S2E01: Lessons on AI, PM, and LLMs from founder, investor, and operator Shalin Mantri

You can be a founder. You can be an investor. You can be an operator. Or, you can be Shalin Mantri and be all three. This respected product leader got his start by founding a mobile app startup in the early iPhone days in 2011 and followed it up with product leadership in the early days of Uber, Skip and more recently, Google. He angel invests with $5k – $50k checks as a true first believer, usually in companies where he has a personal connection with the founder. 

He shares his tiered angel investment system, where he sees autonomous vehicles going (and not going), his thoughts on AI, how AI might have transformed Uber’s early days, and what he thinks of the rise of multi-billion-dollar, 1-pizza companies. 

Highlights

• Shalin has a tiered system for evaluating angel deals, and ultimately, determining how much he’s willing to invest.

• Uber experienced incredible growth from its founding in 2009 through the 2010s when Shalin came aboard as a product manager. He chats about how he thinks AI would’ve changed Uber’s story if it had been around at the time. 

• Shalin explains how AI is running a parallel path with autonomous vehicles, especially when it comes to scaling up without losing product integrity. Just like with AVs, the bar is high for reliability, safety, and performance for AI tech. 

• Recently, the search bar has been less of a source of information and more of a source of frustration. Shalin is focusing on building a solution to improve search, with the help of AI, of course. 

• Company headcounts are getting smaller, and yet their valuations are getting bigger. Shalin’s not necessarily sold on the 1-company, 1-billion dollar company just yet, but he sees the trendline moving in that direction. 

• (00:00) - 01 - Shalin/Shaherose A/V
• (02:19) - How Shalin evaluates angel deals and deploys checks
• (13:20) - Working at Uber during the early(ish) days
• (17:59) - Not all growth is good growth
• (26:26) - Exploring the interplay between AI and AVs
• (34:07) - When the big bet doesn’t lead to the big payoff
• (37:42) - Why AI is making it a confusing and exciting time for PMs
• (42:51) - What’s wrong with search these days? Is search being rewritten - again?
• (46:40) - Scaling companies down to 1 pizza and 1 pizza only
• (58:39) - Shalin’s AI angel investments