The General Podcast

Merrill Lutsky is the co-founder and CEO of Graphite, a modern code review platform built for the AI era that was just acquired by Cursor. Zach Lloyd is the founder and CEO of Warp, the terminal with agents built in.Zach and Merrill go way back—they worked together on Zach’s previous company. Now they’re each building core infrastructure for modern engineering teams, and running into many of the same challenges from different sides of development.They talk about what’s actually changing inside engineering orgs right now: why code review is becoming the real bottleneck as agents generate more code, why ‘vibe coding’ doesn’t work on production code, and why humans still have to stay accountable for agent-written code.They’re also candid about the business side of developer tools - why power users break flat pricing, why ‘cheap AI’ creates a winner’s curse, and what it really takes to market to famously skeptical developers (controversial billboards and a launch video on a horse). In this episode, you’ll learn:Zach and Merrill’s shared history and how it shaped their perspectivesWhy AI has shifted the engineering bottleneck from writing code to understanding itWhy “vibe coding” works for demos but fails in real production environmentsWhat human accountability actually means in an agent-driven codebaseWhy code review is emerging as the new leverage point for engineering productivityHow power users quietly destroy flat-pricing models in developer toolsThe “winner’s curse” of underpricing AI-native productsMarketing to developers without losing credibilityWhere to find our guests:Graphite.comWarp.dev  

Bing Gordon joined Electronic Arts in its earliest days as Chief Creative Officer and helped build it into the gaming powerhouse it is today. He was one of the first believers that interactive media could be a true art form, and over his career he shaped iconic games like The Sims, Madden, and Farmville. Few people have thought harder about what makes a story truly work.Stephen Piron is the founder of Pickford, a new kind of studio where the audience drives the plot in real time. His big idea is that if you scream at the TV, the TV should scream back. Before Pickford, Stephen built the world’s first deepfake (the Joe Rogan one) while working on his previous startup, Dessa, which was eventually acquired by Square.Right off the bat, you’ll hear them dive into one of the most famous ad campaigns in tech history—EA’s “Can a Computer Make You Cry?” Bing shares the story behind that ad, and Stephen admits he has it framed on his office wall. From there, they get into the multiple reinventions of Hollywood, how you build character bibles and narrative arcs in the age of AI, why hits are always flukes until they’re not. It’s a conversation about what it really takes to build an interactive platform that changes the way stories get made. You’ll learn:The origin story of the iconic “Can a computer make you cry?” ad and why it mattered more than any product marketingWhy Electronic Arts once believed it would become “the new Hollywood” and what that taught Bing about storytellingWhy most AI storytelling efforts fail by trying to make old stories cheaper instead of inventing new formatsWhy character bibles and narrative guardrails matter more than promptsHow Pickford is borrowing from centuries-old storytelling structures and updating them for real-time interactionWhy hits still matter more than platforms (and why every platform eventually needs one)How AI might actually create more work for storytellers, not lessHow Pickford worked with SAG to design a new, AI-era compensation model for voice actorsReferenced in this episode:The “Can a Computer Make You Cry?” ad campaignUnited Artists and Mary Pickford Adventures in the Screen Trade by William GoldmanThe Sims and SimCityEA Sports, MaddenWorld of WarcraftWattpad Steve Jobs and the “reality distortion field”The Startup of You by Reid Hoffman SAG (Screen Actors Guild)Where to find Bing Gordon: X (Twitter): @bingfishWhere to find Stephen Piron: Pickford: pickford.aiWhere to find The General Partnership:Website: thegp.comX (Twitter): @thegpSubstack: https://thegeneralpartnership.substack.com/

Chris Best is the co-founder and CEO of Substack, the platform powering the rise of independent writers, podcasters, and thinkers. At Substack, Chris has reimagined what sustainable media looks like, putting creators at the center.Andrew Mayne is the host of the OpenAI podcast and was previously the company’s first prompt engineer and science communicator, where he helped shape how people interact with and understand large language models in the earliest days of GPT-3. 3. He’s also a mystery-thriller novelist and the founder of Interdimensional, a company helping organizations deploy AI.Together, they unpack how technology rewires culture, creativity, and even capitalism—from the birth of ChatGPT to the flood of “AI slop,” from the evolution of media business models to what makes human expression irreplaceable.It’s a conversation that circles around the economics of culture and the future of originality as creating art becomes more and more accessible. In this conversation, you’ll learn:The inside story of ChatGPT’s creation Why frictionless product experiences matter more than technical breakthroughsHow Substack’s “do everything but the hard part” philosophy for building products empowers creators What happens when business models consume products, and how to resist that gravity How AI is accelerating Substack’s core bet: that authenticity will always outperform algorithms Why AI-generated content won’t replace human stories Why “all economics are downstream of culture”Why Substack made subscribers portable and what that decision meant for trustWhy writers should see AI as an amplifier instead of a threatThe case for optimism: why artists, technologists, and media builders should embrace our emerging cultural renaissance.Referenced in this episode:Brandon Sanderson’s record-breaking KickstarterThe Industrial RevolutionIndia’s License RajAvatar 2Reboot, the TV showMechanic’s InstituteMesopotamia and the invention of the plowWhere to find Andrew Mayne:Website: andrewmayne.comX (Twitter): @AndrewMayneInterdimensional: interdimensional.aiWhere to find Chris Best:Substack: cb.substack.comX (Twitter): @cjgbestWhere to find The General Partnership:Website: thegp.comX (Twitter): @thegpSubstack: thegeneralpartnership.substack.com 

Claire Hughes Johnson, former COO at Stripe and author of 'Scaling People', joins Gretchen Howard, former COO at Robinhood, for an insightful conversation on navigating the complexities of the COO role. They discuss taking calculated risks in joining high-growth startups and the vital importance of building trust with founders. The duo delves into the 'unglamorous' challenges of operations, cultural integration, and the strategic function of people in scaling businesses, proving that real leadership is about both hard decisions and fostering strong cultures.

Dan Shipper is the co-founder and CEO of Every, a media company built around writing, software, and AI. With a tiny team, they put out a daily newsletter, build products, and run a consulting arm, all while staying weird and experimental. Dan’s one of the most thoughtful writers on how AI is reshaping creativity, business, and what it means to build.Alex Konrad is the founder of Upstarts, a newsletter about the next breakout companies before they break out. He spent over a decade at Forbes, where he wrote 15+ cover stories, co-created the Cloud 100 list, and led Midas List coverage of the top VCs in the world. Together, they discuss and debate building sustainable media businesses today, using AI to amplify creativity, and why legacy playbooks no longer apply.In this conversation, you’ll learn:1. Why being weird is often a competitive advantage2. How thinking like a product person (and not just a writer) shapes everything they publish3. The surprisingly tactical ways they protect time for original thinking4. Why Upstarts and Every both resisted the pressure to “build the platform” too soon5. How Every runs multiple AI products and a daily newsletter with only 15 people6. Why they both believe your business model is a creative decision7. Their thinking around independent journalism as a “tech-enabled service,” not content8. How AI tools like Claude, Cora, and ChatGPT actually fit into their creative process9. How to avoid burnout when your business is also your identity10. How to stay joyful and experimental when everyone else is optimizingWhere to find Dan:Newsletter: every.toX: @danshipperWhere to find Alex:Newsletter: https://www.upstartsmedia.comX: @alexrkonradWhere to find TheGP:Newsletter:  https://thegeneralpartnership.substack.com/X: @thegpReferenced in this episode:MrBeast: https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeastThe Pragmatic Engineer: https://www.pragmaticengineer.comStratechery by Ben Thompson: https://stratechery.com/Lenny’s Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/Tom Brady quote: “Winners focus on winning. Losers focus on winners.”Acquired Podcast: https://www.acquired.fm/Claude: https://claude.aiChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com War and Peace by Leo TolstoyThe writer Maggie NelsonSpiral by Every: https://spiral.computerCora by Every: https://cora.computerThink Week (Bill Gates’s famous retreat)Documentary: WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn 

Christina Farr, longtime healthtech journalist and now advisor, investor, and editor-in-chief of Second Opinion Media, sits down with Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of "The Emperor of All Maladies," oncologist, and founder of Manas AI.In this expansive conversation, they explore the current and future role of AI in medicine. Sid offers a typology for how LLMs are showing up in clinical practice and scientific discovery, while Chrissy pushes on what AI can’t yet replicate: intuition, empathy and institutional memory. They discuss whether AI will replace the “intelligentsia,” what it gets right and wrong about diagnostics and drug discovery, and how clinicians can stay relevant by staying creative. This is a thoughtful, urgent discussion between two people who are both deeply familiar with the systems of medicine. In this conversation, you’ll learn:1. A six-part framework for how AI is transforming healthcare and science2. How ambient scribes, LLMs, and generative chemistry are reshaping workflows3. The difference between simulated empathy and real human care4. What LLMs still miss: texture, taste, and tacit knowledge5. How AI might (or might not) generate revolutionary scientific insights6. Why the future belongs to clinicians who generate new knowledge, not just apply itWhere to find Chrissy:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinafarr/X: https://x.com/chrissyfarSubstack: https://secondopinion.media/Where to find Sid:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddhartha-mukherjee-19b6b8126/The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/siddhartha-mukherjeeBooks: The Emperor of All Maladies, The Gene, The Song of the CellWhere to find TheGP: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-general-partnershipX: https://x.com/thegpSubstack: https://thegeneralpartnership.substack.com/Referenced in this episode: • Manas AI: https://www.manasai.co• Richard Feynman’s “Cargo Cult Science” lecture: https://calteches.library.caltech.edu/51/2/CargoCult.htm• Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions: https://www.amazon.com/Structure-Scientific-Revolutions-50th-Anniversary-ebook/dp/B007USH7J2/• Karl Popper’s theory of falsifiability: https://www.simplypsychology.org/karl-popper.html• Stephen Jay Gould’s “The Median Isn’t the Message”: https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/median-isnt-message/2013-01• David Fajgenbaum’s Chasing My Cure: https://chasingmycure.com/

In this lively chat, Katie Dill, Head of Design at Stripe, and Randy Hunt, Head of Design at Notion, share their insights on the value of beautifully crafted products, especially in an AI-driven world. They discuss the importance of fostering creativity and taste within design teams, while advocating for 'fewer memos, more demos.' The duo creatively uses an ice cream analogy for decision-making and emphasizes the enduring power of strong design leadership, rituals, and collaboration in scaling organizations.

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