CRAFTED. | The Tech Podcast for Founders, Makers, and Innovators

Accounting may not be the sexiest part of running a business, but according to Sasha Orloff, it’s the key to understanding your company’s financial health—and ultimately, its success. At his previous two startups, Sasha was frustrated that he didn’t have a real-time view into his company’s financial health. And he realized the problem wasn’t accounting – but accounting software. So, Sasha founded Puzzle, because “it's hard to set yourself up for success if you don't know when you're about to run out of money.” Sasha is on a mission to make accounting intuitive, real-time, and accessible for founders and finance teams alike. In this episode of CRAFTED., we explore how Sasha is crafting Puzzle, how AI makes this the right moment to challenge QuickBooks, and why he was so confident that the market needed Puzzle that he was undaunted by the five years he estimated it would take to build an MVP. "We’re not just rethinking accounting software—we’re rethinking how founders and CEOs can make data-driven decisions to build enduring companies." Sasha shares:How the frustration he felt at his previous startups led him to Puzzle Why “accounting gets a bad rap”, but it crucial for founders: it’s your financial healthWhy second-time founders are ideal customersWhy it took five years to build an MVP – and why he wasn’t daunted by this expectationWhy the problem was never accounting, but accounting software and the distorted realities it’s built to createWhy AI and modern API’s made now the right time to build PuzzleWhy Puzzle is “poking the bear” and putting highway billboards up near QuickBooks HQ(01:04) - Sasha’s finance frustrations at previous startups (02:15) - Traditional accounting software isn’t made for founders (02:15) - The problem with traditional accounting software (05:01) - What Puzzle does differently: Real-time financial health (07:52) - AI’s role in revolutionizing accounting (10:22) - Why second-time founders are Puzzle’s ideal users (12:48) - Building a five-year MVP: Challenges and conviction (16:41) - Tackling QuickBooks: Bold marketing moves and billboards (19:15) - Understanding edge cases and complexity in accounting (23:07) - The future of Puzzle: Helping startups thrive (27:01) - Hosting the Turpentine Finance podcast Links:Learn more about Puzzle: Puzzle.ioFollow Sasha Orloff on LinkedIn: Sasha OrloffTurpentine Finance Podcast: Turpentine FinanceCRAFTED. is produced by Modern Product Minds, where CRAFTED. host Dan Blumberg and team can help you take a new product from zero to one... and beyond. We specialize in early stage product discovery, growth, and experimentation. Learn more at modernproductminds.com Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm

AI democratizes things. It's enabling designers to be developers, and developers to be designers… And in this episode, Aaron Walter and Eli Woolery explain how AI “changes the game” for designers. As co-founders of Design Better, Aaron and Eli advise companies on how to incorporate AI into their design process. We’ll explore how AI can help designers explore a problem more thoroughly, as well as some pitfalls to watch out for. (Hint: speed is not always a good thing.)Aaron and Eli are also hosts of the popular Design Better podcast, where they’ve interviewed some of the world’s most creative people. Featuring software designers, as well as famous musicians, artists, architects, and more, the duo explore the creative process. And there are some striking similarities across disciplines.For more on Aaron and Eli and to subscribe to the Design Better podcast and newsletter, see DesignBetterPodcast.com ***CRAFTED. is produced by Modern Product Minds, where CRAFTED. host Dan Blumberg can help you take a new product from zero to one... and beyond. We specialize in early stage product discovery, growth, and experimentation. Learn more at modernproductminds.com Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm

Amir Nathoo is reimagining the future of education by building products that put students at the center of their learning experience. As the Founder and CEO of Outschool, Amir has created a marketplace for remote, personalized, interest-based learning that’s challenging traditional K-12. In this episode of CRAFTED., we explore how Amir founded and grew Outschool, including the 15x spike in usage during the pandemic. Post-pandemic, alternative education and homeschooling continues to rise. As Amir says: “The idea that a single institution could fulfill all of your kids' needs or all of all kids' needs is completely unrealistic…. Mass personalization is needed.” And he sees Outschool as the integration layer for all those teachers, students, and institutions. You will learn a ton from Amir’s approach to product development and disruption. Key takeaways for product builders: 1. Start with a Niche Audience, Then ExpandAmir and Outschool began by targeting a specific group—secular homeschoolers—who had unmet needs in education. By serving this niche well, they achieved product-market fit before scaling to a broader audience. 2. Co-Creation, FTWOutschool's initial product was shaped through customer co-creation and iterative development, testing small features before scaling them. 3. Solve Real Problems, But Keep Early Stakes LowWhile Outschool addressed a critical need (supplemental education), they started with interest-based, "low-stakes" classes. This allowed them to test and refine their offering without the pressure that would’ve come with offering “core” classes. 4. Build a Two-Sided Marketplace with BalanceCreating a thriving marketplace like Outschool required balancing teacher supply with student demand. Amir emphasized solving the “chicken and egg” problem by manually curating both sides early on. 5. Pay Attention to the Market and Adapt QuicklyWhen the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Outschool responded quickly by offering free training sessions for schools who needed to understand remote learning, scaling their platform, and adding free classes to serve families in need. ***Never miss an episode! Subscribe to CRAFTED. in your favorite podcast app and sign up for the newsletter at crafted.fmCRAFTED. is produced by Modern Product Minds, where CRAFTED. host Dan Blumberg and team can help you take a new product from zero to one... and beyond. We specialize in early stage product discovery, growth, and experimentation. Learn more at modernproductminds.com 

Hilary Mason is a world-builder. She’s a serial entrepreneur, machine learning expert, and now, as the founder and CEO of Hidden Door, she’s creating immersive experiences where fans can interact with their favorite characters from books and movies. The choose-your-own-adventures style games are an amazing blend of AI and human creativity — and Hilary is passionate about both: “If I write a manifesto, this is what it'll be: I don't think the power of generative AI is to create the next amazing novel. I don't think it's gonna create the next amazing movie. I think it is not opinionated, but people are opinionated and people will create those things using these tools.”On this episode of CRAFTED., we discuss what AI is good at and how to create a great marriage of human and machine. And Hilary is not holding back… “Doing data work without a soul or without philosophy is, at best, meaningless and, at worst, harmful.”“I think prompts are gonna go away. We're in a moment of industry-wide product design, chaos…”Listen for a masterclass on building with AI and building with creativity and soul.(02:00) - – This moment in AI: figuring out the right use cases and design patterns (05:00) - – Founding Hidden Door (09:00) - – Why “controllability” is so important (11:00) - – Enabling fans want to play with their favorite characters (13:00) - – Why text-based games are so great (15:00) - – Behind the scenes of how Hidden Door builds for fun (19:00) - – AI has caused a moment of “industry-wide product design chaos” (23:00) - – Industries and use cases where AI will be really good; where it won’t (25:00) - – Effective ways to get beyond AI mediocrity (28:00) - – Why Hilary thinks prompts will soon go away (31:00) - – Hilary’s liberal arts background: English + Computer Science (33:00) - – Why we need philosophy and soul along with the data Where to find Hidden Door:https://www.hiddendoor.co/Where to find Hilary Mason:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hilarymason/X: https://x.com/hmason Where to find Dan Blumberg:Website & newsletter: https://www.crafted.fm LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dblums/X: https://x.com/dblumsCRAFTED. is produced by Modern Product Minds, where CRAFTED. host Dan Blumberg and team can help you take a new product from zero to one... and beyond. We specialize in early stage product discovery, growth, and experimentation. Learn more at modernproductminds.com 

As AI models grow larger and more powerful, they promise incredible capabilities — but at what cost? Karen Hao is a journalist and former engineer who writes about the impact of artificial intelligence on society for The Atlantic and other top publications. On this episode of CRAFTED., we discuss whether the largest AI models are worth their hefty footprint: They consume massive amounts of electricity and water and Karen argues that smaller models better balance cost vs. benefit. Karen will also provide a view of AI from outside — far outside — Silicon Valley. She’s reported on AI from across the Global South and we’ll hear about the fight over data centers in Chile, how New Zealand’s Maori people are using AI to preserve their indigenous language, and why it’s a problem that AI can speak any language, but can only really be policed in a few.Key Moments:(01:51) - - The view of AI from the Global South (04:08) - - Data centers are thirsty and their benefit is unclear to locals in Chile (and elsewhere) (09:16) - - GenAI is English-first: Why it’s not as safe in other languages (12:12) - - Why some activists call AI a new form of “colonialism” (14:50) - - Indigenous communities innovating with AI (17:46) - - The case for smaller AI models (19:40) - - Why open source AI is so important (25:09) - - AI and the environmental impact: Karen’s reporting on Microsoft’s “hypocrisy” (28:40) - - Are big AI models worth the cost? (34:56) - - How Karen trains journalists to cover AI Where to find Karen:Website: https://karendhao.com/X: https://x.com/_KarenHaoLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karendhao/Threads: https://www.threads.net/@_karenhaoArticles Mentioned:Microsoft’s Hypocrisy on AI (The Atlantic) A new vision of artificial intelligence for the people (MIT Technology Review)AI Is Taking Water From the Desert (The Atlantic)Where to find Dan Blumberg:Website & newsletter: https://www.crafted.fm LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dblums/X: https://x.com/dblumsCRAFTED. is produced by Modern Product Minds, where CRAFTED. host Dan Blumberg and team can help you take a new product from zero to one... and beyond. We specialize in early stage product discovery, growth, and experimentation. Learn more at modernproductminds.com Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm

Russ Somers has tripled his productivity by building a “GPTeam” of AI “employees.” In this episode, from Beyond the Prompt, the head of marketing for Quantified reveals how he’s done it, and how you can build your own virtual team to be more productive and creative. Russ’s virtual team helps with tasks ranging from webinar content creation to specialized knowledge acquisition. Through personal anecdotes and exploratory conversations, the episode delves into the process of building AI team members, the importance of play in learning and innovation, and strategies for incorporating AI into personal and professional growth. Highlights include building AI with specific skill sets like 'Wendy Webinar' and 'Roger RevOps,' and the philosophical implications of personifying AI for better engagement and output. And Russ's personal journey from a layoff to pioneering AI productivity tools opens a discussion on the transformative power of AI in the modern workplace.Subscribe to Beyond the Prompt on Spotify, Apple, or your favorite podcast app. And follow hosts Henrik Werdelin and Jeremy Utley on LinkedIn. Key Moments:(00:48) - Meet Russ Summers: The One-Man Marketing Powerhouse (02:30) - Introducing Wendy Webinar: A GPT Team Member Revolutionizing Content Creation (04:30) - Leveling Up with GPT: Beyond Basic Task Automation (06:00) - Roger RevOps: A Custom GPT for Niche Expertise (08:55) - Exploring the Next Frontier: Collaborative and Mentorship GPTs (15:13) - The Art of Building and Utilizing GPT Staff: Tips and Tricks (23:15) - Expanding the Team: Integrating GPTs into Human Workflows (24:30) - Exploring Organizational Progress and Tool Adoption (26:13) - The Importance of Measuring Effort and Encouraging Experimentation (27:38) - Fostering Creativity and Psychological Safety in the Workplace (29:54) - Personifying Bots for Better Engagement and Output (32:30) - Reimagining Brand Communication in a Conversational World (35:46) - The Transformative Power of Play and Exploration (39:31) - Strategies for Personal and Professional Growth with GPT (48:42) - Concluding Thoughts on Innovation and the Future of Work

Kira Radinsky is the CEO of Diagnostic Robotics, which uses AI to make predictions that help patients get better healthcare. She’s also the co-founder of Mana.bio which is using AI to automate drug discovery. On this episode of CRAFTED., Kira will share more on why she believes that, of all the industries that AI will change, it’s those involving chemistry and biology that will change the most. Plus, why she says: “I just want AI to replace me as a scientist.” Kira shares:How Mana.bio is using AI to build new “rocketships” that can deliver drugs to the right planets (cells) — and how they’ve done things in three months that used to take 20 yearsHow AI is accelerating drug discovery by creating feedback loops that speed up learningHow Diagnostic Robotics makes predictions on patient outcomes that help doctors and care teams provide better careWhy she loves making predictions — Kira is famous for them. Over a decade ago, while getting her PhD and working with Microsoft, she built systems that successfully predicted cholera outbreaks and riots.How to incentivize bots to make bolder predictions. i.e. It’s easy to predict that there will not be an earthquake today; it’s harder to say today there will be one. Why predictions are only valuable if there’s something you can do to prevent bad outcomes — and why this makes healthcare an ideal fieldHow advances in software have enabled her to follow her dream and be a scientist. (Kira doesn’t have the great hands you need to be a lab chemist.)Key Moments (02:29) - Why predictions have been so important to Kira from an early age, and her dream to be a scientist (05:46) - How Kira predicts the future and how she became famous for predicting the first cholera outbreak to hit Cuba in more than 100 years (09:49) - How Diagnostic Robotics makes predictions that improve healthcare outcomes (14:22) - Big unlocks to make better predictions — and explain them to doctors (16:42) - What’s “easy” to predict and what’s hard; how to incentivize bots to make bold predictions (e.g. an earthquake) (18:49) - Founding Mana.bio and how AI can improve drug discovery (23:37) - AI will have a huge impact on the administrative aspects of patient care (28:07) - How Mana.bio creates rapid learning feedback loops (29:54) - Tips for building with GenAI and why more attention should be paid to causal inference (32:52) - Where GenAI will be really transformative in the future (34:35) - Outro CRAFTED. is brought to you in partnership with Docker, which helps developers build, share, run and verify applications anywhere – without environment confirmation or management. More than 20 million developers worldwide use Docker's suite of development tools, services and automations to accelerate the delivery of secure applications. CRAFTED. is produced by Modern Product Minds, where CRAFTED. host Dan Blumberg and team can help you take a new product from zero to one... and beyond. We specialize in early stage product discovery, growth, and experimentation. Learn more at modernproductminds.com Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm

Matt Flannery and Branch have done something the banks have not: learned how to profitably lend to people who have little to no credit history. Matt is the founder and CEO of Branch, which issues small loans to millions of people in India, Nigeria, Kenya, and Tanzania. He's also the founder of Kiva, a microfinance pioneer that skyrocketed from a small project into a worldwide nonprofit that Oprah and President Clinton loved talking about. On this episode of CRAFTED., we learn how Branch uses data from people's phones to confidently make loans to people who don't have traditional credit scores. Plus, how they prevent fraud and avoid bias. We'll also explore the wild ways that Branch is experimenting with Generative AI, including how they are creating “future synthetic data” that they believe will predict how users will save and spend in the future. Takeaways:Branch uses AI to confidently lend to people without traditional credit scoresBranch was built on traditional machine learning models – the name “Branch” derives in part from the “random forest” approach – and now is adding Generative AI approaches to the mixBranch is using GenAI to create “future synthetic data” that predicts how people will spend and save in the years to come. As Matt says, “it’s kind of a wild idea” and it’ll take a few years to see how predictive the approach isTo avoid bias, lend to lots of people no matter what the data says. It will teach you what the “natural loss rate” is and prevent you from training your model on customers you’ve already selected as creditworthy.Preventing fraud is the biggest challenge. And you can go from zero fraud to massive fraud over a weekend if fraudsters discover a vulnerability.Branch is hugely successful in India, because of the approach it developed in Africa: lend very small amounts to lots of people and, as people repay, offer them larger loans. Branch failed in Mexico, because the user experience of repaying the loan (visiting a local shop) was too difficult; meanwhile another reason for success in India is the country’s recent rollout of a nationwide mobile payments system (UPI). Plus, willingness to repay in India is naturally very high. Key Moments:(02:33) - Founding Kiva and its rise from a side project to a worldwide non-profit (06:31) - Founding Branch and the impact of lending to people that banks won’t (10:03) - Scaling Branch, and why it can grow better as a for-profit than Kiva could as a non-profit (14:28) - Why fraud is the biggest challenge to Branch and how they prevent it (16:17) - How Branch got really good at making quick lending decisions and why it’s critical to approve lots of people (18:41) - Why Branch failed in Mexico, and how those lessons led to their outsize success in India (21:34) - How Branch uses AI to make lending decisions and how it’s experimenting with GenAI to create “future synthetic data” (25:40) - How to prevent bias – and why Branch automatically approves lots of people for loans no matter what the data says about them (29:04) - What’s next for branch (29:57) - How being in a rock band helped Matt gain confidence — and how that served him when he’d later appear on Oprah (30:59) - Outro CRAFTED. is brought to you in partnership with Docker, which helps developers build, share, run and verify applications anywhere – without environment confirmation or management. More than 20 million developers worldwide use Docker's suite of development tools, services and automations to accelerate the delivery of secure applications. CRAFTED. is produced by Modern Product Minds, where CRAFTED. host Dan Blumberg and team can help you take a new product from zero to one... and beyond. We specialize in early stage product discovery, growth, and experimentation. Learn more at modernproductminds.com Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm

Nithya Ruff is an expert on open source. As the head of AWS’s Open Source Program Office and the Chair of the Linux Foundation, she has a wide view on all things open source. On this episode of CRAFTED., we discuss:Why Open Source AI is so tricky, but also so essential, to defineHow open source needs to evolve for the next generation of developersWhat an Open Source Program Office is — and why companies like AWS have themThe questions, benefits, and risks that arise when a company is considering using open source technologiesWhy contributing to open source (“giving back”) is not always so selfless: relying on a successful, well-supported open source technology can be very advantageous to companiesWhy you need need to be deliberate when growing an open source project – just let it grow organically is not a great recipe for success todayHow open source draws on so many skills beyond coding, such as community management, marketing, and legalHow open source is not just for software. Social change, agriculture, and other domains often use open source approachesNithya’s path, and why she loves with open sourceKey Moments:(02:20) - The state of open source today (04:47) - Teaching a new generation the values of open source, increasing diversity (07:38) - Open source AI, why we need a definition of it, and why we should insist on it or else live in a “black box” future (11:34) - Open source is full of possibilities (13:08) - What an OSPO (Open Source Program Office) is and why companies have them (16:18) - Common open source questions developers face (21:24) - How to balance risk vs. reward when using open source (24:01) - Why (most) open source projects should not grow organically, and the value of community management (25:53) - Open source is not just for code. Social good, agriculture, and other applications… (27:40) - Nithya’s story: how she got into tech and why she fell in love with open source because it draws on so many skills, beyond just coding (32:01) - Outro CRAFTED. is brought to you in partnership with Docker, which helps developers build, share, run and verify applications anywhere – without environment confirmation or management. More than 20 million developers worldwide use Docker's suite of development tools, services and automations to accelerate the delivery of secure applications. CRAFTED. is produced by Modern Product Minds, where CRAFTED. host Dan Blumberg and team can help you take a new product from zero to one... and beyond. We specialize in early stage product discovery, growth, and experimentation. Learn more at modernproductminds.com Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm

Mario Rodriguez is GitHub's Chief Product Officer. And he believes that Copilot and other AI advances will unleash a wave of creativity and enable a billion people to be software developers.Mario says the definition of “software developer” will have to change as non-professionals discover that they can make apps, too. And the way they do so will look very different: “It's gonna feel a lot more like how kids play. ​​It's like you create something you play with and you're like, Nope. Then you instruct it again… It’s going to be real time development.”On this episode of CRAFTED., Mario gets us excited about the future of software development!Takeaways:Mario says we’ve lost some of the creativity of the early days of the web; AI is helping bring it backWith AI, it’s getting much easier (for non-professional developers) to build “micro experiences” and other ephemeral apps that just serve one purpose. The craft of product management must change with AI, because building with non-deterministic AI is so tricky to get rightWhen building with AI, run your scenario multiple times. Test your prompts repeatedly. You will get different responses each time. Are they all helpful to your user? Invest in offline evaluation when building with AI or else you’ll have lots of problems later. Psychology is key. How will users react if AI tells them something subjective? Mario has seen Copilot users get upset, e.g. “Nope, you're completely wrong. I know what I'm doing. You are a machine. I am not gonna ask you to ever review my code.” Don’t optimize for just one metric. Mario says you should have three or so that you evaluate in concert. Product sense matters! Prompt engineering is real. How you can better prompt your CopilotKeeping developers in flow is critical. How much time do developers spend on “sense-making” vs. coding? How much time do they spend waiting for reviews? These are some of the questions GitHub asks when evaluating developer productivity. Mario came to the US from Cuba when he was in high school. His father is an electrical engineer and his mother is a teacher. Both influence him greatly.Mario founded a charter school in rural North Carolina because “everyone should have access to amazing education.”System thinking and evaluating things from first principles are key skills for the future. CRAFTED. is brought to you in partnership with Docker, which helps developers build, share, run and verify applications anywhere – without environment confirmation or management. More than 20 million developers worldwide use Docker's suite of development tools, services and automations to accelerate the delivery of secure applications. CRAFTED. is produced by Modern Product Minds, where CRAFTED. host Dan Blumberg and team can help you take a new product from zero to one... and beyond. We specialize in early stage product discovery, growth, and experimentation. Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fmKey Moments (00:00) - Intro (02:32) - 1B Developers! (05:53) - Ephemeral apps and how they will unleash creativity and learning (06:21) - The time Dan programmed his TI-83 calculator to play blackjack (07:32) - Why “natural language is going to take center stage” as software development evolves (10:30) - Why building with Generative AI is completely different (13:50) - Why humans don’t always respond well to suggestions from CoPilot (15:36) - Why offline evaluation is so important when building with AI (19:14) - Building Copilot: balancing speed with value (21:01) - Why “product sense” matter so much (21:54) - Tips for prompting CoPilot effectively (25:33) - Building Copilot: the early days (30:18) - How GitHub measures developer happiness (32:54) - Growing up in Cuba and developing a love for teaching (his mom’s profession) and engineering (his dad’s) (36:52) - Why Mario founded a school in rural North Carolina (39:05) - Systems thinking, and other skills that Mario hopes today’s kids will learn (41:50) - Outro

Henrik Werdelin is on an AI-fueled mission to launch thousands of startups a year. He is the founder of BARK, which went public, and prehype, a studio that has incubated several unicorns. With Audos, Henrik is building AI agents that can coach founders how he would — if he had infinite time to do so. And Audos is not just for the cliche founder looking to launch a unicorn… It’s for entrepreneurs of all stripes. With AI making things easier, Henrik expects to see lots more “DonkeyCorns,” i.e. highly profitable businesses operated by just one or two people. “DonkeyCorns party like unicorns, but they grind like mules.”Check out this episode for lots of practical tips for how you can get more out of AI. Plus, we’ll peer into the weird future we’re building. Takeaways from this episode: AI enables new businesses to be created, launched, and tested very quickly. Henrik shares how Audos uses AI to help founders focus on their customers, launch, and get customersHenrik talks to his AI agents like they’re people: He gives them names and backstories. By doing so, he finds he has a better partner than a bot or Google search would be. The more creative you are with prompts, the better the AI will be. e.g., Ask for “ten ideas that will definitely get me fired”“Customer-founder fit” is the most important ingredient to Henrik Use “signal mining” to prove there is real demand for your product“The swipe” proves there is real intent for your product, i.e. get people to pay for it, even if you haven’t built it yet.BARK succeeded (it’s gone public) by following its mission (be “Disney for dogs”) not by following its utility (boxes of stuff for pets)“Relationship capital” and “humanity” will be more important, as AI continues to excel at technical jobs. Take AI seriously right now. And Henrik says senior leaders need to be using it themselvesIt’s weird out there: We discuss the uncanny valley of talking to AI agents (including those that impersonate your dead spouse) Rock and roll – Henrik tells the story of his career break: As an intern, he pulled an on-air stunt at MTV that he was sure would get him fired, but instead got him a huge promotion.Henrik is the author of The Acorn Method: How Companies Get Growing Again. And he’s writing a new book, Me, My Customer, and AI. He also co-hosts the podcast Beyond the Prompt, which features the interesting, weird, and uncanny-valley ways people are using AI in their day-to-day lives, as well as practical tips for how you can go beyond “beginner mode” in your own use of AI. CRAFTED. is brought to you in partnership with Docker, which helps developers build, share, run and verify applications anywhere – without environment confirmation or management. More than 20 million developers worldwide use Docker's suite of development tools, services and automations to accelerate the delivery of secure applications. CRAFTED. is produced by Modern Product Minds, where CRAFTED. host Dan Blumberg and team can help you take a new product from zero to one... and beyond. We specialize in early-stage product discovery, growth, and experimentation. Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fmKey Moments (00:00) - Intro (02:56) - Henrik’s method for launching startups (04:08) - Why “customer-founder fit” is the first thing he looks for and how it manifested at BARK (06:43) - How to use “signal mining” to prove there is real demand for your product (08:42) - Launching BARK Air, “a totally real airline for dogs” (12:28) - Launching Audos and using AI to launch thousands of startups a year (17:05) - “DonkeyCorns!” Why we will see more highly profitable companies run by just one or two people (21:30) - How Henrik uses AI, why he personifies his agents, and the creative prompts he uses (27:50) - The stunt that nearly got Henrik fired at MTV, but instead was his career break (31:00) - Why big companies need to take AI seriously right now (34:27) - How Henrik advises entrepreneurs looking for their next play (37:12) - “Pursue interestingness” (38:24) - The uncanny valley of AI embodying people (39:50) - Outro

Sports, and the way we experience them, is changing. And AI, 5G, 3D, and all the other buzzy acronyms are why. Behshad Behzadi is the CTO and Chief AI Officer of Sportradar and on this episode of CRAFTED., we explore ways sports and technology are intersecting in novel, weird, and amazing ways. Sportradar creates immersive experiences and data products for sports fans, players, leagues, and bettors. Behshad joined after 17 years at Google where he co-founded Google Assistant, Google Lens and more. He's been building with AI and voice for way longer than most and has lots of practical advice on how to get the most out of AI. Takeaways from this episode:AI enables incredibly precise levels of personalization — and that’s coming to a sports experience near you“GenAI is like a hammer…” but don’t use it like one. Traditional coding is often more effective, and you may want a mix of GenAI and old school code for different parts of the same problemYou don’t always need the latest greatest GenAI models – save costs by using smaller models when you canTo build moats, look to your data and customer relationships; less so to your GenAI modelsWhen adopting GenAI, corporations need good governance and oversightGoogle Assistant, which Behshad helped launch, promised too many things in its earliest versions, leading to user confusionIgnore the competition and focus on user needs (not easy when there is a race to dominate a market, as there was with the rise of Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa)Behshad says the “ultimate assistant” is coming within the next 20 yearsBehshad says AI will help cure many diseases in the next 20 yearsKey Moments:(02:42) - Why this (AI) moment is so exciting in sports and beyond (04:04) - Personalizing the fan experience (06:09) - How GenAI can give you a competitive advantage (and where it won’t) (08:05) - How companies can succeed with GenAI, and pitfalls to avoid (10:48) - When to use GenAI and when to use old school coding (11:59) - midroll (13:10) - Adopting GenAI internally for writing code and more (16:06) - Building Google Assistant and early AI + voice products (18:09) - Why you should ignore the competition, and other hard moments from scaling Google Assistant (20:58) - Why Behshad believes “ultimate assistant” will soon be reality and many diseases will be cured thanks to the rise of AI (22:32) - Outro CRAFTED. is brought to you in partnership with Docker, which helps developers build, share, run and verify applications anywhere – without environment confirmation or management. More than 20 million developers worldwide use Docker's suite of development tools, services and automations to accelerate the delivery of secure applications. CRAFTED. is produced by Modern Product Minds, where CRAFTED. host Dan Blumberg and team can help you take a new product from zero to one... and beyond. We specialize in early stage product discovery, growth, and experimentation. Learn more at modernproductminds.com Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm

Jeff Birkeland is the SVP of Product and Platform at Included Health, a company that aims to be the app on your phone that you first think of when you have a healthcare need.On this episode of CRAFTED., we explore why “the integration itself is the innovation.” Included Health has more than 2,000 employees across both technology and clinical care, and its services are used by many top companies and their employees. The goal: create an integrated experience that brings it all together… from insurance to diet to doctors to drugs and more… The disjointed nature of healthcare is something Jeff has experienced personally. Such as when he asked his surgeon about food: “ He told me directly like, ‘Hey, the dietician stuff is not my thing…’ Our challenge at Included health is how do we make those connections?”To make those connections, Jeff relies on skills he learned before he got into product: He used to make documentaries. We'll hear how Jeff applies this power of narrative at Included Health and at Headspace, where he used to lead the consumer product team. Takeaways from this episode:Often, the “integration itself is the innovation.”Consider the “in-between” times: What is your user doing before and after they use your product? What should they do? Personalization: How small product details for you add up to a great product experienceGenAI: How to build and test new AI-powered experiencesSpeed matters: the quicker you make something, the more your user will want to do it (an old lesson from Google, that also applies at Included and many more things)Key Moments:(02:35) - “Like a movie” — How Jeff applies his storytelling skills to user experience (03:58) - Consider the “in-between moments” – What is your user doing before and after they use your app? And how Jeff applied this thinking at Headspace (05:42) - “The dietician stuff is not my thing,” said Jeff’s surgeon. Included Health is trying to prevent its members from that sort of disjointed experience (08:12) - Lessons from leading the consumer product team at Headspace (11:10) - About Included Health and what is surprising Jeff about healthcare innovation (14:34) - Personalization: How Included Health is creating personalized experiences to serve members better (17:10) - AI and product development: experimenting with using AI to answer members’ questions about their insurance coverage (20:29) - Evaluating the AI product and considering whether it’s ready for a wider roll out (22:18) - Outro CRAFTED. is brought to you in partnership with Docker, which helps developers build, share, run and verify applications anywhere – without environment confirmation or management. More than 20 million developers worldwide use Docker's suite of development tools, services and automations to accelerate the delivery of secure applications. CRAFTED. is produced by Modern Product Minds, where CRAFTED. host Dan Blumberg and team can help you take a new product from zero to one... and beyond. We specialize in early stage product discovery, growth, and experimentation. Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm

April Dunford is an expert at product positioning. She’s advised hundreds of B2B companies on how they can make their products Obviously Awesome  — that’s also the title of her bestselling book on positioning. On this episode of CRAFTED., April shares tips on how you can make your product standout and how you can drive more sales — that’s the focus of her latest book, Sales Pitch.April says great positioning starts when you truly understand the answer to this question: “If you didn't exist, what would a customer do?” And the answer may surprise you: “We lose half of our deals in B2B to ‘do nothing!’” Do nothing – the status quo – is a fierce competitor and April has identified ways to help customers gain the confidence they need to make a scary purchase decision (e.g. buying a new CRM). Key here: don’t sell to your customer; help them buy. April is fun and has a knack for sharing colorful anecdotes and analogies that will stick with you. e.g. Tune in to find out what buying a toilet has to do with B2B SaaS. Takeaways from this episode:Positioning defines how your product is the best in the world at delivering something to a defined group of peopleGreat positioning starts with understanding the competition. Not what you think the competition is, but what your customers actually evaluate you against. e.g. Is your product cake (dessert) or a muffin (breakfast)? They’re both made of bread and pretty similar, but they’ve got totally different competitors.Startups often have great positioning at the outset, but then it slips over time as new competitors copy what you do and your uniqueness gets lost. You need to pay attention to your positioning as the market changes.Don’t sell! Help your customers buy. Don’t assume they know how to! Imagine you’re selling a CRM… When was the last time your customer bought one? Ten years ago? If ever. Help them contextualize your product among the others out there.Lead with business outcomes! Not features.Key Moments:(00:00) - Introduction (02:20) - - Working with founders, being "the positioning expert", and why positioning is so tricky to get right (05:22) - - How to make your product "Obviously Awesome" (07:18) - - The five elements of great positioning (15:59) - - Why "do nothing" is your strongest competitor: 50% of B2B deals are lost to "do nothing" (17:43) - - Don't sell: Rather, "help your customers buy" (and what buying a toilet has to do with this) (29:50) - - April positions herself: How she grew her personal brand and narrowed in on her solopreneur offering (33:16) - - Outro CRAFTED. is brought to you in partnership with Docker, which helps developers build, share, run and verify applications anywhere – without environment confirmation or management. More than 20 million developers worldwide use Docker's suite of development tools, services and automations to accelerate the delivery of secure applications. CRAFTED. is produced by Modern Product Minds, where CRAFTED. host Dan Blumberg and team can help you take a new product from zero to one... and beyond. We specialize in early stage product discovery, growth, and experimentation. Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm

Making media is hard. Distributing it to the right audience even more so. GenAI can help. Matt Monahan is the president of Arc XP at the Washington Post. On this episode, we're digging into the core technology of any media company: the content management system (CMS), why they’re so hard to build right and how new GenAI tools can reduce the toil required for journalists to get their stories to the right audience. Arc XP is not only the CMS used by the Washington Post, but it’s also used by many other publishers, broadcasters, and companies with stories to tell. Matt shares more on the challenge of commercializing and white-listing an internal tool for others to use. It’s a tantalizing idea – turn that cost center into a profit center! — but it’s not for the faint of heart. Plus, lessons from Jeff Bezos, the owner of the Washington Post, including how the Post uses key Amazon practices, such as the “six page memo” and “one- and two-way doors.” Key Moments: (00:00) - Introduction (02:25) - From print to digital: hard product & organizational changes (04:17) - Why the CMS is where it all comes together (06:27) - Commercializing an internal tool: selling Arc XP to other publishers (10:07) - AWS and the impact of Jeff Bezos on the Washington Post (11:30) - The famous six-page memo and how the Post benefits from it (14:06) - GenAI: New features Matt is building to reduce toil for journalists (19:16) - How to pick the right model and fine tune it (21:55) - Matt’s a pilot! What flying has taught him about running a business (23:04) - Being nimble: Why there are more “one way doors” than you think (24:38) - Outro CRAFTED. is brought to you in partnership with Docker, which helps developers build, share, run and verify applications anywhere – without environment confirmation or management. More than 20 million developers worldwide use Docker's suite of development tools, services and automations to accelerate the delivery of secure applications. CRAFTED. is produced by Modern Product Minds, where CRAFTED. host Dan Blumberg and team can help you take a new product from zero to one... and beyond. We specialize in early stage product discovery, growth, and experimentation. Learn more at modernproductminds.com Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm

Dr. Kristen DiCerbo is Khan Academy’s Chief Learning Officer, where she sets the company's product, teaching, and learning strategy — with AI at the forefront. Khanmigo is amazing. It’s the GenAI-powered product from Khan Academy that helps students learn and teachers teach — and could revolutionize education. Khan Academy is used by 12 million students a month! And they’ve been an early adopter of GenAI. Khanmigo coaches students in math and English, helps teachers prepare lesson plans, enables parents to get help as they help their children with their homework, and much more… On this episode of CRAFTED., Kristen shares how they build with Generative AI  — and how you can learn from their experiences to build your own AI experiences. We dig into how Khan Academy:Builds with GenAI’s unpredictability in mindHelps GenAI get good at math (and also built a UX that masks the ways it is bad at it)Gave Khanmigo an “inner monologue” that helps it slow down and better tutor studentsBuilt a “prompt playground” where they can evaluate various promptsBuilt a “prompt library” where they can keep track of promptsEmploy fine-tuning, red teaming, hackathons, and more…Sal Khan’s new book is entitled “Brave New Words: How AI Will Revolutionize Education (and Why That's a Good Thing)” – On this episode we explore how and why!***(00:00) - Introduction (02:04) - Education + technology: Kristen early experiences (05:10) - Khan Academy primer: 12M students a month! (07:36) - Getting early access to GPT4 (09:02) - GenAI: early experiments with tutoring (11:40) - GenAI is bad at math! How Khan Academy grappled with this (15:42) - Building an AI-powered writing tutor (19:49) - How AI can free teachers from grading homework and help students learn more quickly (21:20) - Prompt chaining: why you need to break up your prompts to get good results (22:48) - Preventing AI-powered plagiarism (26:30) - The role of teacher in an AI world (30:26) - Outro ***CRAFTED. is brought to you in partnership with Docker, which helps developers build, share, run and verify applications anywhere – without environment confirmation or management. More than 20 million developers worldwide use Docker's suite of development tools, services and automations to accelerate the delivery of secure applications. CRAFTED. is produced by Modern Product Minds, where CRAFTED. host Dan Blumberg and team can help you take a new product from zero to one... and beyond. We specialize in early stage product discovery, growth, and experimentation. Learn more at modernproductminds.com Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm

Kelsey Hightower is a legend. He regularly gives live software demos in front of tens of thousands of people, improvising them like it’s jazz. He’s a master storyteller and a master craftsman. He helped evangelize and establish Kubernetes and recently retired (at 42!) from Google where he was a distinguished engineer. Kelsey loves to level people up and in this conversation we discuss the power of innovation that happens after going from Zero to One. Or, as Kelsey puts it, “From Hello, World to Hello, Revenue” — and why those boring innovations show true grit and craftsmanship. We also discuss the art of the demo, how Kelsey engages crowds with his humanity, and how you can, too. And Kelsey shares what he’s learned in his first year of retirement. He’s actually quite busy and has to remind folks that “I’m retired; not tired.” He’s fixing up his house, making time for others, and “learning how to live.” We get into what that means… This episode is very special. Enjoy!Key Moments:[03:06] “I’m retired; not tired.” – What Kelsey’s been up to in his first year off the job — and why he refuses to mount his TV over the fireplace[04:51] “How do the makers mature?” — Kelsey’s thoughts on how developers can advance their careers by getting good at innovating after, sometimes long after, going from zero to one[08:53] Keeping an open mindset: how developers integrate new technologies, e.g. Docker [17:13] “Creating good software is very emotional”[20:40] The art of the live demo[25:39] Humans are natural storytellers – embrace it! [27:31] Vulnerability and how Kelsey learned to be so confident on stage[30:38] The time Kelsey nearly bombed on stage, but turned it around into an “extra dope” moment on stage at a Google keynote[36:15] “A lot of people don’t realize how much power they have until way later in life” – why even the really little things (like saying hello to a stranger) matter[39:28] Representation matters: being a black man in tech[42:15] The power of open source[45:04] “What is my actual impact on society?” — why Kelsey retired: [47:46] Kelsey’s hopes for the future — and why we should be more excited about human intelligence, not just artificial intelligence***CRAFTED. is brought to you in partnership with Docker, which helps developers build, share, run and verify applications anywhere – without environment confirmation or management. More than 20 million developers worldwide use Docker's suite of development tools, services and automations to accelerate the delivery of secure applications. CRAFTED. is produced by Modern Product Minds, where CRAFTED. host Dan Blumberg and team can help you take a new product from zero to one... and beyond. We specialize in early stage product discovery, growth, and experimentation. Learn more at modernproductminds.com Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm

Colin Nederkoorn is the founder and CEO of Customer.io, a top customer engagement platform that enables companies to send the right message to the right user at the right time on the right channel. The platform is used by Notion and lots of other top SaaS companies to personalize user onboarding and more. When Customer.io was founded in 2011, there were analytics platforms and there were things you could do with that data, but as the mobile era was taking off – and user onboarding became even more critical – Colin recognized a need for companies to immediately send users messages based on the actions there users had just taken – or (and this was a lot harder to build) the action they had not taken. On this episode, we learn from Colin how he built and scaled Customer.io from slideware he pitched to early customers into a company that today boasts top clients and a lofty valuation. Plus, tips on how you can improve your own onboarding. ***Key Moments:[2:17] How Colin got into product management and early experiences[5:00] Becoming head of product at DevPost (fka ChallengePost)[7:00] “We were so naive that we just did, we did it.” – Founding Customer.io[10:12] Onboarding and more ways companies use customer.io[14:43] Why you shouldn’t optimize your onboarding too early[17:17] Challenges at customer.io today and their emerging multi-product strategy[19:12] AI vs. rules engines; and how Customer.io is using AI now and experimenting[22:22] Why triggering a notification when a user has not done something is so much harder than if they have[23:55] Infrastructure and constant scaling – one of customer.io’s biggest challenges***CRAFTED. is brought to you in partnership with Docker, which helps developers build, share, run and verify applications anywhere – without environment confirmation or management. More than 20 million developers worldwide use Docker's suite of development tools, services and automations to accelerate the delivery of secure applications. CRAFTED. is produced by Modern Product Minds, where CRAFTED. host Dan Blumberg and team can help you take a new product from zero to one... and beyond. We specialize in early stage product discovery, growth, and experimentation. Learn more at modernproductminds.com Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm

DevPost powers most of the world’s hackathons. And, according to founder and CEO Brandon Kessler, lately there is one overarching directive: “Executives from the top down are saying: `We need to do hackathons to uncover the value of ai.`” Nearly every one of the 1,200 hackathons DevPost powered last year was AI-centric. On this episode of CRAFTED., we explore why hackathons are still such a powerful tool, both as public competitions and as internal initiatives. And we hear the founding story of DevPost and why they pivoted from hosting public competitions of all kinds (cooking challenges with Michelle Obama! NYC Big Apps!) to only focus on developers. Plus, how and why DevPost launched a new product that is custom-built for internal company hackathons. ***Key Moments:[1:53] DevPost’s mission and why hackathons are still so valuable, especially at this moment with AI[6:20] What makes a hackathon successful?[8:40] Brandon’s story: he founded and ran a music label for years before seeing the opportunity with challenges[11:40] Launching ChallengePost, scaling up and powering all federal competitions under President Obama — and why they eventually changed the name and company focus to DevPost[15:46] Launching DevPost for teams: a tool for companies to run internal hackathons[19:00] Brandon’s favorite competitions over the years[22:00] How hackathons have mirrored the top tech trends: from cloud to XR to blockchain to AI[25:18] What’s something that sounds like science fiction now, but that Brandon thinks will be commonplace soon?***CRAFTED. is brought to you in partnership with Docker, which helps developers build, share, run and verify applications anywhere – without environment confirmation or management. More than 20 million developers worldwide use Docker's suite of development tools, services and automations to accelerate the delivery of secure applications. CRAFTED. is produced by Modern Product Minds, where CRAFTED. host Dan Blumberg and team can help you take a new product from zero to one... and beyond. We specialize in early stage product discovery, growth, and experimentation. Learn more at modernproductminds.com Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm

Wonder aims to be a “super app for mealtime”, with people turning to it for everything from delivery to groceries to meal kits and more... It’s a very ambitious food-tech startup founded by Marc Lore, the legendary founder who previously built, scaled, and sold Diapers.com and Jet.com (to Amazon and Walmart, respectively). Wonder is rapidly opening stores across the East Coast that, as they put it, feature 30 restaurants in one location. The theory is that that one location can be 30x as profitable as a similarly-sized operation. Serving and delivering that many types of food, quickly, is an incredible operational challenge. And on this episode of CRAFTED., Wonder VP of Product Rich Przekop shares how his team has built custom software and data products to forecast demand, prevent waste, and make sure the food you want is ready for you. Plus, how Wonder is building for today, but also keeping an eye towards tomorrow… The software Rich and team are building may someday be offered externally to power all manner of food/logistics businesses. ***Key Moments:[2:27] The big vision for Wonder: “a super app for mealtime”[3:28] What it’s like working with legendary founder Marc Lore[5:08] How Rich got so into data (and how GenAI is now passing Wonder’s SQL test)[7:32] The ideal customer experience at Wonder[10:54] Why Wonder had to build custom software[13:02] How and why Wonder built a simulator to help it forecast demand, reduce food waste and prevent stockouts[20:04] How Wonder may someday whitelabel its logistics software and sell it to other companies[23:23] The culture at Wonder and why “Marc is the cheerleader” and Rich plays the role of “Yes, but also…” [26:00] The power of clear, measurable goals***CRAFTED. is brought to you in partnership with Docker, which helps developers build, share, run and verify applications anywhere – without environment confirmation or management. More than 20 million developers worldwide use Docker's suite of development tools, services and automations to accelerate the delivery of secure applications. CRAFTED. is produced by Modern Product Minds, where CRAFTED. host Dan Blumberg and team can help you take a new product from zero to one... and beyond. We specialize in early stage product discovery, growth, and experimentation. Learn more at modernproductminds.com Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm