How I AI
Clairvaux recognized that while AI is fundamentally transforming how we work and build, most people feel overwhelmed and don't know where to start. Rather than philosophical debates about AI's future, she wanted to create something practical: a podcast showing real people using AI tools in their actual day-to-day work. The mission was simple—actionable tips, workflows, and demonstrations that viewers could copy immediately. This became "How I AI," launched as the first podcast under Lenny's Podcast Network.
Clairvaux assembled a format designed for maximum utility: 30-minute episodes featuring guests who share one to two specific use cases with live screen sharing. The show launched with an impressive first guest—Sahil Lavengia, CEO and founder of Gumroad, a platform that helped creators sell over $1 billion worth of products directly to audiences. This wasn't accidental; Clairvaux specifically sought out leaders already at the bleeding edge of AI implementation.
The podcast launched under the established Lenny's Podcast Network, giving it immediate distribution channels including YouTube, Spotify (with video), and Apple Podcasts. Rather than chasing customers, Clairvaux positioned the show as free content released every Monday morning to an audience already engaged with Lenny's existing product and leadership content. The inaugural episode's focus on practical AI engineering showcased exactly the kind of actionable content that would resonate with product builders, engineers, and founders.
The format of live screen sharing and real-time demonstrations proved central to the show's appeal. Sahil's breakdown of his workflow—V0 for prototyping, Devin for implementation, Cursor for refinement—gave viewers concrete mental models to replicate. His willingness to show failures (like Devin not perfectly implementing natural language date parsing) built credibility. Financially incentivizing engineers to use AI tools (a $33,000 bounty split among top Devon PR writers) demonstrated that adoption requires both inspiration and motivation. The podcast itself required no upfront monetization—it launched as free content, relying on the Lenny's Podcast Network's distribution and sponsorship model (Enterpret, Vanta sponsors in the first episode).
How I AI established itself immediately as the go-to resource for practical AI implementation, with the first episode demonstrating the bar: a guest actively shipping code 40x faster than traditional methods, leading an organization through AI-driven cultural change, and documenting the process publicly. The show's success hinged on positioning itself not as futurism but as "how to actually use this stuff today," with every episode designed to be immediately implementable. Plans exist to potentially expand the podcast network further, though nothing changes with the main Lenny's Podcast.
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