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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.