Wabi's Eugenia Kuyda on software's "YouTube moment"
By ACCESS Podcast
Summary
## Key takeaways - **AI's "YouTube Moment" is Coming**: Eugenia Kuyda envisions an "operating system" or interface layer for AI, akin to Windows emerging from MS-DOS, that will make all software and AI models more visually enticing and interactive for everyday users. [00:05], [21:11] - **Personalized Apps for Unique Problems**: Wabi allows users to quickly create hyper-personal apps for specific needs, like tracking baby's bowel movements or creating a custom Italian puzzle app for a child, bypassing the complexity and upsells of traditional apps. [11:09], [13:48] - **VCs Often Missed AI's Potential**: Kuyda recounts VCs suggesting early conversational AI products were only viable for niche uses like Google Glass, and how a similar short-sightedness led others to believe every company needed its own foundational model, contrasting with the actual trajectory of AI development. [17:38], [18:02] - **Mini-Apps as Workflows, Not Standalone Apps**: Wabi positions its creations as 'mini-apps' or 'workflows' that live within the Wabi platform, differentiating them from traditional downloadable apps and aligning with Apple's guidelines by maintaining a clear platform header and avoiding standalone functionality. [47:37], [48:40] - **AI Companionship Needs a Deeper Mission**: While acknowledging the rise of AI companionship, Kuyda expresses concern that many companies lack a clear mission beyond addressing loneliness, highlighting the potential for unintended consequences if the AI's purpose isn't thoughtfully defined. [53:15], [55:08] - **Parental Insight Shapes Tech Ethos**: Kuyda believes that having children provides a unique perspective, driving founders to consider the deeper emotional and societal impacts of technology, contrasting with non-parents who might focus solely on metrics or 'winning'. [58:33], [01:00:22]
Topics Covered
- Why are apps one-size-fits-all when AI can customize?
- VCs often miss the future chasing fads like Google Glass.
- AI needs a new 'operating system' beyond chat.
- AI companions need a mission beyond just engagement metrics.
- Can powerful AI help us escape smartphone addiction?
Full Transcript
Today we live in the era of Microsoft
DOSs um interfaces for AI and there will
be something more very visually um
enticing something gooey based think of
it as there was Microsoft DOSs and then
Windows or Mac OS appeared so there will
be a different I I' I'd almost say
operating system a different interface
layer on top of AI that will allow
people to use all software not just apps
but also AI models in this completely
new different
Welcome to Access the Tech Industries
inside conversation part of the Vox
Media podcast network. I'm your host
Ellis Hamburger here with my co-host
Alex Heath. And today we've got Eugenia
Kua, the founder and CEO of Wabby, a new
app for building apps. Apps inside your
apps.
>> Apps inside your apps. one of my
favorite most thoughtful founders and we
jammed a little bit on the Wabby launch
which we go into a bit but I just feel
like she has an ethos for what she's
building that a lot of founders don't
have. You know what I mean?
>> Yeah, she's got cred. What did she do
before this?
>> She created Replica which was like the
OG AI chat companion app. I think they
definitely treaded into the romance
territory a lot faster than many others
did. Now 10, 15 years later, Elon Musk
is trying to build your new AI date or
side piece. How how how would you
describe it? It's becoming mainstream
finally. She's ahead of the curve.
>> Elon's going in a totally different
direction, I think. Um yeah. No, uh
she's uh very interesting. Like I I
Replica was a very interesting company
when it launched and it still has a ton
of users. I think it has millions of
users just flies a little more under the
radar relative to like character and
chatbt obviously but yeah definitely an
OG in the AI space and WAB is a super
interesting product. Did you work on
this manifesto that they put out?
>> Yes, we did. Uh my bread and butter. You
actually liked it.
>> I do like it. I like the play on like
the there's an app for that and you know
personalized software and all that. I
mean it's a theme we've been having on
this show really since we launched is
this idea of personalized software.
>> Yeah. It's kind of funny because every
single founder I've ever worked with and
ever will work with wants to make their
own think different or Apple 1984 ad or
maybe like subvert it or riff on it in
some way and it almost never works. But
this was the kind of occasion where
pushing off of app for that to do an app
for you
>> actually made some sense cuz there's a
real tension there assuming that Apple
doesn't uh cancel them before they can
>> they can get off the ground. But I guess
there's some new rules that that she's
privy to that they're following. And so
yeah, she seems confident they're going
to be okay.
>> Yeah. Before we get into that,
everything else good with you. Did you
have a good weekend?
>> Yeah, you know, uh kids sick again,
getting me sick again. Round and round
it goes. Uh, I've been playing the new
Final Fantasy Tactics game
>> for Switch. Leveling up my mages when I
have 18 minutes of toilet time in
privacy. Makes you think about your life
like an RPG in some ways. Like, I think
I'm going to I think I'm going to level
up my podcast skills with this new
microphone. Did you ever think about
your life that way? I I don't know if if
you were ever a gamer.
>> Absolutely.
>> What are you What are you leveling up at
the moment? Uh, well, I haven't had time
to game. I would say the last game I
played all the way through was The Last
Zelda on Switch, the sequel. Um, those
two games are my favorite games.
>> Yeah. That I've played as an adult.
Those are my favorite games by far. Uh,
and definitely like had a lot of dreams
about those games when I was playing
them a lot. But I haven't in a while.
I've been so still heads down in just
like a new media startup mode, man. Um,
going to New York next week. going to
have a sources launch party with the
fine folks at Human Ventures. Wish you
could come. We will uh
>> human or human.
>> Human human ventures.
>> Kind of like Humid Ventures.
>> Human Ventures. Uh no, they're great.
It's going to be a great group. Uh
pretty like interesting mix of media and
tech folks. And um we're going to have
poker too, so that'll be fun. Um
>> are you plugging this? Are invites open
or is this a VIP thing? I mean, I didn't
hear about it, so I guess it's pretty
exclusive.
>> I knew you were going to be in New York,
man. Uh, if you can text me, you can
still come. So, if you have my number,
reach out if you're going to be in New
York. Um, but we are pretty much at
capacity, which was awesome. I spent a
lot of time this week with the new
leadership team for GitHub at Microsoft.
So, keeping with our vibe coding theme,
uh, interviewed their new head of GitHub
for sources.news, uh, will have been out
by the time this drops. um and about how
they're thinking about the uh AI kind of
developer ecosystem. So, if you're
interested in that stuff, check it out.
And uh had a pretty big scoop about Snap
uh actually last week and
>> Oh yeah, we got to talk about that.
>> Yeah, we can just talk about real
quickly just uh man Evans out there
looking for some money for for specs.
>> Snaps ties in the Middle East deepen.
>> Well, I think the most interesting thing
is this idea of making specs like Whimo.
also positioning it as this subsidiary
that could be funded with outside
investors like a alphabet style other
bet. Uh basically
>> I think the most interesting part is not
that but the original pictures of uh
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel uh participating
in falconry with the Saudi crown prince.
>> Oh well that's what you do when you go
out there. They love falconry. You don't
know that's that's like a right of
passage when you're when you're visiting
uh the the royal family. speaking from
experience.
>> Uh, you know, no comment, but um
but no uh yeah, just if you're into this
AR glasses, you know, um uh race and you
know, we talked about it with Samir last
week. Check that scoop out about Snap's
glasses plans and how they're
restructuring. But, uh yeah.
>> Yeah, that was a good scoop, Alex.
>> Thank you. Thank you. I'll try.
>> Give yourself a little pat on the back
for that one.
>> Yeah. No, thank you. I feel like, you
know, it's one thing when you're at a
website like The Verge and you see
traffic bumps when you get scoops and
whatnot. I mean, how's that been so far
with with the newsletter?
>> It's subscriber bumps or
>> Yeah. I mean, it's the thing that
converts, you know, it's the thing that
converts someone to paid. Um, it's
pretty easy to get free, you know, high
churn, low engagement users, right? Um,
with like a sign up, you know, chum box.
But the thing that really builds your
subscriber base is information people
can't get anywhere else. you know,
whether it's like an interview or a
scoop. And I've known that just working
behind pay walls for much of my career
that that's how it works. So, everything
I'm doing right now with sources is like
it I'm trying to keep the quality bar
really high and it'd be something you
can't get anywhere else. And um it works
if they cite you, right? I know they
don't they don't all and then you get a
little mad on Twitter, which I always
like to see.
>> Oh, well, yeah. That's just, you know,
that's just inside journalism baseball
stuff. But yeah, people people know who
know when they're not linking and I love
to prod them.
>> Is there any is there any person or
publication that has cited you the least
>> relatively? How deliberate is it?
>> There's a couple I'd have to go back and
count. Um it's very deliberate.
>> There's some like make it a practice
like what is it like the New York Times
like deliberate?
>> The New York Times has actually gotten a
lot better. They used to be really bad
about linking out but they've gotten a
lot better. Um, it's actually um some of
the more digital first publications that
are increasingly petty about this stuff.
I I don't know if it's wise for me to
name names. I'm not trying to like get
into another um another minefield there,
but uh I'll keep uh subtly jabbing at at
vague people that they know who they are
on social media.
Uh but yeah, man. No, otherwise things
are good. Excited for this convo with
Eugenia.
>> Awesome. Let's kick it to Eugenia.
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[Music]
Eugenia Kuida, my friend and
collaborator. Welcome to the show.
>> Hey, Jennio. Nice to meet you.
>> Hi, Alex. Nell, it's still good to uh
see her.
>> How does it feel to be doing a podcast
when you should probably be preparing
launch materials for your public launch
next week?
>> Well, it feels pretty hectic. We're
really uh we've just been heads down and
it's a little bit tough because I'm used
to just building one app and now I feel
like we're building an app that builds a
million apps. So, it feels like we're
launching, I don't know, a million
different apps, which is exponentially
harder than just one app because now
everything can go wrong. Like every
single uh there like basically gazillion
bugs that could happen.
>> I was going to say that's a lot of bugs
and a lot of app store guidelines to
follow when you have apps inside of
apps.
>> That is true, but there are many apps.
They're not really big apps. So, you
know, for for the app store, uh the app
store has a curveout for many apps and
with Wabby, you cannot use them outside
of our platform.
>> She's saying this to the app review gods
right now in Certino. It's many apps.
It's mini apps.
>> I'm I'm trying. I'm trying. I'm a little
You know,
>> they are the gods. They are the arbiters
of truth as we've had it for uh how many
years now? Like literally two decades.
And um yeah, I think that's like one of
my favorite parts of your teaser website
that you just went up with and we should
get into Wabby and your history with
replica when we were together. I just
love that line we came up with like not
there's an app for that but there's an
app for you and I think that came from
an insight that like you had. Can you
tell us about the origin of this thing?
Like like all of us I have a gazillion
apps on my um iPhone and for most of
them I just forget what what they are. I
use maybe 10 uh daily or weekly and then
the rest is just basically a graveyard
of forgotten apps. Uh some of them char
still charge me. Some of them I don't
even know what they do. Um and so it
felt like today when you can spin up an
app so quickly with AI using any of the
you know existing tools. Why can't I
just kind of use apps like that versus
like I have to go to the app store and
so find something and it's all one
sizefits-all. it's all trying to get me
through this kind of onboarding that
tries to influence me to pay and then
forget to cancel and this and that and
really relying on all these dark
patterns. So, it felt like there should
be um a new platform, a new platform
where people are creating apps uh
quickly sharing with other people, other
people are discovering apps, maybe
remixing them and so on so on so on. Um
it does feel that all of our lives are
pretty unique um and problems are pretty
unique. There there are definitely a lot
of common issues but still we have very
unique uh preferences and it just feels
like we need specific solutions for our
specific problems uh throughout the day.
>> Well, I have a specific problem and this
morning I made an app on Wabby called
how many poops and here's what it does.
The pediatrician always wants to know,
as you know, Eugenia, how many times
your your baby pooped, or as as I prefer
to call them, BMS for bowel movements.
And I'm like, this does not deserve
Burning Man.
>> Not this time. Not this time. And so all
it does is it has one button and I'm
like, I also want average poops per day.
And I hit go and I closed out Wobbby.
And then 5 minutes later, it was done.
And it's got like nice little icons and
everything. And I'm like, "Yeah, this
does not deserve to be an entire
venture-backed product, but it does
deserve to to exist for me." So, uh,
thank you for that. And I mean, there
are so many alternatives when you're a
parent, but they're just filled with
constant upsells. Like, would you like
to upgrade to Baby Poop Pro that
includes length, girth, and weight
tracking of the BMS?
>> Sounds helpful.
>> I don't really need that, do I? And so,
yeah, that that definitely appealed to
me about your vision is that it's not
that you're trying to replace like
Airbnb or maybe that is your vision, but
for all the little things that we didn't
even know could be software every day.
Pretty cool.
>> Yeah. Like the other day, I was putting
my daughter to sleep and she wants to
play puzzles. Like basically, I just
tell her something and she tries to
guess what it is. Um, she wants to also
look at pictures and she likes Princess
Jasmine and Princess Ela. So, took me 3
minutes in Wobbby just to make that
puzzle app where where I read it out to
her and she can look at different
pictures and click on them and that's a
constant hit. So, she's learning
something and then we made it in Italian
because she goes to Italian preschool
and now she's also learning Italian and
it took us basically 2 minutes. We were
doing it while in bed together. Um so
these are really the uh the use cases
and I don't even know whether an app
like that exists and looking for one
going through on boards trying them out
downloading it actually was longer than
just building it quickly to my spec on
Wabby. And then I also found out that
certain times like for example I've been
trying to do weightlifting. So I'm
trying to log log my workouts. I I've
been using um just notes on my iPhone.
Before then, I tried a bunch of
different apps. Again, they did just had
so much different functionality that I
didn't need or I didn't like how it was
working. So, I built I just built a
simple one on Wobby. And what I like
about is that I go to the gym, I work
out, and every day I every time I work
out, I find something else I want to add
to my app. First, it was just for
tracking workouts. Then I wanted to add
um suggestions. So now it basically
creates automatically a workout that I
can track based on like progressive
overload and based on all my different
things that I'm trying to achieve based
on on all my goals. So like every time I
go and then I wanted to made it a little
bit more minimalist and black and white
and then I want to change the app pack
and so now it feels like a little almost
like a little garden a little project
that I continue to work on but it's not
really work. It's literally I'm doing it
in between sets. I don't have anything
to do. So I just add a little prompt in
chat and wait how my app is changing and
improving all the time and I keep
republishing it to the Wii app store. Um
so that why you know other users
potentially can use that and I feel
there's something about it. There's
really something about having your own
very personal software that you're
taking care of that you're using it uh
constantly improving and all that. And
hopefully just like we really think
Wabby could be sort of the the YouTube
moment for apps. Um, and for many
people, they won't even be creating
anything new. They will just be
discovering, maybe remixing a little bit
or just using apps that other people
built.
>> Eugene, I love what you're doing because
I do think personalized apps are kind of
where everything is headed. At the same
time, it feels like Wabby is a little
contrarian because if you talk to people
at Meta or Google, they will tell you
that according to their data, the
average person downloads zero new apps
per month. So there's this idea of app
saturation where everybody's, you know,
got their home screen in order. Yeah,
maybe there's a Sora or something once a
year that pops up and, you know, resets
things a little bit or gets people to
download, but for the most part, people
have settled into their rhythms and
there's just not a lot of buzz in like
the traditional app world anymore. Um,
so I'm curious like, you know, you
founded Replica, very successful early
chatbot platform. Um, how did you decide
on this idea as what you wanted to do
next? Because I imagine when you started
it, it probably felt even a little more
contrarian than it does now where you're
seeing a lot of vibe coding going into
mobile and people realizing that you can
actually just make apps on the fly on
mobile, not even on desktop.
>> So, I'm used to that. So, when we just
when we started replica and in fact we
started something that prior to replica
which was basically um technology so
models to generate dialects. So
conversational tech uh kind of chatbot
builder thing but this way and when we
started that the the feedback we got
from some of the VCs we met was well you
got to build it for Google Glass and
then maybe we'll
>> oh my gosh
>> the best because we can't figure out any
other use case. This will never be
useful for anything but maybe maybe for
Google Glass.
>> Those VCs really know what's coming
next, don't they?
>> Yeah. So wise always seeing around
corners. Yeah, they're very, you know,
VCs have great insight, but sometimes
they just engage in this crazy group
thing. I remember in 2022 once tragic
came out, the obsession was like every
consu product company needs to raise a
gazillion dollars and build their own
foundational model because if you don't
have your own foundation model, you're
basically gone. You're like, you should
be dead. You're just like some rapper.
You have to have that data flywheel or
whatever that meant to train your
foundation model. And all of that was
completely wrong. So all the of course
but that was the obsession then. So
sometimes VCs get into this I remember
in 2016 it was all about well chat bots
are the new apps and now you know
because they saw we chat I guess and
then like everything needs to be in the
chatbot format. So they were weather
apps that you would talk to to get a
weather update which was if you think
about it pretty crazy but um
>> your own personal weatherman
>> and same goes to bigger companies.
Sometimes they see the future, but
sometimes if you think about the use
cases they show sometimes in some of
these videos, it's it's always some sort
of restaurant reservation use case. Like
who has that? Like I don't know.
>> VC I'll tell you who has a lot of dinner
reservations. It's VCs.
>> It's always it's some dinner reservation
problem. I'm like I don't have any
dinner reservation problems. I go to
restaurants but I also have two toddlers
and I don't really have any problem
choosing a restaurant. Of course, our
very first product with a replica
pre-repplica was a demo of a restaurant
recommendation app. So, I'm of course
on myself. I do remember it was
last year of Paul Graham at Y Cominator.
We met him for office hours and he
looked at us like, "Sir, you're building
what restaurant recommendation app? Who
got you in? I need to go and fire that
partner." And then, of course, he, you
know, figured we're building
conversational. And he said, "Just never
say, never ever talk about restaurant
recommendations. This is awful." And so
going back to your question like why did
I decide to to work on this idea? I was
just talking to replica users all the
time and I would always ask ask them do
you use other AIs? do you besides
replica and I always thought they'll of
course tell me yeah of course I'm using
a clot or chup or this or that and
oftent times they would tell me that
they don't really use other AIs that
much and I started to look more into
what people use chip t for of course
there are tons of users almost a billion
users and uh basically the use cases are
pretty much just writing as a writing
tool uh search asking general questions
and that's sort of that and of course
for all of us working in AI we know how
much more these AI models can can do.
Um, and so we started looking to that
and I feel like really it's the problem
of the interface. When you look at a
command line, which is what every
chatbot, every Chadupti, Gemini, all of
them are just these command line
interfaces. When you look at a command
line for a regular person, the
affordance of that interface is pretty
much just that search writing tool or
you can talk to it or messenger. Um and
of and and I and I do think there a lot
many more use cases are just basically
being trapped behind that command line.
Um so we thought of it that today we
live in the era of Microsoft DOSs um
interfaces like the uh for AI and there
will be something more something very
visually um enticing something much more
exciting interactive something gooey
based think of it as there was Microsoft
DOS and then Windows or Mac OS appeared
so there will be a different I I' I'd
almost say operating system a different
interface layer on top of AI that will
allow people to use all software, not
just apps, but also AI models in this
completely new different way. And if you
think about it, right now we talk about
separately apps that you download from
the app store and separately how we use
chip or prompts. But in reality, it all
should be the same. Like if I'm using
chip as a therapist, for example, or a
lot of people use it to track calories,
I kind of want a specific interface. I
don't want to be doing that in chat. I
want maybe a little app that is fully
powered by the same tragic tea or
whatever the model of your choice but
has a little bit of like what I ate
yesterday some trans maybe a streak or
whatever you want but you sort of want a
little bit of an interface on top of
that you don't just want to be doing
that in chat um and so this I think our
wave vision I do think combines the use
how you use AI models and just the new
type of software it all becomes kind of
what part of the same operating system.
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One interesting thing you've done is in
kind of imposed some type of design
system on all the different apps you
could generate with Wabby and I think on
the one hand it's kind of constraining
and maybe can look generic but on the
other it's like most vibecoded apps look
like How did you make that
decision? How early did you make that
decision that you needed to kind of
enforce some type of design system with
the buttons and icons and all that
stuff? So we actually give a very loose
design system to the models. So they're
not being overprompted by that. So they
can still create a very, you know, very
they can be very free in what they
create. If you want it to look like the
Harry Potter themed app, you can still
create that. But we do create a bunch of
components that we show to the models
that they can use and then edit. And the
reason being for us the vision was like
if this is going to be another place
that where you can create tons of very
ugly looking similar vibe coded apps
with beige oatmeal background and blue
buttons. Uh it's just going to look so
boring and awful. In the end of the day,
people do respond to better design. Uh
but they also like but you also have to
always balance it with the fact that
they want their own thing. If you ever
um go on the subway and you know you sit
with a person with an Android phone,
you'll see some crazy fonts that people
choose as customization options. I
iPhone doesn't allow you to do that.
>> That's right.
>> But you know, Android does and you know
a lot of things there people that just
set like Comic Sense as their default
font and just live with that and they
love it. Um and nothing bad about it.
Just people want their own
>> Who are we to judge, right?
>> Who are we to judge? We're not judging.
Just don't bring a comic sands uh deck
to Y cominator
unless you already have 85,000 followers
and then they're like, "Wait, what do
they know that we don't know?" Okay,
we're funding them.
>> Exactly. So, I do think and I don't
think there's one good taste or
whatever. It's just that there's some
taste that's good for a lot of people
that people think, oh, this is kind of
well produced, but then there's also
personalization and people want what
they want and you got to give it to
them. you can't just say, well, it's
everything is just going to look like
this iPhone generic sort of whatever app
or some material design app. So, we
tried to find that balance, but I do
think there's absolutely
I think this is just about to come where
we'll see um AI generated apps that look
better or just like the best designed
apps uh made by humans. And I think this
makes just the usage of these apps a lot
more
exciting. Um, if you think about it, but
also I would also say that add one more
thing to that. There's, for example, my
apps, I make them all black and white,
uh, minimal and just kind of very clean
just cuz I like it this way. I'm I have
a little bit of OCD. I want everything
to be in its own little container. So, I
like when they're all kind of the same
color and there's nothing uh special
about them. If you think about it, I
would never launch an app like that on
the app store because people it's people
are not going to convert. They won't
like it. It's too boring. There's not,
you know, it's not some cool dopamine
thing. It's not jumping at them. But I
want my software to be the way I want
it. I don't want it to be whatever
dopamine kind of inducing stuff. That's
I I want it this way. And maybe some
other person wants it in a completely
different way, colorful or all styled
like, you know, Windows 95 style.
whatever they want. Or retro pixelated
or crazy, vibrant, eccentric, whatever.
>> I'm one of those dudes who still wants
all my apps to be felt, leather, or
wood. Is that permitted?
>> Oh,
>> you and Scott for stall, buddy.
>> That's very wobbby.
>> Yo, Scott's the goat.
>> Yeah,
>> if we get him on, I would uh be able to
retire happily.
>> Oh, for sure.
>> Do you know him, Eugenia?
>> No.
>> I feel like you know everybody.
>> I don't think so.
>> We got to get SC. You can work on that.
>> I I want to work on that. Okay.
>> Can people make companionship AIs with
Wabby? Does this tie back into what you
were doing before at all?
>> They can. And there's a whole kind of
the chat apps is like a big type that
you can totally create and do whatever
you want. And in fact, I think this is
where Wabby really shines. Think May
therapy app or a companion app. Uh with
Wabby, we wanted to for everyone to be
able to see if there's anything AI
generated. You can see the prompts and
you can ch choose the model. It's never
something hidden from you. So if there's
any agent flow or any AI flow, you can
see the prompts even if it's not your
app, change it, do whatever you want to
to that. So, I think it makes this um a
really good way to kind of for everyone
to own and kind of not have companions
that may that maybe have some dark
goals. You can always see what the goal
is in the prompt. You can always change
it. It's like a container for
containers, like a sandbox for all these
different prompts. Did you share
something the other day that called it
like a platform for prompt containers? I
thought that was an interesting way to
think about it. Like there are a lot of
prompts that you could ask chat GPT or
other AIs, but not only do they not have
a UI, but most of these tools don't have
ways to save them and reuse them.
>> Yeah, I think one of the uh use cases
that for me is very important is people
today share prompts. Uh and how do they
do that? They put it on, you know, text
on Reddit or Twitter or threads or
whatever and they say this is my perfect
prompt to do this and that on Chad and
then people have to copy that prompt,
paste it into Chad or wherever and then
do something with it and that just feels
so archaic. We're dealing with this
technology that's pretty much godlike
and what we need to do is copy paste
some big, you know, text paragraphs and
put them somewhere. Uh, this was crazy.
So instead of that, we felt like with
Wabby, you can just create a very simple
mini app and just to share that. So the
prompt is right there. You can always
find it and change it and see it. But
you don't need to do anything. You're
already presented with the app where you
just have to click click click and
immediately, you know, do whatever you
want to do with that model. You don't
need to go anywhere and copy paste
anything. Uh and so for me that's one of
the most exciting use cases because that
combines the two big sort of um the two
big um things. One is by coding apps and
one is using AI models to talk to them
and get something. So all together it
Wabby basically brings both of these use
cases together. How do you treat data in
this context then? Especially if people
are going to make, you know, therapy
apps with Wabby. Uh people at least have
some semblance of an idea of how their
data is used with OpenAI or whatever.
But how how do you treat that with WIB?
>> Well, so I think the only way for uh
people to use VIcoded AI therapy apps uh
by some other people is to create a
platform to create some organizational
layer. Um, and here Wabby takes care of
all that. All the data is private. Of
course, we we we already took a bunch of
steps with security because it's not our
first rodeo and we've we've done it with
replica by the way. Replican 10 years,
never been hacked. Knock on wood. Never
had any data leak problems and so on.
Here are the same. We believe this is
super critical. And one of the biggest
problems with VIP coded apps, say you
created an AI therapy app and you send
me a link. I don't know if I'm going to
use it really because first of all, you
can see the data and I don't know if
you're going to read it or what. Second
of all, you're not a professional app
developer. So, I don't know. Maybe
tomorrow something just leaks. One of
the vi famous vibe coded apps, whatever
the tea, was that the tea bag?
>> Yeah, the tea app. Yeah, it got taken
off the app store recently.
>> Oh, it did. It was VIP coded and it was
taking all the sensitive data from women
that were sharing basically uh their
stories with Yeah. did review whatever
was sex offenders and stuff and then of
course all that data got leaked because
it was vipcoded not because the person
who built it was a bad actor but he
didn't know and didn't work on security
of that app. So I believe for vip coding
if you're building anything that has to
do with any sensitive data of any kind
it's almost no one's going to use
someone else's vibe coded app where the
person is in charge of the database and
kind of supporting the app. There needs
to be a platform because we're not
thinking, well, you know, if I'm
watching YouTube, um, I kind of just
agree to YouTube's terms of services.
I'm not like really sending my data or
whatever to
>> Yeah. You don't think a certain YouTube
video is going to like prompt inject
your your Mac or something, right?
>> Yeah. So, you sort of have to have this
platform that provides all of that like
everything comes with it. Um, and it
also maybe even nothing leaks, but then
you just forget to update your whatever
payment information on Replet or lovable
and your app's just gone and then all my
therapy logs are gone. So that's also
not great. So I feel like without an
organizational layer though, people are
never going to be using other people's
bipoded apps. That's kind of my big uh
without some platform, we're not going
to be using, you know, we're not I'm not
going to be taking your AI journaling
link and starting to keep a very private
journal. Um somewhere somewhere there.
>> What else does that platform include? Uh
are there payments, social graph, what
else is kind of added to the SDK if you
will uh for each of the vibe coded apps?
So super important thing is on Wabby you
can't download any apps you have to only
use them there. So that comes with
that's a constraint but it comes with so
many benefits. First of all, data
security. The fact that there's a
persistent backend like your data is
always there. You can come back and use
it uh a year from now. It's every all
the history is still there. But it also
comes with a bunch of different uh
powerups. Call it this way. Integrations
with all sorts of um AI models, image
gen models, um voice gen voice uh models
and so on. As well as integrations with
all your apps and services. So you can
connect your Gmail, you can build apps
on top of Apple Health, on top of um
your calendar, on top of your bank
account, whatever you want. You want an
app that generates an action figure uh
out of your based on your bank account
activity. Sure. You know, it's like
whatever you want. You can come up with
really creative ways of of doing things.
>> A broke superhero,
>> a a broke.
Um so all of that plus of course the
social graph. So you can also see if you
think about the app store, it's actually
really not social. So this week we're uh
pushing a big social update on the app
store. You can't see what your friends
are using, what apps your friends are
using or um you know, you can't see
comments to any apps. You can see the
reviews, but review is sort of like a
>> it's pretty crazy when you think about
it that way.
>> Yeah. And it's a whole thing. Instead,
on Wabby, you'll be able to like any app
you want. You can see how who is
downloading these apps like any of your
friends or any of the people you follow
downloaded this app and you can see
comments. So apps could create mini apps
could become a conversation starter a
start for a small community. Um people
can show off what they're creating with
different mini apps in comments. They
can also ask the creator for a certain
update. Um and there's also like if I
want for this you know for for a new
feature in this app I can remix and
build myself or I can ask the creator to
update it for all of us. So, it's going
to be even more fun. We can all continue
to use it with the community. Um, and so
on, so on so on. And of course,
multiplayer. So, something else we're
working on um now is being able to use
all of these apps together with your
friends. Invite invite your best friend,
invite your partner, uh, whoever you
want to, I don't know, uh, write great
grocery lists or packing list. who will
play a little game against each other or
come up with movie recommendations for
the evening u and so on so on.
>> Are you saying we could do an access
super fan wobby app where they can
interact with us? That's possible.
>> That is my most interest for for me one
of the most exciting use cases is being
able to create sort of like a
multiplayer app where there uh kind of
tons of viewers sort of our content. So,
like you said, where people can interact
with the creators and talk to them and
stuff like that.
>> Do you guys want to know about the
dumbest article I ever wrote? But that
is actually maybe the smartest.
>> Yes,
>> of course.
>> I wrote an article for The Verge a long
time ago about this app called Yo.
>> Do you guys remember that?
>> Of course. An article about that.
>> You did?
>> Yes.
>> Wow. You're the goat.
>> I was kind of fascinated by Yo. This was
kind of
>> Yeah. Well, so was I because the idea
started with just being able to yo your
friends, but then they were talking
about adding this developer platform
where you could get yo for almost any
event, whether it is a sports score or a
website update or this or that. And that
sadly uh was just a figment of my
imagination. But now I feel like with
Agentic AI and an app platform that
allows you to create notifications for
whatever you want, I feel like that is
finally coming true. You know, like your
bank, for example, only allows you to
set up notifications for certain very
specific things like, oh, if you have a
low, you know, your risk of overdraft or
you take out more than $100 from the
ATM. But I feel like there's huge
potential there to be able to just set
up push notifications for almost
anything right?
>> Yeah. I thought, you know, OpenAI did
some cool thing with those tasks. I was
a super user of tasks in the beginning
of the year, but they took it out where
you could basically just say, run this
prompt every day or every week for me or
whatever, every month. And it could be,
you know, check in with me about what
I'm grateful for, or it could be, show
me what to do with my kids over the
weekend. And I don't think people
figured it out how to use it in uh chat.
I thought this would have such a strong
response but it didn't. But I was a
heavy user and I do believe in that with
Wabby again any app you can set up push
notifications. You can make it you know
generate content whatever content you
want for you every day. I think this is
sort of another big thing. Um and we
also made it transparent so that people
can actually change the prompt for the
notifications themselves. So for
example, if you have a a workout app,
you can create a push notifications that
um will be generated in like David
Goen's voice for tone of voice, for
example, if you want it to or however
really you want it um to be generated.
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You talked about this being the YouTube
moment for apps. That to me suggests
you're thinking about a YouTube like
business model. Are you thinking like
creator revshare on ads or payments down
the road? How are you going to monetize
all this? I know it's a question a
founder loves to get asked the week
before they launch.
>> I love those questions. I also love when
investors ask for business models. Um I
haven't been asked for one for a long
time, but I guess like 10 years ago it
was still happening here and there. Like
can you
>> is that the ultimate founder bragging
right? I don't get asked for business
models anymore.
>> Well, no. I mean like at pre-launch when
you don't even have any like still you
still figure it out and then they're
like you know create a business model
for the next two years or something with
like forecasts and um and I went to
business school so I I can do that but I
always
>> but you're like I don't know I'm going
to disrupt the app store I don't know
what to tell you trillion dollars sign
here
>> I just yeah it just feels so arbitrary
just whatever it's like I just put some
numbers in I don't know I guess
>> welcome to late stage capitalism.
Eugenia, just put some numbers in.
>> Just put some numbers in. Um I don't
know. I It's probably bad to say that
out, you know, on a podcast. I should
not say that, but it's okay.
>> I don't know how it could be meaningful
for like a preede startup.
>> Oh, just like how do you put a price on
something when it launches, right?
>> Yeah. Like how do you assess what's
going to be there? But for Wave I think
so with replica we're monetized um and
we had very strong revenue growth and
for for a while we got really wooed by
the you know number goes up. It was very
exciting because you can kind of tweak
something the product and next month
it's like you know AR or whatever it is
or revenue goes up and up and up and
it's very exciting to work on that but I
feel like when you do that sometimes you
lose track of product and sometimes you
overoptimize for revenue as with any
metric and so with Wabby we felt like
this is such a big change in uh user
behavior we want to see what happens if
we give it out for free for a
and only when we figure out when we're
really confident about the business
model we're going to slap one on. But
this time around we decided to just
focus on engagement, retention and
providing something that's really useful
for users and also seeing what apps what
many apps stick with our users cuz
ultimately you can build anything and
it's a little bit maybe too vague, too
free, too much, too wide and before we
know that I feel like coming up with any
business model would would be a little
bit premature. Yeah, that makes sense
for consumer. Uh, it's interesting to
hear like, yeah, you can make anything.
I guess the the interesting thing about
what you're doing is you're building
this app platform, many app platform,
but you're still constrained by the app
stores that you have to be distributed
by on mobile phones, right? So, you can
make anything within Apple and Google's
content rules for the stores. I would
imagine that's that's what you mean by
that. So, how do you think about that?
Like, it sounds like enforcement of that
will be tricky if this is a UGC
platform. Like, there's a lot of weird
edge cases. It's like if Apple takes
down like the ice tracking app or
whatever like they did recently. Does
that mean Wabby can't have an ice
tracking app? Like there's a lot of
interesting moderation questions for a
platform like this. I'm not sure how
much you've thought through them, but
I'd be curious to hear if you have how
you think about that in relation to the
the stores that you have to operate in.
>> If you're successful, this could take up
99% of your time. So, you should develop
a plan.
>> That is true
now. Plan now. But uh you know we have I
have a lot of experience with kind of
users safety and all sorts of regulatory
things with replica. It did take a lot
of our time there cuz and also we were
creating something new and the rules
changed all the time and continue to
change. When we started replica it was
kind of one situation people were big
companies were really scared to even
launch any generative AI chatbot. I
don't know if you remember, but for
Google and Facebook, they would never
launch anything after Microsoft Tai,
they were so scared of launching
anything that was powered by deep
learning models.
>> God, that seems like a million years ago
already, doesn't it?
>> Yeah, but they were sitting on those
transformer models for so long and they
weren't launching anything. They've had
it way before, you know, even OpenAI
had, but OpenAI had the guts to put it
out there
>> and Google just sat, you know, and
waited because they were too riskaverse.
And then of course everything changed.
So all I'm trying to say is with replica
we saw the landscape change so many
times from people just being scared of
gender chatbots all together. It was a
big no no for any big core corporation
to then kind of being okay with gender
chatbots but not being okay with um any
romance then to not being okay with any
kids using that. Then now all of a
sudden romance is great again. like it's
unclear what's you know what's really
now ch you know chedek has erotic
features it's very wild I would say and
kind of the same companies even not just
regulars but companies themselves change
their minds on what's pos what's what's
allowed what's not allowed every day and
so I think with this new
era of vip coding and vipcoded apps AI
generated apps um we're about to find
out what are the limitations but I
wouldn't be surprised guys, if those
rules change
every like all the time.
>> I know. I feel like the the elephant in
the room though, I mean, we've talked a
little bit about Apple. I remember being
at Snapchat several years ago and we
were trying to build an app platform and
there were insane sensitivities and
rules from Apple about how you can't you
can do it, but it has to be a list view.
It can't be a grid of icons. It can't
have this. It can't have that. What's
changed in that department? I mean, are
they are they going to approve you guys?
>> We're past re, you know, some parts of
review on the apps already. Hopefully,
yes, there is a mini app carve out which
we're kind of uh sitting pretty neatly
in. There are some apps that are already
gaining traction that follow a very
similar model. Uh, one of them I'm a
huge fan of. It's called Gizmo and
actually I think by people from Snap
that Snap Josh and other Snap alum. Yep.
>> Great. I love this app. Um, you know, I
really kind of just love the creativity
of it. And I think to a certain degree,
it's really following some of that. It's
very close to what we're doing at the
end of the day that these mini apps just
more on a creative side. I think the
most important thing for us is like you
cannot download these apps. They're not
monetized in any way and they're really
just think of it like workflows living
inside uh Wabby. There's another popular
platform called World Worldcoin. They
have mini apps and I'd say ours is even
kind of the most mini app of all mini
apps because all of Bobby mini apps you
always see the kind of app header. They
always sort of like integrated inside
the platform. You don't really see them
without the Wii header. It's not like
there's some app and you feel like
you're in you always know. I think
that's an important piece for Apple is
where you always know that you're inside
some app that you downloaded from the
app store in our case Wobbby. And it's
just one little kind of workflow.
>> That's risk containment for Apple. They
like that.
>> It's risk containment.
>> Yeah. You never know though. I mean,
they do seem to care like what words you
use. It's like, oh, you called it a
gizmo. All right. That's pretty cool of
me. But you called it an app. It's like,
all right, henchmen are banging down
your door with the battering ram.
>> We're trying to call them mini apps. So,
>> yeah. Sometimes they'll be like, as long
as you change your app store description
to not include the word app or whatever
word they don't like, they're like, "Oh,
cool. Thank you.
I think the workflows framing is smart
though. It's just kind of like the next
evolution of shortcuts with some new
primitives right?
>> I think so too. And I really think these
are really mini apps there. No, there's
no authorization. There's no I don't
know like social graph that's inside the
app. It's all in Wabby platform layer.
They don't function as separate apps.
They really are part of a platform and
you can't take them out in any way even
if you wanted to. there's just too much
on the platformware that's kind of
around it even compared to some um
mobile apps right now that create apps.
Uh there's some really, you know, new
coming out platforms that are really
great like VIP code app or ROR. Um I met
the founders of both of those. They're
really amazing founders, amazing people.
They're focused more on kind of vibe
coding, creating new apps. Um mostly for
developers, for people that want to
develop an app and then put it on the
app store. So that is very different
where basically on those apps you're
creating a full-fledged app with
authorization with whatever you want
even if you want to create like a social
network app whatever it's all there um
and so that feels very different that
feels truly like an app within an app
but those are developer tools so I feel
like we're much more on the kind of
Gizmo side where you're just creating
you never think of a gizmo outside of
Gizmo you don't think oh I can download
Gizmo and relaunch it on the app store
even although some of those could be
totally mini apps just like small you
know maybe could be published separately
uh but that's not about it and I feel
like that perception is a big part for
for all these platforms in the end of
the day we want to play by the platforms
rule rules and the rules are that you
can create mini apps as long as they're
truly mini apps you're not trying to
like circumvent the app store or do
something about it
>> Ellis did you have anything more on this
point
>> oh yeah how do you compete with game
center the most innovative social
platform ever produced
>> in this galaxy or otherwise
I actually quite like it. I don't know.
I found
>> You're joking.
>> I don't know.
>> Are you playing dice right now?
>> That is really You're really trying to
appease to the Apple gods right now.
>> I kind of It's just recently. I just had
like a nice experience with the games
game center where I downloaded like a
stupid puzzle app for myself and I was
playing it. I was very excited to see
that my other two friends that I haven't
heard from for a while are also were
also playing it and kind of I'm a little
and I got a little better than them. So,
I immediately texted them. So it became
a little bit of a conversation starter.
So that was my positive experience with
>> Wow, we found the three Game Center
users left uh in in the world. Um
Eugenia, I would love to hear what you
think of the state of the chatbot
market, AI companionship,
how it's evolved since you started
Replica again. you were like the OG
platform for this and somehow amazingly
replica seems to have stayed out of a
lot of the bad headlines that like
Character has gotten into and OpenAI
recently with chat GPT they just put out
some interesting data about you know the
percentage of users that they think are
having you know suicidal really
dangerous mental health conversations
with Chat GBT and it's small but it's
still at the scale they're at a lot of
people um and I just love to know what
you think of all of it gro like what
Elon's doing, like did you foresee it
all going this direction when you
started replica or does any of this
surprise you?
>> We sort of started it because I started
because I 100% believe there's going to
be we're all going to be talking to
machines and that's going to be our main
most important that's going to be the
future of personal computing. That was
the big belief in 2012 for me. I sort of
knew this will happen and I knew the
emotional piece is going to be the most
interesting because this is the new
interface
that and the only interface really or
one of the only interfaces that can have
this very strong emotional impact on
users. If you think about if I'm using
Uber there's not much I mean there's
some emotions involved in that but not
that many. If I'm talking to uh an AI
companion like replica I might fall in
love and you know and get married to it.
It's very different. I'm never going to
get married to my Uber app. So this
means completely novel type of
interaction means completely new levels
of being able to influence people being
able to influence the decisions and so
we knew from the very beginning with
with the very early prototypes that we
built in 2012 for something else of
conversational AI products we saw how
much you can influence people through
these AIs and that's why I decided to
work on it. Having said that, I was
super surprised that it actually
happened because by then I was starting
to lose patience because I was like,
well, I thought, you know, it's going to
be a couple years, three, four years,
and it was like year after year after
year, the models were still until
they weren't. Uh, and of course, now
it's blows my mind how like how far we
came cuz we could see it in the
continue. We didn't just start paying
attention now. We were we've been paying
attention and building these models and
working on that for over a decade. At
this point, I think the most surprising
thing
is how how much of a 180 most of the
companies did on safety and not on
safety. And generally I and I don't
think it's bad. I just think that for
some reason safety was kind of the
catchall phrase for everything. um
suicide prevention, dealing with um you
know homicidal or hate speech or
suicidal remarks and conversations, but
also somehow romantic relationships with
an AI were also part of that bucket,
which I don't think it should be because
it could be totally safe. Like why not?
What is the problem of like roleplaying
some um some scenario being intimate
with an AI with everything safe? There's
no problem there. But all of that was in
the safety bucket. So I think I have two
competing emotions for on one hand I'm
very happy that people are starting to
differentiate um romance with an AI
intimacy with an AI is different from
responding correctly to a suicidal uh
teenager and I think the second piece is
where I'm a little bit more cautious is
the fact that I'm not hearing from
anyone really what these companions
should do. The problem with the I
companion is that of oftentimes there's
some safety guidelines or whatever, but
there's no big goal that that they're
trying to achieve. It's sort of like,
well, people are lonely, so we'll just
give them a companion. But what are you
trying to do? Are you trying to
substitute other human relationships?
Are you trying to compliment them? Are
you trying to get these people to feel
better about themselves? And often times
there's no answer. There's no underlying
mission around that. I think that's kind
of the most dangerous. The unintended
consequences of that to me are the most
dangerous thing. You had a really good
tweet back in July where you said there
is more profound thinking going into AI
note takingaking and customer support
than the most important part. That was a
banger. I I bookmarked that one. Like
you're totally right. I mean talking to
these people building these products
like all the way up to Zuck. Like
>> it's big picture like people are lonely.
People want to interact. we can make
thing they interact with but like
there's no thinking through the
ramifications of that or what the goals
of that should be beyond like I mean
it's like an engagement metric really at
the end of the day is like they see that
people use these things and it's
probably the main way people are still
using chat bots today is for this kind
of companionship stuff
>> a lot of these things were already
covered by have already been covered by
uh sci-fi there's for example there's
the book by Stenisam Congress right that
shows a very dystopian future of VR are
um where people are so disjointed that
you know so not happy with reality where
they just live in this kind of drug
induced virtual reality. Um but the same
thing goes for for companion. Like it's
so easy to imagine the world where we're
so uh disenchanted in other people and
lost all capacity to connect to talk to
other people and we're just completely
we cannot escape those AI companions
that are just fully trying to get as
much of our attention as possible and
somehow none of that is being discussed
neither for the VR future and you know
kind of VR just didn't happen. So no one
just is discussing this really. though.
But if it did happen, I still have never
heard that conversation. So what what
will happen if we're all sitting in
those headsets. This is eating like time
with and this is it's so hard to connect
in a VR headset. Much harder than you
know even if you're just on your phone
and that's already a big burden. And
then the same goes for like we're not
even discussing what's going to happen
if we're all just stuck in those
relationships and they want as much of
our attention as we can. I think this is
the most important thing to uh to try to
figure out. So, we're almost out of
time. Just a final question or two. I
know you're a parent of some little
ones. What do you imagine their future
will look like uh with their own
software, with their own AI companion,
uh with the screen always by their side?
What is what does that future look like
to you being in both worlds?
>> Well, I'm worried of course cuz I think
I was this the last kind of generation
that didn't grow up with Instagram. Um
kind of happened when I was already out
of college. I guess or right out of
almost out of college. So, it didn't
affect me that much. Um, but that's my
worry like what's going to happen to my
kids. I have two girls. They're two and
four. Uh, they're the most important
thing in my life by like so I don't even
know like I can't no you know if you're
not a parent of course you'll never I
don't think anyone will understand what
it means. But so I think about it a lot
and that's why I do care so much about
where we're taking AI where we're taking
AI companionship. um and the emotional I
guess the emotional um effects that AI
can have on on people or these AI
relationships can have on people. And
that's why I think it's so critical to
think about whether
like with any technology, AI can be a
double-edged sword. We can build
something that will help us communicate,
help us feel good about ourselves, help
us meet other people, help us connect
better. And I can totally foresee that.
I feel like this more powerful
technology can kind of help us deal with
the the social networks and all that
stuff that kind of maybe made us and
just us being addicted to our iPhones or
whatever smartphones maybe can help us
with that.
>> Fight the fire with fire. Huh.
>> Well, I think that's the only way. And
I'm talking a lot to different
researchers in the space and a lot of
them start a conversation with me. It's
like, "Oh, no, no, no. We should just
ban everything and like people will just
go and touch grass." I'm like, but this
will never happen. We're already in sort
of like a little bit of a problem. I'm
already the whole time on my phone the
whole time. I can't get it out of my I
bring a book to my bed and I'm still on
my phone reading tweets and doing
squalling and doing whatever I'm doing.
Unfortunately, this is just too
powerful. And so, we need to build
something even more powerful to get us
off
off this train. And I don't believe that
we're just going to all of a sudden wake
up and say, "Yeah, I'm just going to go
to the gym and touch grass and meditate
20 minutes a day and everything's just
going to be amazing." Like very few
people can do that and they're already
doing that. And all of the rest of us,
we can't. I cannot. I know for a fact. I
know in the replica years you've fielded
some research about happiness. Uh I feel
like we need to do a new research study
about tech built by parents versus
non-parents. I think the non-parents
just build to-do apps. The parents try
and build something a little bit
different with a bit more of an ethos. I
mean, there's nothing more powerful than
that fear about like your children's,
you know, sadness or or loneliness at
some later date. I mean, I'm sure the uh
the dials are a little different for
that pro uh PM at Instagram with how
they tune the feeds if they have kids or
not. It's got to be right.
>> Oh, 100%. Skin in the game. I was a
journalist in my early 20s and all I
wanted to do is write the most
sensational story and I didn't give
any whatever. I didn't care whether it
was hurting someone or not. It's I'm not
proud of that. Okay, I'm not proud of
that. But I was I I remember that I was
like I just need the most popular story
and it has to be like this, you know,
I'm just going to uncover this truth and
who cares if like that's hard for the
person I'm writing it about or something
like that. And so of course now it's
different now that I have kids. It's
like you get wiser. I guess you don't
want to be. Um, and so yeah, I agree
with you 100%. I think one of the things
that really bugged me recently, I met a
few people, founders that started AI
toys companies and none of them have
kids.
And I was very much like,
>> that's kind of weird.
>> I hadn't really feeling it. They're
really wonderful people, don't get me
wrong, but I just felt uneasy because I
know I know they just want to win. And I
don't want them to win if that means,
you know, messing up with messing with
my kids. So that was
>> Well, fortunately, they're going to fail
because if you don't have kids, you
can't possibly even begin to understand
kids and how whack their brains are.
So
>> there's a fantastic post by um Tim
Orbin, you know, and wait by Y about
hanging out with the toddlers, how
they're the most exciting people at the
same time the most boring people when
like after 3 hours you just realize
you're spending a lot of time with
someone with the IQ whatever of 20.
And I and I felt only a only a dad would
write something like that. Only a dad.
Like I never even thought about it this
way.
>> Speaking of toddlers, last question.
You've been a founder for a long time
now. What What advice would you give to
a young founder starting out today?
>> Don't make an AI tour or I'll come after
you. I'm just
don't do not make an AI tour. Um I think
the main advice and I think for me that
was a problem a really big problem at
the very beginning when I started my
first company in San Francisco. You get
so fast into the kind of red race of I
just need a bigger valuation. I need a
little more revenue. I need a little bit
of those metrics. you just get in that
your why is being completely replaced by
well I just need to get to this success
in some way and that makes people so so
so so miserable because that success it
never really happens I feel for anyone
it kind of any any step there's a yet
another step to take you always feel
like a fraud somehow it's this crazy
feeling of kind of having had some and
lost some infinite thing like my
favorite David Foster Wallace said And I
feel like that makes you just so
miserable and you wake up feeling like
you don't even want to wake up uh at
some point no matter what it'll take you
to some crazy burnout. And so I think
the biggest advice and change for me was
really we live in this incredible time
where we can build super creative new
products. We can rethink what people do
with technology. We can we can build
something completely new. And I think if
you can find happiness in building and
being super creative and building
something creative with a good group of
people you like that is that should be
the motivation. Like if you can find
some why that's not related to just
getting to the next round, next
valuation, next revenue number, I think
this will make life very very happy and
a lot less stressful.
>> And if you need help with your why,
please visit meaning.comp.
That's m a n i n g company.
>> I 100% endorse this message.
>> Good.
>> In fact, I do think Alice should uh
raise his prices.
>> I tell him that all the time. I'm glad
you're saying it on the show.
>> He needs to hear that a lot more.
No, I do think that this finding that
why and what Ellis does is frankly one
of the most important things um for that
the founder can can do to themselves
like realizing what's the bigger
mission, why am I doing it and getting
really really excited by that and if you
work with Ellis, you'll get there.
>> I'm so warm and fuzzy. Thank you both.
Um well, Eugenia, so lovely to have you
>> like TVPN. You should put meaning.co go
on your hats and it
>> I could increase my thirst thirstiness
if I if I need to. Um, but uh so lovely
to have you. Good luck with the public
launch and the inevitable first neo-Nazi
wabby app that goes viral. Good luck
with moderation and all that to come.
>> Thank you so much guys and
congratulations, you know, on launching
the show. It's amazing. I've been loving
it so far.
>> Thanks to Eugenia for coming on the
show. Alex, what do you think of my uh
How many poops app idea? Is it going big
or going bust?
>> It depends on the payw wall. It depends
how much you price it at. Have you
thought through your your tiers?
>> Well, it's completely free, but I will
get access to all the email list of all
the downloaders.
>> So, you're going to know everyone who's
>> to do as I please.
>> Okay.
>> For my next supplement
>> to do business that starting on the
side.
>> There's a doodoo joke in there
somewhere. Uh, okay. Uh, we're new here,
so please follow, like, subscribe
everywhere that you get podcasts. We're
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Please follow us there. And these
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AccessPod. So, please check us out
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please share with a friend. We're new
out here, and it would mean a whole lot.
>> You can find my newsletter at
sources.news news
>> and you can find me at hamburger on
Twitter and as you heard earlier in the
episode at meaning.com
>> good domain access is part of the Vox
Media podcast network. Our producer is
Shiraz Dumé.
>> We'll see you next week. Bye.
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