Lenny's Reads

In this episode, my wife Michelle Rial, cartoonist and author, celebrates the launch of her new book "Charts for Babies" by sharing a pep talk for anyone stuck in a creative rut. She walks through 12 tried-and-tested steps designed to lift you out of a creative block and get back to making things that matter.

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In this episode, you'll learn:
• Why it's necessary to create work that might feel embarrassing
• The simple mindset shift that stops stalling and gets you to just start
• How to reframe scorn as a positive signal
• The thought process that can help you move out of a state of rumination
• How to treat failed ideas as seeds for future breakthroughs

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References:
• "Charts for Babies": https://www.amazon.com/Charts-Babies-Picture-Book/dp/1419785184
• How I AI: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/s/how-i-ai
• Michelle Rial: https://www.michellerial.com/

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Read the newsletter:
https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/a-visual-guide-to-getting-out-of

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Subscribe to Lenny's Newsletter:https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

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Subscribe:
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lennysreads
• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lennys-reads/id1810314693
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0IIunA06qMtrcQLfypTooj
• Substack: https://lennysreads.com/

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Follow Lenny:
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
• Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@lennyspodcast

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About:
Welcome to Lenny's Reads, where every week you'll find a fresh audio version of my newsletter about building product, driving growth, and accelerating your career, read to you by the soothing voice of Lennybot.


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Claire Vo went from public OpenClaw skeptic to running nine dedicated AI agents that manage her businesses, write code, close sales deals, and make sure she gets to her kids' basketball games on time. In this episode, she shares her complete power-user's guide to OpenClaw—covering everything from setup and key concepts to practical workflows and building your own team of agents.

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In this episode, you'll learn:
• What OpenClaw is and why it's more autonomous and powerful than other AI tools
• How to choose the right setup: Mac Mini, VPS, or a hosted option
• Six ready-to-copy workflows you can start using immediately
• How to run multiple agents with specific roles (Claire's full 9-agent setup)
• The best tools and integrations to connect your agents to the real world
• Key security considerations and how to think about risk
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References:
• 1Password: https://1password.com
• Attio: https://attio.com
• Brave Search API: https://brave.com/search/api/
• Buffer: https://buffer.com
• ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com
• ChatPRD: https://chatprd.ai
• Claire Vo: https://linkedin.com/in/clairevo
• ClaWHub: https://clawhub.com
• Claude: https://claude.ai
• DigitalOcean: https://digitalocean.com
• Eight Sleep: https://eightsleep.com
• Exa: https://exa.ai
• Every / Plus One: https://every.to
• Firecrawl: https://firecrawl.dev
• GitHub: https://github.com
• Google Cloud: https://cloud.google.com
• Hostinger: https://hostinger.com
• How I AI podcast: https://howiai.com
• Intercom: https://intercom.com
• Linear: https://linear.app
• Mac Mini: https://apple.com/mac-mini
• Obsidian: https://obsidian.md
• OpenClaw: https://openclaw.ai
• Perplexity: https://perplexity.ai
• Railway: https://railway.app
• Render: https://render.com
• Slack: https://slack.com
• Sonos: https://sonos.com
• Telegram: https://telegram.org
• TikTok: https://tiktok.com
• WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com
Read the newsletter:
https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/openclaw-the-complete-guide-to-building
Subscribe to Lenny’s Newsletter:
https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe
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Subscribe:
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lennysreads
• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lennys-reads/id1810314693
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0IIunA06qMtrcQLfypTooj
• Substack: https://lennysreads.com/
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Follow Lenny:
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
• Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@lennyspodcast

---

About:
Welcome to Lenny's Reads, where every week you’ll find a fresh audio version of my newsletter about building product, driving growth, and accelerating your career, read to you by the soothing voice of Lennybot.


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Contrary to what the headlines might be telling you, PM job openings are at their highest point in over three years, AI roles are hockey-sticking, and tech headcount is growing. Today’s episode is our fourth biannual update on the tech job market (the most optimistic yet) and breaks down seven key trends shaping the job landscape right now.
In this episode, you'll learn:
• Why PMs have reason to be optimistic
• How the influx of new AI roles is shaping the industry
• The unexpected sign of tech growth
• What current job openings look like for design and software engineering roles
• Surprising trends across remote job opportunities

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References:
• AI Practice Copilot for PM Interviews: https://www.benerez.com/copilot/lenny
• Analytical thinking interviews guide: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/analytical-thinking-interviews
• Google Career Dreamer: https://grow.google/career-dreamer/home/
• How to pass any first-round interview: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-pass-any-first-round-interview
• How to use AI for your job interview: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-use-ai-in-your-next-job-interview
• The definitive guide to mastering product sense interviews: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-definitive-guide-to-mastering
• TrueUp: https://www.trueup.io/

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Read the newsletter:https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/191595250?r=1o9eyi

Subscribe to Lenny’s Newsletter:https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

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Subscribe:
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lennysreads
• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lennys-reads/id1810314693
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0IIunA06qMtrcQLfypTooj
• Substack: https://lennysreads.com/

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Follow Lenny:
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
• Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@lennyspodcast

---

About:
Welcome to Lenny's Reads, where every week you’ll find a fresh audio version of my newsletter about building product, driving growth, and accelerating your career, read to you by the soothing voice of Lennybot.


To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

When Lenny released his full podcast transcript archive, Ben Shih a non-technical designer at Miro — built LennyRPG: a Pokémon-style RPG where you battle podcast guests with product trivia. In this episode, Ben walks through the exact six-step workflow he used to go from sketch to shipped game, including the tools, prompts, and decisions at every stage, along with the broader lessons he learned along the way.
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In this episode, you'll learn:
• How to have AI interview you instead of writing the PRD yourself
• When to pivot your framework, rather than force the wrong tool
• How to systematically process 300+ transcripts into game data
• Three core lessons Ben learned from building LennyRPG
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References
Ben Shih: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hbshih/
Brian Balfour: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bbalfour/
Claude Code Awesome Skills marketplace: https://github.com/ComposioHQ/awesome-claude-skills
LennysData.com: https://lennysdata.com/
LennyRPG: https://www.lennyrpg.fun/
Lenny's Product Pass: https://www.lennysproductpass.com/
OpenGameArt.org: https://opengameart.org/
Phaser 3: https://phaser.io/
RPG-JS: https://github.com/RSamaium/RPG-JS
Supabase: https://supabase.com/
Wispr Flow: https://wisprflow.com/
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Read the newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-i-built-lennyrpg
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Subscribe to Lenny's Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe
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Subscribe
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lennysreads
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lennys-reads/id1810314693
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0IIunA06qMtrcQLfypTooj
Substack: https://lennysreads.com/
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Follow Lenny
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@lennyspodcast
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About
Welcome to Lenny's Reads, where every week you'll find a fresh audio version of my newsletter about building product, driving growth, and accelerating your career, read to you by the soothing voice of Lennybot.


To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

It's never been easier to launch products, which means the biggest challenge product teams are facing is quickly becoming distribution. April Dunford, the world's leading expert on B2B positioning and author of Obviously Awesome, has spent 10 years working with more than 300 companies to help them stand out. In this episode, she goes beyond the basics to share tactics for overcoming four of the trickiest positioning roadblocks teams face.

In this episode, you'll learn:
• The four roadblocks every team faces when making positioning decisions
• Why cross-functional teams almost always disagree on who they compete with
• How to break the cycle of product pessimism
• Why the "So what?" test is critical for defining your differentiated value
• How to use your GTM strategy to drive positioning decisions

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References:
• April Dunford: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprildunford/
• April Dunford's guest post on positioning: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/positioning
• April Dunford on Lenny's Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdjlCLb9Hl8
• Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/
• Lenny's Product Pass: https://www.lennysproductpass.com/

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Read the full newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/a-guide-to-advanced-b2b-positioning

Subscribe to Lenny's Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

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Subscribe:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lennysreads
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lennys-reads/id1810314693
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0IIunA06qMtrcQLfypTooj
Substack: https://lennysreads.com/

Follow Lenny:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@lennyspodcast

—

Welcome to Lenny's Reads, where every week you'll find a fresh audio version of my newsletter about building product, driving growth, and accelerating your career, read to you by the soothing voice of Lennybot.


To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com