Alex Komoroske: Why gardeners beat builders in the AI era

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

October 3, 2024

Duration

1h 24m

Channel

Lenny's Podcast

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Alex Komoroske is a strategic leader who merges the practice, theory, and mindset necessary to tackle complex problems. He spent 13 years at Google, where he worked on Search and DoubleClick and led Chrome’s Open Web Platform. He also spearheaded Augmented Reality in Google Maps and developed toolkits to align companywide strategy from the ground up. After serving as Head of Corporate Strategy at Stripe, he is now co-founding a startup aimed at reimagining the web for the AI era. Alex created the popular “Slime Molds” deck, which offers fresh insights into organizational dynamics. He is also the author of the widely read “Bits and Bobs,” a collection of thought-provoking reflections.In our conversation, we delve into:

• “Organizational kayfabe”
• “Gardening” vs. “building”
• How AI will soon change how we build product
• How and why to embrace the adjacent possible
• The power of reflection and how to build it into your workflow
• How to create emergent properties in organizations
• How to run effective “strategy salons” or “nerd clubs”
• Much more

— Brought to you by:

• Eppo—Run reliable, impactful experiments: https://www.geteppo.com/
• Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security: https://vanta.com/lenny
• Coda—The all-in-one collaborative workspace: https://coda.io/lenny

Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/unconventional-product-advice-alex-komoroske Where to find Alex Komoroske:

• X: https://x.com/komorama
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-komoroske-6597336/
• Website: https://www.komoroske.com/

Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Introduction to Alex (01:53) Alex’s Bits and Bobs document (06:20) The Compendium and note-taking process (10:10) The impact of AI and LLMs on product development (14:24) Skills to lean into as a product manager (19:02) How AI makes us better as individuals (23:04) Organizational kayfabe (31:48) Gardening vs. building (34:46) Emergence-oriented thinking (41:55) Slime molds and organizational structure (45:15) Identifying resonant ideas (47:05) The power of metaphors (48:02) Strategy salons and nerd clubs (52:30) Building and sustaining communities (55:59) Productivity hacks and self-control (01:01:04) Life philosophy and personal insights (01:07:52) The adjacent possible (01:15:56) Lightning round Referenced:

• Bits and Bobs Google Doc: https://groups.google.com/g/komoroske-updates/c/2rPJ9EyKVYY?pli=1
• The Compendium: https://thecompendium.cards/
• WebSim: https://websim.ai/
• Dylan Field live at Config: Intuition, simplicity, and the future of design: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/dylan-field-live-at-config
• Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/
• Claude: https://claude.ai
• Steve Jobs on Why Computers Are Like a Bicycle for the Mind (1990): https://www.themarginalian.org/2011/12/21/steve-jobs-bicycle-for-the-mind-1990/
• Kayfabe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayfabe
• Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration: https://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Inc-Overcoming-Unseen-Inspiration/dp/0812993012
• How Perplexity builds product: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-perplexity-builds-product
• Slime Molds: https://komoroske.com/slime-mold/
• Ken Stanley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenneth-stanley-3a159b/
• Evolution through the Search for Novelty Alone: https://www.cs.swarthmore.edu/~meeden/DevelopmentalRobotics/lehman_ecj11.pdf
• Tim Urban’s X post on “idea lab” culture: https://x.com/waitbutwhy/status/1639003239801602049
• For self-control, “always” rules are better than “sometimes” rules: https://medium.com/@komorama/for-self-control-always-rules-are-better-than-sometimes-rules-4c38be32f318
• How to Stop Procrastinating on Your Goals by Using the “Seinfeld Strategy”: https://jamesclear.com/stop-procrastinating-seinfeld-strategy
• The Iterative Adjacent Possible: https://medium.com/@komorama/the-iterative-adjacent-possible-af3e7038357d
• “The Hallmark Card Fallacy” on Infinite Loops: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7IgApdfBjNI
• Tim Urban’s website: https://waitbutwhy.com/
• Adnan Ahmad Sheikh’s post on LinkedIn: Happiness = Reality - Expectations (by Tim Urban): https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/happiness-reality-expectations-tim-urban-adnan-ahmad/
• The Origin of Wealth: The Radical Remaking of Economics and What It Means for Business and Society: https://www.amazon.com/Origin-Wealth-Remaking-Economics-Business/dp/1422121038
• Thinking in Systems: https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Systems-Donella-H-Meadows/dp/1603580557

...References continued at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/unconventional-product-advice-alex-komoroske Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Alex Komoroske

  guest

• Lenny Rachitsky

  host

• Narrator

  other

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Lenny's Podcast, featuring Alex Komoroske and Lenny Rachitsky, Alex Komoroske: Why gardeners beat builders in the AI era explores alex Komoroske on gardening products, AI duct tape, and slime molds Alex Komoroske argues that AI—especially LLMs—fundamentally shifts product development from rigid plans to playful experimentation with a new kind of ‘magical duct tape’ that is cheap, squishy, and ubiquitous. He contrasts the traditional builder mindset with a gardener mindset: seeding many small, compounding bets, then nurturing the ones that show emergent promise. Drawing on metaphors like slime molds, kayfabe, and the adjacent possible, he explains how large organizations really work, why coordination is so hard, and how to design for bottom‑up emergence instead of top‑down control. Throughout, he shares concrete practices (Bits & Bobs, strategy salons/nerd clubs, time structuring, taste development) to help PMs, founders, and teams navigate the AI era and do work that gives them energy and that they’re proud of.

🔗 RELATED EPISODES

How to build a company that withstands any era | Eric Ries, Lean Startup author

Head of Claude Code: What happens after coding is solved | Boris Cherny

Building product at Stripe: craft, metrics, and customer obsession | Jeff Weinstein (Product lead)

Building a world-class data org | Jessica Lachs (VP of Analytics and Data Science at DoorDash)

What most people miss about marketing | Rory Sutherland (Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK, author)

5 essential questions to craft a winning strategy | Roger Martin (author, advisor, speaker)