Aakash Gupta

I should be charging $999 for this Claude Code Tutorial

Carl Vellotti reveals how to master Claude Code from zero to expert. He breaks down the exact context engineering frameworks, shows live demos of multi-agent systems, and shares his secret meme generator that powers 2.5 years of daily content. My Claude Code OS: https://www.news.aakashg.com/p/pm-os Full Writeup: https://www.news.aakashg.com/p/carl-vellotti-podcast Transcript: https://www.aakashg.com/cloud-code-tutorial-for-pm/ --- Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:46 - Why PMs should care about Claude Code 00:04:42 - Claude Code vs GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Lovable 00:13:23 - Ad 00:14:31 - Getting started: Installation and setup 00:19:36 - Terminal basics and first commands 00:24:19 - Searching the web with Claude Code 00:30:26 - Running code and using GitHub APIs 00:37:24 - The init command and CLAUDE file 00:40:35 - Creating PRDs with context engineering 00:52:18 - Building the knowledge base structure 00:56:53 - Custom slash commands 00:58:11 - Ad 00:59:12 - Plan Mode for complex tasks 01:15:22 - Where Claude is Best 01:24:33 - How Carl Growing on Instagram 01:29:24 - Agents Carl Using to Grow his Instagram 01:36:16 - Outro --- Thanks to our sponsor - Linear: Plan and build products like the best - https://linear.app/partners/aakash --- Key takeaways: 1. Interface is the Unlock: Traditional chat requires manual file uploads. Claude Code lives in terminal and automatically reads entire folder structures. This single change makes everything 10x faster. 2. Build Your Knowledge Base: Create four-folder structure: business-info.md, writing-styles/, examples/, meeting-transcripts/. One prompt references all context instantly without copy-paste. 3. The CLAUDE File System: Permanent project memory that persists across every session. Add rules once - "never commit without asking," "always use technical writing" - they never get lost in context windows. 4. Custom Slash Commands: Save best prompts as /meeting-notes or /prd-review. No more searching Twitter bookmarks for that prompt you saved 3 months ago. 5. Plan Mode Prevents Disasters: Press Shift+Tab before complex tasks. Claude creates full plan without executing. Review, catch mistakes, then approve. Saves hours of debugging. 6. Multi-Agent Parallelization: Spin up 3 UXR agents analyzing interviews simultaneously. Week of manual work becomes 1 hour. True parallel execution, not sequential. 7. Build Custom Agent Personalities: Designer agent, Engineer agent, Executive agent. All review PRDs in parallel. Pre-built database at subagents.cc. 8. The $37/Month Hack: Claude Pro $17 + Cursor $20 = $37 total. Use Claude Code for research/writing, Cursor for heavy coding. Best of both worlds vs $200 Claude Max. 9. Token Visibility Changes Behavior: Only interface showing real-time token usage and cost. Finally understand what "$1.50 per million tokens" actually means. 10. Context Engineering to Prompt Engineering: The PMs winning aren't the ones with fanciest prompts. They've mastered giving LLMs the right context through folder structures and permanent memory systems. --- Where to find Carl: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carlthepm/?hl=en LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlvellotti/ X: https://x.com/carlvellotti Newsletter: https://fullstack-pm.com/subscribe --- Where to find Aakash: Twitter: twitter.com/aakashg0 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/aagupta/ Newsletter: news.aakashg.com #claudecode #productmanagement #aitools --- About Product Growth: The world's largest podcast focused solely on product + growth, with over 187K listeners. Hosted by Aakash Gupta, who spent 16 years in PM, rising to VP of product, this 2x/week show covers product and growth topics in depth. Subscribe and turn on notifications to get more videos like this.

AGAakash GuptahostCVCarl Vellottiguest

Oct 4, 2025·1h 37m·Watch on YouTube ↗

📖 CHAPTERS

1. 1

   Claude Code’s breakout growth and what you’ll learn

   Aakash introduces Claude Code’s rapid adoption and frames the episode as a beginner-to-hero tutorial. Carl Vellotti joins to show practical workflows, especially for product managers, and why the terminal-based interface changes how you work with LLMs.

2. 2

   Why PMs should care: escaping chatbot limitations with workflows

   Carl explains why Claude Code matters even if you’re non-technical: it moves you from a chat box into a flexible file-system-driven workflow. The key theme is “context engineering”—feeding the model structured, reusable context so outputs are more useful and repeatable.

3. 3

   Claude Code vs Copilot/Cursor/other CLIs: where it wins

   The conversation compares Claude Code to IDE-first assistants and other terminal/CLI agents (Gemini CLI, OpenAI Codex). Carl argues Claude Code is polished, strong at tool use and agent behavior, and especially strong for writing-heavy tasks PMs do daily.

4. 4

   Installation and first launch: one-command setup + basic commands

   Carl walks through installing Claude Code from Anthropic’s quick start and launching it in the terminal. He demystifies the terminal, shows the basic chat-like interaction, and introduces the “clear” workflow to manage context.

5. 5

   Working in a project folder: file-based Q&A on customer interviews

   Using a prepared demo repository (a fictional company wiki), Carl shows how Claude Code can automatically inspect directories and read files. He asks for counts and summaries of interview transcripts and compares insights across industries to demonstrate fast synthesis.

6. 6

   Web search + token visibility + image input inside the terminal

   Carl demonstrates Claude Code’s web search and discusses how token counting makes usage/cost more tangible than typical chat apps. He also shows that despite being terminal-first, you can drag in images for analysis and feedback (useful for debugging or reviewing assets).

7. 7

   Running code + using GitHub repos: transcript extraction demo

   Claude Code is shown running real code: Carl provides a GitHub repo for a YouTube transcript API and asks Claude to fetch a transcript and save it to a markdown file. The key moment is Claude generating a task checklist and executing step-by-step without manual engineering work.

8. 8

   Using Claude Code inside Cursor: viewing files and a cost-effective setup

   Carl shifts into an IDE (Cursor) to visualize and edit generated files while continuing to run Claude Code in the integrated terminal. He explains a hybrid approach: use Claude Pro (Sonnet) for research/writing and Cursor for heavier coding models when needed.

9. 9

   Project initialization: `init` and the persistent CLAUDE file memory

   Carl introduces `init`, which scans the repo and generates/updates a `CLAUDE` file describing structure and instructions. This file acts like persistent project memory: rules, style guides, and guardrails that Claude references every session, reducing repeated context setup.

10. 10

    PRDs with context engineering: combining business info, styles, and examples

    Carl demonstrates a “super prompt” that pulls business context, writing-style guides, and example PRDs from folders, plus web research (e.g., GPT real-time). Claude generates a structured PRD and writes it to a file, showing how reusable context assets dramatically simplify PM writing.

11. 11

    Reusable slash commands: consistent meeting notes and internal messaging

    Carl shows custom slash commands (saved prompts) to standardize outputs like meeting notes. He then combines meeting transcript context + writing tone files to draft a Slack follow-up message, illustrating how teams can avoid “generic AI voice” and keep outputs in a personal/company style.

12. 12

    Plan Mode for complex tasks: prompt/model testing harness

    Carl introduces Plan Mode (Shift+Tab) to prevent premature file edits while designing an approach. He builds a workflow to generate multiple summarization prompts and run them across multiple LLM APIs, then iterates on the plan to control file structure before executing.

13. 13

    Agents and sub-agents: parallel work + role-based review personas

    Carl demonstrates parallelization by spinning up multiple sub-agents to analyze separate interview files simultaneously. He then shows role-based agents (designer/engineer/executive) to review a PRD from different perspectives, and pulls new agents from online registries to expand capabilities fast.

14. 14

    MCPs and tool extensions: Reddit mining + PM-focused opportunities

    The episode explains how MCPs extend Claude Code with specialized tools (e.g., Reddit access), enabling workflows that normal web search or scraping can’t reliably do. Carl highlights how PMs can use MCPs for continuous insight gathering (communities, competitors) and points out a gap: most shared agents/tools are still engineering-centric.

15. 15

    Where Claude Code is best + prototyping demo + avoiding ‘manifestation hell’

    Carl summarizes Claude Code’s strengths for PMs (research, writing, synthesis, lightweight prototyping) and demonstrates building a simple workflow-builder UI from a spec. They discuss evals, safe use with engineering teams, and best practices like Plan Mode and staying in the loop to avoid unproductive loops.

16. 16

    Claude Code adoption, PM agent strategy, and Carl’s Instagram ‘agent’ stack

    They reflect on why Claude Code grew fast (coding bet + strong writing + intent understanding) and how PMs should choose between tactical agents (Claude Code) vs recurring automations (n8n/Lindy). The conversation then pivots to Carl’s Instagram growth and his internal “Meme Mage” tool that uses LLMs/templates/personas to generate meme captions.

17. 17

    Outro: Carl’s Fullstack PM newsletter and next steps

    Carl shares his transition from PM roles to building a community/newsletter for “builder PMs,” focusing on modern AI tooling. Aakash closes with where to find links/docs and a call to subscribe/follow/review.