies (41:46) Positioning strategies (47:52) Why pricing is inseparable from your strategy (52:06) The importance of net revenue retention (NRR) (01:00:25) Asking whether or not this is good for the customer (01:04:34) Leveraging existing customers (01:06:42) Are your acquisition channels saturated? The “elephant curve” (1:09:41) Why all marketing channels eventually decline (01:12:04) Direct vs. indirect marketing channels (1:13:36) Getting creative with new channels (01:19:04) Do you actually need to grow? (01:25:57) Deciding when to quit (01:29:27) Book announcement (01:33:21) AI corner (01:34:35) Contrarian corner (01:37:43) Lightning round and final thoughts — Referenced: • Tyler Cowen’s website: https://tylercowen.com • How to Perform a Customer Churn Analysis (and Why You Should): https://www.groovehq.com/blog/learn-from-customer-churn • Linear: https://linear.app • Jira: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira • Patrick Campbell’s post on X about pricing: https://x.com/Patticus/status/1702313260547006942 • The art and science of pricing | Madhavan Ramanujam (Monetizing Innovation, Simon-Kucher): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-art-and-science-of-pricing-madhavan • Pricing your AI product: Lessons from 400+ companies and 50 unicorns | Madhavan Ramanujam: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/pricing-and-scaling-your-ai-product-madhavan-ramanujam • Pricing your SaaS product: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/saas-pricing-strategy • M&A, competition, pricing, and investing | Julia Schottenstein (dbt Labs): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/m-and-a-competition-pricing-and-investing • “Sell the alpha, not the feature”: The enterprise sales playbook for $1M to $10M ARR | Jen Abel: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-enterprise-sales-playbook-1m-to-10m-arr • Buffer: https://buffer.com • AG1: https://drinkag1.com • How to find hidden growth opportunities in your product | Albert Cheng (Duolingo, Grammarly, Chess.com): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-find-hidden-growth-opportunities-albert-cheng • How Duolingo reignited user growth: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-duolingo-reignited-user-growth • The Elephant in the room: The myth of exponential hypergrowth: https://longform.asmartbear.com/exponential-growth • HubSpot: https://www.hubspot.com • Zigging vs. zagging: How HubSpot built a $30B company | Dharmesh Shah (co-founder/CTO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-from-30-years-of-building • Adjacency Matrix: How to expand after PMF: https://longform.asmartbear.com/adjacency/ • Ecosystem is the next big growth channel: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/ecosystem-is-the-next-big-growth • ChatGPT apps are about to be the next big distribution channel: Here’s how to build one: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/chatgpt-apps-are-about-to-be-the • 10 contrarian leadership truths every leader needs to hear | Matt MacInnis (Rippling): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/10-contrarian-leadership-truths • Breaking the rules of growth: Why Shopify bans KPIs, optimizes for churn, prioritizes intuition, and builds toward a 100-year vision | Archie Abrams (VP Product, Head of Growth at Shopify): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/shopifys-growth-archie-abrams • Geoffrey Moore on finding your beachhead, crossing the chasm, and dominating a market: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/geoffrey-moore-on-finding-your-beachhead • ER on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/ER-Season-1/dp/B0FWK5WJQ4 • The Pitt on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/The-Pitt-Season-1/dp/B0DNRR8QWD • Wispr Flow: https://wisprflow.ai • Anker: https://www.anker.com — Recommended books: • Will: https://www.amazon.com/Will-Smith/dp/1984877925 • Monetizing Innovation: How Smart Companies Design the Product Around the Price: https://www.amazon.com/Monetizing-Innovation-Companies-Design-Product/dp/1119240867 • Hidden Multipliers: Small Things That Accelerate Growth: https://preorder.hiddenmultipliers.com • On Writing Well: The Essential Guide to Mastering Nonfiction Writing and Effective Communication: https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-Classic-Guide-Nonfiction/dp/0060891548 • Crossing the Chasm, 3rd Edition: The Updated Version of the Insightful Guide on Bringing Cutting-Edge Products to the Mainstream: https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Chasm-3rd-Disruptive-Mainstream/dp/0062292986 — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

Zevi Arnovitz is a product manager at Meta with no technical background who has figured out how to build and ship real products using AI. His engineering team at Meta asks him to teach them how he does what he does. In this episode, Zevi breaks down his complete AI workflow that allows non-technical people to build sophisticated products with Cursor. We discuss: 1. The complete AI workflow that lets non-technical people build real products in Cursor 2. How to use multiple AI models for different tasks (Claude for planning, Gemini for UI) 3. Using slash commands to automate prompts 4. Zevi’s “peer review” technique, which uses different AI models to review each other’s code 5. Why this might be the best time to be a junior in tech, despite the challenging job market 6. How Zevi used AI to prepare for his Meta PM interviews — Brought to you by: 10Web—Vibe coding platform as an API DX—The developer intelligence platform designed by leading researchers Framer—Build better websites faster — Zevi's Slash Command Bank for Claude: ⁠https://zeviarnovitz.com/⁠ — Episode transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-non-technical-pms-guide-to-building-with-cursor — Archive of all Lenny's Podcast transcripts: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxi4s2w998p1gvtpu4193/AMdNPR8AOw0lMklwtnC0TrQ?rlkey=j06x0nipoti519e0xgm23zsn9&st=ahz0fj11&dl=0 — Where to find Zevi Arnovitz • X: https://x.com/ArnovitzZevi • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zev-arnovitz • Website: https://zeviarnovitz.com — 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 Zevi Arnovitz (04:48) Zevi’s background and journey into AI (07:41) Overview of Zevi’s AI workflow (14:41) Screenshare: Exploring Zevi’s workflow in detail (17:18) Building a feature live: StudyMate app (30:52) Executing the plan with Cursor (38:32) Using multiple AI models for code review (40:40) Personifying AI models (43:37) Peer review process (45:40) The importance of postmortems (51:05) Integrating AI in large companies (53:42) How AI has impacted the PM role (57:02) How to improve AI outputs (58:15) AI-assisted job interviews (01:02:57) Failure corner (01:06:20) Lightning round and final thoughts — Referenced: • Becoming a super IC: Lessons from 12 years as a PM individual contributor | Tal Raviv (Product Lead at Riverside): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-super-ic-pm-tal-raviv • Wix: https://www.wix.com • Building AI Apps: From Idea to Viral in 30 Days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2w4y7pDi8w • Riley Brown on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMcoud_ZW7cfxeIugBflSBw • Greg Isenberg on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GregIsenberg • Bolt: https://bolt.new • Inside Bolt: From near-death to ~$40m ARR in 5 months—one of the fastest-growing products in history | Eric Simons (founder and CEO of StackBlitz): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-bolt-eric-simons • Lovable: https://lovable.dev • Building Lovable: $10M ARR in 60 days with 15 people | Anton Osika (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-lovable-anton-osika • StudyMate: https://studymate.live • Dibur2text: https://dibur2text.app • Claude: https://claude.ai • Everyone should be using Claude Code more: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/everyone-should-be-using-claude-code • Bun: https://bun.com • Zustand: https://zustand.docs.pmnd.rs/getting-started/introduction • Cursor: https://cursor.com • The rise of Cursor: The $300M ARR AI tool that engineers can’t stop using | Michael Truell (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-rise-of-cursor-michael-truell • Wispr Flow: https://wisprflow.ai • Linear: https://linear.app • Linear’s 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 • Cursor Composer: https://cursor.com/blog/composer • 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 • 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 • v0: https://v0.app • Everyone’s an engineer now: Inside v0’s mission to create a hundred million builders | Guillermo Rauch (founder & CEO of Vercel, creators of v0 and Next.js): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/everyones-an-engineer-now-guillermo-rauch • Cursor Browser mode: https://cursor.com/docs/agent/browser • Google Antigravity: https://antigravity.google • Grok: https://grok.com • Zapier: https://zapier.com • Airtable: https://www.airtable.com • Build Your Personal PM Productivity System & AI Copilot: https://maven.com/tal-raviv/product-manager-productivity-system • The definitive guide to mastering analytical thinking interviews: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-definitive-guide-to-mastering-f81 • AI tools are overdelivering: results from our large-scale AI productivity survey: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/ai-tools-are-overdelivering-results-c08 • Yaara Asaf on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yaarasaf • The Pitt on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/The-Pitt-Season-1/dp/B0DNRR8QWD • Severance on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/severance/umc.cmc.1srk2goyh2q2zdxcx605w8vtx • Loom: https://www.loom.com • Cap: https://cap.so • Supercut: https://supercut.ai ...References continued at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-non-technical-pms-guide-to-building-with-cursor — Recommended books: • The Fountainhead: https://www.amazon.com/Fountainhead-Ayn-Rand/dp/0451191153 • Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike: https://www.amazon.com/Shoe-Dog-Memoir-Creator-Nike/dp/1501135910 • Mindset: The New Psychology of Success: https://www.amazon.com/Mindset-Psychology-Carol-S-Dweck/dp/0345472322 — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com