Deployed: The AI Product Podcast

Kelly Schaefer, recognized as one of the Top 100 Women in AI and Product Director at Google Labs, shares insights on turning innovative ideas into real-world AI products. She discusses the importance of evaluation scorecards and the balance between speed and perfection in product launches. The conversation highlights promising tools like NotebookLM and coding assistant Jules, which enhance productivity and user engagement. Kelly emphasizes the evolving roles of PM and UX in AI development, advocating for 'dot connectors' who bridge diverse domains.

Kwindla Hultman-Kramer, co-founder of Daily and creator of Pipecat, shares his extensive expertise in voice AI, built since its early days. He discusses the current inflection point for voice agents transitioning to real-world applications with tangible ROI. Kwindla highlights best practices for infrastructure, unveiling why WebRTC outperforms WebSockets. He also delves into the limitations of speech-to-speech models and the importance of solid text evaluations, providing valuable tactical advice for developers navigating the journey from prototypes to production.

On this episode we talk with Nathan Sobo, co-founder and CEO of Zed, the high-performance code editor that's reimagining how AI agents can improve developer workflows. Nathan shares lessons from building one of the most natural agentic coding experiences available, including why investing up front to automate the feedback loop to improve the quality of AI systems is worth it. He also shares some great product design insights that go beyond the code editor -- including how they were able to weave an AI agent into the UX of their already-collaborative product (just like a human collaborator), and how their "subtle mode" for code completion has helped win over AI-skeptical developers. Whether you're building coding tools or another AI product, this conversation is a fun listen for anyone who cares about crafting great products and incorporating AI in smart ways.

On this episode we talk with Sarah Guo, founder of Conviction — a VC firm focused on early-stage AI investments. Sarah shares insights from her unique position at the intersection of AI research, startups, and enterprise adoption that are relevant to people building with AI. Topics like: How successful teams keep up with rapid changes in the AI landscape, how AI labs vs. enterprises approach problems differently, thoughts on why many AI initiatives struggle to move from prototype to production. She also shares some good advice for leaders on setting an ambitious roadmap and staying competitive in the current market. This conversation provides practical perspective on what's working with leading AI teams, and hopefully some advice others can learn from.

Tyler Phillips, AI Product Lead at Apollo.io, dives into the art of crafting successful AI products for sales. He shares valuable insights on the often-overlooked tasks of AI product management, like evaluating AI outputs and creating quality frameworks. Highlighting the significance of prompt writing from domain experts, Tyler discusses how personalized outreach enhances customer experiences. He also reveals strategies for ensuring data quality and constructing effective evaluation criteria, making for a treasure trove of tips for aspiring AI PMs.

On this episode of Deployed: The AI Product Podcast, we sit down with Ben Kus, CTO of Box, to unpack how they built a secure, scalable AI platform within their enterprise content management system. Ben shares candid insights from Box's journey integrating AI capabilities while maintaining enterprise-grade security for sensitive customer data. Learn practical strategies for evaluating AI quality without accessing customer data, building internal platforms that engineering teams want to use, and designing architecture that can evolve with rapid AI advances. Whether you're integrating LLMs into an established product or building new AI features, this conversation offers valuable lessons on balancing innovation with enterprise requirements. Join Ian, Co-Founder and CEO of Freeplay, for this in-depth discussion on scaling AI responsibly in the enterprise.

In this discussion with Arya Asemanfar, a Product and Engineering leader at Sierra, listeners discover how AI-powered agents are revolutionizing customer interactions. Arya explains the critical differences between traditional chatbots and advanced agents that take meaningful actions. The conversation dives into Sierra's innovative 'Agent OS' that ensures robust, scalable development and addresses challenges like tool hallucination. Arya highlights the importance of collaboration with customers, showing how tailored solutions enhance customer service while reflecting brand values.

Nick Francis, CEO of Help Scout, and Luis Morales, VP of Engineering, dive into their journey transforming a 13-year-old customer support platform into an AI-first company. They discuss their shift from skepticism to embracing AI for enhancing customer experiences. The duo shares insights on experimenting with AI features, evolving business models, and the challenges of prompt engineering. They emphasize the importance of an experimentation-driven culture and the new role of AI product quality experts, offering valuable advice for companies navigating AI integration.

Kyle Nesbit, a longtime Googler with 17 years of experience in AI and distributed systems, shares invaluable insights about building AI at scale. He discusses the challenges of transitioning traditional engineering teams to embrace LLM development and underscores the importance of starting with solid evaluation metrics. Kyle reveals strategies for iterative improvement, tackling data discovery issues, and balancing product quality during scaling. He also provides a peek into the real story behind AI demos and the complexities of integration within organizations.

Sara Beykpour, Co-founder and CEO of Particle, discusses how her news app uses AI to revolutionize news consumption. She highlights the challenges of summarization and the importance of maintaining quality and trust in AI-generated content. Sara shares insights on prompt engineering and integrating user feedback into product development. The conversation also touches on evolving attitudes towards AI in journalism and how tech firms can collaborate with publishers to enhance reliability in news. A must-listen for anyone curious about AI's role in media!