The Founder's Foyer Podcast

The Founder's Foyer

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Cover art for #64 How to Leverage Your Human Superpower with Improv ft. Jessia Hoffman (Founder, On Deck Workshops) - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
01:18:17🤖 AI & Technology

#64 How to Leverage Your Human Superpower with Improv ft. Jessia Hoffman (Founder, On Deck Workshops)

What if the real competitive advantage in an AI-saturated workplace isn’t more tools, but how human it still feels to build things together? In a world where “vibe coding” and AI copilots can translate almost any instruction into code, the leverage shifts to how clearly people communicate, how bravely they improvise in uncertainty, and how much imagination they are willing to bring into the room.​Jessia Hoffman lives exactly at that intersection. As founder of On Deck Workshops and a Stanford instructor in applied improvisation, she’s spent years using improv, story, and play to help teams at companies like Google, Bloomberg, and Cisco become more connected, courageous, and creative. Her fully experiential sessions – connective games, shared rituals, and teachable moments – impactfully transform how people relate to risk, failure, creativity, and one another – which is exactly the humanness that AI can’t automate. We talk about: Why improv is actually a trainable skill, not a personality trait How teams that fail together build stronger bonds and better products than teams that just “win” Why brainstorming fails in most companies (and how improv fixes it) The real meaning of “Yes, And” and how it unlocks thriving team culture How psychological safety is built in the body, not in slide decks Why culture, not tools, is the real differentiator in an AI-saturated worldIf you’re a founder, manager, or builder navigating ambiguity, this episode will change how you think about communication, creativity, and leadership. To follow Jessia Hoffman, LinkedIn: Website: RESOURCES! - Want to talk to Jessia or ask her a question? Connect with her at: linkedin.com/in/jessiahoffman/ - Could your team benefit from improv at your next offsite? Check out On Deck Workshops: ondeckworkshops.com - And for improv magic in your inbox, sign up for their (every-other-month) newsletter: About the host : I’m Aishwarya, a product builder obsessed with turning raw ideas into real, working tools, especially with AI in the mix. Over the last 9+ years in SaaS, I’ve shipped zero-to-one products, scaled product marketing & GTM motions, and built across MarTech automation, real-time collaboration tools, and live event tech. Today, I work hands-on as an AI-first builder & forward-deployed PM/Engineer, working closely with AI models, agents, and orchestration systems to shape next-gen AI products. You can follow me here, LinkedIn: Twitter: My product memos: Timestamps: 00:00 - Trailer 01:09 - Intro 04:01 - What is improvisation, and how did you discover improv? 07:03 - From high school to starting On Deck: your journey 12:18 - Can improv be learned as a skill? The right mindset for beginners 21:34 - Is improv always a team activity? Can solo improv help personal growth? 29:17 - Tools & techniques used with teams at Google, Cisco, LinkedIn, etc. 37:25 - How improv naturally helps people loosen up and open up 41:25 - Do you use these tools in the first few minutes to make people feel at ease? 44:51 - Theatre & stand-up improv: practice vs reading the room 48:02 - Improv as a creative boundary to build on others’ ideas 01:02:05 - Parallels between improv and working with AI as a co-partner 01:06:10 - Tech is abundant, but creativity and execution still matter most 01:07:56 - Quick improv exercise: “Name three things” game 01:14:52 - Why human creativity is key to using AI effectively 01:17:08 - Outro

Show notes
Cover art for #63 Growth in 2026 - The REAL IMPACT of AI on Work, Startups, and Creators ft. Casey Winters - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
01:02:55🤖 AI & Technology

#63 Growth in 2026 - The REAL IMPACT of AI on Work, Startups, and Creators ft. Casey Winters

AI is moving fast, faster than most of us expected. I went into this conversation thinking we’d talk about AI tools, models, and speed. But what it really became was a conversation about why so many of us still don’t build, even when AI feels easier than ever. In this episode, I spoke with Casey Winters, co-founder and CEO of Superme, someone who has spent years helping startups grow and guiding builders through the messy, uncertain parts of execution. What stood out to me wasn’t the tools. It was how differently he thinks about building. We spoke deeply about things I know many of us struggle with: Why most AI ideas never turn into real products The biggest mistake people make when building with AI Why overthinking kills momentum in the AI era How MVPs look different when execution becomes cheap Why curiosity matters more than clarity How to use AI as a thinking partner, not a shortcut What I appreciated most about this conversation is how honest it felt. Just a grounded perspective on what it means to build when things are uncertain, and why starting imperfectly matters more than waiting for clarity. If you’ve been sitting on ideas, feeling overwhelmed by how fast AI is moving, or unsure where to begin, this episode might help you reframe things. It definitely did for me. To follow Casey Winters, LinkedIn: Website: About the host : I’m Aishwarya, a product builder obsessed with turning raw ideas into real, working tools, especially with AI in the mix. Over the last 9+ years in SaaS, I’ve shipped zero-to-one products, scaled product marketing & GTM motions, and built across MarTech automation, real-time collaboration tools, and live event tech. Today, I work hands-on as an AI-first builder & forward-deployed PM/Engineer, working closely with AI models, agents, and orchestration systems to shape next-gen AI products. You can follow me here, LinkedIn: https: //www.linkedin.com/in/aishwarya-ashok/ Twitter: https: //x.com/aishashok14 My product memos: Timestamps: 00:00 - Trailer 01:08 - Intro 02:19 - How growth has evolved in AI-first companies 05:31 - Hype vs. compounding work in AI growth 08:04 - Speed, velocity, and rapid AI release cycles 10:58 - Why shipping AI features ≠ distribution 14:00 - Differentiation: apps vs. core AI model companies 27:40 - Pricing, monetization, and retention in AI 33:13 - LLM search, brand discovery, and growth budgets 41:07 - Community-led growth and discoverability 45:06 - SaaS vs. consumer distribution in an AI world 49:40 - Wrapper companies and fast replication 55:24 - Copying vs. owning execution and taste 57:09 - Superme: structuring human knowledge with AI 01:02:17 - Outro

Show notes
Cover art for #62 You’re Using AI the Wrong Way! A Google Labs PM Reveals Why ft. Jaclyn Konzelmann, Google Labs Product Lead - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
01:02:27🤖 AI & Technology

#62 You’re Using AI the Wrong Way! A Google Labs PM Reveals Why ft. Jaclyn Konzelmann, Google Labs Product Lead

This episode stayed with me long after we hit stop. I went into this conversation thinking we’d talk about AI tools, models, and speed. But what it really became was a conversation about why so many of us still don’t build, even when AI makes things feel easier than ever. In this episode, I spoke with Jaclyn Konzelmann, a Product Manager at Google Labs, someone who spends her days working on AI experiments where nothing is fully clear, roadmaps keep shifting, and the only real way forward is to build and learn in public. What stood out to me wasn’t the tools.It was how differently she thinks about building. We spoke deeply about things I know many of us struggle with: Why most AI ideas never turn into real products The biggest mistake people make when building with AI Why overthinking kills momentum in the AI era How MVPs look different when execution becomes cheap Why curiosity matters more than clarity How to use AI as a thinking partner, not a shortcut She also shared how she actually uses AI in real life, across work, side projects, writing, and even parenting, not in a polished or perfect way, but in a very human one. We discussed real workflows using tools like Gemini, NotebookLM, Mixboard, and Opal, always coming back to the same question: are we actually building, or just consuming? What I appreciated most about this conversation is how honest it felt. No hype. No pressure to “catch up.” Just a grounded perspective on what it means to build when things are uncertain, and why starting imperfectly matters more than waiting for clarity. If you’ve been sitting on ideas, feeling overwhelmed by how fast AI is moving, or unsure where to begin, this episode might help you reframe things. It definitely did for me. To follow Jaclyn Konzelmann, do check here : Jaclyn KonzelmannProduct Manager, Google Labs LinkedIn: (Twitter): About the host : I’m Aishwarya, a product builder obsessed with turning raw ideas into real, working tools, especially with AI in the mix. Over the last 9+ years in SaaS, I’ve shipped zero-to-one products, scaled product marketing & GTM motions, and built across MarTech automation, real-time collaboration tools, and live event tech. Today, I work hands-on as an AI-first builder & forward-deployed PM/Engineer, working closely with AI models, agents, and orchestration systems to shape next-gen AI products. You can follow me here, LinkedIn: https: //www.linkedin.com/in/aishwarya-ashok/ Twitter: https: //x.com/aishashok14 My product memos: Timestamps: 00:00:00 – Trailer / Hook 00:01:00 – Intro 00:03:05 – AI newness in today’s world 00:05:00 – How she adopted and adapted to AI models 00:06:25 – Execution is cheap, creativity is the bottleneck 00:07:35 – Why people hesitate to start with AI 00:09:15 – How to break the fear and just begin 00:11:46 – Curiosity over clarity 00:15:09 – Side projects as a way to learn AI 00:17:48 – Starting with ideas, not tools 00:25:33 – Two important keys for building with AI 00:29:30 – Building in public & learning from users 00:32:40 – Mixboard: how real AI products evolve 00:36:00 – From MVP to features: learning from usage 00:39:20 – Using AI as a thinking partner 00:42:30 – Creativity, parenting & everyday AI use 00:45:50 – Opal, workflows & no-code AI building 00:49:10 – AI inside teams: roles are blurring 00:52:20 – The future of building with AI 00:55:10 – Staying curious without losing original thinking 00:58:30 – Final reflections: why starting matters 01:01:20 – Outro

Show notes
Cover art for #61 Will AI Take Our Jobs? ⚠️The Real Answer ft. Anjan Panneer Selvam, CPTO at Acolyte Health - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
01:04:47🤖 AI & Technology

#61 Will AI Take Our Jobs? ⚠️The Real Answer ft. Anjan Panneer Selvam, CPTO at Acolyte Health

Everyone is racing to “add AI” to their workflow. Very few are rethinking how work itself should feel in an AI-first world.In this episode of Founders’ Foyer, I sit down with Anjan Panneer Selvam, Chief Product & Technology Officer at Acolyte Health, to unpack what AI is actually changing inside modern product organisations.This isn’t a surface-level conversation about tools. We go deeper, into how product roles are being rewritten, not replaced, and how AI kills tasks, not careers.Anjan shares how his team uses AI to run product end-to-end: recording meetings, turning insights into decisions, and aligning teams through fast prototyping instead of long PRDs. He breaks down real workflows and leadership practices that help teams move faster ,without losing judgment.You’ll hear honest insights on: Why Product Manager, design, and engineering roles aren’t dying , they’re evolving Treating AI as a teammate, not just a tool How judgment becomes the most valuable skill in the AI era Building with prototypes first, PRDs later Communal learning, micro-learning, and reducing AI fear inside teams New frictions AI creates: choice overload, false progress and decision fatigue If you’re a product manager, founder, designer, engineer, or builder wondering how to stay relevant , this conversation will change how you think about work, leadership, and AI.This isn’t about being faster. It’s about being clearer. 00:00 – Trailer01:12 – Setting the context and purpose of the discussion02:48 – Is AI really replacing jobs? Understanding the fear07:25 – Fear of AI in Teams and introducing it to the team13:28 – Common doubts when people start using AI17:05 – How leaders should approach AI adoption19:35 – Understanding the content/production cycle28:20 – Why dynamic documents matter.33:04 – What Makes an Idea Strong36:45 – Comparing ideas across different domains39:23 – How AI helps reduce content and work pressure43:55 – Blending creativity and technology48:18 – Content Creation with AI54:38 – New ideas emerging through AI 01:03:50 – Key takeaways and closing thoughts

Show notes
Cover art for #60 Are you ready for the AI Era ? ft. Raiza Martin | The Founder's Foyer with Aishwarya Ashok - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:50:47🤖 AI & Technology

#60 Are you ready for the AI Era ? ft. Raiza Martin | The Founder's Foyer with Aishwarya Ashok

⁠00:00⁠ – Trailer⁠01:10⁠ – Intro⁠04:15⁠ – Initial days of Raiza⁠07:00⁠ – Figuring out content⁠10:30⁠ – Why are people using the same prompt ?(Personalization issues)⁠12:31⁠ – Different aspects of AI⁠16:55⁠ – Voice AI & Huxe⁠20:00⁠ – Human interaction with AI⁠24:36⁠ – AI’s transformation in the podcast industry⁠28:55⁠ – Experience of building a product⁠33:00⁠ – Setting goals after creating a product⁠35:52⁠ – How to plan and build a product from scratch⁠38:55⁠ – How to rebuild, revise, and improve a product smoothly⁠41:33⁠ – The future and possibilities of AI as technology advances⁠44:16⁠ – The day after the product launch: What emotions did you go through?⁠48:30⁠ – How to view and interpret experiences.⁠50:00⁠ – Outro In this episode, we dive deep into the world of AI, content creation, and product-building, uncovering the real stories behind innovation, From the early days of Raiza Martin, Co-Founder of Huxe, journey to figuring out content strategies, this conversation explores how creators adapt in an era where AI outputs look repetitive, templated, and predictable, and what it truly takes to stand out.We also break down the different aspects of AI, including voice AI, humanlike AI behaviour, and how our daily interactions with AI are reshaping creativity. You’ll hear insightful takes on how AI is transforming podcasts, changing workflows, and pushing creators to think differently.Moving beyond tech, we talk about the emotional and practical side of building something from scratch Setting goals after creating a product Handling rebuilds and revisions Navigating the day after a launch Seeing experiences through a new, meaningful lens Whether you're a creator, a startup founder, or someone curious about the future of AI, this episode gives you clarity, confidence, and a fresh perspective on what’s possible in a rapidly advancing world. To follow Raiza Martin, do check here : LinkedIn : Link : the host : I’m Aishwarya, a product builder, obsessed with turning raw ideas into real, working tools, especially with AI in the mix. Over the last 9+ years in SaaS, I’ve shipped zero-to-one products, scaled product marketing & GTM motions, and built across Marketing Technology automation, real-time collaboration tools, and live event tech. Today, I work hands-on as an AI-first builder & forward-deployed PM/Engineer, working closely with AI models, agents, and orchestration systems to shape next-gen AI products.You can follow me here,LinkedIn: product memos:

Show notes
Cover art for #59 We’re Not Vibe Coding: We’re Building Real AI Products ft. Nicholas Charriere, Founder & CEO of Mocha - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:49:57🤖 AI & Technology

#59 We’re Not Vibe Coding: We’re Building Real AI Products ft. Nicholas Charriere, Founder & CEO of Mocha

In this episode of The Founder’s Foyer with Aishwarya Ashok, join Nicholas Charriere, Founder & CEO of Mocha, and discover how Mocha is democratising product creation enabling anyone, regardless of coding experience, to build functional apps. Nicholas shares Mocha’s mission to empower the 99%, the transformative role of AI in app development, their unique vertically integrated approach, and the future of product building. You’ll also learn about Mocha’s viral launch, innovative marketing strategies, and insights into the evolving economics of AI tools. Timestamps: 00:00 – Intro 00:55 – Welcome to Founder’s Foyer 01:10 – Why Mocha Was Started and How It’s Useful for People 07:33 – How to Build a Product for an Audience Who Doesn’t Know How to Explain Things 12:05 – A Customer Who Built a Business with Mocha 18:50 – Why “Easy” Features Like Payments Are Harder Than They Look 27:56 – AI Unlocks New Ways to Help Small Businesses 31:20 – AI Pricing Is Broken, And It’s On Purpose

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Cover art for #58 Why should founders treat AI like a teammate? | Claire Vo, Founder of ChatPRD.ai - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:45:52🤖 AI & Technology

#58 Why should founders treat AI like a teammate? | Claire Vo, Founder of ChatPRD.ai

In this episode of The Founder's Foyers Podcast, Claire joins us to talk about building with AI, vibe coding, and the future of product creation. We cover everything from AI tools that speed up coding to why product fundamentals never change. Claire shares how solo founders, startups, and even large organisations can use AI to move faster and why ignoring AI could make you unemployable in just a couple of years. Highlights include: 1. What vibe coding really means for non-technical builders 2. Why AI-powered tools are changing how products are made 3. How leaders can push teams to adopt AI without fear 4. Claire’s take on employability in the next 24 months 5. Building in public, product intuition, and speed over perfection 6. Why “fast beats right” — and how AI makes fast easier This episode is full of practical insights, founder lessons, and future-facing advice for anyone building in tech today. 00:00 - Intro 01:08 – Welcome to The Founder's Foyer 04:10 – What actually is vibe coding 09:26 – Adaptation of AI with Product Managers & working people 11:08 – The difference between leading teams and building solo 13:38 – Why Claire pushed AI early in workplaces 17:53 – Exploring AI tools like Cursor and Devin 33:08 – Building in public and shaping AI products 46:28 – The future of small AI-powered teams 48:28 – Final thoughts and key takeaways

Show notes
Cover art for #57 Adaptability and Human Skills in the AI Era ft. Nita Singh Kaushal (Stanford & NSK Leadership) - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:56:01🤖 AI & Technology

#57 Adaptability and Human Skills in the AI Era ft. Nita Singh Kaushal (Stanford & NSK Leadership)

Nita Singh Kaushal, in conversation with host Aishwarya Ashok, explores how leaders and professionals can thrive in the age of AI. She emphasizes that adaptability and curiosity now matter more than fixed expertise, and that leadership is no longer about simply knowing—it’s about navigating uncertainty with clarity and vision. While AI can accelerate output and even draft brilliant plans, it is ultimately humans who build belief, create meaning, and inspire action. Nita highlights why the real edge lies in sensemaking, communication, and trust, and how storytelling and collaboration keep us grounded in a world flooded with instant output. At its core, this conversation is a reminder that the best leaders embrace curiosity over certainty and see AI not as competition, but as a powerful companion to human judgment and values. Timestamp 00:00 – Intro 01:12  -  Welcome to The Founder's Foyer Podcast 04:18 – From Knowing to Navigating: How Do We Adapt in the Age of AI? 16:43 – Why AI Can’t Replace Humans and How It Supports Leadership 29:35 – Who Are We Really Building Products For? 30:04 – Designing AI Products with Human Emotions in Mind 33:52 – Beyond Workflows: How AI Can Help People See Themselves Differently in Their Roles 41:54 – Challenges of Bringing AGI into Practice & Power Dynamics of AI 50:10 – AI as a Companion, Not a Crutch 55:00 – Final Takeaways

Show notes
Cover art for #56 Why Startups Might Never Look the Same Again | Satyajeet Salgar, Google Applied AI Lead - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:50:46🤖 AI & Technology

#56 Why Startups Might Never Look the Same Again | Satyajeet Salgar, Google Applied AI Lead

In this episode of The Founder's Foyer, Aishwarya speaks with Satyajeet Salgar, product leader at Google and former head of YouTube Shopping and Google Search. They explore how AI is reshaping the future of product development, startups, and solo entrepreneurship. Whether you're a startup founder, product builder, or just curious about the AI-first future — this episode is packed with deep insights and practical examples. 00:00 - Intro 01:07 - Welcome to Founder’s Foyer: AI Changing the Game 02:28 - Can One Person Build a Unicorn Company? 04:15 - Small Teams, Big Impact: Efficiency in the AI Era 09:15 - Collapsing Roles: AI & Cross-functional Productivity 14:47 - Rethinking Product Workflows with AI 18:00 - Are PMs Now Designers, Analysts, and Builders? 20:30 - AI Adoption Curve for people 23:05 - Adapting Mindset to AI 28:45 - Goal of Chat Interface 33:51 - NotebookLM, Audio Summaries & Personalised UIs 37:37 - How Consumers Will Drive AI Interface Evolution 43:07 - Brainstorming with LLMs: AI as Your Thinking Partner 49:15 - Final Takeaways & Satyajeet’s Workflow with AI Follow Satyajeet Salgar - Follow The Founder’s Foyer Website: Instagram: @ Newsletter: aishwarya.substack.com

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Cover art for #55 MCP Explained: The Future of Context-Aware AI | Sid, AI Engineer at Composio - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:54:30🤖 AI & Technology

#55 MCP Explained: The Future of Context-Aware AI | Sid, AI Engineer at Composio

In this episode, we chat with Sid from Composio to understand what MCP (Model Context Protocol) really means and how it's changing the way AI tools connect with different apps. Sid explains how MCP helps simplify complex processes and makes it easier for developers and AI agents to access the tools they need. We also talk about how this technology works behind the scenes, how it compares to APIs, and how big companies like Microsoft and Anthropic are getting involved. Sid shares real examples from Composio, showing how context-aware tools are being built and why they matter. Whether you're a developer, someone working with AI, or just curious about where this technology is headed, this conversation offers clear explanations and useful insights into a rapidly growing space. 0:00 – Intro & Sid’s Background 1:30 – What Is MCP (Model Context Protocol)? 3:50 – Is MCP a tool 5:40 – What MCP Includes (Resources, Tools, Prompts) 8:55 – Journey of MCP 15:33 – Example of MCP In action 25:00 – Developer Experience & Setup 47:00 – The Future of MCP

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Cover art for #54 We’re a 9-person team doing the work of 20—thanks to AI | Jacob Bank, ex-Gmail, CEO of Relay - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:55:54🤖 AI & Technology

#54 We’re a 9-person team doing the work of 20—thanks to AI | Jacob Bank, ex-Gmail, CEO of Relay

Jacob Bank, CEO of Relay and former product lead at Gmail, joins Aishwarya Ashok to explore how AI agents are truly reshaping the way we work. He explains why structured AI workflows solve most real-world needs today and highlights the concept of “spiky intelligence,” where AI excels at some tasks but still needs human direction. Jacob emphasizes that the most important skill in this new era isn’t coding, but the ability to clearly define goals and structure problems for AI. He shares practical ways to use AI not just to replace tasks, but to automate complex, cross-platform outcomes—unlocking new levels of productivity and enabling small teams to achieve big results. 00:00 - Intro 1:17 - Welcome 2:34 - Jacob's Journey: From Google to AI Agents 3:25 - Beyond Tools: Focusing on Workflows & Outcomes11:34 - AI Workflows vs AI Agents: What's the Difference?19:43 - The Human Role: Critical Thinking & Future Skills27:30 - Understanding "Spiky Intelligence" in AI31:30 - How to Start Building Your Own AI Agents43:21 - Demo of Relay53:11 - Summary and Outcome of the agent

Show notes
Cover art for #53 Building AI? You're Doing It Wrong Without This | Ami Vora - CPO at Faire, ex-WhatsApp, FB, IG - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:54:13🤖 AI & Technology

#53 Building AI? You're Doing It Wrong Without This | Ami Vora - CPO at Faire, ex-WhatsApp, FB, IG

Ami Vora, CPO at Faire and former VP of Product & Design at WhatsApp, shares a unique perspective on how fear can be a driving force in decision-making and career growth. Raised in a family where fear played a significant role in shaping decisions, she turned fear into a tool for clarity.Rather than ignoring fear, she acknowledges it, writing down her fears and actively mitigating them when making big decisions, such as accepting a new job. By making the fear explicit, she unravels its power, turning it into actionable insights that help guide her. Vora's experience reflects the ever-changing landscape of tech, where continuous learning is the only way to remain relevant. She draws on a lesson from a high school teacher, emphasizing the importance of staying on the frontier of knowledge to adapt to the unpredictable nature of the industry. Vora integrates this mindset by constantly challenging herself with low-stakes learning experiences outside of work, like ice skating, to reinforce the mindset of growth and adaptation. She reminds us that, especially in product and AI, there’s a need to embrace curiosity and let go of the pressure to always be right. In a world where everything is evolving rapidly, embracing failure and being comfortable with not knowing is essential for continual progress.Chapters0:00 Technology Won't Save You—Learning Will 2:09 Meet Ami Vora: From WhatsApp to Wild Versatility 4:04 How Jokes Helped Me Lead Through Hard Times 6:18 Turning Liberal Thinking Into a Career Superpower 9:00 What Actually Drives Us? Energy Over Everything 13:00 The Hardest Job I Stayed In—and What It Taught Me 17:00 Fear, Feedback, and Showing Up Anyway 20:00 Context Switching for Humans (Not Just AI) 22:08 The Tools I Trust: Reframing, Fear-Setting, and Closing Loops 36:02 AI, Agency, and Always Being Behind 43:27 Being Right vs Being Curious—The Career Mindset Shift 47:13 Execution > Strategy: Why Doing Beats Planning 51:25 My Career Is a Small Plates Dinner—and That’s a Superpower

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Cover art for #52 How Responsible AI Is Being Built Inside Real Companies ft. Aishwarya Srinivasan (Fireflies AI, ex-Google, IBM, Microsoft) - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:58:55🤖 AI & Technology

#52 How Responsible AI Is Being Built Inside Real Companies ft. Aishwarya Srinivasan (Fireflies AI, ex-Google, IBM, Microsoft)

Responsible AI is no longer just a theory—it's a necessity. In this episode of The Founder's Foyer, we sit down with Aishwarya Srinivasan to explore how organisations are tackling ethical AI in real-world environments. This discussion covers deep and practical insights into data privacy, copyright, enterprise integrations, and the future of agent-based systems. If you're building with AI or implementing LLMs in your org, this episode is a must-watch. Learn how AI adoption, compliance, and governance must go hand-in-hand to shape innovation responsibly. Timestamps:00:00 – Introduction: Why Responsible AI Matters 02:42 – Data-Centric AI vs. Theory: Applying Ethics in Practice 07:35 – Copyright & Model Training Dilemmas 11:40 – Post-Training, Filters & What Data Should Be Used 16:10 – Role-Based Access & AI in Enterprise Workflows 22:25 – Productivity Tools & Data Privacy Risks 29:20 – Agent vs Automation: What’s the Difference? 35:10 – Human-in-the-Loop: Where It Matters Most 41:00 – Real AI Use Cases: Sales, GTM, and Non-Tech Teams 48:00 – The Need for Cross-Functional AI Literacy 52:45 – The Challenge of Data Silos and Integration 58:10 – Final Thoughts: Building Trustworthy AI Systems

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Cover art for #51 The Future of No-Code: AI-Powered Apps & Businesses | Eric Simons (Stackblitz) - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:54:28🤖 AI & Technology

#51 The Future of No-Code: AI-Powered Apps & Businesses | Eric Simons (Stackblitz)

How AI-driven development tools like Bolt are revolutionising the way entrepreneurs build and launch apps. This discussion highlights groundbreaking real-world examples, from reducing costs by 99% to accelerating product development from months to weeks. Learn how non-developers are creating full-stack apps and CRMs with ease, leveraging AI to bring ideas to life faster than ever before. Speed is key, and Bold is leading the way in this new era of rapid innovation. 00:00 – Introduction 02:45 – The Viral Hooks App Case Study 06:10 – From $5,000 to $50: Cost & Time Revolution with Bolt 08:50 – AI-Powered CRM Case Study (Built in 3 Weeks) 15:40 – Speed is the Biggest Competitive Advantage 19:10 –  Bolt vs Big Tech 23:00 – Real-Time Feedback & Prototyping with AI 26:00 – Bolt’s Open Source Edge & Model Integration 30:50 – End Users Don’t Care About Models—Only Results 33:20 – Bolt’s Rise to Market Leader in Web-Based Code Gen 36:15 – Bolt for Everyone: From Personal Sites to Full SaaS 39:00 – The Journey: Building Bolt & Going Viral 42:00 – What Makes Great Founders? 44:50 – The Vision: Building Apps as Easily as Designing in Canva

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Cover art for #50 How can AI help you build a startup—without writing code ft. Colin Matthews (AI Founder) - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
01:01:23🤖 AI & Technology

#50 How can AI help you build a startup—without writing code ft. Colin Matthews (AI Founder)

In this episode, Colin dives into the world of AI-powered coding tools and shares actionable strategies for building projects efficiently. Whether you’re a developer or a non-technical founder, learn how to choose the right tools (like Replit, Bolt, Lovable, and V0), structure your workflow, and avoid common pitfalls. *Why planning beats jumping straight into code * When to use mock data vs. backend integrations * Tool comparisons: Replit (full-stack), Bolt (prototyping), Lovable (non-technical), and V0 (styling) * The importance of validating ideas before scaling Timestamp: 00:00 – Introduction 05:34 – Choosing the Right AI Coding Tool 09:47 – Why Planning Before Coding Matters 20:07 – Strengths & Weaknesses of AI Coding Tools 30:51 – AI for Non-Technical Founders 36:50 – Frontend vs. Backend: What to Build First 47:29 – The Reality of Building SaaS & AI Products 50:17 – The Smartest Way to Validate Your Idea 56:30 – The Future of AI Coding & Development 01:00:00 – Conclusion & Key Takeaways

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Cover art for #49 Unlock the Real Power of AI: Beyond Just Prompts! | Tal Raviv (GenAI PM) - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:48:36🤖 AI & Technology

#49 Unlock the Real Power of AI: Beyond Just Prompts! | Tal Raviv (GenAI PM)

00:00 - Intro: The Role of AI as a Thought Partner02:54 - Moving Beyond AI for Drafting: A Productivity Shift06:08 - Using AI for Conversations and Decision-Making09:48 - Project Knowledge: Uploading Context for Better AI Responses13:41 - The Truth About Prompt Engineering16:03 - Iterative AI Interactions: Refining Responses21:01 - AI as a Thought Partner: A Self-Driving Car Analogy29:46 - AI for Web Apps: Where Are We Now?37:27 - AI as a Nutritionist: A Surprising Use Case44:57 - Consuming News with AI: The Second Mouse Gets the Cheese Tal Raviv has been a  hands-on product manager & technical founder for 15+ years at hyper growth companies, always among the first PMs. He’s a Gen AI PM, and has been on the early teams of Patreon, Riverside, Wix, AppsFlyer, DuckDuckGo. He teaches one of the most popular PM courses in Maven focused on building your own AI copilot, which we’re going to dive into today. We dive deep into how AI can be used as a thought partner, not just a tool for drafting documents. Whether you're a product manager, content creator, or AI enthusiast, this video will help you rethink how you interact with AI to maximize productivity, creativity, and decision-making.🔹 Learn why AI is more than just automation🔹 Discover the power of iterative AI interactions🔹 Understand how project knowledge enhances AI responses🔹 Explore unexpected AI use cases, from nutrition to filmmaking🔹 Find out why prompt engineering is overrated

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Cover art for #48 Build your own ideas without writing any code ft. Harold Dijkstra, 100 School - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:50:20🤖 AI & Technology

#48 Build your own ideas without writing any code ft. Harold Dijkstra, 100 School

00:00 Intro to Harold 01:30 Harold's Journey into No Code 04:11 From No Code to AI 06:34 Overcoming Analysis Paralysis in AI Building 10:43 Starting Small with AI 16:14 Building with AI Insights 25:57 Learning from AI Errors 27:28 The Importance of Practice in AI Learning 29:08 Building and Collaborating with AI 30:14 Personalizing AI Workflows 32:28 Challenges and Future of AI Tools 41:09 Advice for AI Tool Founders If you're looking to get started with AI building, here's a special discount for you: Product building has been democratized with AI—from PMs, developers and designers to exec leaders, everyone’s been eyeing on how to ride the AI wave and ensure they’re up to date with what it takes to grow in this new economy. The latest in that journey is how AI coding agents have been remarkable in helping people go from ideas to working prototypes in hours and days. Harold Dijkstra is currently building the 100 School—making tech and AI skills accessible for anyone with ideas. With helping more than 41k+ builders across the globe, their online approach has been super helpful for creators and builders to ship prompts to products.

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Cover art for #47 AI filmmaking beyond side hustle—a career for creative people ft. Matty Shimura, Executive AI Producer, Civitai - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:47:21🤖 AI & Technology

#47 AI filmmaking beyond side hustle—a career for creative people ft. Matty Shimura, Executive AI Producer, Civitai

00:00 Intro about Matty Shimura 02:54 Matt's Journey: Traditional Filmmaking to AI 04:25 The Power of GenAI Tools Today 07:18 Challenges and Opportunities in AI Filmmaking 12:09 The Future of AI in Media 20:44 Community and Collaboration: The Magic Sauce in AI 20:51 Monetizing AI Filmmaking—Brands & Corporations 27:59 The Role of Contests and Competitions 35:55 The Debate on AI and Creativity 41:03 Future Jobs in AI Filmmaking While there’s news about new AI companies everyday, beyond that, we’re actually seeing people explore the value behind AI—what to do and where to put AI to good use. One such direction is art and films. With generative image and video models getting better, it’s now possible to convert any idea into script and a fully-functional creative media. Matty Shimura is an Executive Producer specializing in AI-driven film and television at Civitai. His work has been featured by organizations such as Meta, Tribeca Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, AT&T Shape Create-a-thon, and C-SPAN. He leads initiatives to make AI tools more accessible and equitable for creators worldwide—helping artists reduce bias, amplify diverse voices, and unlock new dimensions of storytelling. how AI tools are democratizing creativity, offering new opportunities for both traditional filmmakers and aspiring creators. They discuss the impact of AI on job roles, the nuances of storytelling with AI, and the importance of community in navigating this rapidly evolving landscape.

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Cover art for #46 The school I wish I had when I was growing my career ft. Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia, Founder of Product School - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:43:07🤖 AI & Technology

#46 The school I wish I had when I was growing my career ft. Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia, Founder of Product School

00:00 Meet Carlos 01:19 Carlos' Journey into Product Management 02:26 The Inception of Product School 03:52 Challenges and Successes in EdTech 06:47 Evolution of Product School 12:15 Global Reach & Online Education 17:35 Building Product School as a Product 20:26 Importance of Showing Up & Investing in Yourself 22:32 Balancing Community and Business 26:13 Trends in Product Management and AI 29:41 The Impact of AI on Product Management 33:16 The Rise of No-Code Tools & AI Integration 38:37 Final Thoughts and Future of Product Management Being a product builder is like continuously thinking about one’s craft and discovering ways to make it better each time. Product mindset is more of a lifetime learning, and the best way it can be done is finding a set of peers and folks you look up to, and doing it together as a community. Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia is an entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience building products. He founded the Product School in 2014, which is the global leader in product training with a community of over two million members. All of their instructors are seasoned product people working at top Silicon Valley companies including Google, Meta, Netflix, Airbnb, Uber, and Amazon. Prior to Product School, he founded Floqq, the largest online education marketplace in Spanish and Portuguese at the time. We chat about Carlos's journey from his early days in Spain to founding Product School in Silicon Valley, the evolution of the product management community, and the impact of AI and new trends in the product space. Carlos shares his insights on building a community-led company, the importance of continuous learning, and how Product School is reshaping education in the tech industry.

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Cover art for #45 How to tell better stories in tech and life & make ideas storyworthy ft. Matthew Dicks (Storyteller, Author, Educator, Podcaster) - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:48:01🤖 AI & Technology

#45 How to tell better stories in tech and life & make ideas storyworthy ft. Matthew Dicks (Storyteller, Author, Educator, Podcaster)

00:00 Introduction to Matthew Dicks 01:19 Matt's Journey into Storytelling 04:46 Teaching Storytelling: From Kids to Corporates 06:55 Essence of a Good Story 15:47 Homework for Life: Capturing Everyday Moments 24:26 The Pickle Story: A Lesson in Specificity 25:02 Hone Personal Storytelling 26:12 Connecting Through Shared Narratives 28:16 Crafting Engaging Beginnings 38:08 Role of Humor in Storytelling 43:35 AI and the Future of Storytelling All of us love listening to stories from friends, teammates, and sometimes even strangers we meet. What makes us a good listener also pushes us to share our own experiences and thoughts. But when it comes to storytelling, there’s a ton of questions that cloud us up—what to share, what would keep us relevant with our audience, why would someone be interested in what we say? Great stories are crafted, unforgettable, and are uniquely associated with the person who shares—so let’s dive deeper to understand how all of us can become storytellers. Matthew Dicks is a best-selling author, columnist, blogger, podcaster, and teacher. Matt has taught clients like the FBI, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, MIT, Harvard, & Lego how to tell their best stories. He’s a creator, producer, and co-host of Speak Up Storytelling podcast and he’s also authored the most-famous book, Storyworthy, which has received so much appreciation among the folks in tech. In this episode, Matt discusses the universal strategies applicable to both personal and business storytelling, importance of capturing 'five second moments,' the power of relatability, and how to become more memorable through storytelling. Whether you’re pitching a product or engaging an audience, there are so many techniques we chatted about to craft stories that resonate.

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Cover art for #44 Finding your voice, community and growth in tech ft. Ha Nguyen, Product & Community Lead, Poker Champion - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:59:18🛠️ Product & Building

#44 Finding your voice, community and growth in tech ft. Ha Nguyen, Product & Community Lead, Poker Champion

00:00 Welcome to the Founders Foyer 01:45 Embracing Joy, Connections, and Discovery 05:35 The Power of Building Genuine Networks 10:00 Creating a Personal Board of Directors 16:10 Building a Networking Flywheel 29:56 The Roller Coaster of Startup Life (Moving from Big Tech) 31:48 The Power of Storytelling in Business 36:13 Lessons from Poker: Risk and Confidence 42:39 Embracing Fractional Roles 53:24 Building Authentic Communities In the fast-paced world of tech and products, finding joy and building meaningful connections can be as crucial as coding the next big feature. Whether you’re a first-time founder, an avid creator, or an indiehacker, knowing what excites you about building products, learning from doing, and discovering how to navigate the right networks are key. Ha Nguyen is a product lead, venture capitalist, one of the co-founders of Women in Product community, who also embraces fractional work and growing possibilities for the last two decades in tech. She’s currently the founder & Managing Partner of NextStep, supporting early stage founders on their journey to become master operators, company builders, and people leaders. She’s a tournament poker player who made the final table of a World Poker Tour (WPT) tournament. In this episode, Aishwarya and Ha chat about building meaningful connections, embracing joy, and discovering new experiences in the fast-paced tech world. Ha shares her journey—taking a sabbatical for mental health, building a personal board of directors, the value of fractional roles, and the influence of storytelling in leadership.

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Cover art for #43 Growing communities, connections and landing on the right opportunities ft. Ben Lang (Ex Community Lead, Notion | Building Nextplay) - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:40:29🛠️ Product & Building

#43 Growing communities, connections and landing on the right opportunities ft. Ben Lang (Ex Community Lead, Notion | Building Nextplay)

0:00 - Introduction to Ben Lang 2:10 - Power of Communities 5:30 - Ben Lang's Notion Journey 9:15 - Corona Crash: Bringing People Together 12:45 - Notion: Finding and Empowering Superusers 16:25 - Community Strategies and Challenges 20:00 - Influencer Marketing and Content Creation 25:50 - Metrics and Success Indicators for Scaling Communities 30:10 - Transitioning to Nextplay 35:30 - Building Connections & Belonging 38:45 - What's up for Nextplay Meeting like-minded folks from our circles is such a fun thing to do—the way we exchange ideas, talk to each other, get inspired, and use the accountability that comes with commitment; these are all the upsides to a great group. Building an idea into a product is so much about cultivating taste in people, riding by their motivations, and helping them belong in a group of other similar folks. How to bring people together with the right intent, why to build community and how to thrive those communities for the long game? Ben Lang is a builder and community lead, who enjoys bringing people together and helping them find opportunities and interests to work. He formerly led Notion’s community and was one of the early marketing hires there. Ben loves building stuff, and his template gallery side project attracted nearly 70,000 visits per month even before he made a move to Notion. He is currently building Next Play—the best way to discover what’s next with curated opportunities, gatherings, and content.

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Cover art for #42 Taste, intuition & rigorous thinking for building products ft. Wes Kao (Co-Founder, Maven & AltMBA) - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:59:56🛠️ Product & Building

#42 Taste, intuition & rigorous thinking for building products ft. Wes Kao (Co-Founder, Maven & AltMBA)

00:00 Introduction to Founders Foyer 01:40 The Magic of Learnable Skills 05:45 Building Alt MBA: The Experiment 08:57 The Rise of Live Learning with Maven 17:14 Intuition vs. Rigorous Thinking 30:39 The Importance of Deep Reflection 31:32 Balancing Immediate Action with Thoughtful Planning 32:54 Understanding and Developing Taste 38:22 Communicating Taste and Quality 45:30 Managing Ego in Collaborative Work 48:12 The Power of Super Specific Hows 54:08 Practical Applications of Super Specific Hows Building hype for your ideas, leading the vision, and setting clarity on how to execute on plans are definitely things that we as product builders and creative minds want to get better at. Thinking becomes a great part of this and learning to observe intensely and being able to articulate thoughts are the result of great thinking. So how to communicate and work in a way that’s positive-sum and leveraging? Wes Kao is an entrepreneur, marketer, coach, and advisor who writes at newsletter.weskao.com. She is co-founder of Maven, an edtech company that raised $25M from First Round and Andreessen Horowitz. Previously, she co-founded altMBA with bestselling author Seth Godin. Wes’ essays are deep reads that help you vividly experience the ‘how’ rather than merely stating points. In this episode, Wes and Aishwarya chat about co-founding Alt MBA with Seth Godin to Wes' current role at Maven, differences between lazy and rigorous thinking, and actionable insights on turning 'Je ne sais quoi' into an executable framework. Tune in!

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Cover art for #41 Ideas to product—navigating the founding journey ft. Sharath Kuruganty (Founder, Guestlab.ai, Podcaster) - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:53:50🤖 AI & Technology

#41 Ideas to product—navigating the founding journey ft. Sharath Kuruganty (Founder, Guestlab.ai, Podcaster)

00:00 Meet Sharath Kuruganty: The Creative Builder 01:26 Sharath’s Journey into the Creative Space 02:32 Building Muscle: The Key to Founding Success 03:38 Importance of Community in the Creative Process 08:50 ‘Commitment and the No Excuses’ Mindset 14:36 Balancing Creativity and Mistakes 26:00 Power of Sharing and Building in Public 28:59 Understanding Public Accountability 30:14 Qualifying Questions for Self-Reflection 31:46 Managing Self-Doubt as a Founder 34:44 Journaling and Gratitude 38:34 Exploring the Podcasting Landscape 51:03 Giving Back as a Founder How is it to have ideas constantly bustling inside your mind? The creative spirit is the one that’s so effervescent—one day you want to kickstart a new project and just by the evening, you want to build another idea out. Navigating this path of building things for fun, also aligned with monetization and community goals is definitely a huge challenge. How to get going with this? Sharath Kuruganty is a seasoned creative builder who loves exploring ideas, shipping things quickly, and iterating and learning from feedback. Sharath’s experiences go so wide—from helping creators launch stuff at Product Hunt, to growing communities with OnDeck, interviewing underdogs on his podcast, and building out products like shoutout.so, GuestLab.ai, he’s a complete creator-product package. In this episode, Sharath shares personal anecdotes and practical tips for aspiring founders and creators on staying committed, managing self-doubt, and leveraging the growing podcast space.

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Cover art for #40 How to use our mind & AI: writing, building apps, creating a business ft. Dan Shipper (Founder, Every | Builder | Podcaster) - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:54:14🤖 AI & Technology

#40 How to use our mind & AI: writing, building apps, creating a business ft. Dan Shipper (Founder, Every | Builder | Podcaster)

00:00 Introducing Dan Shipper & Every 02:45 The Philosophy of Building: Reflecting on Identity and Creation 07:37 Dan's Journey: From Tech Founder to Embracing Writing and AI 15:05 Leveraging AI for Creativity and Efficiency in Media 21:35 Reimagining Reading: How AI Enhances the Experience 25:32 Exploring AI's Personalization and Future Potential 28:18 The Evolution of AI: From Sidekick to Personal Assistant 32:45 AI's Role in Content Creation 35:43 Navigating Self-Doubt and Creative Consistency 42:41 The Influence of 70’s Aesthetics on Creativity 46:34 Physical Inspirations in a Digital Age 49:39 Reflecting on AI, Emotion, and Artistic Expression To think and to create are by far the most satisfying part of work for all of us. As new technologies come in, the crux we keep getting closer to is thinking clearly and creating more frequently. AI has made this process not just upleveled in speed but also introduced a side-kick approach. How to incorporate AI and still build our unique taste? What’s it like to ride with AI and find more individuality with the creative projects and businesses that we build? Dan Shipper is the co-founder of Every, a creative media company that works to make you smarter about technology, productivity, and AI, trusted by almost 70k builders. Dan is a writer, thinker, podcaster, builder behind an AI chatbot, and his current work is filled with playing around with AI and shipping related projects. In this chat, Dan and Aishwarya discuss the transformative impact of AI on creativity, the process of building unique projects, and intertwining personal growth with professional work. Dan elaborates on a recent AI project (internal to Every), Spiral, designed to convert content into different formats effectively, providing insights into his reading habits with AI's assistance.

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Cover art for #39 Behavioral science to launch products & understand users ft. Kristen Berman, Founder of Irrational Labs - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:49:52🤖 AI & Technology

#39 Behavioral science to launch products & understand users ft. Kristen Berman, Founder of Irrational Labs

00:00 Intro to Kristen Berman 01:21 The Genesis of Irrational Labs & Power of Behavioral Economics 02:45 Unlocking User Insights: The Shift in Customer Interviews 05:00 The Art of Designing Effective Incentives & Understanding User Behavior 11:26 Empty Text Boxes to User Empowerment: ChatGPT as an example 13:07 Overcoming Barriers: Making Products More Accessible 19:42 B2B—Understanding Consumer vs. Business Decision-Making 24:27 Product-Led Growth: Strategies and Challenges 25:09 Simplifying B2B User Experiences: A Key to Adoption 26:20 Customer Feedback vs. Actual Behavior: Navigating the Bias 27:17 Case Studies & Learning from Failures 37:41 The Power of Environment in Shaping User Behavior 42:36 Embracing AI: Behavioral Economics in the New Decade 49:23 Concluding Thoughts on Behavioral Science in Product Design Getting feedback and listening to what customers have got to tell us has been the favorite part for all of us product folks. Whether it’s a new app, feature, or even a little shiny interaction, we love getting validation from our audience. We’re in the constant exploration of how best to solve our users’ problems and jumping in as the demi-gods they’d see. But wait, how do we know what exactly goes on in our users’ minds? Like literally brain-reading them. Kristen Berman is the CEO and co-founder of Irrational Labs, a behavioral product design firm. She helps companies like Google, Airbnb, PayPal, Microsoft, and LinkedIn improve their products and services through behavioral design research. Yes yes, the one where she helps builders and founders design, test and scale products by learning behavioral economics. Kristen’s work has been featured in The Stanford Innovation Review, TechCrunch, and Scientific American. Kristen shares her experiences working with tech companies and highlights how behavioral design research aids in creating products that truly resonate with users. She touched upon the evolution of AI tools like ChatGPT and its impact on user experience, psychology of nudging, overcoming biases, and the role of behavioral economics in a new AI-driven era.

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Cover art for #38 The creative craft ft. AI, humor & product | Peter Yang (Founder, Creator Economy & Product Lead) - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:43:28🤖 AI & Technology

#38 The creative craft ft. AI, humor & product | Peter Yang (Founder, Creator Economy & Product Lead)

00:00 Intro to Peter Yang and Creator Economy 01:21 The Intersection of Product and Creative Tracks 05:14 Finding Your Zone of Genius 12:34 How to Use Humor in Communication 18:30 Defining Success in the Creator Economy 22:04 Crafting Creative Journeys 22:34 Learning from Fellow Creators 23:56 Avoiding Analysis Paralysis 24:22 Packaging Value in Your Work 25:16 Discovering Your Unique Path 26:36 The Importance of Energy in Your Work 27:04 Maximizing Content Creation Efforts 29:49 The Pressure to Become the Next Best Someone 32:50 Building Your Personal Brand 38:42 Exploring AI Experiments with Custom GPTs 42:42 Wrapup If you are a deep thinker, you naturally enjoy the intersection of creating something and seeing it come alive just as you build. The journey of a product builder and creator cross paths—because it’s all about finding an audience and shipping projects that resonate with both you and them. So how do you set foot to build a business around something that you’re proud of creating? How to look at creation as a craft and channelize it with the way the tech world evolves? Peter Yang has spent more than a decade leading product teams at Meta, Amazon, Reddit, and Roblox. He runs a newsletter community called Creator Economy with over 70k+ folks supporting his work. Peter enjoys sharing tips and humor about how to level up your product and creator skills. Peter shares insights from his journey, exploring how creators can leverage their unique skills and interests to carve out niches in the creator economy. From blending humor in content to the transformative impact of AI on personal productivity and the significance of building with a customer-focused mindset—there’s valuable takeaways for anyone looking to make their mark in the creative and product spaces. Follow The Founder's Foyer on: Website - Instagram - Spotify - Apple Podcasts - Newsletter - Follow Peter on: Twitter: LinkedIn: Newsletter:

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Cover art for #37 Mountain climbing to product building—Endurance, Empathy & Rituals ft. Lane Shackleton (CPO, Coda | Athlete) - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:59:17🛠️ Product & Building

#37 Mountain climbing to product building—Endurance, Empathy & Rituals ft. Lane Shackleton (CPO, Coda | Athlete)

00:00 Introduction to Lane 01:14 Lane's Nonlinear Career Path 04:09 How Endurance Helps With Success 12:51 Importance of Mindset in Product Building 23:19 Power of Shipping and Learning by Making 26:49 The Origin of the 'Rituals' Concept 29:03 Offer Parties: Gusto’s Ritual with Job Offers 29:51 Transforming Status Quo Rituals 30:58 Impact of Feedback in Product Development 33:01 Influence of French Literary Salons 37:46 Authenticity and Serendipity in Community Building 43:44 Creative People and Connections 46:14 The Ritual Pack: Enhancing Team Meetings and Decision Making 58:01 Intentionality in Building Culture Everyone’s got an interesting journey into crafting their product careers—the best part is to embrace all of our facets and dimensions and see how to bring them into one picture. And over time, that translates to exploring habits that help us stay in those dimensions and keep learning, not just from our own work but from networks around us. How to channelize these non-linear paths, find rituals, and focus on growth while building products?Lane Shackleton is the CPO of Coda. Lane previously led product teams at YouTube and Google, and brings in a set of unique work experiences from before. Lane works with so many creators across the globe and digs deep into empathy, goal setting, and stories.In this episode of The Founder's Foyer, Aishwarya and Lane delve into the concept of product rituals and the importance of habits in fostering product growth. Lane shares insights from his nonlinear career path, his approach towards leadership, the significance of enduring pain, and the role of mindfulness in product development. He highlights the significance of mental models, the role of serendipity, and the importance of maintaining authenticity in community engagement

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Cover art for #36 Building, launching, and growing your creative work (& career) ft. Aarthi Ramamurthy (CPO, Podcaster, Angel Investor, Founder) - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
01:00:05🛠️ Product & Building

#36 Building, launching, and growing your creative work (& career) ft. Aarthi Ramamurthy (CPO, Podcaster, Angel Investor, Founder)

00:00 Introduction to Aarthi 01:38 A Deep Dive into Creation 02:22 The Importance of Focusing on Value 02:43 The Evolution of The Aarthi and Shriram Show 07:20 Persistence in Creative Work 18:15 The Importance of Genuine Connections 23:22 Curiosity in Learning and Networking 29:21 Consistency in Creative Output 30:27 Handling Criticism and Negative Energy 31:21 Dealing with Self-Doubt 32:39 Power of Positive Surroundings 33:05 Handling Negative Feedback and Emotions 35:28 Journey of Self-Reflection and Growth 39:05 The Power of Techno-Optimism and Entrepreneurship 44:54 Individuality in Creative Pursuits 45:11 Authenticity in Content Creation 52:12 Self-Reflection in Personal Growth 52:54 Authenticity in Business and Personal Interactions Shipping a piece of work brings inexplicable joy—so much that we learn and grow every time we do it. While this comes with a lot of challenges, adding to the effort is the way tech platforms, market, and so many external factors keep fluctuating. How do we get better at our craft, focus on a creative long game, and win against the odds in the internet world? Aarthi Ramamurthy is entrepreneur, creator, product advisor, angel investor, and someone who has so many other facets. Aarthi runs the Good Time Show along with her partner Sriram, and trust me she has had a fantastic lineup of conversations with tech and creative geniuses. Their dinner table is so full of ideas, sometimes I wonder if it’s even more than the food. She’s currently heading product at Rithum, formerly led teams at Clubhouse, Netflix, Facebook, and Microsoft, while also co-founding two startups.

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Cover art for #35 Chasing the light, creating authentic content & power of serendipity ft. Danny Miranda (Podcaster & Creator) - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:58:52🤖 AI & Technology

#35 Chasing the light, creating authentic content & power of serendipity ft. Danny Miranda (Podcaster & Creator)

Sponsor for this episode: Recast, the AI-powered marketing assistant to create podcast highlight videos, show notes, newsletters, and social posts. Try - All of us like to meet interesting people—we love getting to know about unique experiences, what inspired them, and how they’ve managed to ship something. We also like to be such interesting people—we love to share what we know and the ways by which we’ve created amazing things. What signifies this ‘interesting’ as an identity? How can we come up with ideas that in turn show us the way to both excel at what we do and find more people in the same league of excellence? Does serendipity help us in maximizing our success? Danny Miranda is very busy asking questions to the world's greatest entrepreneurs & thinkers. He runs the famous podcast, The Danny Miranda show, and has a fantastic roster of guests who’ve shared their musings. Danny himself is praised as the best podcaster by so many business stalwarts, and he recently created Art of Interviewing, the go-to course to learn about research, interviewing, and mastering the creative craft. 00:00 Introduction to Danny 00:49 Sponsor - Recast Studio 03:00 Exploring the Concept of Light and Darkness 05:02 Self-Discovery in Creation 18:18 Power of the Internet and Childhood Influences 25:35 How Grandparents Shape Our Vision and Purpose 29:41 The Long-Game in Content Creation 30:28 Importance of Long-Term Goals 32:11 Art of Creating Content That Ages Well 33:31 Podcast and Press—the Synonymity 35:29 Impact of Social Media on Content 36:26 Journey of Starting a Podcast 39:28 Podcast and Listenership 40:21 Asking Questions in Getting to Know People 52:49 Role of Research in Podcasting 53:45 Why Serendipity Matters

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Cover art for #34 Accelerating product growth, user activation, and monetization ft. Adam Fishman (Product & Growth Advisor) - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
01:02:28🤖 AI & Technology

#34 Accelerating product growth, user activation, and monetization ft. Adam Fishman (Product & Growth Advisor)

00:00 Introduction and Welcome 03:10 Adam's Journey into Product and Growth 09:06 The Role of AI in Growth 10:48 Understanding Different Aspects of Growth 14:13 The Impact of Branding on Growth 14:53 The Patreon Rebranding Journey 27:59 The Role of Subscription Models in Consumer Products 32:06 The Importance of Pricing Experimentation 32:13 Understanding Your Customers and Their Pricing Expectations 33:02 The Art of Pricing and Value Proposition 33:43 Exploring Examples of Pricing Strategies in Different Industries 34:45 The Challenges of Monetization in Social Media Platforms 36:44 The Risks of Reckless Pricing Experiments 37:19 Understanding the Vitamin to Painkiller Product Spectrum 39:07 The Importance of Pricing Experiments in SaaS and Consumer Apps 40:18 The Role of User Psychology in Product Engagement 40:40 Strategies to Reduce Churn and Increase User Engagement 41:35 The Importance of Onboarding and User Motivation 45:04 The Role of Gaming Mechanics in User Onboarding 47:50 Understanding the Competition and Alternatives in User Time 55:07 The Intersection of Fatherhood and Professional Life Sponsor for this episode: Recast, the AI-powered marketing assistant to create podcast highlight videos, show notes, newsletters, and social posts. Try - When it comes to building products, the biggest lever that pushes the journey forward is the signal of growth. The type of growth where users feel the joy of retaining with your product, the one where your company metrics such as signups and revenue take a happy upward curve. We must have probably heard “Oh that’s a growth problem” way too many times, whenever there’s a challenge with pushing the product to the wider world. So then how does one cross this chasm and see the better sides of growth? Adam Fishman has built some of the fastest-growing consumer companies like Patreon, Lyft, and Imperfect Foods where he served across various roles like CPO, VP of Product & Head of Growth. From driving a company’s critical pivot and rebrand to helping a company scale to $100M revenue—Adam has been the face behind core product growth phases. He is the author of the FishmanAF Newsletter and the creator and host of the Startup Dad Podcast. The conversation traverses from building products that grow, dealing with 'growth problems', the role of branding in a company's growth, intricate aspects of consumer applications, and transitioning to subscription models. Adam also touches upon the psychology affecting product engagement and shares insights on reducing churn. Towards the end, he delves into his podcast 'Startup Dad Podcast' and the unique blend of professional and personal topics he explores through it. Tune in to expand your understanding of product growth strategies and the ongoing shifts in the tech industry.

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Cover art for #33 Fostering creativity, diversifying identities, overcome mental blocks ft. Matt Munson (2x Founder & CEO Coach) - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:57:37🤖 AI & Technology

#33 Fostering creativity, diversifying identities, overcome mental blocks ft. Matt Munson (2x Founder & CEO Coach)

0:00 Intro to Matt Munson's work 03:51 Story of ups and downs in starting up 08:20 Moving to coaching founders and CEOs & learnings 12:26 Tackling intellectual loneliness and building a trusted community 25:42 Freedom to experiment & experience outcomes 30:22 How a sense of separation from the work fosters creativity 36:41 Embracing creative play and curiosity for self-awareness 40:12 How can founders figure out their maximum focus areas 44:25 Balancing leadership with company growth 45:46 Diversifying identities to not get locked up with beliefs 53:57 Why 'rest' is termed as a dirty word at work and how it shouldn't be Sponsor for this episode: Recast, the AI-powered marketing assistant to create podcast highlight videos, show notes, newsletters, and social posts. Try - Living the founder or builder life is like a permanent oscillation between “I feel so good” and “I feel shitty”—and this is something common with creative people that it often gets passed off with a laugh. But what would it be like to take notice of our moods and energy patterns, see what amplifies our effort and what saps out that enthusiasm? Is there a way to change the outlook to our own thinking and observations, just as we are high on potential to achieve something? How to obsess less about us to learn more about us? Matt Munson is the founder & CEO coach at Sanity Labs. Matt draws on his own experience as a venture-backed founder to help other founders, CEOs, and product builders navigate the journey of leadership, self-awareness, and team building. Prior to this, Matt co-founded Twenty20, the world’s largest crowd-sourced commercial image catalog. Tune in!

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Cover art for #32 Product thinking, creative resistance, & evaluating growth ft. Shreyas Doshi, Product Advisor (Ex- Stripe, Google, Yahoo, Twitter) - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:56:15🤖 AI & Technology

#32 Product thinking, creative resistance, & evaluating growth ft. Shreyas Doshi, Product Advisor (Ex- Stripe, Google, Yahoo, Twitter)

Being a founder or product person calls for enjoying the ride even when things are uncertain. While grit and passion are the regulars, it takes a few more skills like competence, agency, clarity of thought, to be able to navigate that uncertainty. And this means, you’ve got to be ready to embrace challenges, relearn some of what you seemingly thought you knew already, and find new pieces of information to put together. First things first, how to get started with all of this? Shreyas Doshi is a seasoned product leader and presently a fantastic advisor to many founders across the globe. Shreyas formerly led product teams at Stripe, Yahoo, Google, Twitter, and is most known to this world as a product coach who writes detailed ‘threads’ on many unsaid and important topics. In this episode, Shreyas and Aishwarya discuss about: Distilling product knowledge through observations, shared vocabulary & how it connects teams without blame, human comprehension and the LLM in our minds, power of 'Why' over 'What' and 'How much', high IQ & cognitive empathy, recognizing the inner creative resistance, combating the 'product builder' fear with actionable steps, signals of growth for better and clear thinking, unlearning traditional programming of the mind for better evaluation. Sponsor for this episode: Recast, the AI-powered marketing assistant to create podcast highlight videos, show notes, newsletters, and social posts. Try - [ Note: For folks who enjoy Shreyas' thoughts just like me, you can check out his product management course on Maven. I loved taking this up and the best part was to meet a bunch of brilliant PMs through the cohort. Learn More: ]

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Cover art for #31 Building AI Copilot for PM teams, product/market fit, next-gen tech ft. Yana Welinder (Founder, Kraftful | YC Alum) - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:59:58🤖 AI & Technology

#31 Building AI Copilot for PM teams, product/market fit, next-gen tech ft. Yana Welinder (Founder, Kraftful | YC Alum)

Building products is such a fun journey—especially if users are involved early in the process that it feels like co-creating and riding the wave with them. There’s also racing against the advancements in technology, thanks to AI’s hypergrowth every passing day. So how do you balance the ride and race, when do you know it’s time to take a dive or a turn and how do you account for changing markets? Yana Welinder is the founder and CEO of Kraftful, an Al copilot that helps teams build better products by listening to user feedback. A YC alum and a Stanford fellow, she formerly led product teams at IFTTT, Carbon, and Wikimedia Foundation. Yana loves backing up founders and she currently runs GenAIFounders community and she invests into promising ideas via Pioneer fund. A true 0-1 person and an amazing friend in the product community. Yana and Aishwarya chatted about: Early-stage product: When & how to pivot, Handling customers' emotional quotient during a pivot, Experimenting product updates with early users, Setting up a community on X (Twitter) for PMs, Revisiting product strategy for dynamically changing markets, Possibility of AI in multiple domains & what would stay, Scope and future of product management, How to get started with LLMs & GenAI, AI & creativity for artists

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Cover art for #30 Liminal goals, myths about 5-year career plans, power of community ft. Anne-Laure - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:58:09🛠️ Product & Building

#30 Liminal goals, myths about 5-year career plans, power of community ft. Anne-Laure

Sponsor: Build in Public Fellowship by Karthik Puvvada (KP) - Apply to the program - There’s so much joy in being able to think clearly—whether it’s cracking a tough decision, understanding a complex concept, or even letting go of bottled up confusions. When creating and shipping stuff, it’s very important to introspect on what’s holding us away from this clarity of thought. And the biggest plus is being able to do this as a community, getting to know others’ perspectives, and intellectually growing our knowledge. Anne-Laure is the founder of Ness Labs, a learning community with over 50,000+ makers. She’s a neuroscientist, educator, and soon-to-be author. She writes and speaks about mindful productivity and encourages founders and builders to derive first principles in thinking. Quitting corporate & choosing unconventional career lanes, Kickstarting Ness Labs and how it works, Creator of information vs. collector of information, Building the newsletter in public, Why 5-year career plans are outdated, Embracing serendipity in exploring interests, Liminal creativity and redefining goals, How community thinking accelerates growth, Tools for thought: keeping human consciousness intact, Distress vs Eustress: How to differentiate

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Cover art for #29 Chasing creative pursuits | Tech, fiction writing & filmmaking | AI ethics ft. Abigail Wen [Tech Lead, Author, Filmmaker] - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:47:19🤖 AI & Technology

#29 Chasing creative pursuits | Tech, fiction writing & filmmaking | AI ethics ft. Abigail Wen [Tech Lead, Author, Filmmaker]

There’s so much in parallel with tech and art—for instance, innovation starts with small steps, iteratively leading up to radical explorations. A lot of people today blend creative arts together with the principles grounded in ethics and emerging tech. To be at the intersection of all of this creativity and build versatile careers across entertainment media, business, and law, only teaches us that anything is just a step away from learning afresh. Abigail Hing Wen has mastered technology and storytelling, formerly leading emerging AI tech at Intel. She is a New York Times Best Selling Author, a media producer and filmmaker too. She writes and speaks about tech, AI ethics, women's leadership, and transforming culture. In this episode, Abigail and Aishwarya chat about Legal to Tech to Writing and Filmmaking, trade-off between difficult decisions, community and belief circles in entertainment industry, AI founders and foundational questions to consider, how to combine core tech into media and fiction writing, consumerization of data, fairness, and tech ethics, AI prompts + entertainment and film content, finding a unique voice by combining creative pursuits, and building audiences over different generations Sponsor: Build in Public Fellowship by Karthik Puvvada (KP) - Apply by Aug 7th for the Cohort 3 -

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Cover art for #28 Startup brand strategy, product messaging, early-stage marketing ft. Arielle Jackson (First Round Capital) - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:58:57🤖 AI & Technology

#28 Startup brand strategy, product messaging, early-stage marketing ft. Arielle Jackson (First Round Capital)

What’s the hardest part about starting up, you ask? Plenty of them. And topping the charts, amongst the top three things, would be—nailing the branding and go-to-market strategy. While our entire focus is on the target audience all through the stage of building the product, there are quite a number of slips and shaky edges that take our path away from the ideal audience. So how exactly to build a brand, get those first few users to understand our product, nailing the messaging, and getting better at distribution? Arielle Jackson is currently the Marketer in Residence at First Round Capital. Arielle helped grow Gmail, Square, and Cover during their early stages—whether it was hitting 1M+ users or getting distribution to 30k doorsteps. She's worked with 100+ early stage companies — including Patreon, Loom, Front, Bowery, and even Maven — on their foundational messaging. In this episode, Arielle and Aishwarya chat about how psychology and marketing are related, being the first marketer at Gmail, working on rival brands and difference in positioning, how to associate 'personality' with a brand, five attributes to pick the tone and style of a brand, what constitutes a brand—elements of good branding, fun stories from naming new brands, the domain game—.com, .co, .ai, and more, get rid of jargons in websites—Cinderella Spectrum & Bar Test, how solopreneurs can start with their marketing efforts, and positioning vs messaging.

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Cover art for #27 Team dynamics, personality traits, activating humans for real-world results ft. Evan LaPointe, Core (4x Founder) - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
01:18:50🛠️ Product & Building

#27 Team dynamics, personality traits, activating humans for real-world results ft. Evan LaPointe, Core (4x Founder)

Finding the right set of peers, building the dream team to work towards a vision, setting the table for growth—all of these are interrelated from the perspective of strengthening teams. However, there’s a layer of science behind all of the best performing companies and the humans who’re a part of those teams. When the tools from the biological sciences meet the business world, there’s a ton of possibilities that open up—from understanding one’s personality and communicating better to even making right decisions at the workplace. Evan LaPoint is the founder of Core Sciences, a platform that helps teams accelerate to a peak performance state. Evan has been an entrepreneur in the past as well, and he sold his company Satellite to Adobe, and before that merging his firm Marketing Alpha with Search Discovery. pushed Evan along analytics, tech, and biological sciences, data silos that we end up with in and how to tackle, internal customer vs external customer narrative, how cognitive thinking separates people's performance, concept of "intuitives" and "semi-intuitives" traits of people, hiring for mindset > skillset, conscientiousness and working mindset, learning styles and personalities for a team, why ideas have a greater value than execution, vision vs fantasy, and how great thinkers obtain clarity.

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Cover art for #26 Large language models, AI applications, open source, future of AI ft. Travis Fischer (AI researcher & Entrepreneur) - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
01:15:24🤖 AI & Technology

#26 Large language models, AI applications, open source, future of AI ft. Travis Fischer (AI researcher & Entrepreneur)

If there’s one phrase that’s ruling all of our social media experiences today, it’s Open AI’s GPT. It’s amazing to see the wonders of large language models kick in with everyday user experience, and the best part is that we’re only getting started. Beyond exposing ourselves to the numerous tools that spin out of AI, we as builders really got to dig deeper into understanding what this phase of tech advancement could mean from the lens of open source computing, ethical tech, personification, user generated content, API layers, and co-creation. Travis Fischer, AI researcher, entrepreneur & software developer has been working in the open source space for nearly a decade, with previous stints at Microsoft & Amazon. Travis has built a bunch of Open AI based projects, and loves working towards Passion Economy, about building products that will help enable a more independent and fulfilling future of work. Travis and Aishwarya discuss about his journey from corporate to open source development, striving to create value and perseverance in the long game , balancing creative pursuits with monetization, using community as a leverage to upskill, understanding the challenges in passion economy, navigating the platform risk of where your work is displayed. They also go in depth about AI—Personification, LLMs, and AI; Artificial generative intelligence: Are we nearing it?, AI as a foundational application layer, experimenting with opportunities in the AI playground; AI, boundaries, and ethics: Where are we headed at?, The boons and consequences of the AI play, what's in the AI game for open source devs?, AI as a copilot with all forms of works

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Cover art for #25 Creative entrepreneurship, business humour, social media habits and momentum ft. Alexis Gay (Founder & Standup Comedian) - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:58:36🛠️ Product & Building

#25 Creative entrepreneurship, business humour, social media habits and momentum ft. Alexis Gay (Founder & Standup Comedian)

There’s been an infinite number of times I’ve spoken to people about how a career in comedy and building products are similar: a journey that involves so much iteration, craft, and attention to detail. And dealing with audiences day in and day out along with the market defining a hit of your work: how close can this get! Which is why TikTok, Instagram Reels, and a lot of social media content are going high on humour, both for the content and the tech creators who are the faces behind. So what exactly can we learn from building a thriving business out of humour, content, and technology? I can't contain my excitement—for I finally pulled in Alexis Gay (Creative Entrepreneur | Stand-up Comic | Podcaster) to sit down with me and discuss everything about creative entrepreneurship. Alexis and Aishwarya chatted about a bunch of themes—-transition from tech to comedy, why to be good at comedy (& business) you have to first be bad, how to shift the needle from ROI to enjoying the process, planning blocks of time as a creator and prepare a calendar, building consistency and momentum around work, acknowledging newer versions of yourself as a founder, working on viral comedy content, why it's important to be 'funny' than anything else, hard parts of today's creator apps and the gap left to address, and talking to world-renowned people on "Non Technical" podcast. Tune in!

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Cover art for #24 Portfolio careers, human Venn diagrams, diversifying interests ft. Christina Wallace (Harvard Univ) - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:55:39🛠️ Product & Building

#24 Portfolio careers, human Venn diagrams, diversifying interests ft. Christina Wallace (Harvard Univ)

Innovation is what most of us immediately point to when it comes to product success—but how often have we innovated our own thinking? Have we ever discovered what it means to be at the intersection of interests, ideas, and impact? So many creative entrepreneurial endeavors are based on a portfolio—of skills, careers, and people. And getting into the heart of that is really important. I'm super happy that I got a chance to pull in Christina Wallace's experiences in this space. Christina dons so many hats—founder, podcaster, professor, and author. She’s currently the Senior Lecturer of Entrepreneurial Management at Harvard Business School, where she co-leads HBS Startup Bootcamp, and is an active angel investor and startup advisor. She’s also authored the book “The Portfolio Life” that’s gonna be live very soon. As a 'Human Venn Diagram' that she proudly is, Christina and I chat all about how it's okay to not singularly focus on one identity, but bring together a diversified approach to entrepreneurship. Being a multi-hyphenate is so much fun, she quotes, for building a portfolio career and life. Christina and Aishwarya chat about being a Human Venn diagram, why is it important to 'start' with an idea and connect dots, how to let yourself be naturally curious, how to be a multi-hyphenate, embracing diversification of interests, the left-brain & right-brain fallacy (why it's wrong), the role of self-reflection in identities, the concept of 'portfolio' and how it relates to careers, shedding the 'guilt' and looking at possibilities, what companies should do to accommodate employee's portfolio, and monetizing your passion and looking forward.

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Cover art for #23 Cognitive science, AI algorithms, augmenting founder creativity ft. Alice Albrecht, AI Researcher & Founder - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:52:21🤖 AI & Technology

#23 Cognitive science, AI algorithms, augmenting founder creativity ft. Alice Albrecht, AI Researcher & Founder

What’s the best way to unlock creativity? Does our mind have the power to process so many thoughts and references? How does AI help in creating, building, and sharing ideas as founders and creators? Some of these questions are deep enough, but there’s a common line that connects them all—the power of cognition and how computers can be trained to augment that science behind. Alice Albrecht is a founder building something cool in the AI space. She did a PhD in cognitive neuroscience at Yale and then spent 10 years researching AI before starting up to solve challenges in human creativity and knowledge. Alice and Aishwarya chatted all about cognitive neuroscience and the way it's associated with augmenting creativity: Getting started with the neuroscience space and entering tech, what does it mean to augment creativity, challenges in building tools for knowledge workers & creators, why humans are obsessed with tools over the creativity process, the effect of AI algorithms on attention span, keeping users' consciousness in mind while building products, concepts and cognitive theories that Alice is fascinated with, and the future of AI space with the role of ethical tech

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Cover art for #22 Strategic communication, purpose of listening, speaking as a sport ft. Matt Abrahams, Stanford University - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:35:44📈 Leadership & Growth

#22 Strategic communication, purpose of listening, speaking as a sport ft. Matt Abrahams, Stanford University

When was the last time you tried explaining an idea to your friend, co-founder, or teammate? Of course, it happens quite frequently for most of us, but looking back at the experience, at certain instances we spent more time explaining so the other person understands it better. Also there are times when they immediately vibe with us. So what exactly is the purpose of communication? Especially from the context of clarity, brevity, and impact. Matt Abrahams is a lecturer at Stanford GSB, wherein he teaches entrepreneurial minds about organizational behavior, strategic communication, cognitive planning, and persuasion. Matt also runs the “Think Fast, Talk Smart” podcast wherein he hosts guests and discusses everything around maximizing the effectiveness around communication. Prior to teaching, Matt held senior leadership positions in several leading software companies, where he created and ran global learning and development teams. Matt and Aishwarya discuss about communication—the mistakes that high-performing people make, getting better at listening, processing feedback, negotiating with stakeholders. Also, they delve into treating communication and speaking as a sport, approaching it with an iterative mindset, and getting better each day. Tune in!

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Cover art for #21 Building in public, portfolio career, shipping creative projects ft. Karthik Puvvada, Build in Public Studio - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:49:49🛠️ Product & Building

#21 Building in public, portfolio career, shipping creative projects ft. Karthik Puvvada, Build in Public Studio

If you’ve been sharing stuff and reading through Twitter or LinkedIn, there’s so much buzz around building in public. Especially over the last couple of years, a lot of founders, solopreneurs and enthusiasts who worked on side projects really leveraged the network to both build on their ideas as well as find a fit with the market. Karthik Puvvada, fondly called KP “The Build in public” Guy, is the founder & CEO of Build in Public studio, a media and consulting company aimed at helping create more successful founders in the world. He’s formerly led educational programs and communities at OnDeck and Day One, having helped 500+ ambitious no-code builders and founders. He also created Build In Public Founder's Manual, a handy digital product to help founders learn how to build in public effectively. KP and Aishwarya discuss about getting, started with a creative entrepreneurial journey, why should one look into building portfolio career, the perception about non-linearity in creator economy, What 'build in public' means and how to do it, execution as a leverage to ship projects, navigating the idea maze and setting a framework, and effectively managing community engagement. Tune in! Check the build in public guide -

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Cover art for #20 Founders journal: Habits & goals, focus paths, decision-making ft. Dr. Julie Gurner, Exec Performance Coach - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:52:57📈 Leadership & Growth

#20 Founders journal: Habits & goals, focus paths, decision-making ft. Dr. Julie Gurner, Exec Performance Coach

With a new year setting in, most of us want to plan out our goals, look forward to high performance, and get ready to do our best form of work by either creating or shipping something live. As much as all the enthusiasm is intact, we’re sure we’d move past challenges, especially with decision making, doing the right/impactful activities, dealing with uncertainties and confusions. As founders and builders, channelizing our thoughts and plans becomes very important here, to get towards anything we look to achieve. Dr. Julie Gurner is all set to help us navigate our decisions, take a balanced mindset, and stay true to our goals. She is a doctor of psychology and executive performance coach with nearly a decade of experience working with some of the world’s top tech and finance executives and teams. Dr. Julie & Aishwarya chat all about setting goals, narrowing down on focus paths, facing competition in the markets, growing into new habits and opportunities, doubling down on strengths, playing the confidence game among different stakeholders, trusting the gut, and more. Tune in!

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Cover art for #18 Launching 0-1 products, founders and fundraising, thinking in first principles ft. Aarthi Ramamurthy, Product Advisor | Founder | Host @ Good Time Show - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
01:05:55🛠️ Product & Building

#18 Launching 0-1 products, founders and fundraising, thinking in first principles ft. Aarthi Ramamurthy, Product Advisor | Founder | Host @ Good Time Show

Becoming a first-time founder is definitely fun, challenging, and more than anything a roller-coaster ride. Whether it’s transitioning from being an operator or scaling up a side project to something big, the energy and focus are unparalleled. So, what’s it like to hit the start button for foundership? What are the things to keep in mind, trade-offs to handle during decisions, and uncertainties to wade through? Aarthi Ramamurthy is an entrepreneur, creator, product advisor, and a bearer of so many other hats. Aarthi runs the Good Time Show along with her partner Sriram, and she formerly led product teams at Clubhouse, Netflix, Facebook, and Microsoft, while also co-founding two amazing startups. Aarthi and Aishwarya chat all things about building early-stage products—Aarthi's journey into Silicon Valley, working at Netflix in its early days, strategy behind putting the red Netflix button to the remote ;), transitioning to becoming a founder, co-founding two startups (top 25 in the Valley), thinking in bets, setting up and running a team, creating content with Good Time Show, and more. Tune in!

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Cover art for #17 User experience, design strategy, tipping point, and success metrics ft. Jared Spool, Center Centre - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:51:21🛠️ Product & Building

#17 User experience, design strategy, tipping point, and success metrics ft. Jared Spool, Center Centre

User experience is a huge part of ideating, building, and shipping products. Usability defines not just the value of a software but the way teams and companies are going towards the vision they want to achieve. How do you align product folks towards putting UX at their centre focus? And what are the practices that led to a great experience design with some of the best product brands out there? Jared Spool is the Co-founder and Maker of Awesomeness at Center Centre – UIE. Jared is also a writer, speaker, educator, and an expert on the subjects of usability, software, design, and research. He’s currently guiding orgs to deliver well-designed products & services. In this episode, Jared and Aishwarya chat all things about user experience design, aligning company strategy with design (examples from Apple, Netflix, Disney), the concept of tipping point and how to overcome that, tying UX with the right metrics to measure impact, and more. Tune in.

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Cover art for #16 Building better software, running experiments, 'agile' mindset ft. Allen Holub, Software Architect - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:43:35🛠️ Product & Building

#16 Building better software, running experiments, 'agile' mindset ft. Allen Holub, Software Architect

Building products is so much fun—at the same time, it’s equally exhausting and challenging with so many peers to work with, the market needs to look into, and a lot of processes to go by. While frameworks and techniques can be compelling to share, they are hard to standardize for different software teams and their cultures. So what are some ways to navigate these complexities and build better software? Allen Holub, an internationally recognized software architect and consultant, and Aishwarya recently chatted about the ways product teams can work on small experiments and ship things iteratively so there's value and impact. We spoke about a range of topics—adopting the 'agile' mindset, why it's misleading to think agile as a methodology, the pitfalls of processes in large orgs, how to operate as pods within large orgs, staying outcome focussed and user obsessed, thoughts against 'commitment' and 'accountability' in a team setup, and more. Tune in!

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Cover art for #15 Remote work, setting team culture, the 'work forward' approach ft. Marissa Goldberg, Remote Work Prep - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:40:57🛠️ Product & Building

#15 Remote work, setting team culture, the 'work forward' approach ft. Marissa Goldberg, Remote Work Prep

If there’s one phrase we’ve heard over a thousand times in the last two years it is — remote work. Or say hybrid work. From building and iterating on ideas by pulling out chairs, to virtually looking at each other’s faces on tiles—we’ve done it all. But there’s a whole lot of stuff to think about working with folks across different geographies, time zones, interests. And so many questions to keep us seeking for answers. Marissa Goldberg is the Founder of Remote Work Prep, a platform that provides services to help teams set up an effective remote work experience. Marissa has been working remotely since 2015 and has managed distributed product team members across 20+ countries. Marissa and Aishwarya chat everything about how remote work, the effect of pandemic in shaping hybrid-remote work cultures, the 'physicality' of team-building activities and how to keep up with times, work-forward approach, high performance management, and more.

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Cover art for #14 Strategic narrative, startup pitches, storytelling for founders ft. Andy Raskin, Silicon Valley storytelling mastermind - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:50:54🛠️ Product & Building

#14 Strategic narrative, startup pitches, storytelling for founders ft. Andy Raskin, Silicon Valley storytelling mastermind

Whether it’s meeting a founder friend, a potential hire, investor, customers, or even a bunch of product team leads, there’s one thing that stands out–the ‘narrative’ you want to tell, the story of what you’re building and why you’re building that. Strategic narrative binds all the folks who are directly impacted by your ideas and in turn gives you all the clarity and helps you articulate your vision well. But, how do you frame this narrative? What are the components of a great story? Andrew Raskin is a Silicon Valley storytelling mastermind. Andy helps C-suite leaders and leadership teams align around a high-level story that powers success—in sales, marketing, fundraising, product development and recruiting—by getting everyone on the same page about strategy and differentiation. His post “The Greatest Sales Deck I’ve Ever Seen” is an internet sensation, with nearly 90+k views on Medium. Andy explains what strategic narrative is, why it's an evolutionary thing, deconstructing the parts to make a good narrative; he discusses about what makes a good pitch and the mistakes founders often make while presenting their pitch; Andy and Aishwarya also chat about the influence of leadership in making a strategic narrative, real-time examples from Andy's advising companies, and the practical tips to get better at product storytelling.

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Cover art for #13 Action plans, growth mindset, high performance, and entrepreneurship ft. Lisa Kostova, CareerClimb - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:50:27🛠️ Product & Building

#13 Action plans, growth mindset, high performance, and entrepreneurship ft. Lisa Kostova, CareerClimb

Often as we build our products, we feel stuck and we are on the constant lookout for the next set of action plans. We seek some form of a structure to help us unblock challenges, understand the benchmark of the market we’re building for, as well as pave the way for personal success too. This conversation is all about that mindset to step forward, with so many practical examples to help us understand. Lisa Kostova is Founder of CareerClimb, a unique network and development platform for mid-career female professionals in technology, to help them ascend to the top of their field. Lisa spent a decade as VP and senior Product leader in Silicon Valley for a number of consumer and enterprise companies. In this episode, Lisa and Aishwarya discuss what it takes to build career plans, stepping into the path of entrepreneurship, actionable growth roadmaps, stepping out of comfort zone, storytelling, and more.

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Cover art for #12 First-time founder experience, fundraising, building side projects ft. John Koelliker, Leland - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:41:16🛠️ Product & Building

#12 First-time founder experience, fundraising, building side projects ft. John Koelliker, Leland

John Koelliker is the Co-Founder and CEO of Leland, a marketplace for ambitious people to access coaching, classes, mentorship, and community, to reach their career and educational goals. From growing in your career ladder, to taking a test, finding the right school—discover a friend and mentor to guide you through. How to start a new company, building communities around the purpose, leading the content game strong, what to look for in the VCs during fundraising—John and Aishwarya touch upon all of these concepts, as they explore the journey of Leland and how John went about getting inspired to build it from a side project idea he earlier worked on.

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Cover art for #11 Product–founder–channel market fit, launching 0–1 products ft. Emily Tate, Mind the Product - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:49:16🛠️ Product & Building

#11 Product–founder–channel market fit, launching 0–1 products ft. Emily Tate, Mind the Product

Launching the product you build involves massive effort—not just in terms of shipping, but also figuring out the ways in which your audience finds satisfaction with your product. Do they find value? Of course, it’s important to align your product with the market, especially with the right problems to be solved. And this conversation is all around product, market, channels, and how to achieve a fit across all of those. Emily Tate is Managing Director for Mind the Product, world’s largest community of passionate product people. Emily brings nearly 15 years of product experience and is focused on the craft of product management; She loves talking about new ways to make products that people love. Emily and Aishwarya discuss about how the product management and product building landscape has changed in the last 20 years, how founders should think beyond product/market fit, what customer channels could teach us, how to effectively tune in for customer feedback, things you shouldn't do as a new founder, and so much more. Listen now!

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Cover art for #10 Product management skills, personal productivity & founder career ft. Shyvee Shi, LinkedIn - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:47:41🛠️ Product & Building

#10 Product management skills, personal productivity & founder career ft. Shyvee Shi, LinkedIn

Building and shipping impactful products is definitely the enjoyable part of a product manager’s journey. It’s fun to think about what problems to work on, putting on the founder’s mindset from time to time or working with fellow co-founders on the team. Of course, there are so many challenges to tackle on the way, and as someone doing it on my day job, I can’t agree enough! So, here's a fellow peer to chat about building products, navigating ideas, and understanding all about this journey. Shyvee Shi, Product Manager at LinkedIn Learning, has also co-founded the PM Learning Series wherein she chats with product leaders across the globe to share insights for levelling up the product career. She’s a passionate creator and an educator who also just launched a course on productivity for product managers. We discuss all about product management career foundations and growth, personal productivity, creator skills, and more...

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Cover art for #9 Future of builders, founder skills, startup journey ft. Sonia & Blake, Kernal - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:41:29🛠️ Product & Building

#9 Future of builders, founder skills, startup journey ft. Sonia & Blake, Kernal

In today’s Foyer Feature, let’s welcome Sonia and Blake from Kernal, the community platform to connect founders, investors and startup ideas. 15,000+ members, 1,500+ startup ideas, they are doing an amazing work in helping creators and builders find success with their project journeys. Sonia, Blake, and Aishwarya sit down to discuss everything around what makes it interesting for creative folks who look out to building amazing stuff—from no-code tools to helpful communities and resources, the internet is full of inspiration and guidance to step forward and get better at our craft. They also talk about the challenges in running a startup, building sustainable communities, and working towards helping founders in their projects.

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Cover art for #8 Product growth and scaling for founders/builders ft. Casey Winters, Eventbrite (Ex- Pinterest & GrubHub) - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:49:30🛠️ Product & Building

#8 Product growth and scaling for founders/builders ft. Casey Winters, Eventbrite (Ex- Pinterest & GrubHub)

As soon as you put your product out in the market, the one major question that gets to you from literally everyone around is - how’s your product growing. “What’s your growth strategy?” “Does your product have network effects” “Did you get more leads or was all the money spent in ads gone to drain?” There’s no end to the list of such discussions we often get pulled into as we’re building our product. But before all of what, what exactly is growth? How do you measure it? What’s the fundamental concept of product, sales, growth, and the way they tie in together to help scale and make revenue. Casey Winters (CPO, Eventbrite | Ex- Growth Lead, Pinterest & GrubHub) and Aishwarya chat all about growth and scaling for products. We specially went into the details of why 'growth' often gets paired with the term 'hacking' and what's the actual route to growing early-stage products. We also discuss about types of growth, why monetization is a part of growth and importantly product/market fit, what mistakes startups usually make, and more...

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Cover art for #7 Creator, content economy, and building your voice ft. Grace Gong, Smart Venture Podcast - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:34:20🛠️ Product & Building

#7 Creator, content economy, and building your voice ft. Grace Gong, Smart Venture Podcast

How to stay consistent with the inputs especially when your interests are versatile? I loved chatting with Grace Gong on this topic, especially because she's been doing some amazing work with her podcast, sharing knowledge about crypto and web 3, as well as authoring two books. A LinkedIn Top Voice for Finance and also an alum of LinkedIn for Creators program, she'd be the right person to share with us about how to get better at creating something. I love her 1% better rule—trying to stay consistent and focusing on moving the needle each day by a little more. We discuss about the creator economy, what it takes to learn consistently, why being curious and doubling down on strengths are important for building your voice; She also covers her author journey, sharing her takeaways from meeting and working with global CEOs and founders.

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Cover art for #6 Product positioning and storytelling for founders and builders ft. April Dunford, Obviously Awesome - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:51:55🛠️ Product & Building

#6 Product positioning and storytelling for founders and builders ft. April Dunford, Obviously Awesome

So your product is now launched and it's out for customers to try. You know it’s awesome, but do you know whether they know? How do you ensure your potential buyers understand the value you’re providing; do they care? Often we hear about go-to market strategy—but before all that, what should you do to ensure your target customers know your secret sauce? Here’s someone, the ONLY one, who has all the lessons to teach us how to position a product! April Dunford is the author of the most-famous book on tech product positioning - Obviously Awesome. She’s an executive consultant and speaker who formerly led product, sales, and marketing teams across many startups (now bigger companies) as their VP of Marketing and currently helps technology companies make complicated products easy for customers. April talks to Aishwarya about the foundations of product positioning, what weak and strong positioning looks like, why building the positioning is a team activity, when is the right time to back up on trends and when it's not, why founders need to segment their target market, and a lot more. So many fun examples and frameworks to refer to from the conversation—tune in!

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Cover art for #5 Building community & connections from ground-up ft. Nazuk Jain, Apple & Product Career - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:36:52🛠️ Product & Building

#5 Building community & connections from ground-up ft. Nazuk Jain, Apple & Product Career

So you’ve got a great idea and you’ve been building out your initial version of the product. With a little bit of socializing around, you see that people are starting to gain interest in what you’re building—what next? Obviously, the thought of building a community is something that’ll definitely cross your mind. But building a community and engaging with your early believers calls for so much dedicated effort that needs to be consistent. This conversation is around making those connections and investing in a supportive community. Nazuk Jain is a Product Manager at Apple. She’s also a creator who runs Product Career, a community with 30k+ people around all the social platforms, and she shares knowledge about early-career product management. Nazuk talks to Aishwarya all about the ways in which creators and founders should find their niche and purpose, go on to set up that initial close circle of conversations, and practical ways to scale the community with context.

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Cover art for #4 Building early-stage teams, company, and culture ft. Padmini Janaki, Mind and Mom - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:40:12🛠️ Product & Building

#4 Building early-stage teams, company, and culture ft. Padmini Janaki, Mind and Mom

If building a startup is an arduous journey, finding the right people to grow with you is another mountain to climb. Ideas can meet product, but both of these need to meet the right team to live the vision. But how to find the folks who are as passionate as you in helping build great ideas? What should the benchmark be like? That’s exactly what we’ll navigate in today’s conversation about building teams and culture. Joining Aishwarya today is Padmini Janaki, Co-Founder & CEO of Mind and Mom, a pregnancy welfare app. Padmini has formerly led product teams at PayPal and she recently represented TN at the World Economic Forum in Davos, with her Mind and Mom team. What we discuss: - Finding the inner circle of advisors and supporters - Importance of co-founder and how/why to find one - Building the culture and values for your team - Legal procedures and incorporation of a brand - Things founders often miss out easily - Representing Tamil Nadu and India at the World Economic Forum, Davos - Growing a startup brand over the pandemic—the learnings and takeaways - Importance of clear communication and candor

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Cover art for #3 How to build a product community movement ft. Felix Lee & ADPList - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:31:43🛠️ Product & Building

#3 How to build a product community movement ft. Felix Lee & ADPList

#FoyerFeature—a section that completely focuses on a particular project and how the founder created an impact with it. We’ll be discussing all about their journey, the way they come up with creative ideas, and patterns they follow to learn and shine through. Kicking off the first feature is someone special, who had a mission of democratizing mentorship—and, he actually went on to do that with his project-turned-venture. Let’s say hello to Felix Lee, Co-Founder of ADPList, a platform and community that helps everyone learn and grow with the help of world class mentors. Felix chats with Aishwarya about all things Awesome Design People List aka ADPList—the base idea, the way he built the team with people from across different countries, how a community of mentors came along, designer-to-founder journey, challenges in being a creator, and more.

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Cover art for #2 Discovering and validating early-stage ideas ft. Ravi Mehta, Scale - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:32:00🛠️ Product & Building

#2 Discovering and validating early-stage ideas ft. Ravi Mehta, Scale

Discovering ideas is definitely an exciting phase—we wake up, walk around, and go to sleep thinking about the best ideas we can build for. But, what happens to all those ideas? Do we really have a tried and tested way to pick out just the right ones and get to implement them? I know that journey is super hard. And this conversation is all about discovering, analyzing, and validating the right ideas to work on. Ravi Mehta chats with Aishwarya Ashok about building out early-stage ideas and validating assumptions in the best way. Ravi is the Co-founder and CEO of Scale, a platform that’s reinventing the way people learn and grow with the power of coaching. He was formerly the Chief Product Officer at Tinder, and led product teams at Meta, Xbox, and TripAdvisor.

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Cover art for #1 Self-care for founders and builders ft. Amy Young, Redefine Possibility - The Founder's Foyer Podcast
00:35:02📈 Leadership & Growth

#1 Self-care for founders and builders ft. Amy Young, Redefine Possibility

When was the last time you thought of working on a new project? Choosing between ideas and actually getting to work on it are two different jobs for the ones who build stuff. Often we are left confused, exhausted, and unclear on how to manage our energy, time, and effort, leading to a stall in the journey. Well, today’s conversation is all about how to navigate such phases and get past to working steadily with our ideas. Joining Aishwarya today is Amy Young, Founder and CEO of Redefine Possibility, also formerly a Top Partner Lead in Google’s Global Partnerships. She’s been coaching executives and leaders on mindset changes to align effort with high performance.

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