Behind the Craft

My guest today is Mike Knoop, co-founder of Zapier. Mike co-founded Zapier and started the ARC Prize to accelerate progress towards open AGI. We had a great chat about how Zapier works, how PMs and marketers can use AI to automate even more work, and why LLMs won’t reach AGI by themselves. Timestamps: (00:00) There are two types of AI automation (01:57) How Zapier automation works (05:14) I quit being Zapier's CPO to do AI research (07:54) I gave employees a week off to just use AI(11:57) How PMs can use AI agents to save time (14:03) We saved $100K by using AI agents in marketing (21:28) Robotic process automation might be better than APIs (26:30) Most definitions of AGI are wrong (30:45) Why LLMs won't get us to AGI and what might work instead Get the takeaways: https://creatoreconomy.so/p/zapier-co-founder-ai-agents-10x-productivity-mike-knoop Where to find Mike:X: https://x.com/mikeknoopWebsite: https://mikeknoop.com/ 📌 Subscribe to this channel – more interviews coming soon!

My guest today is Jiaona Zhang, CPO of Linktree. JZ is the Chief Product Officer of Linktree and a guest lecturer at Stanford. We had a great chat about AI’s impact on PM managers and super ICs, the shift towards PM specialists, and whether becoming a creator can help advance your PM career. (00:00) Find what makes you happy in your PM career (01:44) AI's impact on PM managers and super ICs (04:03) How to balance strategy and execution (08:24) Streamlining PM tasks with AI (13:28) Creating strategy docs and PRDs that work (16:50) Your career is your most important product (22:55) The shift from PM generalists to specialists (23:58) Exploring JZ's Career Odyssey framework (25:49) Why you shouldn't just optimize for comp and title (31:12) Does the creator economy actually work? (44:19) Can being a creator help advance your product career? Get the takeaways: https://creatoreconomy.so/p/how-the-product-manager-role-is-changing-jiaona-zhang Where to find Jiaona: Linktree: https://linktr.ee/jz LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jiaona/ 📌 Subscribe to this channel – more interviews coming soon!

My guest today is Niels Hoven, founder and CEO of Mentava. Niels founded Mentava, an education startup teaching 2-year-olds to read at the 2nd-grade level. We had a great chat about why K-12 education is broken for high-achieving kids, whether AI will unlock personalized learning, and how his software teaches 2-year-olds to read. Timestamps: (00:00) Our schools don't work for high-achieving kids (01:26) The problem with K-12 education in the US (03:08) Why California banned 8th grade algebra (10:11) Never be ashamed of advocating for your kids (14:21) How Niels homeschooled 3 kids during COVID (19:25) Teaching 2-year-olds to read like 2nd graders (25:24) Rethinking how we teach kids math (28:44) Will AI replace teachers? (30:34) Will elite college credentials still matter? (35:29) Tips for parents to raise high-achieving kids Get the takeaways: https://creatoreconomy.so/p/why-education-is-broken-for-high-achieving-kids-niels-hoven Where to find Niels: X: https://x.com/NielsHoven Website: https://www.mentava.com/ 📌 Subscribe to this channel – more interviews coming soon!

My guest today is Aravind Srinivas, CEO and co-founder of Perplexity. Aravind is the CEO of Perplexity, the AI answer engine disrupting online search. Aravind gave me an inside look at how Perplexity builds products, how it scaled to 100M queries a week, and how it’ll deliver better ads than Google’s ten blue links. Timestamps: (00:00) We don't do product reviews (01:22) The secret to Perplexity's incredible shipping velocity (05:16) Giving feedback as a user instead of as the CEO (07:01) How Perplexity decides what to build next (10:56) Perplexity's "7 friends in 10 days" metric (14:02) How Perplexity uses AI to build Perplexity (17:30) How to get a great job without traditional credentials (21:50) Key drivers behind Perplexity's growth to 100M queries (27:50) The future of search ads and why 10 blue links are dead (35:56) Closing advice to get what you want out of life Get the takeaways: https://creatoreconomy.so/p/inside-how-perplexity-is-disrupting-search-aravind-srinivas Where to find Aravind: X: https://x.com/AravSrinivas Website: https://www.perplexity.ai/ 📌 Subscribe to this channel – more interviews coming soon!

My guest today is Cem Kansu. Cem is the Head of Product at Duolingo. Over 8 years, he helped Duolingo grow to 100M+ monthly active users and $500M+ in annual revenue. I had a super fun chat with Cem about Duolingo's unhinged product culture, the top drivers of Duolingo's user and revenue growth, and whether AI will democratize education. Timestamps: (00:00) We love being unhinged with our owl (01:26) Duolingo is a game and this is our core loop (03:46) The top 3 drivers of Duolingo's growth to 100M users (05:55) Passive-aggressive push notifications work! (08:12) How Duolingo onboards new users to maximize retention (13:11) Our winding path to $500M+ in revenue (17:25) We've figured out how international expansion works (21:13) Will AI kill Duolingo? (26:20) We made Lily an AI emo teenager on purpose (32:41) How to A/B test without sacrificing quality (37:09) What the best PMs at Duolingo have in common Get the takeaways: https://creatoreconomy.so/p/inside-duolingo-unhinged-growth-to-500m-cem-kansu Where to find Cem: X: https://x.com/cemkansu LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cemkansu/ 📌 Subscribe to this channel – more interviews coming soon!