Lenny’s Podcast97 min
Julie Zhuo · Jun 7, 2022
Key learnings- Growth often comes from being in uncomfortable, unfamiliar situations; Julie notes that feeling like an imposter tends to…
- Seek environments that are scaling, since growing companies create more opportunities to volunteer for new responsibilities and…
- Share your struggles openly with peers, mentors, and reports; vulnerability builds deeper connections and lets others help you…
The Looking Glass podcastApr 14, 2026
Apr 14, 2026
Key learnings- World-class designers are distinguished by judgment and taste, not just the ability to execute polished visuals.
- Excellent designers obsess over the underlying problem before jumping to solutions, which separates them from those who iterate…
- Strong designers can articulate why a decision is right, tying craft choices back to user needs and business constraints.
The Looking Glass · Julie Zhuo♥ 165
May 27, 2025
Julie Zhuo argues that the expertise that made you valuable, such as a specialized craft or deep procedural skill, may be the very thing AI erodes first, leaving some professionals more exposed than others. The source…
The Looking Glass · Julie Zhuo♥ 131
Apr 21, 2026
Julie Zhuo's short essay, titled "I am an idiot," reflects on intellectual humility in an era when AI systems can seem to know more than we do. The piece is framed as personal notes rather than a formal argument, using…
The Looking Glass · Julie Zhuo♥ 126
Nov 6, 2025
Julie Zhuo's personal essay traces how she came to see herself as an "ice queen": someone who learned to suppress emotion and present a composed, controlled surface. The piece frames emotional guardedness as a…
The Looking Glass · Julie Zhuo♥ 123
Sep 9, 2025
Julie Zhuo announces the launch of her book on management and offers predictions about how the manager role will change in the era of AI. The piece frames management as a path many product and design people will…
The Looking Glass · Julie Zhuo♥ 53
Sep 17, 2026
Subscriber post — summary onlyJulie Zhuo's paid essay looks at playful, seemingly pointless things people build with AI when no one is tracking the hours or demanding a business case, such as an unusual bird display, a talking phone, and a game…
The Looking Glass · Julie Zhuo♥ 57
Jul 6, 2026
Julie Zhuo's short essay looks back at what daily life was like during the early Internet, framing the piece around a nostalgic exercise rather than a product or strategy argument. The source text provided is only a…
The Looking Glass · Julie Zhuo♥ 66
Aug 21, 2025
Subscriber post — summary onlyJulie Zhuo's paid essay reflects on the path into founding a company, framing it as a hero's journey shaped by conviction. Based on the excerpt provided, the piece looks back on the starting point and suggests founders…
@joulee · Julie Zhuo on X♥ 284
4 tests any personal AI needs to pass to go big: 1. The mom test 2. The spare key test 3. The putting-it-off test 4. The bored-in-line test ...and my review of how @Muse does across each of them! Buckle up with a coffee and a snack, cuz this one goes deep.
@joulee · Julie Zhuo on X♥ 228
Too many teams are doing AI transformation poorly, so I wrote down everything I have learned in my journey and in chatting with many other leaders. A long read, so get your coffees.
The Looking Glass · Julie Zhuo♥ 166
Aug 5, 2026
Julie Zhuo writes a letter to her 11-year-old daughter about the value of struggling through hard work when AI can make almost anything effortless. The piece frames the problem as a question of cultivating the eye…
The Looking Glass · Julie Zhuo♥ 159
Jun 24, 2025
Julie Zhuo argues that as AI systems get better at producing polished work, the traditional signals of skill and craft are eroding, pushing people to ask what human contribution still matters. The essay frames this…
The Looking Glass · Julie Zhuo♥ 195
Jun 13, 2026
Subscriber post — summary onlyJulie Zhuo writes to people about to become wealthy through an IPO, acquisition, or successful business, framing a sudden liquidity event as a turning point. The essay appears to address how to handle that new reality…
The Looking Glass · Julie Zhuo♥ 95
Sep 1, 2026
Subscriber post — summary onlyJulie Zhuo's paid essay argues that an AI transformation cannot be ordered into existence from the top down. It presents a ten-step guide to leading an AI shift in a way that preserves care for people and their sense of…
The Looking Glass · Julie Zhuo♥ 75
Sep 9, 2026
Subscriber post — summary onlyJulie Zhuo's paid essay opens with Andy Warhol's point that every Coke tastes the same regardless of who drinks it, then uses that idea to frame a discussion of software. The piece appears to argue that digital products…
The Looking Glass podcastMar 11, 2026
Mar 11, 2026
Key learnings- Excellent growth teams look for opportunities that others in the organization tend to overlook, rather than only chasing the…
- Growth work at a marketplace like DoorDash requires balancing consumers, merchants, and dashers, so teams should consider the…
- Seven lessons framing suggests growth is treated as a repeatable discipline with distinct principles rather than a series of…
The Looking Glass · Julie Zhuo♥ 40
Sep 24, 2026
Subscriber post — summary onlyJulie Zhuo reflects on Muse, a consumer AI agent she believes could actually change people's everyday habits. The essay, which is paywalled, argues that a few specific design choices explain why personal AI might…
The Looking Glass · Julie Zhuo♥ 17
Sep 16, 2025
Subscriber post — summary onlyAn open, personal letter from a manager to a younger, overconfident college graduate she once worked with. The author reflects on how the young person's arrogance was hard to see past at the time, and frames the piece…
The Looking Glass podcastJun 9, 2026
Jun 9, 2026
Key learnings- Treat sales as a craft worth mastering, not a lesser discipline; understanding how customers buy makes product leaders far more…
- Learn to listen closely to what customers are actually trying to accomplish before proposing solutions or pitching value.
- Build trust through consistent follow-through, since credibility compounds over repeated interactions with buyers and internal…