One Developer Got Thousands of Users Before His App Launched
Naveen Naidu built an app that found product-market fit backwards.Most apps launch first and then try to find users. Monologue, Naveen’s AI voice dictation app that came out of beta yesterday, did the opposite. It built a following of thousands of users during its incubation period at Every—many of them switching over from venture capital-backed competitors—all while the app barely had a landing page.The growth has continued in the 24 hours since launch, with an average of 1 million words being transcribed weekly, and in this episode of AI & I, we sit down with Naveen to talk about his journey as the single engineer behind a viral app. We get into the false starts and side projects that taught Naveen how to ship fast, the brutal feedback that kept Monologue honest, why Every decided to build in a crowded category, and the AI coding tools that let one developer do the work of a team.Get free early access to Amazon's Alexa Plus: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DCCNHWV5?ref_=aucc_us_dis_everyalexa_q3_25Timestamps:00:01:27 – Introduction00:03:51 – A live demo of Monologue00:06:27 – Hard lessons from Naveen’s years in the wilderness00:12:29 – Building a muscle to ship fast00:21:11 – The spark that became Monologue00:26:09 – Dogfooding your way to a killer feature00:29:45 – Why the harshest product feedback is the most valuable00:31:47 – Every’s strategy for launching an app in a crowded space00:40:08 – Giving Monologue the Every “smell”00:45:09 – Naveen’s one-person AI stack to build beautiful appsIf you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share!Want even more?Sign up for Every to unlock our ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT here: https://every.ck.page/ultimate-guide-to-prompting-chatgpt. It’s usually only for paying subscribers, but you can get it here for free.To hear more from Dan Shipper:Subscribe to Every: https://every.to/subscribeFollow him on X: https://twitter.com/danshipperLinks to resources mentioned in the episode: https://www.monologue.to/
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Claude Code Can Be Your Second Brain
Noah Brier uses Claude Code as his second brain—it’s the coolest notetaking setup we’ve ever seen.He has Claude running on a server in his basement hooked up to a VPN. It stores, reads, and writes to thousands of notes in his Obsidian vault. He does it all from his phone.We had him on the show to tell us exactly how he’s pulling this off. Dan and Noah get into:The nuts and bolts of the Claude Code-Obsidian setup: Noah set up Claude Code on top of his Obsidian root directory, and he walked me through how he uses it to prep for an upcoming speech—creating a project folder, pulling in relevant research from his notes, saving transcripts from chats with other LLMs, and generating daily progress updates.The “thinking partner” that lives inside Noah’s second brain: Noah points out that in the hype around AI’s ability to write, the fact that it can read is overlooked. That’s why he has an agent inside Claude Code with strict guardrails to stay in “thinking mode.” It logs his questions, tracks insights, and catches him up on research if he returns to a project after a few days away.How Noah does deep work on his phone: Noah rigged a home server in his basement, put his Obsidian vault in it—and then runs Claude Code on top. Noah says that being able to think, write, research, and ship code from his phone has fundamentally changed the way he works.This episode is a must-watch for anyone curious about who wants to learn how to use Claude Code to build a true second brain.If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share! Start building in Google AI Studio at ai.dev. Ready to build a site that looks hand-coded—without hiring a developer? Launch your site for free at Framer.com, and use code DAN to get your first month of Pro on the house. Want even more?Sign up for Every to unlock our ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT here: https://every.ck.page/ultimate-guide-to-prompting-chatgpt. It’s usually only for paying subscribers, but you can get it here for free.To hear more from Dan Shipper:Subscribe to Every: https://every.to/subscribe Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/danshipper Timestamps: 00:01:19 - Introduction00:04:28 - How you can do deep work on your phone00:06:14 - Why Noah thinks Grok has the best voice AI00:11:39 - The nuts and bolts of Noah’s Claude Code-Obsidian setup00:23:59 - Using an agent in Claude Code as a “thinking partner”00:35:07 - Noah’s Thomas’ English Muffin theory of AI00:44:04 - The white space still left to explore in AI00:50:41 - How Noah is preparing his kids for AI01:01:54 - How he brought his Claude Code setup to mobileLinks to resources mentioned in the episode:Noah Brier: https://www.noahbrier.com/, Noah Brier (@heyitsnoah) / XAlephic, his AI strategy consultancy: alephic.com The conference he leads about marketing and AI: http://BRXND.AI A newsletter he writes about AI: newsletter.brxnd.ai The declassified relic from World War II they talk about: Simple Sabotage Field Manual The apps Noah used to set up Claude Code on his phone: Termius, Tailscale
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This AI Makes a Video Game World in 40 Milliseconds
We had Dean Leitersdorf on the pod and he did something no guest had ever done.Mid-sentence, he transformed from a startup founder in a black t-shirt to a wizard with light shooting from his hands. Then, he was in a white-walled game universe, and when he picked up the tissue box on his table, it morphed into a gun which he could shoot by moving his arm.He did it with one of his products, Mirage: It takes any live video feed (like Dean on the pod) and instantly renders each frame into a new style of your choosing—40 milliseconds from input to output.Dean is the co-founder and CEO of the creators of Decart which makes Mirage. They recently raised $100 million at a $3.1 billion valuation to build a new era of real-time generative AI experiences like this.Realtime generative video models are going to change video games forever, and Dean is on the forefront: imagine creating endless variations on existing titles, like GTA-V with a frigid winter filter, or taking a bare-bones vibe-coded prototype and using Mirage to texture it. But games are just the beginning, Dean sees Mirage as opening the door to a new medium, a new experience created by AI. In this episode, we take a look at how Mirage works under the hood, and what the Decart team learned about the future of software while wrestling with its toughest research problems. We also debate AGI—how close it really is, what counts as progress, and what kind of society it might create. This episode is a must watch for anyone interested in the future of gaming, creativity, or if you just want your mind blown by what’s already possible. If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share! Want even more?Sign up for Every to unlock our ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT here: https://every.ck.page/ultimate-guide-to-prompting-chatgpt. It’s usually only for paying subscribers, but you can get it here for free.To hear more from Dan Shipper:Subscribe to Every: https://every.to/subscribe Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/danshipper Timestamps: Introduction: 00:00:47A demo of Mirage, the first real-time video-to-video model in the world: 00:02:38How Mirage can take your vibe-coded game to the next level: 00:06:22The new architecture of modern software: 00:08:45How Mirage works so blazingly fast: 00:16:34Inside Decart’s invention of a new “live stream diffusion” model: 00:20:33Solving the error accumulation problem for real-time video: 00:21:17How Dean thinks about inventing a new creative medium: 00:29:55Dean’s take on the post-AGI world: 00:39:43Why AI brings back the age of the generalist: 00:51:15Links to resources mentioned in the episode:Dean Leitersdorf: @DLeitersdorfDecart: https://about.decart.ai/ Try Mirage and Delulu: https://mirage.decart.ai/, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ai.decart.delulu, https://apps.apple.com/il/app/delulu-by-decart/id6749955738 More about Yan LeCun’s error accumulation problem: https://x.com/ylecun/status/1640123182983045120
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Best of the Pod: How to Prepare for AGI According to Reid Hoffman
AGI is coming. Reid Hoffman just wrote the book on how to prepare.According to Reid, every major tech breakthrough (the written word, the printing press, the telephone) triggered mass fear. But, contrary to our worries, new technology tends to enhance human agency—even more so, if you know how to use it well.Reid is the cofounder of LinkedIn, Inflection AI, and Manas AI; a partner at venture capital firm Greylock Partners; an early backer and board member of OpenAI; and an award-winning podcasterWe spent an hour talking about how to develop a compass for navigating AGI. Here are a few takeaways:Our sense of human agency is not just about external control but an internal stance—how we approach uncertainty & new tech is crucialIn new technology waves, NO blueprint or plan will have the right answers. Instead, adapting to new technology requires broad access, an experimental mindset, and flexibilityIn an AGI world most jobs will transform, not disappear—and how you can prepare with hands-on trial and errorHow certain social norms and ethics should change as AGI changes the landscape—like individual access to personal dataWhy now may be finally be the era where quantified self tools become valuable…and more, including everything in his new book Superagency, out this week.It was a pleasure to have him on the show for a second time. This is a must-watch for anyone who wants to help build a more human future with AI.If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share!Want even more? Sign up for Every to unlock our ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT here: https://every.ck.page/ultimate-guide-.... It’s usually only for paying subscribers, but you can get it here for free.To hear more from Dan Shipper: Subscribe to Every: https://every.to/subscribe Follow him on X: / danshipperSponsor:Attio is the AI-native CRM built for the next era of companies. With Attio, setup takes minutes. Connect your email and calendar, and it instantly builds a CRM that mirrors your business. Go to https://www.attio.com/every to get 15% off on your first year.Timestamps:00:00:00 — Episode Start00:01:29 — Introduction00:02:50 — Patterns in how we've historically adopted technology00:07:02 — Why humans have typically been fearful of new technologies00:13:25 — How Reid developed his own sense of agency00:20:08 — The way Reid thinks about making investment decisions00:22:00 — Attio: Go to https://attio.com/every and get 15% off your first year on your AI-powered CRM.00:29:40 — AI as a "techno-humanist" compass00:35:30 — How to prepare yourself for the way AI will change knowledge work00:41:39 — Why equitable access to AI is important00:45:15 — Reid's take on why private commons will be beneficial for society00:47:23 — How AI is making Silicon Valley's conception of the "quantified self" a reality00:52:14 — The shift from symbolic to sub-symbolic AI mirrors how we understand intelligence01:03:29 — Reid's new book, SuperagencyLinks to resources mentioned in the episode:Reid Hoffman: @reidhoffman Superagency, Reid’s newest book: https://www.superagency.ai/
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Best of the Pod: She Built an AI Product Manager Bringing in Six Figures—As A Side Hustle
**Automate 80% of your repetitive writing, thinking, and creative tasks****Try Spiral made by Dan Shipper & Every: https://spiral.computer?utm_source=youtube**Claire Vo built ChatPRD—an on-demand chief product officer powered by AI. It’s now used by over 10,000 product managers and is pulling in six figures in revenue. The best part?Claire has a demanding day job as the CPO at LaunchDarkly. So she built all of ChatPRD herself—over the weekend—with AI.I sat down with Claire to talk about how ChatPRD works, how she built it as a side hustle using AI, and all of the ways she’s using AI tools to accelerate her work and life. We get into:- How she used AI to build ChatPRD over Thanksgiving break- The part of product management that Claire thinks AI will disrupt- Why the PMs of tomorrow will be “proto-managers” who create prototypes rather than just specs- How junior PMs can use AI to upskill faster- The ways in which ChatPRD is baked into her own workflow- How building ChatPRD is making Claire a better PM- How Claire uses AI as a tech-forward parentThis is a must-watch for anyone interested in turning their side hustle into a thriving business or who works in product.If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share! Thanks to Google and LTX Studio for sponsoring this episode!The Gemini 2.5 family of models is now generally available. 2.5 Pro, the most advanced model, is great for reasoning over complex tasks; next up, 2.5 Flash finds the sweet spot between performance and price; and finally, 2.5 Flash Lite is ideal for low-latency, high-volume tasks. Start building in Google AI Studio at https://ai.dev/LTX Studio is helping storytellers go from concept to delivery in one seamless platform. Whether you're storyboarding your next film, prototyping ad concepts, or creating pixel-ready assets, LTX Studio allows you to fully realize your imaginations. Check them out here: https://tinyurl.com/2d5nx3utWant even more?Sign up for Every to unlock our ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT here: https://every.ck.page/ultimate-guide-to-prompting-chatgpt. It’s usually only for paying subscribers, but you can get it here for free.To hear more from Dan Shipper:- Subscribe to Every: https://every.to/subscribe - Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/danshipperLinks to resources mentioned in the episode:- Claire Vo: https://x.com/clairevo; @chiefproductofficer- ChatPRD: https://www.chatprd.ai/; https://x.com/chatprd; https://www.linkedin.com/company/chatprd/; https://www.youtube.com/@ChatPRD - Some of the AI tools that Claire used to build ChatPRD: http://Clerk.dev; https://tiptap.dev/ - Greeking Out, the Greek mythology podcast that Claire’s son enjoys: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/podcasts/greeking-out
Learn how the smartest people in the world are using AI to think, create, and relate. Each week I interview founders, filmmakers, writers, investors, and others about how they use AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Midjourney in their work and in their lives. We screen-share through their historical chats and then experiment with AI live on the show. Join us to discover how AI is changing how we think about our world—and ourselves.
For more essays, interviews, and experiments at the forefront of AI: https://every.to/chain-of-thought?sort=newest.
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