Should You Use AI to Build Your MVP? Plus: Building Your Perfect Team, Breaking Startup Rules & More

AI is changing how we build startups, but how can founders leverage it without their product becoming slop?

Too many early-stage entrepreneurs believe that faster prototyping automatically leads to better products. In reality, rushing to “ship something” can destroy product-market fit before it’s even tested.

In this Q&A episode, Yaniv Bernstein (ex-Google, ex-Airtasker) and Chris Saad (former Head of Product at Uber) answer your burning questions about startup strategy, from hiring and product design to breaking industry rules. They reveal how to separate real innovation from AI-washing and why “contrarian and right” is the only strategy that works.

In this episode:
* Discover which AI-adjacent startup opportunities are attracting real investor interest (and which ones to avoid)
* Learn how to rethink your MVP strategy in an AI-powered world without falling into the “build fast, fail fast” trap
* Understand when and how to break conventional startup rules to gain a genuine competitive edge
* Avoid the most common hiring mistakes founders make, including the “warm body” trap and hiring the wrong senior execs
* Identify the difference between a great product manager and a glorified project manager (and when to hire one)
* Identify the difference between a great product manager and a glorified project manager (and when to hire one)

Timestamps
00:00 Coming Up
00:32 On Today's Show: Listener Q&A
02:26 Funding Trends Besides AI
07:19 Breaking Startup Rules
14:07 Building MVPs in the AI Era
19:39 Common Hiring Mistakes in Startups
26:48 Trends in Product, Design, and Engineering Organizations
37:18 Closing Thoughts

The Pact
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Key links
Get your question in for our next Q&A episode: https://forms.gle/NZzgNWVLiFmwvFA2A
The Startup Podcast website: https://www.tsp.show/episodes/

Learn more about Chris and Yaniv
Work 1:1 with Chris: http://chrissaad.com/advisory/
Follow Chris on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/
Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/

Producer: Justin McArthur https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mcarthur
Intro Voice: Jeremiah Owyang https://web-strategist.com/

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