Future Around & Find Out

Latest Episodes:

Using AI to Launch Thousands of Startups a Year | Henrik Werdelin (Founder of BARK, prehype, Audos) Sep 03, 2024

Show notes

Henrik Werdelin is on an AI-fueled mission to launch thousands of startups a year.

He is the founder of BARK, which went public, and prehype, a studio that has incubated several unicorns. With Audos, Henrik is building AI agents that can coach founders how he would — if he had infinite time to do so.

And Audos is not just for the cliche founder looking to launch a unicorn… It’s for entrepreneurs of all stripes. With AI making things easier, Henrik expects to see lots more “DonkeyCorns,” i.e. highly profitable businesses operated by just one or two people.

“DonkeyCorns party like unicorns, but they grind like mules.”

Check out this episode for lots of practical tips for how you can get more out of AI. Plus, we’ll peer into the weird future we’re building.

Takeaways from this episode:

AI enables new businesses to be created, launched, and tested very quickly. Henrik shares how Audos uses AI to help founders focus on their customers, launch, and get customers
Henrik talks to his AI agents like they’re people: He gives them names and backstories. By doing so, he finds he has a better partner than a bot or Google search would be.
The more creative you are with prompts, the better the AI will be. e.g., Ask for “ten ideas that will definitely get me fired”
“Customer-founder fit” is the most important ingredient to Henrik
Use “signal mining” to prove there is real demand for your product
“The swipe” proves there is real intent for your product, i.e. get people to pay for it, even if you haven’t built it yet.
BARK succeeded (it’s gone public) by following its mission (be “Disney for dogs”) not by following its utility (boxes of stuff for pets)
“Relationship capital” and “humanity” will be more important, as AI continues to excel at technical jobs.
Take AI seriously right now. And Henrik says senior leaders need to be using it themselves
It’s weird out there: We discuss the uncanny valley of talking to AI agents (including those that impersonate your dead spouse)
Rock and roll – Henrik tells the story of his career break: As an intern, he pulled an on-air stunt at MTV that he was sure would get him fired, but instead got him a huge promotion.

Henrik is the author of The Acorn Method: How Companies Get Growing Again. And he’s writing a new book, Me, My Customer, and AI. He also co-hosts the podcast Beyond the Prompt, which features the interesting, weird, and uncanny-valley ways people are using AI in their day-to-day lives, as well as practical tips for how you can go beyond “beginner mode” in your own use of AI.

CRAFTED. is brought to you in partnership with Docker, which helps developers build, share, run and verify applications anywhere – without environment confirmation or management. More than 20 million developers worldwide use Docker's suite of development tools, services and automations to accelerate the delivery of secure applications.

CRAFTED. is produced by Modern Product Minds, where CRAFTED. host Dan Blumberg and team can help you take a new product from zero to one... and beyond. We specialize in early-stage product discovery, growth, and experimentation.

Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm

Key Moments

(00:00) - Intro
(02:56) - Henrik’s method for launching startups
(04:08) - Why “customer-founder fit” is the first thing he looks for and how it manifested at BARK
(06:43) - How to use “signal mining” to prove there is real demand for your product
(08:42) - Launching BARK Air, “a totally real airline for dogs”
(12:28) - Launching Audos and using AI to launch thousands of startups a year
(17:05) - “DonkeyCorns!” Why we will see more highly profitable companies run by just one or two people
(21:30) - How Henrik uses AI, why he personifies his agents, and the creative prompts he uses
(27:50) - The stunt that nearly got Henrik fired at MTV, but instead was his career break
(31:00) - Why big companies need to take AI seriously right now
(34:27) - How Henrik advises entrepreneurs looking for their next play
(37:12) - “Pursue interestingness”
(38:24) - The uncanny valley of AI embodying people
(39:50) - Outro

Sports + AI: It’s Getting Personal | Behshad Behzadi (CTO & Chief AI Officer, Sportradar) Aug 27, 2024

Show notes

Sports, and the way we experience them, is changing. And AI, 5G, 3D, and all the other buzzy acronyms are why. Behshad Behzadi is the CTO and Chief AI Officer of Sportradar and on this episode of CRAFTED., we explore ways sports and technology are intersecting in novel, weird, and amazing ways.

Sportradar creates immersive experiences and data products for sports fans, players, leagues, and bettors.

Behshad joined after 17 years at Google where he co-founded Google Assistant, Google Lens and more. He's been building with AI and voice for way longer than most and has lots of practical advice on how to get the most out of AI.

Takeaways from this episode:

AI enables incredibly precise levels of personalization — and that’s coming to a sports experience near you
“GenAI is like a hammer…” but don’t use it like one. Traditional coding is often more effective, and you may want a mix of GenAI and old school code for different parts of the same problem
You don’t always need the latest greatest GenAI models – save costs by using smaller models when you can
To build moats, look to your data and customer relationships; less so to your GenAI models
When adopting GenAI, corporations need good governance and oversight
Google Assistant, which Behshad helped launch, promised too many things in its earliest versions, leading to user confusion
Ignore the competition and focus on user needs (not easy when there is a race to dominate a market, as there was with the rise of Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa)
Behshad says the “ultimate assistant” is coming within the next 20 years
Behshad says AI will help cure many diseases in the next 20 years

Key Moments:

(02:42) - Why this (AI) moment is so exciting in sports and beyond
(04:04) - Personalizing the fan experience
(06:09) - How GenAI can give you a competitive advantage (and where it won’t)
(08:05) - How companies can succeed with GenAI, and pitfalls to avoid
(10:48) - When to use GenAI and when to use old school coding
(11:59) - midroll
(13:10) - Adopting GenAI internally for writing code and more
(16:06) - Building Google Assistant and early AI + voice products
(18:09) - Why you should ignore the competition, and other hard moments from scaling Google Assistant
(20:58) - Why Behshad believes “ultimate assistant” will soon be reality and many diseases will be cured thanks to the rise of AI
(22:32) - Outro

CRAFTED. is produced by Modern Product Minds, where CRAFTED. host Dan Blumberg and team can help you take a new product from zero to one... and beyond. We specialize in early stage product discovery, growth, and experimentation. Learn more at modernproductminds.com

Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm

The Integration Is the Innovation | Jeff Birkeland (SVP of Product at Included Health) Aug 20, 2024

Show notes

Jeff Birkeland is the SVP of Product and Platform at Included Health, a company that aims to be the app on your phone that you first think of when you have a healthcare need.

On this episode of CRAFTED., we explore why “the integration itself is the innovation.”

Included Health has more than 2,000 employees across both technology and clinical care, and its services are used by many top companies and their employees. The goal: create an integrated experience that brings it all together… from insurance to diet to doctors to drugs and more…

The disjointed nature of healthcare is something Jeff has experienced personally. Such as when he asked his surgeon about food: “ He told me directly like, ‘Hey, the dietician stuff is not my thing…’ Our challenge at Included health is how do we make those connections?”

To make those connections, Jeff relies on skills he learned before he got into product: He used to make documentaries. We'll hear how Jeff applies this power of narrative at Included Health and at Headspace, where he used to lead the consumer product team.

Takeaways from this episode:

Often, the “integration itself is the innovation.”
Consider the “in-between” times: What is your user doing before and after they use your product? What should they do?
Personalization: How small product details for you add up to a great product experience
GenAI: How to build and test new AI-powered experiences
Speed matters: the quicker you make something, the more your user will want to do it (an old lesson from Google, that also applies at Included and many more things)

Key Moments:

(02:35) - “Like a movie” — How Jeff applies his storytelling skills to user experience
(03:58) - Consider the “in-between moments” – What is your user doing before and after they use your app? And how Jeff applied this thinking at Headspace
(05:42) - “The dietician stuff is not my thing,” said Jeff’s surgeon. Included Health is trying to prevent its members from that sort of disjointed experience
(08:12) - Lessons from leading the consumer product team at Headspace
(11:10) - About Included Health and what is surprising Jeff about healthcare innovation
(14:34) - Personalization: How Included Health is creating personalized experiences to serve members better
(17:10) - AI and product development: experimenting with using AI to answer members’ questions about their insurance coverage
(20:29) - Evaluating the AI product and considering whether it’s ready for a wider roll out
(22:18) - Outro

Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm

Is It Cake or a Muffin? How to Position Your Product and Drive More Sales | April Dunford (bestselling author and advisor) Aug 13, 2024

Show notes

April Dunford is an expert at product positioning. She’s advised hundreds of B2B companies on how they can make their products Obviously Awesome — that’s also the title of her bestselling book on positioning.

On this episode of CRAFTED., April shares tips on how you can make your product standout and how you can drive more sales — that’s the focus of her latest book, Sales Pitch.

April says great positioning starts when you truly understand the answer to this question: “If you didn't exist, what would a customer do?”

And the answer may surprise you: “We lose half of our deals in B2B to ‘do nothing!’”

Do nothing – the status quo – is a fierce competitor and April has identified ways to help customers gain the confidence they need to make a scary purchase decision (e.g. buying a new CRM). Key here: don’t sell to your customer; help them buy.

April is fun and has a knack for sharing colorful anecdotes and analogies that will stick with you. e.g. Tune in to find out what buying a toilet has to do with B2B SaaS.

Takeaways from this episode:

Positioning defines how your product is the best in the world at delivering something to a defined group of people
Great positioning starts with understanding the competition. Not what you think the competition is, but what your customers actually evaluate you against. e.g. Is your product cake (dessert) or a muffin (breakfast)? They’re both made of bread and pretty similar, but they’ve got totally different competitors.
Startups often have great positioning at the outset, but then it slips over time as new competitors copy what you do and your uniqueness gets lost. You need to pay attention to your positioning as the market changes.
Don’t sell! Help your customers buy. Don’t assume they know how to! Imagine you’re selling a CRM… When was the last time your customer bought one? Ten years ago? If ever. Help them contextualize your product among the others out there.
Lead with business outcomes! Not features.

Key Moments:

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:20) - - Working with founders, being "the positioning expert", and why positioning is so tricky to get right
(05:22) - - How to make your product "Obviously Awesome"
(07:18) - - The five elements of great positioning
(15:59) - - Why "do nothing" is your strongest competitor: 50% of B2B deals are lost to "do nothing"
(17:43) - - Don't sell: Rather, "help your customers buy" (and what buying a toilet has to do with this)
(29:50) - - April positions herself: How she grew her personal brand and narrowed in on her solopreneur offering
(33:16) - - Outro

Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm

How Media Is Made Today: AI and a Modern CMS | Matt Monahan, President, Arc XP, The Washington Post Aug 06, 2024

Show notes

Making media is hard. Distributing it to the right audience even more so. GenAI can help.

Matt Monahan is the president of Arc XP at the Washington Post. On this episode, we're digging into the core technology of any media company: the content management system (CMS), why they’re so hard to build right and how new GenAI tools can reduce the toil required for journalists to get their stories to the right audience.

Arc XP is not only the CMS used by the Washington Post, but it’s also used by many other publishers, broadcasters, and companies with stories to tell. Matt shares more on the challenge of commercializing and white-listing an internal tool for others to use. It’s a tantalizing idea – turn that cost center into a profit center! — but it’s not for the faint of heart.

Plus, lessons from Jeff Bezos, the owner of the Washington Post, including how the Post uses key Amazon practices, such as the “six page memo” and “one- and two-way doors.”

Key Moments:

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:25) - From print to digital: hard product & organizational changes
(04:17) - Why the CMS is where it all comes together
(06:27) - Commercializing an internal tool: selling Arc XP to other publishers
(10:07) - AWS and the impact of Jeff Bezos on the Washington Post
(11:30) - The famous six-page memo and how the Post benefits from it
(14:06) - GenAI: New features Matt is building to reduce toil for journalists
(19:16) - How to pick the right model and fine tune it
(21:55) - Matt’s a pilot! What flying has taught him about running a business
(23:04) - Being nimble: Why there are more “one way doors” than you think
(24:38) - Outro

Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm

My AI Teacher: Khan Academy and the Future of Education | Dr. Kristen Dicerbo (Chief Learning Officer) Jul 30, 2024

Show notes

Dr. Kristen DiCerbo is Khan Academy’s Chief Learning Officer, where she sets the company's product, teaching, and learning strategy — with AI at the forefront.

Khanmigo is amazing. It’s the GenAI-powered product from Khan Academy that helps students learn and teachers teach — and could revolutionize education.

Khan Academy is used by 12 million students a month! And they’ve been an early adopter of GenAI.

Khanmigo coaches students in math and English, helps teachers prepare lesson plans, enables parents to get help as they help their children with their homework, and much more…

On this episode of CRAFTED., Kristen shares how they build with Generative AI — and how you can learn from their experiences to build your own AI experiences.

We dig into how Khan Academy:

Builds with GenAI’s unpredictability in mind
Helps GenAI get good at math (and also built a UX that masks the ways it is bad at it)
Gave Khanmigo an “inner monologue” that helps it slow down and better tutor students
Built a “prompt playground” where they can evaluate various prompts
Built a “prompt library” where they can keep track of prompts
Employ fine-tuning, red teaming, hackathons, and more…

Sal Khan’s new book is entitled “Brave New Words: How AI Will Revolutionize Education (and Why That's a Good Thing)” – On this episode we explore how and why!

***

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:04) - Education + technology: Kristen early experiences
(05:10) - Khan Academy primer: 12M students a month!
(07:36) - Getting early access to GPT4
(09:02) - GenAI: early experiments with tutoring
(11:40) - GenAI is bad at math! How Khan Academy grappled with this
(15:42) - Building an AI-powered writing tutor
(19:49) - How AI can free teachers from grading homework and help students learn more quickly
(21:20) - Prompt chaining: why you need to break up your prompts to get good results
(22:48) - Preventing AI-powered plagiarism
(26:30) - The role of teacher in an AI world
(30:26) - Outro

***

Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm

Great Software & Storytelling Is Emotional | Kelsey Hightower (Legendary Developer, Kubernetes Pioneer, Former Distinguished Engineer at Google) Jul 23, 2024

Show notes

Kelsey Hightower is a legend. He regularly gives live software demos in front of tens of thousands of people, improvising them like it’s jazz. He’s a master storyteller and a master craftsman. He helped evangelize and establish Kubernetes and recently retired (at 42!) from Google where he was a distinguished engineer.

Kelsey loves to level people up and in this conversation we discuss the power of innovation that happens after going from Zero to One. Or, as Kelsey puts it, “From Hello, World to Hello, Revenue” — and why those boring innovations show true grit and craftsmanship.

We also discuss the art of the demo, how Kelsey engages crowds with his humanity, and how you can, too.

And Kelsey shares what he’s learned in his first year of retirement. He’s actually quite busy and has to remind folks that “I’m retired; not tired.” He’s fixing up his house, making time for others, and “learning how to live.” We get into what that means…

This episode is very special. Enjoy!

Key Moments:

[03:06] “I’m retired; not tired.” – What Kelsey’s been up to in his first year off the job — and why he refuses to mount his TV over the fireplace

[04:51] “How do the makers mature?” — Kelsey’s thoughts on how developers can advance their careers by getting good at innovating after, sometimes long after, going from zero to one

[08:53] Keeping an open mindset: how developers integrate new technologies, e.g. Docker

[17:13] “Creating good software is very emotional”

[20:40] The art of the live demo

[25:39] Humans are natural storytellers – embrace it!

[27:31] Vulnerability and how Kelsey learned to be so confident on stage

[30:38] The time Kelsey nearly bombed on stage, but turned it around into an “extra dope” moment on stage at a Google keynote

[36:15] “A lot of people don’t realize how much power they have until way later in life” – why even the really little things (like saying hello to a stranger) matter

[39:28] Representation matters: being a black man in tech

[42:15] The power of open source

[45:04] “What is my actual impact on society?” — why Kelsey retired:

[47:46] Kelsey’s hopes for the future — and why we should be more excited about human intelligence, not just artificial intelligence

***

Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm

Driving Product-led Growth (PLG) With Customer.io Founder and CEO Colin Nederkoorn Jul 16, 2024

Show notes

Colin Nederkoorn is the founder and CEO of Customer.io, a top customer engagement platform that enables companies to send the right message to the right user at the right time on the right channel. The platform is used by Notion and lots of other top SaaS companies to personalize user onboarding and more.

When Customer.io was founded in 2011, there were analytics platforms and there were things you could do with that data, but as the mobile era was taking off – and user onboarding became even more critical – Colin recognized a need for companies to immediately send users messages based on the actions there users had just taken – or (and this was a lot harder to build) the action they had not taken.

On this episode, we learn from Colin how he built and scaled Customer.io from slideware he pitched to early customers into a company that today boasts top clients and a lofty valuation.

Plus, tips on how you can improve your own onboarding.

***

Key Moments:

[2:17] How Colin got into product management and early experiences

[5:00] Becoming head of product at DevPost (fka ChallengePost)

[7:00] “We were so naive that we just did, we did it.” – Founding Customer.io

[10:12] Onboarding and more ways companies use customer.io

[14:43] Why you shouldn’t optimize your onboarding too early

[17:17] Challenges at customer.io today and their emerging multi-product strategy

[19:12] AI vs. rules engines; and how Customer.io is using AI now and experimenting

[22:22] Why triggering a notification when a user has not done something is so much harder than if they have

[23:55] Infrastructure and constant scaling – one of customer.io’s biggest challenges

***

Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm

Powering the World’s Hackathons | Brandon Kessler (Founder & CEO, DevPost) Jul 09, 2024

Show notes

DevPost powers most of the world’s hackathons. And, according to founder and CEO Brandon Kessler, lately there is one overarching directive: “Executives from the top down are saying: `We need to do hackathons to uncover the value of ai.`” Nearly every one of the 1,200 hackathons DevPost powered last year was AI-centric.

On this episode of CRAFTED., we explore why hackathons are still such a powerful tool, both as public competitions and as internal initiatives. And we hear the founding story of DevPost and why they pivoted from hosting public competitions of all kinds (cooking challenges with Michelle Obama! NYC Big Apps!) to only focus on developers. Plus, how and why DevPost launched a new product that is custom-built for internal company hackathons.

***

Key Moments:

[1:53] DevPost’s mission and why hackathons are still so valuable, especially at this moment with AI

[6:20] What makes a hackathon successful?

[8:40] Brandon’s story: he founded and ran a music label for years before seeing the opportunity with challenges

[11:40] Launching ChallengePost, scaling up and powering all federal competitions under President Obama — and why they eventually changed the name and company focus to DevPost

[15:46] Launching DevPost for teams: a tool for companies to run internal hackathons

[19:00] Brandon’s favorite competitions over the years

[22:00] How hackathons have mirrored the top tech trends: from cloud to XR to blockchain to AI

[25:18] What’s something that sounds like science fiction now, but that Brandon thinks will be commonplace soon?

***

Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm

Solving Dinner & Building Wonder | Rich Przekop (VP, Product at Wonder) Jul 02, 2024

Show notes

Wonder aims to be a “super app for mealtime”, with people turning to it for everything from delivery to groceries to meal kits and more... It’s a very ambitious food-tech startup founded by Marc Lore, the legendary founder who previously built, scaled, and sold Diapers.com and Jet.com (to Amazon and Walmart, respectively).

Wonder is rapidly opening stores across the East Coast that, as they put it, feature 30 restaurants in one location. The theory is that that one location can be 30x as profitable as a similarly-sized operation.

Serving and delivering that many types of food, quickly, is an incredible operational challenge. And on this episode of CRAFTED., Wonder VP of Product Rich Przekop shares how his team has built custom software and data products to forecast demand, prevent waste, and make sure the food you want is ready for you.

Plus, how Wonder is building for today, but also keeping an eye towards tomorrow… The software Rich and team are building may someday be offered externally to power all manner of food/logistics businesses.

***

Key Moments:

[2:27] The big vision for Wonder: “a super app for mealtime”

[3:28] What it’s like working with legendary founder Marc Lore

[5:08] How Rich got so into data (and how GenAI is now passing Wonder’s SQL test)

[7:32] The ideal customer experience at Wonder

[10:54] Why Wonder had to build custom software

[13:02] How and why Wonder built a simulator to help it forecast demand, reduce food waste and prevent stockouts

[20:04] How Wonder may someday whitelabel its logistics software and sell it to other companies

[23:23] The culture at Wonder and why “Marc is the cheerleader” and Rich plays the role of “Yes, but also…”

[26:00] The power of clear, measurable goals

***

Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected