Skip to content

By playing, you agree to uListen's Terms and Privacy Policy and YouTube's Terms of Service.

How I AIHow I AI

How Webflow’s CPO built an AI chief of staff to manage her calendar and drive internal AI adoption

Rachel Wolan, the chief product officer at Webflow, has embraced AI not just as a product leader but as a hands-on builder.

Claire VohostRachel Wolanguest
Dec 29, 202543mWatch on YouTube

Summaries, chapters, transcripts, and FAQs on this page are made by uListen, not YouTube.

Episode Details

EPISODE INFO

Released
December 29, 2025
Duration
43m
Channel
How I AI
Watch on YouTube
▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Rachel Wolan, the chief product officer at Webflow, has embraced AI not just as a product leader but as a hands-on builder. A coder since age 16, Rachel has returned to her technical roots by creating a custom AI chief-of-staff application that helps manage her executive workload. In this episode, she demonstrates how she uses personal AI software to prep for meetings, triage her calendar, manage emails, and even get brutally honest feedback about how she’s spending her time. *What you’ll learn:*

  1. How Rachel built a custom AI chief-of-staff application that integrates with her calendar, email, and more
  2. Why building personal software can be a gateway to understanding AI’s capabilities for executives
  3. How her AI agents help her prep for podcasts, dinners, and meetings with just-in-time information
  4. The technical approach to building personal AI software using markdown files, API tokens, and multiple LLM interfaces
  5. How Rachel organized company-wide “builder days” that dramatically increased AI tool adoption across her organization
  6. Why she believes executives must lead by example in AI adoption to authentically drive organizational change

*Brought to you by:* Graphite—Your AI code review platform: https://graphitedev.link/howiai Atlassian for Startups—From MVP to IPO: https://atlassian.com/startups/howiai *In this episode, we cover:* (00:00) Introduction to Rachel Wolan (02:26) Why Rachel started leaning into AI (06:26) Building an AI chief of staff (08:17) Prepping for the podcast (10:00) Rachel’s morning flow with her AI chief of staff (14:14) Designing a personalized interface with custom note cards (16:34) Getting “brutal truth” feedback from your AI assistant (19:34) Email triage and management workflows (23:31) Prepping for networking dinners and events (28:18) The result of building an AI chief of staff (30:09) Organizing “builder days” to drive AI adoption (35:38) Measuring the impact of AI adoption initiatives (38:00) Lightning round and final thoughts *Tools referenced:*

*Other references:*

• The complete beginner’s guide to coding with AI: from PRD to generating your very first lines of code: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-complete-beginners-guide-to-coding *Where to find Rachel Wolan:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelwolan/ X: https://x.com/rachelwolan Webflow: https://webflow.com *Where to find Claire Vo:* ChatPRD: https://www.chatprd.ai/ Website: https://clairevo.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairevo/ X: https://x.com/clairevo _Production and marketing by https://penname.co/._ _For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email jordan@penname.co._

SPEAKERS

  • Claire Vo

    host
  • Rachel Wolan

    guest

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of How I AI, featuring Claire Vo and Rachel Wolan, How Webflow’s CPO built an AI chief of staff to manage her calendar and drive internal AI adoption explores Webflow CPO builds an AI chief of staff for executive leverage Rachel Wolan explains how recent “vibe coding” tools pulled her back into hands-on building, leading her to create a personal AI chief of staff app that supports just-in-time executive work.

RELATED EPISODES

Claude Code for product managers: research, writing, context libraries, custom to-do system, more

Claude Code for product managers: research, writing, context libraries, custom to-do system, more

The power user’s guide to Codex | Alexander Embiricos (product lead)

The power user’s guide to Codex | Alexander Embiricos (product lead)

Zapier's CEO shares his personal AI stack | Wade Foster

Zapier's CEO shares his personal AI stack | Wade Foster

How one designer led an AI revolution at Pendo: The paternity leave epiphany | Brian Greenbaum

How one designer led an AI revolution at Pendo: The paternity leave epiphany | Brian Greenbaum

How AI got me 3 promotions: the ultimate guide for EAs (w/ Zapier’s EA)

How AI got me 3 promotions: the ultimate guide for EAs (w/ Zapier’s EA)

ChatGPT agent mode: The “little helper” that transformed recruiting & solved parking nightmares

ChatGPT agent mode: The “little helper” that transformed recruiting & solved parking nightmares

Get more out of YouTube videos.

Read along on your phone, search it beside the video, or ask your favorite AI app what was said.