Behind the Craft Peter Yang

My guest today is Scott Belsky, Adobe’s Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Vice President of Design and Emerging Products.

Scott has also advised 100s of startups and writes a popular newsletter called Implications.



I spoke to Scott about:

Why the talent stack is collapsing and what you can do about it

How to improve the first-mile experience of your product

The 4P framework for building generative AI products



Scott is a leader who obsesses about customer empathy and keeping high performing teams as small as possible. If you enjoy our conversation, please like and subscribe to support the podcast.



Timestamps:


(00:00) Why empathy must come before vision(02:02) How the talent stack is collapsing(04:50) How employees can prep for smaller teams and AI(07:00) The ideal design to PM relationship is they’re the same person(13:50) Improve the first-mile experience of a product(19:00) Principles for building AI products at Adobe(22:47) How to talk to people who are anti-AI(25:25) The 4P framework for navigating AI products





Where to find me:

Newsletter: https://creatoreconomy.so/



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My guest today is Ethan Evans, former VP at Amazon.



Ethan rose to VP at Amazon over 15 years and then retired to make $700,000 teaching product leaders while only working 20 hours a week.



Ethan and I talked about:

The magic loop to level up at any company and how to get unstuck

How to systematically build trust with leadership

How to build a $700K+ business while working part time



Ethan is an incredible career coach and product leader. If you enjoy our conversation, please like and subscribe to support the podcast.



Timestamps:

(00:00) Why trust is built more in negative events

(02:11) The Magic Loop framework to grow your career

(04:46) Where people get stuck in the Magic Loop

(07:09) How to ask your manager for constructive feedback

(11:02) The #1 thing that leaders need to do well

(16:38) How to build a strong relationship with your manager

(22:51) How Ethan built trust by taking a risk to disagree with his SVP

(29:41) How NVIDIA succeeded by simply surviving

(31:28) How Ethan recovered from failing Jeff Bezos

(37:39) Making $700K a year in retirement as a creator

(44:31) Every tech person should be doing this



Where to find me:

Newsletter: https://creatoreconomy.so/



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My guest today is Paul Adams, Chief Product Officer of Intercom.

When ChatGPT launched, Paul and the Intercom team blew up their roadmap to go all in on AI. Since then, they’ve built an AI-first customer service suite that can provide accurate answers to customers 24/7.

Paul and I spoke about:

1. How PMs and designers can skill up on AI and get hired to work on AI products

2. Why you may not want to start with the problem when building AI products

3. How Intercom blew up its roadmap to build an AI chatbot that can resolve 50% of support queries without a human



Paul is a thoughtful product leader – be sure to subscribe if you enjoy our conversation.



Timestamps:
(00:00) Will AI make us dumber and lazier?(01:32) How PMs and designers can skill up on AI(05:05) AI will further separate great vs. mediocre PMs(09:00) The rise of “AI PMs” and how to learn without the BS(13:44) What Paul looks for when hiring people to work on AI(16:32) How building AI products is different(21:05) Why is customer support so terrible(26:48) How AI will transform customer support(31:03) Will AI hurt customer support jobs?(33:00) Why AI products challenge “start with the customer problem”(38:26) Think big, start small, ship to learn(46:08) Closing words for advice for building in the age of AI


Where to find me:

Newsletter: https://creatoreconomy.so/



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My guest today is Alex Cornell, Director of Design at Meta AI.



Alex is one of the best product designers I’ve ever worked with. He helped design Facebook, Substack, Linear, and an app for family and friends called Cocoon.



We talked about:

- Lessons from designing at Meta, Substack, and Linear

- How interface design will change with generative AI

- How anyone can start learning design right now



This interview is a must-watch if you’re interested in design at all. If you enjoy our conversation, please like and subscribe to support the podcast.



Timestamps:

(00:00) How to build good design taste

(01:44) The #1 mistake that designers make

(04:09) How to start designing a new product

(15:02) Lessons from designing Substack and Linear’s mobile apps

(23:35) Ideal design environment - big companies or startups?

(26:17) Balancing North Star vs. what’s shipping next

(32:42) How Alex uses AI in his personal life

(39:17) 3 ways for anyone to learn how to design



Where to find Alex:

https://twitter.com/alexcornell

https://www.alexcornell.com/



Get the takeaways:

https://creatoreconomy.so/p/alex-cornell-best-designer-that-i-worked-with

My guest today is Yuhki Yamashita, Chief Product Officer of Figma.

Yuhki and I talked about how Figma:

- Created a culture where employees love their craft

- Builds AI products to solve real user problems

- Plans to make design accessible to everyone

Yuhki is a great storyteller and shares an inside look at how Figma’s amazing product culture works. If you enjoy our conversation, please like and subscribe to support the podcast.

Get the takeaways: https://creatoreconomy.so/p/yuhki-inside-how-figma-built-figjam-ai



Timestamps :

(00:00) How PMs should collaborate with designers

(04:00) How to hire people who care about craft

(05:20) Balancing craft with moving metrics and optics

(07:43) Tips to get better at storytelling

(10:52) How Figjam evolved from Figma

(12:45) Why fun is a pillar for Figma products

(16:59) Evaluating AI use cases for Figjam

(19:01) Quality is everything with AI products

(24:31) How to balance power user and new user needs

(29:24) Best way for PMs to learn design

(31:45) Embracing AI in work and creativity



Where to find me:

Newsletter: https://creatoreconomy.so/



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My guest today is Dan Siroker, CEO of Limitless.



In just 24 hours after launch, Dan and team sold over 10,000 AI pendants to help people augment their memory with what they’ve seen, said, and heard - making Limitless arguably the fastest growing AI wearable in the market.



In this short interview, Dan and I talked about:

- His journey to create the world’s most wearable AI

- How the team ships fast without compromising quality

- How he manages his time with 3 kids



Dan also co-founded Optimizely and is one of my favorite entrepreneurs to follow. If you enjoy our conversation, please like and subscribe to support the podcast.



Timestamps:


(00:00) Why Dan started Limitless(02:19) Dan’s experience of losing his hearing(03:12) Exploring the idea maze of personal AI(04:55) Why the team decided to build an AI wearable(06:40) How someone’s life could change with Limitless(11:10) How to ship fast but still keep a high quality bar(13:34) How to decide what scope to focus on(15:45) How to attract and hire great talent(17:47) Why you should hire slow(19:12) Dan’s thoughts on product management(20:55) Balancing entrepreneurship and family





Where to find me:

Newsletter: https://creatoreconomy.so/



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