Podcast
Lenny's Reads
Hosted by Lenny Rachitsky · EN
Audio editions of Lenny's Newsletter
17episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Listen: Not all AI agents are created equal
Apr 1500:20:13Summary readyHamza Farooq and Jaya Rajwani, who teach two of the most highly-rated courses on building AI agents, share a practical framework for categorizing and prioritizing your agent initiatives. Drawing on over 50 hours of research and work with Fortune 500 companies, including Jack in the Box, Tripadvisor, and The Home Depot, they explain why most teams get stuck when building agents—and how a three-category taxonomy transforms a confusing backlog into a clear, sequenced roadmap.---In this episode, you'll learn:• Why prioritizing AI agent initiatives is so hard, and why familiar planning tools like impact-effort matrices break down• The three architectural categories every agent falls into• How to choose the right platform for each category• Success metrics and ROI frameworks tailored to each architectural type• How to quickly course-correct when you’ve picked the wrong architecture---References• Agent Engineering Bootcamp: https://maven.com/hamza-farooq/agent-engineering-bootcamp• Agentic AI for PMs: https://maven.com/• AutoGen: https://microsoft.github.io/autogen/• Claude Code: https://claude.ai/code• CrewAI: https://crewai.com• Google ADK: https://google.github.io/adk-docs/• Google A2A Protocol: https://google.github.io/A2A/• Gumloop: https://gumloop.com• Hamza Farooq: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamzafarooq/• Jaya Rajwani: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayarajwani/• LangGraph: https://langchain-ai.github.io/langgraph/• Lindy: https://lindy.ai• Make.com: https://make.com• n8n: https://n8n.io• OpenAI AgentKit: https://openai.github.io/openai-agents-python/• OpenClaw: https://openclaw.ai• Zapier: https://zapier.com---Read the newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/not-all-ai-agents-are-created-equalSubscribe to Lenny's Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe---Subscribe• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lennysreads• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lennys-reads/id1810314693• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0IIunA06qMtrcQLfypTooj• Substack: https://lennysreads.com/---Follow Lenny• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/• Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@lennyspodcast---AboutWelcome to Lenny's Reads, where every week you'll find a fresh audio version of my newsletter about building product, driving growth, and accelerating your career, read to you by the soothing voice of Lennybot. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com
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Listen: A visual guide to getting out of a creative slump
Apr 800:07:33Summary readyIn this episode, my wife Michelle Rial, cartoonist and author, celebrates the launch of her new book "Charts for Babies" by sharing a pep talk for anyone stuck in a creative rut. She walks through 12 tried-and-tested steps designed to lift you out of a creative block and get back to making things that matter. ---In this episode, you'll learn:• Why it's necessary to create work that might feel embarrassing• The simple mindset shift that stops stalling and gets you to just start• How to reframe scorn as a positive signal• The thought process that can help you move out of a state of rumination• How to treat failed ideas as seeds for future breakthroughs---References:• "Charts for Babies": https://www.amazon.com/Charts-Babies-Picture-Book/dp/1419785184• How I AI: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/s/how-i-ai• Michelle Rial: https://www.michellerial.com/---Read the newsletter:https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/a-visual-guide-to-getting-out-of---Subscribe to Lenny's Newsletter:https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe---Subscribe:• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lennysreads• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lennys-reads/id1810314693• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0IIunA06qMtrcQLfypTooj• Substack: https://lennysreads.com/---Follow Lenny:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/• Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@lennyspodcast---About:Welcome to Lenny's Reads, where every week you'll find a fresh audio version of my newsletter about building product, driving growth, and accelerating your career, read to you by the soothing voice of Lennybot. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe
Summary
Listen: OpenClaw: A power user’s guide to the most powerful personal AI tool since ChatGPT
Apr 100:24:31Summary readyClaire Vo went from public OpenClaw skeptic to running nine dedicated AI agents that manage her businesses, write code, close sales deals, and make sure she gets to her kids' basketball games on time. In this episode, she shares her complete power-user's guide to OpenClaw—covering everything from setup and key concepts to practical workflows and building your own team of agents.---In this episode, you'll learn:• What OpenClaw is and why it's more autonomous and powerful than other AI tools• How to choose the right setup: Mac Mini, VPS, or a hosted option• Six ready-to-copy workflows you can start using immediately• How to run multiple agents with specific roles (Claire's full 9-agent setup)• The best tools and integrations to connect your agents to the real world• Key security considerations and how to think about risk---References:• 1Password: https://1password.com• Attio: https://attio.com• Brave Search API: https://brave.com/search/api/• Buffer: https://buffer.com• ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com• ChatPRD: https://chatprd.ai• Claire Vo: https://linkedin.com/in/clairevo• ClaWHub: https://clawhub.com• Claude: https://claude.ai• DigitalOcean: https://digitalocean.com• Eight Sleep: https://eightsleep.com• Exa: https://exa.ai• Every / Plus One: https://every.to• Firecrawl: https://firecrawl.dev• GitHub: https://github.com• Google Cloud: https://cloud.google.com• Hostinger: https://hostinger.com• How I AI podcast: https://howiai.com• Intercom: https://intercom.com• Linear: https://linear.app• Mac Mini: https://apple.com/mac-mini• Obsidian: https://obsidian.md• OpenClaw: https://openclaw.ai• Perplexity: https://perplexity.ai• Railway: https://railway.app• Render: https://render.com• Slack: https://slack.com• Sonos: https://sonos.com• Telegram: https://telegram.org• TikTok: https://tiktok.com• WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.comRead the newsletter:https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/openclaw-the-complete-guide-to-buildingSubscribe to Lenny’s Newsletter:https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe---Subscribe:• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lennysreads• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lennys-reads/id1810314693• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0IIunA06qMtrcQLfypTooj• Substack: https://lennysreads.com/---Follow Lenny:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/• Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@lennyspodcast---About:Welcome to Lenny's Reads, where every week you’ll find a fresh audio version of my newsletter about building product, driving growth, and accelerating your career, read to you by the soothing voice of Lennybot. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe
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Listen: State of the product job market in early 2026
Mar 2400:06:58Summary readyContrary to what the headlines might be telling you, PM job openings are at their highest point in over three years, AI roles are hockey-sticking, and tech headcount is growing. Today’s episode is our fourth biannual update on the tech job market (the most optimistic yet) and breaks down seven key trends shaping the job landscape right now.In this episode, you'll learn:• Why PMs have reason to be optimistic• How the influx of new AI roles is shaping the industry• The unexpected sign of tech growth• What current job openings look like for design and software engineering roles• Surprising trends across remote job opportunities---References:• AI Practice Copilot for PM Interviews: https://www.benerez.com/copilot/lenny• Analytical thinking interviews guide: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/analytical-thinking-interviews• Google Career Dreamer: https://grow.google/career-dreamer/home/• How to pass any first-round interview: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-pass-any-first-round-interview• How to use AI for your job interview: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-use-ai-in-your-next-job-interview• The definitive guide to mastering product sense interviews: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-definitive-guide-to-mastering• TrueUp: https://www.trueup.io/---Read the newsletter:https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/191595250?r=1o9eyiSubscribe to Lenny’s Newsletter:https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe---Subscribe:• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lennysreads• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lennys-reads/id1810314693• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0IIunA06qMtrcQLfypTooj• Substack: https://lennysreads.com/---Follow Lenny:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/• Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@lennyspodcast---About:Welcome to Lenny's Reads, where every week you’ll find a fresh audio version of my newsletter about building product, driving growth, and accelerating your career, read to you by the soothing voice of Lennybot. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com
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Listen: How I built LennyRPG
Mar 1800:19:35Summary readyWhen Lenny released his full podcast transcript archive, Ben Shih a non-technical designer at Miro — built LennyRPG: a Pokémon-style RPG where you battle podcast guests with product trivia. In this episode, Ben walks through the exact six-step workflow he used to go from sketch to shipped game, including the tools, prompts, and decisions at every stage, along with the broader lessons he learned along the way.---In this episode, you'll learn:• How to have AI interview you instead of writing the PRD yourself• When to pivot your framework, rather than force the wrong tool• How to systematically process 300+ transcripts into game data• Three core lessons Ben learned from building LennyRPG---ReferencesBen Shih: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hbshih/Brian Balfour: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bbalfour/Claude Code Awesome Skills marketplace: https://github.com/ComposioHQ/awesome-claude-skillsLennysData.com: https://lennysdata.com/LennyRPG: https://www.lennyrpg.fun/Lenny's Product Pass: https://www.lennysproductpass.com/OpenGameArt.org: https://opengameart.org/Phaser 3: https://phaser.io/RPG-JS: https://github.com/RSamaium/RPG-JSSupabase: https://supabase.com/Wispr Flow: https://wisprflow.com/---Read the newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-i-built-lennyrpg---Subscribe to Lenny's Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe---SubscribeYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lennysreadsApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lennys-reads/id1810314693Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0IIunA06qMtrcQLfypToojSubstack: https://lennysreads.com/---Follow LennyTwitter: https://twitter.com/lennysanLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@lennyspodcast---AboutWelcome to Lenny's Reads, where every week you'll find a fresh audio version of my newsletter about building product, driving growth, and accelerating your career, read to you by the soothing voice of Lennybot. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com
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Listen: A guide to advanced B2B positioning
Mar 1000:17:47Summary readyIt's never been easier to launch products, which means the biggest challenge product teams are facing is quickly becoming distribution. April Dunford, the world's leading expert on B2B positioning and author of Obviously Awesome, has spent 10 years working with more than 300 companies to help them stand out. In this episode, she goes beyond the basics to share tactics for overcoming four of the trickiest positioning roadblocks teams face.In this episode, you'll learn:• The four roadblocks every team faces when making positioning decisions• Why cross-functional teams almost always disagree on who they compete with• How to break the cycle of product pessimism• Why the "So what?" test is critical for defining your differentiated value• How to use your GTM strategy to drive positioning decisions—References:• April Dunford: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprildunford/• April Dunford's guest post on positioning: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/positioning• April Dunford on Lenny's Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdjlCLb9Hl8• Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/• Lenny's Product Pass: https://www.lennysproductpass.com/—Read the full newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/a-guide-to-advanced-b2b-positioningSubscribe to Lenny's Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe—Subscribe:YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lennysreadsApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lennys-reads/id1810314693Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0IIunA06qMtrcQLfypToojSubstack: https://lennysreads.com/Follow Lenny:Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysanLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@lennyspodcast—Welcome to Lenny's Reads, where every week you'll find a fresh audio version of my newsletter about building product, driving growth, and accelerating your career, read to you by the soothing voice of Lennybot. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com
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Listen: How to debug a team that isn’t working: the Waterline Model
Mar 300:12:45Summary readyWhen their team underperforms, most managers jump straight to blaming people. Molly Graham—who's worked alongside Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, and Chamath Palihapitiya—explains how that's one of the biggest leadership traps there is. In this episode, she shares the Waterline Model: a diagnostic model to help uncover the real source of team problems, before touching an org chart.In this episode, you'll learn:• Why blaming people for structural problems is one of the biggest leadership mistakes• The four layers of the Waterline Model, and why that order matters• Why you should always "snorkel before you scuba"• How self-preservation can be a rational response to a faulty environment• How to make clean, decisive calls when you finally reach the individual layer—References:• "Give Away Your Legos": https://review.firstround.com/give-away-your-legos-and-other-commandments-for-scaling-startups/• Glue Club: https://glueclub.com/• Molly Graham: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mograham/• Molly Graham on Lenny's podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twzLDx9iers• Lenny's Product Pass: https://www.lennysproductpass.com/—Read the full newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-debug-a-team-that-isnt-workingSubscribe to Lenny's Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe—Subscribe:YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lennysreadsApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lennys-reads/id1810314693Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0IIunA06qMtrcQLfypToojSubstack: https://lennysreads.com/Follow Lenny:Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysanLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@lennyspodcast—Welcome to Lenny's Reads, where every week you'll find a fresh audio version of my newsletter about building product, driving growth, and accelerating your career, read to you by the soothing voice of Lennybot. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com
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Listen: How to use AI for your next job interview
Feb 2400:18:02Summary readyWhat if you could get line-by-line feedback on every interview answer you gave, predict questions before you walk in, and surface stories you didn't know you had? Noam Segal, Lenny's Community Research Lead, interviewed over 30 tech professionals about how they use AI throughout the interview process, and used the findings to build a free Claude Code-based interview coach. His coach encodes every successful interview technique he uncovered (and then some), making it an invaluable tool you can plug into your job search today.In this episode, you'll learn:· Why interview prep is broken (and why there's no usable feedback loop)· How the most successful candidates built AI systems to close the gap· What the free AI Interview Coach does and how to set it up· How to stop sounding like every other candidate who prepped with AI· The action checklist for before, during, and after every interviewReferences:· Claude: https://claude.ai/· Granola: https://granola.ai/· Claude Code Interview Coach (Github link): https://github.com/noamseg/interview-coach-skill· Lenny's Product Pass: https://lennysproductpass.com/· Noam Segal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noamsegal· PM Interview Copilot: https://www.benerez.com/copilot· Product sense guide: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-definitive-guide-to-masteringRead the newsletterhttps://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-use-ai-in-your-next-job-interviewSubscribe to Lenny's Newsletterhttps://www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribeSubscribeYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lennysreadsApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lennys-reads/id1810314693Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0IIunA06qMtrcQLfypToojSubstack: https://lennysreads.com/Follow LennyTwitter: https://twitter.com/lennysanLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@lennyspodcastAboutWelcome to Lenny's Reads, where every week you'll find a fresh audio version of my newsletter about building product, driving growth, and accelerating your career, read to you by the soothing voice of Lennybot. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com
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Listen: How to do AI analysis you can actually trust
Feb 1700:18:24Summary readyEver run an AI analysis on customer data, only to discover the numbers were fabricated and the insights completely generic? In this episode, Caitlin Sullivan, a user-research veteran who's trained hundreds of product and research professionals, shares her four prompting techniques for getting trustworthy, actionable insights out of any LLM. After 2,000+ hours of testing customer discovery workflows with AI, she's identified the failure modes that break AI analysis and the reliable fixes for each one.In this episode, you'll learn:• How to catch the two types of AI quote hallucinations• Why AI defaults to useless generic themes and insights• Which LLM is best for analysis work (and which one fabricates the most)• How to turn vague signal into actual decision clarity• The final verification pass that stress-tests everything before it hits a deckReferenced:• Caitlin Sullivan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caitlindsullivan/• Claude Code for Customer Insights (Maven course): https://maven.com/caitlin/claude-code-insights• Claude: https://www.anthropic.com/claude• ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/• Gemini: https://gemini.google.com/• NotebookLM: https://notebooklm.google.com/• Maze: https://maze.co/• Whoop: https://www.whoop.com/Read the newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-do-ai-analysis-you-can-actuallySubscribe to Lenny’s Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribeSubscribe:• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lennysreads• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lennys-reads/id1810314693• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0IIunA06qMtrcQLfypTooj• Substack: https://lennysreads.com/Follow Lenny• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/• Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@lennyspodcastAboutWelcome to Lenny's Reads, where every week you’ll find a fresh audio version of my newsletter about building product, driving growth, and accelerating your career, read to you by the soothing voice of Lennybot. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com
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Listen: Building AI product sense, part 2
Feb 1000:22:30Summary readyIf you’re a premium subscriber, add the private feed to your podcast app at add.lennysreads.comDr. Marily Nika, longtime AI PM at Google and Meta, shares a simple weekly ritual that rapidly builds AI product sense – the ability to translate probabilistic model behavior into products people can trust. In this episode, Marily walks through the framework for uncovering failure modes before users do.Listen now: YouTube | Apple | SpotifyIn this episode, you’ll learn• Why Meta added “Product Sense with AI” to its PM interview loop• The rituals that surface hidden failure modes• Why generative models confidently invent structure when confronted with mess• What minimum viable quality (MVQ) means and how to define three critical thresholds• Five strategic context factors that raise or lower your quality bar• Why you need to estimate your AI feature’s cost envelope early• How to design guardrails that protect users from model shortcomings• Four patterns that cover most real-world failure casesReferenced• AI PM Bootcamp & Certification• AI Product Sense & AI PM Interview prep• Dr. Marily Nika: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marilynika/• How to build AI Product sense (Part 1)• Marily’s AI Product Academy Newsletter• Thriving as a senior IC PM in the AI eraAboutWelcome to Lenny's Reads, where every week you’ll find a fresh audio version of my newsletter about building product, driving growth, and accelerating your career, read to you by the soothing voice of Lennybot. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com
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