Explore every episode of the podcast State of Play
Dive into the complete episode list for State of Play. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.
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Title
Pub. Date
Duration
Why this designer cloned himself with Cursor
04 Aug 2025
00:16:38
Ryo Lu built his own operating system. In a browser. For fun.
Cursor's Head of Design reveals why he evolved from being a "sponge" (absorbing everyone's input) and started building playgrounds instead.Â
We talk burnout, creative freedom, and why your weird side project might be the most important thing you build.
Get the UX Tools Newsletter (written by me) Join 100,000+ designers for weekly insights on creative software and the people shaping it: https://uxtools.co
CHAPTERS: 00:00 - "I've been lying to myself" 00:47 - The Front Page generation 01:16 - Becoming a sponge at Notion 02:23 - Why designers should code (differently) 03:18 - The fog of war metaphor 04:39 - What is RyoOS? 05:17 - From Notion's constraints to Cursor's freedom 07:39 - "It's like constant flow state" 09:39 - Stop asking permission 10:60 - Building in days vs. weeks 12:11 - The 16-year-olds building the future 14:50 - Your playground is already in your head
PLAYGROUNDS MENTIONED: Sam Peitz experiments: https://x.com/samdape Lee Black: https://x.com/mrblackstudio Kat the Poet Engineer: https://x.com/poetengineer__ Tatiana Tsiguleva: https://x.com/ciguleva
SPECIAL THANKS: Sam Chapman: https://x.com/editedbysam Mapal Berenson: https://www.youtube.com/@mapal Bernabe Bolanos: https://www.youtube.com/@BernabeBolanos Adam Stewart: https://www.instagram.com/adnastu/ Tom Fox: https://catalog.tomfox.site/
AUDIO VERSION: Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3zDPTGHDSHgBekUxZQxUAN Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/state-of-play/id1829478829
How he built the future for 1M freelancers
28 Jul 2025
00:16:16
Ben Huffman built a company everyone called stupid. Until more than 1M people were using it.
In this episode of State of Play, the Contra's design founder shares how he went from college dropout to building a new path for creative independence.
We get real about the pain cave: that brutal, lonely gap between your vision and the worldâs doubt, and how to keep going when no one believes in you.
If youâre building something and feel like no one gets it, this oneâs for you.
Get the UX Tools Newsletter Join 100,000+ designers for weekly insights on creative software and the people shaping it: https://uxtools.co
CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Why investors laughed 02:04 - Getting your first client 03:03 - Trust issues with platforms 04:32 - Building with 0% commission 05:40 - The sting of rejection 07:36 - Near burnout and losing it all 08:57 - How Contra makes money 10:02 - A 20-year-old earns $50k 12:24 - $50k/month playbook 13:40 - Why itâs a great time to be creative 14:25 - The âHollywood modelâ shift
SPECIAL THANKS: - Sam Chapman: https://x.com/editedbysam - Mapal Berenson: https://www.youtube.com/@mapal - Bernabe Bolanos: https://www.youtube.com/@BernabeBolanos - Adam Stewart: https://www.instagram.com/adnastu/ - Tom Fox: https://catalog.tomfox.site/
ABOUT TOMMY GEOCO I spent 15+ years in tech and design. Former military. Father of five. Now building Internet Enjoyers, a weird little media + product studio rediscovering soul in creative tech. This show is how I stay sane and spotlight the outsiders reshaping how we enjoy the internet.
ABOUT STATE OF PLAY A narrative podcast about building things that matter told through deep conversations with designers and builders.Â
How this startup's 30-day death date unlocked a world record
11 Aug 2025
00:17:42
This founder set an expiration ate for his company⌠and then hit $40M ARR.
Eric Simons (the builder behind Bolt.new) turned âweâre shutting downâ into the worldâs largest hackathon.Â
In this episode, we break down Ericâs probability playbook and how Iâm applying it on my 60âday clock to keep State of Play alive beyond October 1st.Â
We talk last bets, 100 swings, hackathons that print customers, and the automations I'm using to help me keep swinging.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: - How an "end dateâ forces focus (and why it worked for Eric Simons) - The 100âswing probability game for finding PMF again - Turning ideas into sales leads (not âprojectsâ) - A real automation stack: Polar â n8n â Notion â email for code fulfillment - Why designers are becoming builders and what that unlocks
SUPPORT THE SHOW:
UX Tools Newsletter (written by me):Â Join 100,000+ designers for weekly insights â https://uxtools.co
CHAPTERS 00:00 â âIn 60 days, itâs overâ (cold open) 00:16 â Meet Eric Simons + the $40M ARR plot twist 00:30 â The decade everyone ignores (failure before the hockey stick) 02:30 â The Dropout DNA (living in an office, working 6amâ3am) 03:30 â The $30,000 reality check vs a $300 Bolt build 05:00 â The Probability Playbook: take 100 swings 07:00 â The officeâsquatter strategy (desperation, channeled) 09:00 â The competitorâs funeral + picking a death date 11:00 â The builder uprising 11:45 â The millionâdollar tweet (how the hackathon started) 13:00 â Meet the 100,000 (designers â builders) 15:00 â The only title I wear 16:00 â The last swing (countdown to Oct 1, 2025)
ABOUT TOMMY GEOCO I spent 15+ years in tech and design. Former military. Father of five. Now building Internet Enjoyers, a weird little media + product studio rediscovering soul in creative tech. This show is how Iâm rediscovering my love for the game.
ABOUT STATE OF PLAY Host Tommy Geoco discovers what fuels the internetâs most interesting designers and buildersâreal numbers, real stakes, no fluff.
LINKS UX Tools Newsletter: https://uxtools.co
FOLLOW ME Instagram: https://instagram.com/itsdesignertom X / Twitter: https://x.com/designertom_ LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/tommygeoco TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@designertom Threads: https://threads.net/itsdesignertom
[Full Interview] How he built the future for 1M freelancers - Ben Huffman
08 Aug 2025
00:52:49
Ben Huffman built a freelance platform with NO fees. Every investor told him it was the stupidest idea theyâd ever heard. Now Contra has 1M users and a $120M run rate.
We talk about living in the pain cave (the place your ideas live before anyone believes in them), building mission-driven companies, avoiding the âmarketplace commodity problem,â and why community-led growth might be the future of creative work.
Get the UX Tools Newsletter (written by me) Join 90,000+ designers for weekly insights on creative software and the people shaping it: https://uxtools.co
CHAPTERS: 00:00 â The âpain caveâ explained 01:12 â Investors called it the âworst idea everâ 04:51 â Why rejection always feels personal 07:32 â Building for the younger version of yourself 10:47 â The humanity problem with commission fees 13:41 â Early internet communities (Themeforest, torrent sites, Newegg) 15:30 â Solving the marketplace commodity problem 18:44 â Going âfeed firstâ to foster authentic connections 20:28 â Becoming an independent discovery engine 24:08 â Partnering with creative tools like Framer 27:26 â Why open networks might win over closed platforms 30:28 â Building leverage as an independent creative 33:53 â The âHollywood modelâ for creative projects 37:55 â Resumes are dead, project-based identity is the future 40:39 â Small core teams + specialist networks 43:17 â How indie communities share work and clients 46:05 â Branding yourself to get discovered 48:01 â The story of a 19-year-old making $50K/month from design 50:31 â How Contra makes money without fees 52:21 â Almost out of the pain cave
[Full Interview] Why this designer CLONED himself with Cursor - Ryo Lu
20 Aug 2025
00:52:45
Ryo Lu went from Notion's founding designer to cloning himself with AI at Cursor. This is the full conversation.
From building anime fansites at 11 to architecting Notion's core systems to creating his own OS in a browser - Ryo reveals why the best designers are actually tool makers in disguise.Â
We dig into creative burnout, why he stopped asking permission, and how AI is turning designers into parallel processors of their own brains.
Get the UX Tools Newsletter (written by me) Join 100,000+ designers for weekly insights on creative software and the people shaping it: https://uxtools.co
CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Building websites at 11 years old 02:00 - The Chinese Apple fanboy community 03:50 - Failed startups and depression 07:00 - Creating "Chinese Stripe" in Shanghai 09:00 - How payment friction created China's internet boom 11:00 - Ivan's daily 4:30pm design critiques at Notion 14:00 - "I was not wrong either" - handling creative friction 17:00 - Becoming a sponge for information 20:00 - The fog of war problem in design 24:00 - "There is one ultimate solution" 27:00 - Why all SaaS tools are the same underneath 30:00 - From Figma to code - killing the abstraction layer 35:00 - Building prototyping environments 38:00 - Why Notion and Cursor solve the same problem 42:00 - What is RyoOS really? 45:00 - "Constant flow state" - rediscovering creative joy 48:00 - Designer burnout and serving too many masters 50:00 - 16-year-olds will out-build senior engineers 52:00 - "We're just builders and makers"
ABOUT TOMMY GEOCO I spent 15+ years in tech and design. Former military. Father of five. Now building Internet Enjoyers, a weird little media + product studio rediscovering soul in creative tech. This show is how I'm rediscovering my love for the game.
ABOUT STATE OF PLAY Host Tommy Geoco discovers what fuels the internet's most interesting designers and builders.
SPECIAL THANKS: Sam Chapman: https://x.com/editedbysam Mapal Berenson: https://youtube.com/@mapal Bernabe Bolanos: https://youtube.com/@bernabebolanos Adam Stewart: https://youtube.com/adnastu Tom Fox: https://catalog.tomfox.site/
I'm running low on money and just scrapped an entire episode.
This week I made an executive decision: postpone the Figma episode. We're getting worse, not better. I launched a UX tools bundle at 5am, kept D&D night sacred, and realized I might just be a Dungeon Master LARPing as a founder (still not ready to accept how accurate that is).
This is what it looks like trying to balance play with reality.
CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Executive decision: We're postponing Figma 00:53 - The morning chaos with four teenagers 01:44 - Why we're getting worse, not better 02:42 - "Optimize for chaos, not process" 03:29 - The real cost of on-location shoots 04:56 - Skeleton crew breakdown 05:38 - Overwhelm sets in 06:32 - UX Tools Bundle: Down to the wire 07:03 - 11:30pm and still debugging 07:23 - 5am: Time to hit publish 07:53 - Why D&D night stays sacred 08:13 - "Maybe I'm just a Dungeon Master LARPing as a founder" 09:18 - The Figma multiplayer controversy parallel 10:04 - "If you want to make the wrong decision, ask everyone"
ABOUT TOMMY GEOCO I spent 15+ years in tech and design. Former military. Father of five. Now building Internet Enjoyers, a weird little media + product studio rediscovering soul in creative tech.Â
ABOUT STATE OF PLAY Host Tommy Geoco discovers what fuels the internet's most interesting designers and builders, and shares the messy reality of building in public.
SPECIAL THANKS: Agustin Eguia: https://agustineguia.com Adam Stewart: https://www.instagram.com/adnastu/ Tom Fox: https://catalog.tomfox.site/
I took every dollar I made as a designer and poured it into a show that no one might watch.
$4k+ to bring Bernabe to New York. Three hours of sleep filming with Colin and Samir. Casey Neistat in the room. 30 interviews unedited. Revenue at 50%. The voice saying "you're going to wipe out" won't shut up.
I'm 38 but feeling brand new. Money is tight. Fulfillment is high. This media project is changing me in ways I don't understand yet.
I appreciate all of the support.
This is Taste Episode 1 drops Monday, October 27th.Â
CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Red eyes and three hours of sleep 00:37 - Pitching Colin and Samir: 48 hours embedded 01:36 - Processing the biggest set of my life 04:46 - This crew 06:29 - Bernabe's story 07:17 - Casey Neistat 09:02 - State of Play progress 11:48 - The voice: "You are going to wipe out" 13:15 - The unintended spiritual journey 15:32 - Why I'm doing this
ABOUT TOMMY GEOCO I spent 15+ years in tech and design. Former military. Father of five. Now building Internet Enjoyers, a weird little media + product studio rediscovering soul in creative tech.