Passion and Entrepreneurship: A Balancing Act

Dan Shipper is the co-founder and CEO of Every. With just 15 people, Every publishes a daily AI newsletter, ships multiple AI products, and operates a million-dollar-a-year consulting arm—all while their engineers write virtually zero code. It’s the most radical example of AI-first operations, and Dan is a prolific writer who has become a leading voice on how AI is transforming the way we build and work.

Learn:

1. Why Dan thinks AI won’t steal jobs en masse—and may actually reshore many jobs to the U.S.

2. The most underrated AI tool for non-programmers

3. An inside look at Every’s AI-first workflow

4. Why every company needs an “AI operations lead”

5. How Dan’s team uses an arsenal of AI agents (Claude, Codex, “Friday,” “Charlie”) in parallel, treating each AI like a specialist with unique strengths

6. Why generalists will thrive in an AI-first world, as rigid job titles blur and everyone becomes a “manager” of AI tools

7. Dan’s playbook for making any company AI-first—from the CEO setting the example, to hosting internal prompt-sharing sessions, to upskilling teams on AI tools

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Transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-every-dan-shipper

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My biggest takeaways (for paid newsletter subscribers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/i/167681269/my-biggest-takeaways-from-this-conversation

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Where to find Dan Shipper:

• X: https://x.com/danshipper

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danshipper/

• Podcast: https://every.to/podcast

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Welcome and introduction

(04:04) Hot takes on AI and job reshoring

(07:06) The power of Claude Code for non-coders

(14:35) The future of AI in business operations

(18:45) AI’s role in enhancing human skills

(22:26) The evolution of AI tools and their applications

(25:40) Building an AI-first company

(29:50) Innovative AI operations and team dynamics

(35:35) Dan's AI stack

(41:26) Compounding engineering

(48:29) The impact of AI on learning and development

(50:10) Accelerating career growth with AI

(51:36) Revolutionizing code review and workflow

(53:07) The importance of coding knowledge

(57:26) Building AI-driven products

(01:02:01) Innovative fundraising strategies

(01:08:45) Consulting and AI adoption in companies

(01:17:01) The allocation economy and future skills

(01:20:12) The value of generalists in the AI age

(01:24:07) Lightning round and final thoughts

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Referenced:

• Claude Code: https://www.anthropic.com/claude-code

• Gemini CLI: https://blog.google/technology/developers/introducing-gemini-cli-open-source-ai-agent/

• Microsoft Copilot: https://copilot.microsoft.com/

• Cursor: https://www.cursor.com/

• Base44: https://base44.com/

• Solo founder, $80M exit, 6 months: The Base44 bootstrapped startup success story | Maor Shlomo: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-base44-bootstrapped-startup-success-story-maor-shlomo

• The rise of Cursor: The $300M ARR AI tool that engineers can’t stop using | Michael Truell (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-rise-of-cursor-michael-truell

• Plato’s Argument Against Writing: https://fs.blog/an-old-argument-against-writing/

• From ChatGPT to Instagram to Uber: The quiet architect behind the world’s most popular products | Peter Deng: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-quiet-architect-peter-deng

• Granola: https://www.granola.ai/

• Tobi Lutke’s post on X about context engineering: https://x.com/tobi/status/1935533422589399127

• Tobi Lütke’s leadership playbook: Playing infinite games, operating from first principles, and maximizing human potential (founder and CEO of Shopify): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/tobi-lutkes-leadership-playbook

• Every: https://every.to/

• Cora: https://www.cora.computer/

• Sparkle: https://makeitsparkle.co/

• Spiral: https://spiral.computer/

• Lex: https://lex.page/

• Nathan Baschez on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nbashaw/

• Kate Lee on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-lee-506768/

• Katie Parrott on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katieparrott/

• Animalz: https://www.animalz.co/

• Rachel Woods on X: https://x.com/rachel_l_woods

• Nityesh Agarwal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nityeshaga

• Claude Opus 4: https://www.anthropic.com/claude/opus

• Codex: https://openai.com/index/introducing-codex/

• Superwhisper: https://superwhisper.com/

• Wispr Flow: https://wisprflow.ai/

• Notion: https://www.notion.com/

• Kieran Klaassen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kieran-klaassen/

• Friday: https://www.friday.run/

• Charlie: https://www.gocharlie.ai/product/ai-agents/

• Avengers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avengers_(Marvel_Cinematic_Universe)

• Alex Duffy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-d/

• Danny Aziz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannyaziz/

• Dia: https://www.diabrowser.com/

• Reid Hoffman’s website: https://www.reidhoffman.org/

• Starting Line VC: https://www.startingline.vc/

• Walleye Capital: https://walleyecapital.com/

• At This $10 Billion Hedge Fund, Using AI Just Became Mandatory: https://every.to/podcast/at-this-10-billion-hedge-fund-using-ai-just-became-mandatory

• Reflexive AI usage is now a baseline expectation at Shopify: https://x.com/tobi/status/1909251946235437514

• Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski on Getting AI to Do the Work of 700 Customer Service Reps: https://www.sequoiacap.com/podcast/training-data-sebastian-siemiatkowski/

• The Pin Factory: https://www.adamsmithworks.org/pin_factory.html

• Deadwood on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/deadwood

• Joel Spolsky on X: https://x.com/spolsky

• Jason Fried’s website: https://world.hey.com/jason

• Jason Fried challenges your thinking on fundraising, goals, growth, and more: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/jason-fried-challenges-your-thinking

• Sam Harris’s website: https://www.samharris.org/

• Bill Simmons on X: https://x.com/billsimmons

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Recommended books:

• War and Peace: https://www.amazon.com/War-Peace-Vintage-Classics-Tolstoy/dp/1400079985

• Anna Karenina: https://www.amazon.com/Anna-Karenina-Leo-Tolstoy/dp/0143035002

• Playing and Reality: https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Reality-Routledge-Classics-86/dp/0415345464

• The Death of Ivan Ilyich: https://www.amazon.com/Death-Ivan-Ilyich-Leo-Tolstoy/dp/1468014315

• A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: https://www.amazon.com/Swim-Pond-Rain-Russians-Writing/dp/1984856022

• The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World: https://www.amazon.com/Master-His-Emissary-Divided-Western/dp/0300245920/

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.