Hallway Chat – Details, episodes & analysis

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Hallway Chat

Fraser Kelton & Nabeel Hyatt

Technology

Frequency: 1 episode/97d. Total Eps: 36

Fraser & Nabeel explore what it means to build great products in this new world of AI. Two former founders, now VCs, have an off-the-cuff conversation with friends about the new AI products that are worth trying, emerging patterns, and how founders are navigating a world that’s changing every week. Fraser is the former Head of Product at OpenAI, where he managed the teams that shipped ChatGPT and DALL-E, and is now an investor at Spark Capital. Nabeel is a former founder and CEO, now an investor at Spark, and has served on the boards of Discord, Postmates, Cruise, Descript, and Adept. It's like your weekly dinner party on what's happening in artificial intelligence.

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Data updated on 04/07/2026

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https://7powers.com/
2 shares
https://www.geoffreylitt.com/2023/03/25/llm-end-user-programming
2 shares
https://mastersofscale.com/
1 share

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Score global : 69%

Publication history

Monthly episode publishing history over the past years.

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AI Severance: One Memory or Many?

Episode 35

Thursday, June 5, 2025 • Duration 01:01:02

In this episode of Hallway Chat, Nabeel and Fraser explore the future of AI through the lenses of memory, context, and product design. They debate whether users will maintain separate AIs for work and home, why visually verifiable output is critical to product success, and how startups should behave in a world where the best models become commodities. From the case for uneconomical AI to the trade-off between 500 average agents and one brilliant one, they unpack what it takes to build great AI products—and when, if ever, VCs should preempt funding rounds.

(00:00) - Chapter 1
(01:54) - Will AI Democratize Like the iPhone?
(03:03) - Should You Burn Tokens to Win?
(06:25) - The Case for Going Big with Compute
(09:09) - 500 Agents or One Genius?
(18:19) - The Importance of Proof of Work
(19:49) - Building the Right UI for Agents
(22:23) - Visualizing AI Output: A Design Challenge
(33:37) - Memory Wars: Work AI vs. Personal AI
(35:01) - Consumer Benefit > Privacy?
(37:36) - Whats at stake, your memory
(45:28) - Model Switching as a Feature, Not a Bug
(53:53) - VC Talk: When to Preempt a Round

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State of AI and Games

Episode 34

Wednesday, April 16, 2025 • Duration 39:48

Nabeel and Fraser debrief on GDC and the opportunities for innovation beyond the conservative approaches in an industry going through a funk. They touch on the experiences at the recent GDC, including the growth of AI in gaming and the recurring challenges faced by developers. The discussion also covers the competitive landscape of AI startups, the importance of stacking wins, and the nuanced differences between building games and software products. Notably, they highlight the intriguing possibility of a vibrant game creation ecosystem driven by new model capabilities and the compelling idea of making game creation itself a multiplayer experience.

(00:00) - Introduction: Bridging the Gap in the Gaming Industry
(00:35) - GDC Week Highlights and Reflections
(01:41) - Challenges and Innovations in AI and Gaming
(03:50) - The Broken Ecosystem of Game Distribution
(07:45) - The Future of Game Development and Creativity
(19:59) - The Future of Multiplayer Coding
(21:09) - The Magic of New Capabilities
(22:07) - From Capabilities to Durable Products
(23:39) - Stacking Wins for Long-Term Success
(33:54) - Innovations in the Gaming Industry

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Building an Interestingness Leaderboard

Episode 33

Saturday, March 29, 2025 • Duration 20:00

We have evals for AI models, what about AI products? Today, Nabeel and Fraser talk about building computer games through vibe coding, and just when we might see a breakout success of an AI-built game. Through this discussion, they also explore what building a platform that curates weird AI experiments might look like, particularly one that builders could use for discovery and inspiration.

(00:00) - Ep. 33 - Do we need a leaderboard for AI products
(01:32) - Exploring Vibe Coding and Community Building
(03:41) - AI Gaming and Future Prospects
(07:36) - separate cross talk
(09:28) - Creating an AI Meta
(11:31) - Exploring AI Apps and Platforms
(15:10) - Building a Curated AI Product Platform

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Questions we’re asking of AI startups in 2025.

Episode 32

Wednesday, March 12, 2025 • Duration 52:08

Today, Nabeel and Fraser tackle the questions they've been asking internally. What level of improvement would it take to disrupt an incumbent product? They also explore what advantages second movers have in product markets, the emerging importance of reasoning models and computer use products, and what makes certain legacy markets ripe for AI reinvention.

(00:00) - Intro
(01:28) - Can 10% better, year after year, win?
(10:43) - The questions we are asking
(11:11) - Second Mover Advantage
(26:55) - Exploring Deep Research and Competitors
(29:11) - The Future of Computer Use
(35:56) - AI as Muse: Enhancing Human Creativity

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Granola & The Art of Invisible AI - Christopher Pedregal

Episode 31

Friday, January 24, 2025 • Duration 01:06:30

Nabeel and Fraser sit down for a round-table discussion with Chris Pedregal, founder and CEO of Granola, an AI note taking app, to discuss Granola’s evolution and product philosophy. Their conversation touches on the challenges of developing user-friendly AI products, and how to balance that with product vision. They also talk about what it’s like being a second-time founder, as well as if and when AI wearables will gain widespread adoption.

(00:00) - Christopher Pedregal - Granola & the Art of Invisible AI
(01:05) - Second time founder syndrome
(01:42) - The path to Granola
(04:13) - Starting by "playing"
(11:16) - The friend test
(12:25) - Product philosophy behind Granola
(16:25) - AI as Augmentor
(22:04) - Balancing beginner and expert users
(34:21) - Granola's Initial Launch and Challenges
(34:52) - Balancing Product Development and Market Fit
(35:58) - Where Granola is headed from here
(40:00) - Vertical AI vs. General Assistants, who wins where?
(42:44) - The Wisdom of Experts Era
(50:54) - AI passing judgement
(53:51) - Wearables role in AI
(01:00:25) - Social Dynamics and Privacy Concerns
(01:02:32) - The Need for New Norms and Labels
(01:03:01) - What else could be Granola-ized

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Distilling Lessons from AI in 2024

Episode 30

Thursday, December 26, 2024 • Duration 55:58

What lessons will we take from 2024's AI products into next year? How better to reflect on advancements in the field of AI over this past year than to ask AI itself? Today, Fraser and Nabeel use AI models like ChatGPT, Claude, and o1 to first look back and see if products and innovations of 2023 lived up to their hype in 2024. And to look at the show’s year in review, Nabeel puts these AI models to the test by feeding them episode transcripts and seeing which model produces a usable summary. Together, they also dive into the effectiveness of Google Gemini’s Deep Research tool, the rise of agentic computing in 2024, and whether products ever fundamentally change or just get constantly re-invented.

(00:00) - Introduction
(00:48) - Reflecting on a Year of AI Releases
(00:23) - The Rise of Agentic AI
(00:38) - Google Gemini’s Deep Research
(00:47) - Using AI Models to Review 2024 at Hallway Chat
(00:56) - The Role of Taste in Making Great AI Products
(00:06) - The Rollout of o1
(00:06) - WebSim - Self Expression Through Software
(00:36) - Same Products, Different Iterations
(00:39) - A Second Look at Apple Intelligence
(00:10) - Living Agentically with AI
(00:18) - Final Thoughts

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Coaching Up: Should your AI be teaching you how to use it?

Episode 29

Friday, November 22, 2024 • Duration 41:31

Everywhere you turn, companies have shoved AI features into their products that no one is using. Today, Fraser and Nabeel ask each other—are there any AI features that you’re actually using in older products? Plus: How kids will be shaped using AI products daily. What would a fully unstructured Slack look like. AI email habits. Do we think incumbents will catch up with AI integrations? PREM framework for startup prioritization. Is this startups vs incumbents, or just startups vs the big llms?

(00:00) - Intro
(00:52) - Welcome to Hallway Chat
(01:05) - What have incumbents really done with AI?
(08:59) - Trends in AI integrations that work
(20:21) - Reflecting, it's still early
(23:42) - Creating AI that manages up
(28:47) - PREM: A framework for prioritization
(34:32) - Forget incumbents, how do startups fight fend off the LLMs?
(37:24) - What are the new horizontals?

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Q&A: Is NotebookLM an exception to a rule? When to copy? When are small improvements better than big bets? Will data privacy matter?

Episode 28

Friday, November 1, 2024 • Duration 41:33

Open format Q&A this week. Fraser and Nabeel explore AI data privacy, the ethics of copying features, and maintaining innovation. They discuss enterprise data challenges, the importance of a strong product identity, and strategies for early-stage startups during fundraising season.

(00:00) - Open
(00:53) - Q&A Session Kickoff
(01:14) - The data you gather is your roadmap
(14:03) - The gravity of slowing down in your startup
(21:20) - Your quarterly goal: Something Fundamentally Changes
(21:57) - Low Risk, Low Outcomes
(24:31) - Large Organizations and Mediocrity
(30:58) - When to steal a feature?

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"Software should be soft" - Meter Command with Anil Varanasi

Episode 27

Monday, September 30, 2024 • Duration 58:22

Join Fraser, Nabeel, and special guest Anil from Meter as they dive into the innovation behind Meter Command. Meter's new interface has been called the "future of software" and a far ranging interview talks about the problem of designing product around personas, how command interfaces bridge the gap between CLI and dashboards, the importance of owning your tech stack, how your data is your product roadmap, and the orientation to long term thinking while still staying on the cutting edge.

Links
* See a demo of Meter Command
* There's a lot of fine work from Bret Victor on visualization and interfaces, but here's one to get you started
* Geoffrey Litt's Malleable SW in the age of LLMs
* Hunter Walk's post on OKRs post his stint at Google

(00:00) - Intro
(00:19) - Meter Command and the future of software
(03:36) - What we forget about software making
(06:39) - Models make you reassess your own product
(07:27) - Why aren't there more AI explorations in software?
(09:38) - The "efficiency era" of startups
(13:21) - Software should be soft
(17:13) - The problem of "persona building" software
(21:29) - Enterprise software is reporting
(22:37) - Your data is your product roadmap
(25:13) - Emersing in the trends of AI as a founder
(27:27) - From janky prototype to custom model building
(29:55) - "No AI" - Build for the problem, not the technology
(36:50) - Full stack first, APIs over time
(40:14) - If you want to be early you have to be full stack
(48:28) - Long term orientation
(50:56) - What one thing would you work on now
(55:41) - End

The New Muse: Hobbyists and AI

Episode 26

Wednesday, August 7, 2024 • Duration 28:45

How would you design an AI product differently for a hobbyist vs prosumer vs professional? Using MidJourney as a case study in the passion economy, they delve into how AI tools can help build communities and support semi-professional creators. They explore how these tools can democratize creativity, the role of art vs craft, the role of grit in skill building, cheating vs copiloting, the missing middle of the creative markets, and more. They also touch on the broader implications of AI in different creative fields from music, writing and podcasts. It's an exploration of how AI can help users maintain creative flow and the underserved opportunity for AI to help unleash the hobbyist.

Nabeel also spoke on Midjourney's unique growth loops on Unsolicited Feedback
Le Jin has great writing on the passion economy and wrote about the creative middle class
Linus has an excellent article on Epistemic calibration that touches on taste, that we didn't get in the episode but worth seeing.
Simply Drawing - ai feedback meets art
Robert Morris' the Power Broker, which touches briefly on the rise of the professionalized class
a little more on why bees wiggle outside of near-term evolutionary needs

00:00 Intro

00:52 AI in Creative Endeavors

01:58 Market Expansion

03:01 The underexplored customer in AI

08:23 Finding other AI hobbiest opportunities

11:31 If they AI made it, are we building skill?

13:36 Difference between art and craft

Hallway Chat – Details, episodes & analysis

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Hallway Chat – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

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Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

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Apple Podcasts

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