Grit Shishir Mehrotra on Building Tools Creators Love
100 snips
Aug 11, 2025 
Shishir Mehrotra, co-founder of Coda and CEO of Grammarly, shares his journey from YouTube to creating innovative productivity tools. He discusses how the collaboration between Coda and Grammarly redefines context in workflows. Mehrotra reflects on the evolution of digital advertising, navigates the challenges of startup culture, and reveals the importance of data in AI advancements. He also hints at a future where tools become intuitive allies in our work, paving the way for AI-driven communication and seamless digital interactions.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Choose Safari For Broad Discovery
- Shishir Mehrotra says YouTube prioritized a safari experience that mixes content types instead of deep vertical zoos.
- That choice enabled broad discovery and serendipitous user journeys across formats.
Related Videos Fueled Growth
- Related-video clicks drove most YouTube views and rivalled top Google search links.
- That 65% click-through rate created an "infinite" watch loop and was YouTube's secret weapon.
Skippable Ads Origin Story
- Shishir Mehrotra wrote a memo asking why television doesn't feel like the Super Bowl every day.
- He proposed skippable ads tied to payment, which became a core monetization idea.