Notion

Trust > realism.  Here us out. With AI, human-like (not hyper-real) agents build connection and psychological safety - tricking users destroys trust. At least, that’s what Scott Shumaker, Co-founder & CEO believes, as he builds the future he wants to see with Persona AI. Our own Shivani Sharma, Notion’s Head of Growth Engineering, sat with him to talk design, moats, and scaling. 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀: 𝗠𝗼𝗮𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻’𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 → Models, infra, and latency improve for free - your edge now comes from distribution, data, and product speed. 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 → There are always new rules and landscapes. Drawing from 20+ years of experience, from gaming to Google, Scott would know. 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗼𝗻 → Ship, learn, and adapt faster than the market shifts. Check out the full conversation, and so much more, this week on The Startup Stack.

New keyboard shortcuts for databases ⌨️⁣ ⁣ 𝐂𝐦𝐝/𝐂𝐭𝐫𝐥 + 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐬 → jump to the end of the row/column⁣ 𝐂𝐦𝐝/𝐂𝐭𝐫𝐥 + 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭 + 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐬 → select everything to the edge⁣ ⁣ A little more spreadsheet-y where it counts.

👀 Procrastinating? Gohar Khan's got some tips to help you lock in.

Have you built an MLP? That’s “Minimum Lovable Product”, and anyone can make one. We sat with Fabian Hedin, Co-founder and CTO of Lovable. He went from running Minecraft servers in high school to democratizing software development. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗟𝗗𝗥: Building software is no longer exclusive to engineers—AI is democratizing development for the 99% who don't code. 𝗗𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲—𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆. Lovable initially tried to build complex agent systems anticipating future AI capabilities. Fabian emphasizes focusing on what foundational models can do today rather than banking on future improvements. There's enormous value on the table right now. 𝗟𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱. Despite being early in the space with their chat-and-preview interface, Lovable stayed behind a waitlist too long. Getting feedback from real users sooner would have accelerated their learning and growth. 𝗕𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆. The team builds all their internal tools with Lovable, from office CRMs to operations software. This dogfooding is both addictive and essential—it keeps them in touch with what their product can actually do.

Heads up: Agent can now read comments when answering questions!

Gen Z wants to work for brands they love. This founder is determined to help them, and is garnering millions of views on the way. Julia Haber 🎓, co-founder of Home From College, joined Andrew Silard, Notion’s Head of Growth Marketing, to share how she turned years of on-campus brand work into a new kind of Gen Z career platform. She’s helping the next generation work, learn, and earn on their own terms. 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝗶𝗮: 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 → Manual matchmaking revealed PMF before a single line of code. 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗺𝗼𝗮𝘁 → The strongest companies make people feel something, not just sign up. 𝗠𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝗚𝗲𝗻 𝗭 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 → Purpose, community, and flexibility now define the path from campus to career. All this and more in this week’s Startup Stack newsletter.

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