Generative Now | AI Builders on Creating the Future

Episode: From Periscope to Macroscope: Kayvon Beykpour’s Vision for AI-Powered Development
Date: September 17, 2025
Host: Michael Mignano (Partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners)
Guest: Kayvon Beykpour (Co-Founder & CEO, Macroscope; previously Co-Founder & CEO, Periscope; ex-GM of Consumer Products at Twitter)

Overview: Main Theme & Purpose

This episode marks the launch of Macroscope, Kayvon Beykpour’s latest company, and explores its mission to revolutionize how leaders understand and manage software development using AI. Host Michael Mignano and Kayvon delve into the pain points of tracking work in large tech organizations, the shortcomings of current tools, and Kayvon’s vision for an “understanding engine” powered by cutting-edge LLMs (large language models). The episode also journeys through Kayvon’s entrepreneurial path from building Periscope to operating at Twitter, extracting lessons that converge in the Macroscope product. Along the way, the conversation offers candid takes on management, the future of agentic workplaces, startup philosophies, and the evolution of live social products.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introducing Macroscope: AI-Powered "Understanding Engine"

• Launch Announcement & Purpose

  • Macroscope emerges from stealth, positioning itself as an AI-driven tool to give leaders clarity into their organizations and save engineers time ([00:59]).
  • It solves the fundamental problem: “What the fuck is happening?” in my organization.
  • Typical current state: endless meetings, spreadsheets, manual status updates—all are inefficient and error-prone.

• How Macroscope Works

  • Connects directly to codebases (GitHub, etc.), issue trackers (Linear, Jira), and other dev tools to automatically:
    • Summarize project status
    • Generate PR/commit descriptions
    • Automate AI code reviews
    • Minimize interrupts to engineers by automating status reporting ([01:25]-[03:45]).

“The source of truth for what has happened is the code period. Prior to LLMs, it just wasn't really feasible to use that source of truth… LLMs changed that.”
— Kayvon Beykpour ([47:03])

2. The Need for Visibility in an AI-Driven Workforce

• Future: AI agents increasingly contribute to core work (designs, code)—potentially at vast scale.
• Management will become both more complex and more difficult.
• Macroscope serves as “air traffic control” for tech orgs, tracking both humans and AI agents ([04:31]-[07:45]).

3. Impact on Management & Leadership in Tech

• Macroscope reduces reliance on “middle management”, automating rote reporting and allowing leaders to operate “in founder mode, in peace” ([08:31]-[10:45]).
• Empowers less technical CEOs to gain meaningful insights from code, leveling the playing field ([10:52]).

“Middle management is cooked.”
— Kayvon Beykpour ([10:52])

4. Kayvon’s Journey: From College Startup to Twitter to Macroscope

• First Company: iStanford / Blackboard

  • born in college, solved student pains, acquired by Blackboard.
  • Scaled from a 6-person startup to running Blackboard Mobile with 120 people ([11:32]-[16:13]).

• Periscope: Genesis, Launch, and Lessons

  • Originated from the desire for “teleportation”—to see the world through others’ eyes ([17:13]-[18:29]).
  • Evolved from a photo marketplace (“Bounty”) to live video; key innovations in UX (infinite hearts, portrait video) ([20:00]-[22:57]).
  • Acquired by Twitter pre-launch; faced rapid competition from Meerkat/Facebook Live ([23:34]-[26:47]).

• Periscope’s Downfall & Reflections

  • Fatal flaw: product vision (teleportation) misaligned with user motivations (conversation, fame, connection).
  • Live video as primary format is flawed for a social network—requires asynchronous/networked elements to sustain engagement ([28:33]-[31:44]).
  • Periscope was outpaced by bigger social platforms integrating live.

“I don't think that short form live video can exist as the sole medium within a social network… It's too difficult to make the synchronicity work.” — Kayvon Beykpour ([30:32])

5. Inside Twitter: Scaling, Management Pains, and Product Culture Shifts

• Culture of ‘Refine the Core’

  • Company was famously conservative: growth via focused improvement on the timeline algorithm ([39:28]-[41:45]).
  • Kayvon shifted focus towards experimentation (“sacred cows” list: new bets on communities, creator tools, Spaces, etc.) ([43:15]-[44:38]).

• Organizational Complexity

  • Status reporting in a 3,000+ engineer organization is broken: status lost in translation, huge redundant meetings, endless spreadsheets ([44:38]-[46:39]).
  • Inspired Macroscope’s core problem statement—giving execs and leaders a true “source of truth” from the codebase itself.

6. Building Macroscope: From EA-As-A-Service to AI for Engineering Org Management

• Initial Ideas and Pivots

  • First tried building an AI-powered EA/to-do list app (with both LLMs & real EAs), but usage and user pain were insufficient.
  • Pivoted focus to solving the problem experienced most deeply at Twitter: making organizational status legible via LLMs ([54:44]-[58:21]).

• Unique Technical Approach

  • Uses code’s Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) to construct a graph, feeding LLMs meaningful structure and context.
  • Plans to expand data sources: Figma, experimentation dashboards, and beyond ([59:43]-[61:51]).

7. Vision: The Next 1–2 Years for Macroscope and AI Management Tools

• Further automating the “perception layer” of the organization.
• Deepening integrations across product development (design, code, analytics).
• Moving from storytelling to active orchestration of product evolution ([59:43]-[61:51]).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Quote | Speaker | |:---|:---|:---| | 03:44 | “All those meetings, spreadsheets, ticketing systems, emails... are ultimately trying to solve one fundamental problem: What the fuck is happening?” | Kayvon | | 08:31 | “I'm extremely bearish on middle management, always have been... middle management is cooked.” | Kayvon | | 21:11 | “I don't think I've ever asked you the story of the hearts because it was a really innovative feedback mechanism at the time.” | Michael | | 24:43 | “Within four minutes of meeting Dick at the Twitter office, he handed us a term sheet.” | Kayvon | | 30:32 | “I don't think that short form live video can exist as the sole medium within a social network... It's too difficult to make the synchronicity work.” | Kayvon | | 41:26 | “Going from a reverse chronological timeline to a rank timeline... no single feature at Twitter has been responsible for more DAU growth than that.” | Kayvon | | 44:38 | “When you're the head of product... literally one of the most annoying but important parts of my job is just understanding what the fuck people were working on.” | Kayvon | | 47:03 | “The thing that made this different is that the source code has always been the source of truth for all this stuff...” | Kayvon | | 54:21 | “He was like, you can come hang out and swipe right if you like it and swipe left if you don't, which I still think is an amazing line.” | Kayvon (on Elon Musk job offer) | | 59:03 | “Really competent engineers who are like senior experts in their code base will say, wow. Getting an engineer to say wow about, like a summary—is a good signal.” | Kayvon | | 61:51 | “We’re starting with humble beginnings... But there’s a lot more we can do moving forward.” | Kayvon |

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:59] — Macroscope Launch & Purpose
• [03:45] — How Macroscope Automates Engineering Status
• [08:31] — Automation and the End of Middle Management
• [11:32] — Kayvon’s Early Startup Experience (iStanford/Blackboard)
• [16:13] — Periscope Origin, Prototyping, and Acquisition Story
• [28:33] — Why Periscope and Live Social Formats Struggled
• [39:28] — Twitter's Product Culture: "Refine the Core"
• [44:38] — Scaling Pains, Communication Nightmares at Twitter
• [47:02] — LLMs Enabling New Approaches to Org Visibility
• [54:21] — Elon Musk’s Offer to Kayvon (“Swipe right…”)
• [59:43] — What’s Next for Macroscope & AI-Powered Orchestration

Additional Memorable Moments

• The infinite “hearts” UX innovation on Periscope—its significance and design process ([21:11]-[22:57]).
• Candid retelling of how Twitter’s “Refine the Core” strategy saved the business but harmed innovation ([39:28]-[43:15]).
• The awkward, famous interaction between Kayvon, Scott Belsky, Elon Musk, and Walter Isaacson post-acquisition ([50:33]-[54:21]).

Takeaway

Generative Now’s launch-day episode with Kayvon Beykpour traces the DNA of Macroscope to the inefficiencies and insights he gathered building and scaling ventures at all stages—from campus startups to Silicon Valley giants. Through candid, founder-to-founder banter, listeners get an insider’s look at why even the most technologically advanced organizations are desperate for “understanding engines”—and how the AI stack is making that possible. Macroscope represents more than a tool; it’s a vision for the orchestration layer future in AI-powered companies.

Get more at macroscope.com