Lenny RachitskyModify

2026-08-24 23:02:23

Grok Bot + Grok 4.6—what’s great (and what’s still hype)

Brought to you by:

Bolt.new—Turn your idea into a real product

Jira AI SDLC—Get your tokens’ worth with Jira

In this solo episode, Claire tests Grok Bot, Cursor Origin, and Grok 4.6 to figure out what’s genuinely useful and what’s still mostly hype. She shares the Grok Bot feature that immediately won her over, why she isn’t ready to replace GitHub with Origin, and how Grok 4.6 performed against GPT-5.6, Claude Sonnet 5, and Opus 5 in her own blind evaluations.

Biggest takeaways:

1. Grok Bot’s multi-account connectors solve a problem every other agent platform seems to ignore. Most platforms assume each person has one Gmail account and one Slack workspace. Claire has four email addresses and seven Slack workspaces. Grok Bot lets her connect all of them to a single bot, which made it genuinely useful from day one in a way that Codex and Claude still have not matched.

2. Grok Bot’s simplicity is both its greatest strength and its biggest limitation. Setup is fast, the iMessage-style interface is clean, and the built-in plugins actually work. But people who enjoy customizing their agents, choosing models, shaping personalities, and tinkering with every detail may find it almost too polished. Claire loves her OpenClaw agents partly because they are chaotic and high-maintenance. So far, Grok Bot has not given her much to wrestle with.

3. Cursor Origin is a compelling vision that is not quite ready for prime time. An agent-native alternative to GitHub makes a lot of sense, especially one where Bugbot, Cursor, and the entire pull request workflow are designed around how coding agents actually work. Today, though, Origin still feels like a more attractive version of GitHub with fewer features. Teams that rely heavily on GitHub Actions, code owners, and existing automations will need a much stronger reason to migrate.

4. Grok 4.6 is a genuine frontier-model competitor. That conclusion did not come from someone else’s leaderboard. Claire runs her evaluations blind, grades the outputs herself, and gives her own judgment 70% of the final weight. Grok 4.6 finished alongside GPT-5.6 Sol at the top of the Claire Index, ahead of both Sonnet 5 and Opus 5.

5. For sharp, enjoyable agent conversations, Sonnet 5 is still the model to beat. When Claire wants an OpenClaw agent that is concise, responsive, and fun to talk with, Sonnet 5 continues to win. It has a conversational rhythm that feels more like working with a strong collaborator than issuing commands to a tool. Grok 4.6 does not yet compete in that category.

6. Cursor and xAI are assembling a surprisingly coherent enterprise stack. Grok Bot serves knowledge workers, Origin handles code hosting, Grok 4.6 provides a capable default model, and the Cursor IDE already sits at the center of many developers’ workflows. None of the pieces is perfect on its own, but together they are beginning to look like a credible enterprise platform. Large companies often prefer one vendor that can own the entire experience, and Cursor is increasingly positioned to become that vendor.

I spent $20,000 on Devin in a month. Here’s what I learned | Ryan Carson (solo founder)

Brought to you by:

• WorkOS—Make your app enterprise-ready, with SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more

• Jira AI SDLC—Get your tokens’ worth with Jira

Ryan Carson is a five-time founder and the solo founder of Untangle, a B2B SaaS platform for family law firms. In this episode, he breaks down how he manages up to 15 AI agents at once, ships as many as 40 pull requests a day, and uses Devin, Codex, and Claude Code to handle everything from engineering and QA to customer success and investor updates. He also shares why more AI output doesn’t necessarily lead to a better product, how a handwritten priority list keeps his agents focused, and why talking to one real customer changed the direction of his entire company.

Biggest takeaways:

1. The most important skill for a solo founder may be managing agents, not writing code. Ryan runs 10 to 15 Devin threads at once, organized into P0, P1, P2, and Bugs folders. He treats each thread the way a good manager treats a direct report: give it a clear goal, set the right priority, and avoid unnecessary hand-holding. That organizational discipline is what separates founders who gain real leverage from AI from those who simply accumulate open tabs.

2. A piece of paper can still be the best tool for protecting attention. Despite working across eight screens, Ryan keeps a handwritten list of his weekly priorities beside him. The simplicity is intentional. When agents are constantly generating updates, questions, and decisions, that physical list keeps him anchored to the three things that matter most before he gets pulled into whatever Devin surfaced overnight.

3. Ryan built an AI playbook that functions like a customer success team. His Watchdog workflow reviews every law firm account, pulls recent activity and errors from Sentry and internal logs, identifies the three most important problems, and checks whether a recent pull request has already fixed each one. Everything appears in a single Devin thread. Whenever Ryan feels the familiar anxiety of not knowing what is happening across his customer base, he runs Watchdog and quickly gets back up to speed.

4. Producing more with AI does not automatically lead to a better product. Both Ryan and Claire are skeptical of letting agents work without constraints overnight. Frontier models can generate an enormous amount of output, but they do not know what customers actually need. Product ideas, priorities, and market judgment still have to come from a human who talks to users. Ryan found product-market fit for Untangle not by shipping more code but by landing one meeting with family law attorney Renee Bauer and listening carefully.

5. Cloud agents may handle most engineering work, but Codex still shines when the frontend requires close attention. Ryan uses Devin for cloud-based work across bugs, pull requests, investor updates, and customer triage. He turns to Codex when a feature is visually complex and he needs to stay close to the implementation. The distinction is not about loyalty to a particular tool. It comes down to latency, browser access, and the ability to inspect and refine the interface in real time.

6. Coding agents can operate far beyond the codebase. Claire uses Devin for deal desk, custom quotes, and customer triage. Ryan uses it to prepare investor updates through a reusable skill. Both approach these agents with a broader question: What could someone accomplish if they understood the entire codebase and could write software to solve almost any problem? That framing reveals business uses that would never emerge from treating an agent as a simple coding assistant.

7. The best engineering interview may be a screen recording of the actual work. Ryan asks candidates to record themselves building a feature inside an existing application, with the entire screen visible and no introductory meeting required. In the next stage, he gives them access to Devin and reviews the replay of how they worked with it. This shows him how candidates think, build, and manage an agent under realistic conditions, which he finds far more revealing than a typical behavioral interview.

8. The strongest design workflow pairs Claude’s system thinking with Codex’s implementation ability. Claire used Claude Design to break a Figma file into reusable design tokens and a design.md specification. She then gave that specification to Codex, which created shared components across a monorepo. Claude is particularly good at translating a visual system into a portable spec. Codex is better at turning that spec into working, interconnected code. The workflow succeeds because each model is assigned the part it does best.

If you’re enjoying these episodes, reply and let me know what you’d love to learn more about: AI workflows, hiring, growth, product strategy—anything.

Catch you next week,
Lenny

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2026-08-24 20:04:02

Ryan Carson is a five-time founder and the current solo founder of Untangle, a B2B SaaS platform for family law firms. Before Untangle, he co-founded Treehouse, an online coding education platform, and has spent the better part of two decades building and leading tech companies. He’s active on X, where he shares his solo founder journey in real time, including what he actually spends on AI tools each month.

What you’ll learn:

1. Why Ryan manages 15 concurrent Devin agents with a folder system and a piece of paper, not a dashboard

2. The Watchdog playbook: what he built to replace a customer success team across every law firm account

3. How his LAN PR skill closes the loop on 40 daily PRs without a QA team reviewing a single one

4. Why he moved off local agents almost entirely, and the one situation where he still reaches for Codex

5. The design workflow we’re both using: Claude Design into a Markdown spec, then Codex to build the real thing

6. What he found when he got away from his computer and met a real customer, and why it changed his entire product direction

7. How he’s hiring his first engineer without a single phone screen or interview

8. Why we both think more AI output is actually the wrong goal, and what to optimize for instead

Brought to you by:

WorkOS—Make your app enterprise-ready, with SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more

Jira AI SDLC—Get your tokens’ worth with Jira

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Introduction to Ryan Carson

(02:55) Ryan’s update: Untangle, the divorce PMF pivot, and B2B growth

(07:35) Ryan’s current Devin stack: folders, P0 threads, and the paper list

(16:29) Watchdog playbook: account monitoring across every firm

(18:09) Managing agent decision fatigue: Ryan’s method vs. Claire’s

(20:32) Producing more output does not make a better product

(22:47) Using cloud agents for ops beyond just code

(25:14) When to use Codex vs. Devin vs. Claude Code

(27:15) Merge Mommy recap

(28:15) LAN PR skill: review loops, video walkthrough, and auto-merge

(30:20) Slack vs. Devin threads for async team communication

(35:58) Claude Design plus Codex for building a technical design system

(39:00) EA tools: Polly the OpenClaw vs. Claude Code on a Mac Mini

(42:09) Quick recap and final thoughts

Tools referenced:

• Devin (Cognition): https://www.cognition.ai/

• Codex (OpenAI): https://openai.com/codex

• Claude Code/Claude Design (Anthropic): https://www.anthropic.com/claude

• OpenClaw (Claude-based desktop client): https://openclaw.ai

• Cursor: https://www.cursor.com/

• BugBot (Devin’s built-in PR review): https://cursor.com/bugbot

• Sentry (error monitoring referenced in Watchdog): https://sentry.io/

• Ugmonk (analog to-do system): https://ugmonk.com/

Other references:

• Devin playbooks/skills documentation: https://docs.cognition.ai/

• Jack Dorsey/Buzz (async-first communication referenced): https://buzz.new/

• Merge Mommy (Claire’s Eve agent for PR risk scoring, deployed on Vercel): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/build-an-ai-code-review-bot-in-30

Where to find Ryan Carson:

X: https://x.com/ryancarson

Untangle: https://untangle.us

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

Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

2026-08-23 20:31:43

Jen Abel is the co-founder of JJellyfish and GM of enterprise sales at State Affairs. She is widely regarded as one of the sharpest practitioners in enterprise sales, and for that reason, this is her third visit to the podcast. In our first conversation we went deep on founder-led sales; in our second we mapped the $1M–$10M playbook. This time we do something I’ve never seen on another podcast: walk step by step through the full enterprise sales cycle. Most people think it’s five steps. Jen shows it’s closer to 15.

In our in-depth conversation, we discuss:

1. Why the standard five-stage CRM pipeline is a forecasting tool, not a sales process, and what the real 15-step cycle looks like

2. The “pincer model” for landing the first meeting at the executive and N-minus-one level simultaneously

3. How to craft a two-to-three-sentence message around giving them “alpha”

4. How to run an intro call that extracts maximum intelligence before you ever show a demo

5. The two-to-three-day pilot structure, how to define success jointly, and when to charge for a longer pilot versus giving it away

6. Navigating pricing, procurement, redline negotiations, and the final signature without losing momentum

Brought to you by:

WorkOS—Make your app enterprise-ready, with SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more

Mercury—Radically different banking, now with Command

Where to find Jen Abel:

• X: https://x.com/jjen_abel

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/earlystagesales

• Website: https://www.jjellyfish.com

Referenced:

• State Affairs: https://stateaffairs.com

• The ultimate guide to founder-led sales | Jen Abel (co-founder of JJELLYFISH): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/master-founder-led-sales-jen-abel

• “Sell the alpha, not the feature”: The enterprise sales playbook for $1M to $10M ARR | Jen Abel: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-enterprise-sales-playbook-1m-to-10m-arr

• SpaceX: https://www.spacex.com

• Lemlist: https://www.lemlist.com

• Palantir: https://www.palantir.com

• Jason Lemkin on X: https://x.com/jasonlk

• We replaced our sales team with 20 AI agents—here’s what happened | Jason Lemkin (SaaStr): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/we-replaced-our-sales-team-with-20-ai-agents

• Building a world-class sales org | Jason Lemkin (SaaStr): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-a-world-class-sales-org

• Careers at State Affairs: https://stateaffairs.com/careers

Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

My biggest takeaways from this conversation:

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2026-08-23 03:23:07

👋 Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of ✨ Community Wisdom ✨ a subscriber-only email, delivered every Saturday, highlighting the most helpful conversations in our members-only Slack community.

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2026-08-19 05:30:31

This week I’m doing a solo breakdown of everything xAI and Cursor have shipped recently, including Grok Bot, Cursor Origin, and the Grok 4.6 model. I set up five Grok Bots, ran Grok 4.6 through my Claire Weighted Index against GPT-5.6 Sol, Claude Sonnet 5, and Opus 5, and spent time actually using Origin as a GitHub replacement. Here’s what’s worth your attention, what’s overhyped, and where I’m personally putting my time.

What you’ll learn:

1. The one Grok Bot feature no other agent platform has shipped yet, and why it made me actually use the product

2. What a week of real Grok Bot use revealed, and why I still reach for my OpenClaws

3. Whether Cursor Origin is a GitHub replacement or just a pretty redesign

4. Where Grok 4.6 landed on the Claire Index, and the one category where it genuinely surprised me

Brought to you by:

Bolt.new—Turn your idea into a real product

Jira AI SDLC—Get your tokens’ worth with Jira

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Why everyone’s quietly switching to Grok

(01:52) Grok Bot overview and setup

(03:22) My 5 Grok Bots

(04:30) The killer feature: multi-account connectors

(06:07) Grok Bot’s virtual machine and how it actually works

(06:41) Experience overview

(07:35) What I don’t love about Grok Bot

(10:08) Grok Bot use cases and my honest verdict

(12:20) Cursor Origin: the agent-native GitHub replacement

(13:47) What Origin actually looks like in practice

(14:59) Why I’m not switching from GitHub yet

(17:42) What would get me to move over

(18:52) Grok 4.6 and the How I AI Vibe bench

(20:41) Claire Index results: where Grok 4.6 ranked

(23:03) Design evals: where Grok surprised me

(25:00) My conclusion and how I’m splitting my time now

Tools referenced:

• Grok Bot: https://x.ai/bot

• Cursor: https://cursor.com/home

• Cursor Origin: https://cursor.com/origin

• OpenClaw: https://openclaw.ai/

• GitHub: https://github.com

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

Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

2026-08-18 23:40:06

👋 Hey there, I’m Lenny. Each week, I share deeply researched product, growth, and career advice. For more: Lenny’s Jobs | Lenny’s Podcast | How I AI | Lennybot | Become an AI-Native Builder and some other favorite AI/PM courses

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My goal is to help you succeed in your career.

I’ve spent thousands of hours on my newsletter and podcast sharing advice on how to get better at your work. But all that advice doesn’t mean much if you don’t actually have a job—or work you’re excited about.

Over the past six months, I’ve been thinking long and hard about what more I can do to help people who are struggling to find a job they love.

Today I’m excited to announce the launch of Lenny’s Jobs—the best place in the world to find, vet, and land your dream job 🙌

What makes Lenny’s Jobs unique and awesome:

1. A laser focus on four builder roles at tech companies: product management, engineering, design, and growth/marketing. We focus exclusively on these roles because they’re what most of you are looking for—and because these roles are starting to meld together. We aggregate open roles from top startups and big tech companies, and unlike any other job directory, we vet every company we include and filter out ghost roles and generic staffing-agency posts. This is the highest-quality directory of open tech roles you’ll find anywhere.

2. Unlisted roles you won’t find on any other job site. Every month I poll my audience on X and LinkedIn for roles they’re hiring for, many of which aren’t listed elsewhere. Along with submissions from our private reader Slack community, we integrate these roles into the directory. Look out for the “Lenny’s Community” tag in the feed.

3. The Lenny 100. To help you prioritize your search, I’ve curated a list of the top 100 companies I’d most want to join if I were looking for a job. These are companies that IMHO have the highest talent density, are tackling the most ambitious problems, have the biggest upside potential—and are actively hiring. I’ll update this list regularly.

4. Custom-built AI tools embedded within each job post. For every role, you can quickly rate your fit, prep for the interview, develop an outreach plan, customize your resume, and more. I’m really excited about the potential here.

5. A custom-built AI interview and career coach. Incorporating Noam Segal’s incredible set of AI skills that readers have been raving about, the AI coach will help you with everything from building your pitch to doing mock interviews to analyzing and debriefing to handling compensation conversations and negotiating job offers. I don’t believe there’s anything out there like this, and we have some big ideas for where this coach can go. Try it out!

6. An AI agent that emails you the best new jobs for you. Tell us what you’re looking for and we’ll automatically notify you of newly posted jobs that would be a great fit. Set it up once and you’re all set. This is the only feature available exclusively for paid subscribers.

7. Rich company data and tech-specific filters. Every job post includes up-to-date data on company funding, layoff history, headcount growth, compensation, and employee sentiment, so you can quickly evaluate opportunities without tab-hopping across six different sites. Plus, more than 100 tech-specific search filters—including investors, valuation, and tech stack—help you find exactly what you’re looking for.

8. Curated interview and career resources. I’ve organized a small but powerful collection of my favorite third-party content, tools, and courses that have moved the needle for many people I know on interview prep, speaking confidence, choosing where to work, and more. I also share my favorite podcast episodes and newsletter posts on career and interviewing advice.

The site is free to use (and will continue to be), but paid Lenny’s Newsletter subscribers get higher AI feature limits, unlimited personalized results, and the proactive AI agent that notifies you about new jobs. To activate these benefits, first create a Lenny’s Jobs account, then link your paid subscription here.

A huge shout-out to Amit Taylor, founder of TrueUp, who I’ve partnered with on numerous State of the Product Job Market reports, for building this site with me. Also, a big thank-you to Ben Erez, Tal Raviv, and Noam Segal for tons of great feedback as this came together. We’re excited to get your feedback and keep making it better and more useful to you. And we’ve got some big plans:

1. Integrated white-glove recruiting services: direct intros between standout candidates and great companies

2. Personalized career and skills development: coaching, training, and curated recommendations for the best stuff out there

3. Ongoing state-of-the-job-market reports: data-backed updates on how the job market, roles, and skills are changing so that you can stay ahead

I don’t want to overpromise here, but I firmly believe there’s no better place for product managers, engineers, designers, and growth/marketing professionals to discover high-quality open roles.

Check out Lenny’s Jobs and let us know what you think.

P.S. See if you can find the Easter egg where you can watch the latest episode of Lenny’s Podcast while browsing the site.

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