The AI landscape is shifting every week. Startups are racing to challenge the status quo, and investors are closely watching the space. Peter Deng, a visionary product leader turned investor, joins the podcast. Peter helped shape Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and ChatGPT, driving major launches like ChatGPT Enterprise, voice, and memory at OpenAI. He is now a General Partner at Felicis, where he backs founders building AI-native companies. In this episode, Peter shares how investors evaluate AI startups today, what separates lasting businesses from surface-level integrations, and what founders must rethink to build companies that hold up over time. Cam's notes on Substack: promptedwithcam.substack.com Key Quotes “There are so many people solving problems that have been solved before, but with old technology, and now they’re solving them with AI in a way that’s ten, a hundred times better.” “There are a lot of problems that these big model companies are not solving, and that’s where startups are doing really, really well.” “AI has to be core to the product. Otherwise it’s just not interesting.” Timestamps 01:12 The Prompt Challenge 01:51 Building a Childhood Boat 03:56 Cultural Differences at Meta and OpenAI 05:45 Joining OpenAI After Launch 08:01 Shipping Products at Lightning Speed 08:39 Using AI as a Thought Partner 10:24 Making AI More Human 11:33 Design Principles and Affordances 13:20 Creative Friction with AI 16:06 The Model is the Product 18:29 OpenAI's Expanding Ecosystem 20:58 AI Native Startups 23:44 Advice for AI Founders 24:53 Foundational Models vs Products 27:02 Social Media Meets AI 29:59 Using ChatGPT Daily 32:36 Advice for AI Founders 35:27 AI and Human Creativity 39:27 The Future of Work 42:41 AI in Ten Years 44:24 All Star Creative Team 47:12 Designer Reveal 50:31 Closing Thoughts Links Subscribe to the Prompted Newsletter: https://promptedwithcam.substack.com/ Cam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/themaninblue/ Peter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterxdeng/ Link to Peter, Jade and AI’s Creative Collaboration: https://promptedpodcast.com/episode-10 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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