Product Fridays

The Andrews

Andrew McGill and Andrew Phelps talk creativity, emerging tech, and the art of building great products. Subscribe for weekly inspiration and insights. productfridays.substack.com

  1. AI doesn't kill art. It moves the goalposts.

    4d ago

    AI doesn't kill art. It moves the goalposts.

    Did the camera kill art? Of course not, says our guest David Somerville, it pushed art to new places. Cubism. Impressionism. “What didn’t happen is art ceased to exist,” he says. “It became about, okay, but now can I paint a feeling?” David is one of the most creative people we know. He is a designer, creative consultant, game maker, and published Dungeons & Dragons author. (He’s also our first-ever non-Andrew guest. He’s filing paperwork to fix that.) David’s instinct cuts against the doom take: using AI to do more of the same, faster, is self-defeating. The interesting question is what AI can do that hasn’t been done yet. A few things from the conversation worth stealing: * Wonder vs. empathy. Wonder looks at something from the outside (what does it look like?); empathy stands inside it (what does it feel like?). Good work comes in moving between the two. * “Yes, and” is the whole job. When a client insists the logo has to be blue, David says yes — to the goal — then proposes a different way there. Most bad creative calls are just fear of being wrong. * Process is a runway, not the whole flight. You need it to take off and to land. In between, you have to actually fly. We loved every minute of David’s insights about creativity and the creative process, and we hope you do, too. Happy Friday. —The Andrews In this episode: * David Somerville, founder of the creative consulting firm Smrvl™️ * Brand Deck This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit productfridays.substack.com

    26 min

  2. Mar 13

    Introducing Sous Chef, our newest app

    Big news! Sous Chef, our AI-powered app for creative cooking, is officially in open beta 🎉 Now, we’re not saying we’re the next coming of Bobby Flay and Alton Brown, but we both know our way around the kitchen. And we’ve always been frustrated by the dearth of purpose-built products that match how we like to cook. So, we’re designing our own. Sous Chef makes cooking amazing meals easier, more spontaneous, and more fun. Take a look! In this episode, we break down what Sous Chef does, how McGill came up with the idea while reading recipe newsletters, and why nailing down the perfect set of features is so dang hard. Also, should we rename the app “Cooking Idiot”? That’s what Phelps wants. We’ll let you draw your own conclusions We’d love to hear your feedback on the beta. Give it a try and drop us a note at hello@productfridays.com with your thoughts. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit productfridays.substack.com

    25 min
  3. Revealed: The Product We'll Vibecode Out of Existence

    Feb 27

    Revealed: The Product We'll Vibecode Out of Existence

    Last week, we threw down the gauntlet: We’re joining the SaaSpocalypse and picking one of our software subscriptions to replace with a vibecoded substitute. The people spoke: It’s QuickBooks. We suspect QB has very few fans. Much like other big platforms (e.g. Jira, and increasingly Zoom), it’s tried to become everything to everyone over years — and ended up completely incomprehensible to anyone. It’s the opposite of an “opinionated product.” In this new era of frictionless personalized software, its breadth feels like bloat. We simply don’t need all of it! (And we’re not the only people thinking this. Intuit’s stock has dropped by a third since the beginning of the year.) In this episode, we dig into what actually would be the perfect bookkeeping software for two guys named Andrew (and maybe you, too). We don’t want to spoil anything, but “Partiful for expense categorization” DID come up. Next week: We unveil our creation. Stay tuned. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit productfridays.substack.com

    22 min
  4. Help us pick which SaaS platform to vibecode out of existence

    Feb 6

    Help us pick which SaaS platform to vibecode out of existence

    Earlier this week, the NASDAQ’s most powerful software stocks took a massive nosedive because an AI provider published a plugin. It sounds kind of silly, like the (probably apocryphal) thing where elephants are deathly afraid of mice. But the numbers don’t lie. Some of the biggest software platforms around — Intuit, Adobe, LegalZoom — did indeed lose hundreds of billions in market capitalization after Anthropic added a legal research plugin to their new Cowork product. What are they worried about? It’s not just about Anthropic competing with legal software. The real fear is that Claude and other AI tools can help anyone spin up passable alternatives to expensive SaaS products — an era of personal software. Who needs to pay QuickBooks $500 a year to balance their books when an AI can build you a custom replacement in an afternoon? Is this fear justified? We’re going to find out by stress-testing our own software stack. We went through every recurring subscription we pay for and asked: Could we build a decent substitute using Claude? These are our top picks. Vote below to help us choose which one to tackle first. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit productfridays.substack.com

    24 min
  5. Introducing The Andrew Company

    Jan 16

    Introducing The Andrew Company

    Folks, we did the dang thing. After six years of friendship, three years of consulting together, and 10 beautiful months of Friday podcasting — The Andrews are officially joining forces to create The Andrew Company. (Here’s our official launch video — shot in Phelps's daughter’s playroom.) We have two goals: * Create delightful (and opinionated) products together. We love tools that solve specific problems extremely well — apps like Flighty and YNAB. So we’re doubling down. The Andrew Company’s primary output is joyful products (and podcast episodes). We’re already at work on Re:verb, Bandwagon, and Sous Chef. * Help companies, big and small, take ideas from a blank whiteboard to v1.0. Starting is hard! We make it easy. We help teams turn early ideas into first versions of real products or new lines of business — from places like CNN and The Washington Post to startups like Till Financial. In this episode, we walk through why we decided to join forces and how we worked through our differences as co-founders. This is a big step for us. And we have to say — we’re very grateful to all of you. Product Fridays, in some ways, is the beta version of The Andrew Company. This community, and your feedback, has been invaluable in helping us decide what matters most for our business and working lives. Thanks for being part of it. And here’s to many more Fridays to come. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit productfridays.substack.com

    25 min
  6. Getting Real About 2025 (And Our Bets For 2026)

    12/15/2025

    Getting Real About 2025 (And Our Bets For 2026)

    Happy almost New Year! This is a year-in-review episode, but we’ll save you the usual LinkedIn end-of-year pablum. Some things about 2025 were hard. Andrew Phelps shares how he dealt with unexpected business pressure; McGill talks about his “duck months” — calm on the surface, paddling like hell underneath. Some of you might have felt the same way? But 2025 also gave us some incredible gifts. Clarity! Some really important work! And of course, this podcast and community. You are one of the best things that happened this year. Thank you for being with us. On to 2026. We’ve got predictions for the year, and we’re doing our best Polymarket impression and applying confidence intervals to each. For instance, we’re 90% sure that if you listen and leave a review on Apple Podcasts, we’ll write you a personalized limerick. But we’re only 10% sure our poetry will be any good. Mentioned in this episode: Honestly, so many things, but here are some of the more unusual suspects: * MS NOW (née MSNBC) * Parent company Versant * The Walt Disney Company * Nano Banana Pro * And ofc Gemini/ChatGPT/Claude et al * Perplexity * That time Phelps’ flight almost crashed This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit productfridays.substack.com

    30 min
  7. The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Product Friday

    11/24/2025

    The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Product Friday

    Phelps has been building something for the past month. It’s inspired him — maybe more than any side project in recent memory. And it just suffered a setback that has him wondering if he should keep going on at all. McGill has been building something for the past year. It started out promising. Then it got hard. Somewhere along the way, he set it down. Now he’s looking for the inspiration to see it through. Sometimes you just gotta wear all black and turn all the lights off and record your podcast in the dark. Because as much as we’d like everything to follow the Golden Roadmap™️, building products isn’t linear. Today, the Andrews break down what to do when things feel stuck – or just suck. And spoiler alert: BOTH of those projects are getting built, folks. Mentioned in this episode: * Bandwagon. Group chats with AI. Sign up for the private beta! * Sous Chef. Win Thanksgiving this year. And the too-expensive-to-actually-buy items topping The Andrews’ holiday wishlist this year: * reMarkable Paper Pro * Sony ZV-E10 II camera * Switch 2 (actually this feels attainable) * And will this be the year McGill buys one of the Meta VR headsets? Today’s limerick recipient: Nonita Juanita. Thanks NJ! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit productfridays.substack.com

    32 min

  8. 11/10/2025

    A Topic So Big, We Needed Two More Andrews

    Our last PF conversation left us hungry for more. Sure, it’s great to hear how two chaotic coders — er, talented thought leaders — are using AI to build products. But what about genuinely top-tier engineers? Are their lives any different? So we asked two elite developers — both named Andrew, of course — to weigh in. Please welcome: * Andrew Briz, editorial director of newsroom engineering at POLITICO * Andrew Milligan, full-stack engineer at Earth Genome Briz and Milligan are the fellas that other engineers call when they can’t figure out why their code is crashing. (McGill definitely did when they all worked at POLITICO together). In this episode, we discuss: * The tools they’re using (and what they think is overhyped) * How AI is changing how they collaborate with other engineers * The “Google Maps” effect, or how relying on technology always comes with a cost Plus, we read TWO original limericks honoring listeners who left reviews on Apple Podcasts. (If you want your own, write a review!) Mentioned in this episode: * Zed – open-source code editor * Cursor * Cursor bug bot * Codex This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit productfridays.substack.com

    27 min
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5
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About

Andrew McGill and Andrew Phelps talk creativity, emerging tech, and the art of building great products. Subscribe for weekly inspiration and insights. productfridays.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    The Andrews
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    26
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Andrew McGill & Andrew Phelps
  • Show Website
    Product Fridays