Everyone's Using Claude. This PM Tool Does More

This episode is a full walkthrough of how Meng To, founder of Design+Code, actually uses Codex day to day. Plan mode, a 20-agent fleet, the taste skill that makes AI design look senior level, and a digital twin built from ten old photos, plus his take on why some PMs are surviving this year's layoffs. Full Writeup: https://www.news.aakashg.com/p/pms-guide-to-ai-design Transcript: https://www.aakashg.com/meng-to-podcast/ --- Timestamps: 0:00 - Intro 2:44 - The best AI design tools right now 4:05 - What Codex actually is and how to set it up 8:43 - Inside Meng's real Codex project folders 13:42 - Plugins vs skills vs computer use 22:02 - Ads 24:04 - Building your project folder system 30:57 - The permission tiers, from default to full access 32:55 - Plan mode in action, building a slide from real data 42:03 - The screenshot shortcut that changes everything 47:32 - The taste skill that makes AI design look senior-level 55:07 - Building your own AI digital twin 1:05:31 - How some PMs are surviving the layoffs 1:12:40 - Outro --- Thanks to our sponsor: Arize: Trace, evaluate, and fix your AI agents before broken behavior ships to users - https://arize.com/?utm_source=aakashgupta&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=arize_sponsor_ai --- Key Takeaways: 1. Codex is a fleet operator - Meng runs 20 agents at once while stepping away from his desk entirely. Each one works on something different, slides, charts, brainstorms, while he does something else completely. 2. Plan mode isn't optional - Skipping it means paying twice, once to build the wrong thing, once to undo it. Codex returns a full breakdown, architecture, steps, and open questions, before touching anything. 3. A screenshot beats a paragraph every time - It shows the AI what you mean instead of what you think you mean. A simple two-key shortcut drops any window straight into the chat as context. 4. The taste skill is the real differentiator - Without it, AI design defaults to generic. With it, the output looks like something a senior designer with years of experience actually made. 5. Trust is earned in tiers - Read only first, then supervised access, then full access. Skipping straight to full access before learning where the AI tends to fail is how people get burned. 6. HTML beats Figma for speed - Every extra tool is a login, a subscription, and a context switch the AI can't do for you. Keep your blast radius small. 7. UGC won because audiences are tired of corporate polish - A synthetic version of you, used honestly, reads as more human than a generic message. Ten old photos is all it takes to build a digital twin. 8. Technical PMs aren't surviving layoffs because they write code - Meng hasn't written a single line in six months. They're surviving because they're fluent enough to direct a fleet of agents and catch a wrong output before it ships. 9. Meng builds his own tools when nothing off the shelf fits - His own video editor, his own SaaS templates, his own design brainstorming app. The tool built for your exact workflow beats the popular one every time. 10. The bar isn't five star anymore - Five star is just the floor everyone clears by default now. The real question is what six, seven, all the way to eleven star looks like, because that ceiling rises exactly as fast as the floor does. --- 👨‍💻 Where to find Meng To: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mengto Design+Code: https://designcode.io Aura: https://aura.build 👨‍💻 Where to find Aakash: Twitter/X: https://x.com/aakashgupta LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aagupta/ Newsletter: https://www.news.aakashg.com #ProductManagement #AIDesign #Codex --- About Product Growth: The world's largest podcast focused solely on product + growth, with over 200K+ listeners. Subscribe and turn on notifications.

Meng ToguestAakash Guptahost

Jul 9, 20261h 14mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: July 9, 2026
Duration: 1h 14m
Channel: Aakash Gupta
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

This episode is a full walkthrough of how Meng To, founder of Design+Code, actually uses Codex day to day. Plan mode, a 20-agent fleet, the taste skill that makes AI design look senior level, and a digital twin built from ten old photos, plus his take on why some PMs are surviving this year's layoffs. Full Writeup: https://www.news.aakashg.com/p/pms-guide-to-ai-design Transcript: https://www.aakashg.com/meng-to-podcast/ --- Timestamps: 0:00 - Intro 2:44 - The best AI design tools right now 4:05 - What Codex actually is and how to set it up 8:43 - Inside Meng's real Codex project folders 13:42 - Plugins vs skills vs computer use 22:02 - Ads 24:04 - Building your project folder system 30:57 - The permission tiers, from default to full access 32:55 - Plan mode in action, building a slide from real data 42:03 - The screenshot shortcut that changes everything 47:32 - The taste skill that makes AI design look senior-level 55:07 - Building your own AI digital twin 1:05:31 - How some PMs are surviving the layoffs 1:12:40 - Outro --- Thanks to our sponsor: Arize: Trace, evaluate, and fix your AI agents before broken behavior ships to users - https://arize.com/?utm_source=aakashgupta&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=arize_sponsor_ai --- Key Takeaways:
1. Codex is a fleet operator - Meng runs 20 agents at once while stepping away from his desk entirely. Each one works on something different, slides, charts, brainstorms, while he does something else completely.
1. Plan mode isn't optional - Skipping it means paying twice, once to build the wrong thing, once to undo it. Codex returns a full breakdown, architecture, steps, and open questions, before touching anything.
1. A screenshot beats a paragraph every time - It shows the AI what you mean instead of what you think you mean. A simple two-key shortcut drops any window straight into the chat as context.
1. The taste skill is the real differentiator - Without it, AI design defaults to generic. With it, the output looks like something a senior designer with years of experience actually made.
1. Trust is earned in tiers - Read only first, then supervised access, then full access. Skipping straight to full access before learning where the AI tends to fail is how people get burned.
1. HTML beats Figma for speed - Every extra tool is a login, a subscription, and a context switch the AI can't do for you. Keep your blast radius small.
1. UGC won because audiences are tired of corporate polish - A synthetic version of you, used honestly, reads as more human than a generic message. Ten old photos is all it takes to build a digital twin.
1. Technical PMs aren't surviving layoffs because they write code - Meng hasn't written a single line in six months. They're surviving because they're fluent enough to direct a fleet of agents and catch a wrong output before it ships.
1. Meng builds his own tools when nothing off the shelf fits - His own video editor, his own SaaS templates, his own design brainstorming app. The tool built for your exact workflow beats the popular one every time.
1. The bar isn't five star anymore - Five star is just the floor everyone clears by default now. The real question is what six, seven, all the way to eleven star looks like, because that ceiling rises exactly as fast as the floor does. --- 👨‍💻 Where to find Meng To: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mengto Design+Code: https://designcode.io Aura: https://aura.build 👨‍💻 Where to find Aakash: Twitter/X: https://x.com/aakashgupta LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aagupta/ Newsletter: https://www.news.aakashg.com #ProductManagement #AIDesign #Codex --- About Product Growth: The world's largest podcast focused solely on product + growth, with over 200K+ listeners. Subscribe and turn on notifications.

SPEAKERS

Meng To
guest
Product designer and creator known for design/PM education and building apps and AI-driven workflows.
Aakash Gupta
host
Host of Product Growth with Aakash Gupta and newsletter creator focused on product management and AI tools.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Aakash Gupta, featuring Meng To and Aakash Gupta, Everyone's Using Claude. This PM Tool Does More explores codex power-workflows: PMs run agents, design, slides, products fast Meng argues Codex is “ChatGPT on steroids,” enabling PMs to generate slides, HTML, app prototypes, and workflows by operating on local project folders with strong context.

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