Peter Deng: evaluation

Transcript context

…To make your example of distribution being overcomable, a great example I think a lot about, and we had CPO, turns out there's many CPOs at Microsoft, I didn't realize how many CPOs they had, and I asked her about, "Why didn't Copilot..." The fastest growing companies in the world, Cursor, Windsurf, Lovable, Bolt, all these guys. Copilot was so ahead of these companies and these companies broke through. While Microsoft has distribution, amazing talent, infrastructure, all the things, early first mover advantage and it's to your point, they were just building products that were much better, Cursor, Windsurf, all these, Lovable, Bolt. I do believe there is a level of product craft that will make it so that it's just worth it to switch or try something else. There are a few products out there that I see with this. I think Granola is one of them. There's so many distribution advantages that Google Meet has, that Google, Facebook started off, Microsoft Teams has, Zoom has, but they're just these tiny little product craft delightful things that I really appreciate myself of like, "Yeah, they got it. " They have these little edges, set it down just right, and they've really figured out a way to really make it so delightful that it's like, "Yeah, I will install this piece of software. Yes, 100% I will talk to my friends about this because it is so life-changing. " We're starting to see that now. Again, before, I would say 18 months ago, it's like, "Oh, well, who has the best model?" But then coming forward, it's like really who has the best workflow and who has the best product, and we humans are just demanding. We want the best. And so when someone is going to come out and produce something that's so well-crafted, I think people are going to pay attention. A couple of takeaways here is if you're trying to build an AI startup, a few things you should be thinking about that gives you a better chance of breaking through and winning is what are your data flywheels where you collect proprietary unique data, how do you build something the craft comes through and people are wowed and want to tell their friends about it. Granola is a great example. Clearly, Cursor, Lovable, Bolt, Rep, all these guys did that and then it feels like they just understand a vertical workflow really well and someone's problem and solve that in a really unique way.…

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