Operators Corner

Idea:

Create a recurring video series that highlights interesting “operator” roles inside high-growth startups — BizOps, Product Marketing, Growth etc.

Try to get inside the heads and workstreams of folks who run the machine but may not get the spotlight. I’m intentionally focusing away from VCs, Founders, CEOs, or specific roles like product management (Lenny’s pod). Goal is to

• Make these roles relatable and aspirational
• Show what the job is really like
• Celebrate the identity and thinking frameworks

This is a personal project, but could be a nice association with Clay’s brand to attract operations and reach more audiences in exposing roles and operations.

Ideally, we stay about from ‘standard’ roles unless there is a narrative behind it. I wouldn’t want to just do a pod on ‘what is product at clay’, but rather ‘what is a growth pm and why does it matter’

Other guests include:

• zona - monetization
• mishti - pmm and how to think about launches

beyond clay

• solutions architect, ai model co
• bizops, well known tech co (notion, figma)

Titles could include ‘What does a Growth Engineer do?

• inspo from https://read.technically.dev/

Audience:

• Tech operators (ICs and aspiring leads in specific operator roles- BizOps, Product, Design etc.)
• People trying to break into tech
• Curious peers who want to understand cross-functional partners better
• VCs & founders who care about hiring and role calibration

Format

• Core content: 20-30 min interviews (YouTube)
• Clips (Optional): 30–60 second high-energy, insight-driven snippets (TikTok, Reels, LinkedIn)
• Recurring segments (e.g., “thing that sounds sexy about your role that isn’t”, )

Inspiration

• Greg Isenberg AI Pod
• Simple production quality, shared screen to show workflows

ChatGPT Codex is like 10 AI software developers (tutorial for beginners)

Join me as I chat with Ben Tossell to discuss how non-technical users can leverage OpenAI's Codex to build and modify websites without writing code. The video showcases a practical example of adding a new tab to a personal website through simple text commands, with Codex handling all the coding work. Ben explains GitHub basics, pull requests, and how to manage code changes while emphasizing that this approach makes coding more accessible to beginners. Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro 01:28 - What is Codex 02:38 - Explanation of GitHub and repositories 05:54 - Demonstration of adding a new tab to a website 10:53 - Why use Codex if you are non-technical 15:26 - Explanation of merging and closing pull requests 18:18 - Best practices for non-technical people using Codex 21:54 - Tips for Debugging using ChatGPT 23:47 - More advanced use cases beyond personal websites 25:30 - Cloning a Repo and using Codex 30:08 - Conclusion and Final Thoughts on Codex Key Points: • Codex is an OpenAI terminal product that allows users to type in tasks, generate code, and push it to GitHub without writing code themselves • The workflow involves creating tasks, reviewing generated code, creating pull requests, and merging changes • For non-technical people, Codex offers a more accessible entry point to coding than traditional development • Best practice is to start with simple personal website projects before attempting more complex applications: 1) What is Codex? It's OpenAI's terminal tool that lets you: • Type in a task in plain English • It writes the code for you • Then pushes it to GitHub The GAME-CHANGER? You never have to look at or understand the code itself! 2) The Codex Workflow Ben demonstrated adding a "Food I Like" tab to his website: • Type the task in plain English • Codex generates the code • Create a pull request • Merge the changes • Your site updates! All with just a few button clicks - NO coding required. 3) Why Codex vs. Other No-Code Tools? Most text-to-app builders (like Bolt) create OVERBUILT UIs but UNDERBUILT functionality. With Codex: • You build iteratively • Each change is tested before merging • You're creating REAL, working code • Mobile-friendly workflow through [chat.tv](http://chat.tv/) 4) GitHub Demystified Ben explains GitHub simply: • It stores your code • "Repositories" are your projects • "Branches" let you work on features separately • "Pull requests" merge your changes • "Commits" track what changed +12 -0 = Added 12 lines of code, removed none 5) Best Practices for Beginners Start SMALL: • Create a personal site • Add simple features one by one • If something breaks, you can roll back • Use ChatGPT when stuck Don't try building Spotify on day one! Build confidence with small wins first. 6) The Learning Curve Codex introduces coding concepts gradually: • Start with HTML/CSS/JS for personal sites • Progress to databases and authentication • Leverage open-source projects • Learn terminology as you go It's like learning to code, but with training wheels! 7) The Big Picture "All of this looks scary... but I've been non-technical forever." Codex bridges the gap between no-code and full development: • Less overwhelming than pure coding • More powerful than pure no-code • Introduces you to real development workflows • Builds confidence through small wins Notable Quotes: "I think all of this looks scary or feels scary and there's too many things launched all the time... just test this one thing and on this one simple site idea and this one simple feature, you just gotta start there." - Ben Tossell "It really doesn't feel like coding, but it is." - Ben Tossell LCA helps Fortune 500s and fast-growing startups build their future - from Warner Music to Fortnite to Dropbox. We turn 'what if' into reality with AI, apps, and next-gen products https://latecheckout.agency/ BoringMarketing — Vibe Marketing for Sale: http://boringmarketing.com/ Startup Empire - a membership for builders who want to build cash-flowing businesses https://www.startupempire.co FIND ME ON SOCIAL X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/ FIND BEN ON SOCIAL X/Twitter: https://x.com/bentossell Ben’s Bites: https://www.bensbites.com



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• JJ Redick Pod
• Raw, authentic insights from those with skin in the game - can talk through the framework of working through a problem

Brunson, Jokic and The Evolution of the NBA Playmaker | LeBron James & Steve Nash | MIND THE GAME

The game has come a long way with ever-evolving playing styles. In Episode 7, LeBron James and Steve Nash touch on an array of topics—current role players thriving in the postseason and what makes them great, how versatility makes everyone a threat on the court, and why the best players like Anthony Edwards, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Brunson, and Nikola Jokić are also great playmakers that needed time to grow into their ability. Presented by UNINTERRUPTED and Wondery. (0:00) - Intro (4:25) - LeBron on which role players are thriving in the playoffs (8:20) - LeBron explains which championship teams had the best role players (10:48) - The evolution of true point guards and scoring guards (21:05) - LeBron on How Allen Iverson changed the game (24:45) - Why pace and space is everything in today’s NBA (27:08) - How the Celtics exploit matchups and Jayson Tatum’s growth (31:15) - LeBron and Steve on if the Celtics get bored with how great they are? (32:37) - The power of building around the playmaker (32:18) - Why players have to be versatile to thrive in today’s game (40:39) - LeBron has a message for NBA fans (42:24) - LeBron on the beauty of the game’s evolution New episodes drop every Tuesday. Watch Mind The Game with LeBron James and Steve Nash for NBA interviews, basketball analysis, highlights and more. Subscribe to our YouTube Channel, watch on Prime Video or follow Mind The Game wherever you listen to podcasts. Follow us on social: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindthegamepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mindthegamepod X: https://www.twitter.com/mindthegamepod Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mindthegamepod



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• Others
• low production, insights into how tools like AI are used at companies

Gumroad CEO's playbook to 40x his team's productivity with v0, Cursor, and Devin | Sahil Lavingia

Sahil Lavingia is the CEO and founder of Gumroad, where AI agents are already writing 41% of all code commits, and they’re targeting 80% by year-end. Sahil demonstrates how this approach allows him to transform what would typically be two-week projects into two-hour implementations—a 40x productivity increase. What you'll learn: 1. The exact AI workflow Sahil uses to build features 40x faster—from prototyping in v0 to implementation with Devin 2. How Gumroad incentivizes AI adoption across the organization with $33,000 bounties for engineers who outperform the CEO 3. How to use component libraries like shadcn/ui for effective AI development 4. How AI is shifting engineering roles toward architecture and tech debt removal while enabling designers and PMs to ship features directly 5. Why spending more time on UX iteration becomes possible (and necessary) when implementation costs drop dramatically 6. Which organizational functions will be transformed by AI next Brought to you by Enterpret — Customer SuperIntelligence Platform for Product and CX teams: http://enterpret.com/howIAI Vanta — Automate compliance and simplify security with Vanta: https://www.vanta.com/howiai Where to find Sahil Lavingia Gumroad: https://gumroad.com/ Website: https://sahillavingia.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sahillavingia X: https://x.com/shl Where to find Claire Vo ChatPRD: https://www.chatprd.ai/ Website: https://clairevo.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairevo/ X: https://x.com/clairevo Timestamps (00:00) Sahil’s background (02:31) How soon will AI do most engineering? (04:08) Live demo: redesigning with v0, Devin and Cursor (09:30) Using the right tools (11:03) Prototyping and iteration with AI (19:45) Incentivizing AI adoption in teams (24:50) “Magical” date picker component development (31:47) AI’s impact on marketing, sales, and support (36:50) Deciding what to build when AI builds everything (40:02) Conclusion and final thoughts Referenced • Devin: https://devin.ai/ • Cursor: https://www.cursor.so/ • v0: https://v0.dev/ • Tobi Lütke’s tweet on how AI usage is now a baseline expectation at Shopify: https://x.com/tobi/status/1909231499448401946 • Flexile: https://app.flexile.com/ • shadcn: https://github.com/shadcn/ui • Gusto: https://gusto.com/ • GitHub: https://github.com/ • Figma: https://www.figma.com/ • Slack: https://slack.com/ • Vercel: https://vercel.com/ • Next.js: https://nextjs.org/ Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email jordan@penname.co.



youtu.be

Content

The end goal is breaking down how the individual operator fits into the larger company, and break down a project their approaches to work.

For finance - that could be the pricing change project. For growth eng, that could be activation experiments and ways they are measured. For product marketing it could be the stages of taking a product to market, and the work done along the way. For execs it could include our chief of staff talking about what the day in the life and some work done across companies.

Why me? I love asking folks these questions myself. I want to see how this resonates internally first and then try to continue to polish and move to folks outside of Clay.

I’d like to start small with equipment, then slowly build out based on how it turns out.

Ask is to either

• (learn how to) use the Clay equipment to shoot some of these
• Get some light investment from Clay team to help shoot, edit and produce this (based on expected returns)