Shows
First of KindKatie Dill: Quality ControlWhat can flying teach us about software design?Katie Dill has built world-class teams at three iconic companies—Stripe, Lyft and Airbnb—proving that thoughtful design can shape quality at industrial scale.In this conversation with Soleio, Katie describes her winding path into technology and how fields as disparate as architecture and aviation shape her approach to leading design at Stripe.00:00 – Intro: It's All About Mileage02:18 – What Flying Teaches You About Design07:01 – From History to Design School10:30 – The IDEO Moment
2026-02-2541 min
First of KindRyo Lu: The WayWhat is the future of design in a post-AI world?Ryo Lu pioneered new patterns for collaboration as founding designer at Notion. He now leads design at Cursor, shaping how software gets built through a fusion of design and engineering. In this conversation with Soleio, he explains Cursor's approach to design and how the product will evolve to empower designers who build.00:00 – Intro: The future of design01:49 – What is design at Cursor?02:50 – How the team actually works04:46 – Generalists, Self-Starters, Ex-Founders07:34 – Building Cursor inside Cursor10:45 – The next level: Agents & Abstraction
2026-02-1833 min
First of KindJoe Gebbia: Designer-in-ChiefWhy did Joe Gebbia go to Washington? I spoke with America’s first-ever Chief Design Officer last fall to find out. We met on the White House grounds to discuss his newly created role, the formation of @ndstudio, and how Joe plans to weave design into the frabic of U.S. federal government.00:00 - Intro / Eisenhower Exec Office Bldg01:34 - From Airbnb to Washington04:39 - The Federal Retirement Problem06:31 - The Mine in the Mountain08:29 - Do Things That Don’t Scale11:35 - The Julie Prototype14:20 - Down to 60 Seconds16:33 - Co...
2026-02-1237 min
BillionsFrom losing $1B to running a $100m per year business - Noah KaganToday on BILLIONS, I’m sitting down with Noah Kagan — the guy who got fired from Facebook before it was worth a trillion… and turned that loss into the biggest comeback story in online business.He went from losing a fortune on paper to building AppSumo, a $100 million-a-year bootstrapped empire - all without raising a single dollar of VC money.Noah, thanks a lot for being here!TIMELINE00:00:00 - 00:02:10 : The trillion-dollar miss at Facebook00:02:10 - 00:06:43 : Leadership lessons from Mark Zuckerberg's billion-dollar rejection00:06:43 - 00:12:13 : The lifeti...
2026-02-061h 04
Lenny's ReadsHow to spot a 1% startup earlyIf you’re a premium subscriber, add the private feed to your podcast app at add.lennysreads.comHow do certain early employees keep picking generational companies—again and again—before the rest of the world catches on? In this episode, we distill lessons from five such super-spotters whose resumes include Palantir, OpenAI, Facebook, Stripe, Linear, Figma, Notion, Slack, Box, Spotify, and Dropbox. You’ll learn the three rare traits they all look for, and how you can apply these signals to your own career and company-building.In this episode, you’ll learn:• How “ludicrous” ambition shows up• The underrated signs of founder g...
2025-12-0908 min
Dive Club 🤿Keys to craft: Supercut’s playbook for design excellenceOver the last few months one product has risen to the top of my inspiration list… ツSupercut (https://supercut.ai/)The point of this episode is to figure out what it takes to consistently reach that level of excellence.How do you maintain that level of attention to detail while preserving the speed that you need to hit when going 0 -> 1 on a new product?This week's episode is with David (https://x.com/okuiux?lang=en) and [Neil](https://x.com/neiltak) the cofounders of Supercut which has quickly become one of my f...
2025-10-1754 min
Dive Club 🤿Escha Vera - Designing Perplexity’s Comet and Using AI Like an ArtistImagine it’s your first day as a designer at Perplexity... and the VP of Design hands you the keys for their all-new AI browser, [Comet](https://www.perplexity.ai/comet).That’s the story for [Escha Vera](https://x.com/eschadiol).So this week’s episode is a deep dive into her design process and what it looks like to use AI like an artist.- How she designed Comet onboarding experience- Creating generative invite codes using multiple AI tools- How she created the Perplexity design system...
2025-09-2657 min
Minus OneThe Designer Who 'Liked' Everything | SoleioIn this episode of Minus One, Facebook’s second designer, Soleio shares how he helped build the emotional layer of the internet and is now backing tools like Figma and Framer to push it further.Connect with us here:SoleioAditya AgarwalSouth Park Commons00:00 Trailer01:00 Introduction01:41 Early days07:37 Paradigm shift and the moments13:45 Undirected expression and exploration21:45 Greatness has a high bar25:46 Expressing emotions32:17 Back to -144:10 More founders47:54 Outro
2025-06-2548 min
First of KindTwiddling Bits with Susan KareExplore our Conversational Show Notes, brought to you by Granola.ai — https://notes.granola.ai/f/ee3b12a6-82bb-4662-940a-d4270871994a Thank you to our partners!Cursor — https://cursor.comFramer — https://framer.comGranola — https://granola.aiLinear — https://linear.appPerplexity — https://perplexity.com
2025-06-051h 12
First of KindMercurial Artifacts with Nicholas JitkoffExplore our Conversational Show Notes, brought to you by Granola.ai — https://notes.granola.ai/f/ee3b12a6-82bb-4662-940a-d4270871994a Thank you to our partners!Cursor — https://cursor.comFramer — https://framer.comGranola — https://granola.aiLinear — https://linear.appPerplexity — https://perplexity.com
2025-06-051h 13
First of KindThe Miseducation of Julie ZhuoExplore our Conversational Show Notes, brought to you by Granola.ai — https://notes.granola.ai/f/ee3b12a6-82bb-4662-940a-d4270871994a Thank you to our partners!Cursor — https://cursor.comFramer — https://framer.comGranola — https://granola.aiLinear — https://linear.appPerplexity — https://perplexity.com
2025-06-051h 20
First of KindJessica Hische’s Little Shop of WondersExplore our Conversational Show Notes, brought to you by Granola.ai — https://notes.granola.ai/f/ee3b12a6-82bb-4662-940a-d4270871994a Thank you to our partners!Cursor — https://cursor.comFramer — https://framer.comGranola — https://granola.aiLinear — https://linear.appPerplexity — https://perplexity.com
2025-06-051h 23
First of KindElectric Feel with Colin DunnExplore our Conversational Show Notes, brought to you by Granola.ai — https://notes.granola.ai/f/ee3b12a6-82bb-4662-940a-d4270871994a Thank you to our partners!Cursor — https://cursor.comFramer — https://framer.comGranola — https://granola.aiLinear — https://linear.appPerplexity — https://perplexity.com
2025-06-051h 12
First of KindThe Curious Case of Henry ModisettExplore our Conversational Show Notes, brought to you by Granola.ai — https://notes.granola.ai/f/ee3b12a6-82bb-4662-940a-d4270871994a Thank you to our partners!Cursor — https://cursor.comFramer — https://framer.comGranola — https://granola.aiLinear — https://linear.appPerplexity — https://perplexity.com
2025-06-051h 03
First of KindIntroducing First of KindExplore our Conversational Show Notes, brought to you by Granola.ai — https://notes.granola.ai/f/ee3b12a6-82bb-4662-940a-d4270871994a Thank you to our partners!Cursor — https://cursor.comFramer — https://framer.comGranola — https://granola.aiLinear — https://linear.appPerplexity — https://perplexity.com"Last winter in the dappled light of a redwood grove, I met @bryce for the first time in front of a camera..." reads the tweet from @soleio.At the conclusion of our conversation last winter in that dappled forest, I was...
2025-06-0513 min
Dive Club 🤿Sam Stephenson - The journey of designing an AI productI use Granola every single day and it’s quickly become a beloved product in the tech community.But it was a winding journey to get there…So in this episode their co-founder and designer, Sam Stephenson, gives a behind-the-scenes of what it was like going 0 → 1 with Granola:How to navigate the idea maze for an AI productWhat Sam has learned about prompt engineeringWhat it takes to succeed as an early stage startup designerHow they arrived at Granola’s breakthrough interaction patternA glimpse of Granola’s future product roadmap and teams strategyThe piece of advice tha...
2025-03-2851 min
Dive Club 🤿2 ways to make your design ideas compelling💡You can have the greatest design concepts in the world, but none of that matters if they don't make it into production.So this episode is all about how to create an aura of inevitability around your ideas.It features stories from early Facebook, Webflow, and Figma 👇Vincent van der Meulen (Design engineer at Figma)Soleio pt. 1 / pt. 2 (second designer at Facebook)Kevin Wong (Head of product at Webflow)
2025-03-0407 min
Dive Club 🤿How to get hired by the best teams 💡What are the best teams looking for in design candidates?That’s become one of my favorite questions to ask so this episode shines a light on some of those traits and what you can do to stand out.It includes insights from:Diego Zaks (VP of Design at Ramp)Soleio (2nd designer at Facebook)Pranathi Peri (designing v0 at Vercel)Maheen Sohail (Gen AI at Meta)Mariana Castilho (Designer at Poolside)
2025-01-1411 min
INDIE AUDIOCults & Culture with SoleioSoleio Cuervo is more than a chin on the internet. He’s more than an early design leader at Facebook and Dropbox. And he's more than an epic angel investor. He’s a truth seeker and truth teller. Or at least the truth as he sees it. Soleio was one of Facebook’s earliest designers, joining in 2005 when the company was still finding its identity. During his six-year tenure, he helped shape Facebook’s culture of “move fast and break things,” where mistakes were acceptable but slowness was not. This philosophy was crystallized during the controversial...
2025-01-101h 25
Dive Club 🤿Become a 10x startup designer 💡Many of my favorite episodes are when we get to hear from the earliest designers at companies like Linear, Perplexity, Ramp, Facebook, etc.So this episode pulls out the key insights so you can learn what it takes to thrive as a startup designer:Nate Parrott (Founding designer of Arc): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/nate-parrottAdrien Griveau (Founding designer of Linear): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/adrien-griveauSoleio (2nd designer at Facebook): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/soleio-2Marco Cornacchia (Founding designer at Diagram): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/marco-cornacchiaHenry Modisett (Founding designer at Perplexity): https://www...
2024-12-0909 min
Dive Club 🤿Soleio - The rise of designers who shipAs soon as I finished our original interview, I knew I had to have Soleio on as the first repeat guest. He led early design efforts at Facebook and Dropbox. Now he invests in design-driven startups like Figma, Framer, Vercel, etc.So this week’s episode is all about how designers and startups can succeed in a world where everything is changing. We go deep into:Ideal traits for a founding designerHow startups can strategically attack incumbentsWhy the future belongs to designers who can shipThe backstory behind Soleio’s investment in PerplexityA potential future where one desi...
2024-10-301h 02
Yo! PodcastYo! S3E7 - Rasmus AnderssonRasmus Andersson is a seasoned designer and software developer integral to startups like Spotify, Facebook, Dropbox, and Figma. Rasmus also dedicated thousands of hours to creating Inter, one of the world's most loved typefaces, used by NASA, GitHub, Pixar, and more. In this episode, we dive into his next chapter, a fun and ambitious operating system called Playbit. We also discuss quality AI use-cases, what makes a great programmer, how to get started with your first typeface, and what are the signs of upcoming burnout if your are working in a startup.Watch the full interview on...
2024-07-031h 19
Dive Club 🤿Maggie Appleton - Becoming an AI-native designerThis week’s episode with Maggie Appleton is a deep dive into designing for AI products and LLMs. Maggie shares about her experience as the first designer at Elicit (an AI assistant for research papers) and all of the unique challenges surrounding helping users interface with LLMs.We also go deep into:How Maggie’s grown as a frontend developerWhy Maggie feels like she’s in a short-run limboStrategies for improving your technical literacyHow writing online has impacted Maggie’s careerThe AI-native tools that Maggie is drawing inspiration fromHow advancements in AI will redefine her role as a designerHow Maggie’s new unde...
2024-06-1252 min
Dive Club 🤿8 key takeaways from season 4This episode expands on 8 key insights that I took away from interviewing designers like Soleio, Kevin Twohy, Molly Hellmuth, Soren Iverson, etc. 1. A unique way to stand out as a design candidate 2. How to grow as a vision caster 3. The question every freelancer should ask clients 4. The curse of knowledge in web design 5. When systems thinking is most important 6. Strategies for Figma variables 7. The Craft Flywheel 8. How to know which details matter Dive is where the best designers never stop learning 🤿 🌐 dive.c...
2024-02-2223 min
Dive Club 🤿Soleio - What makes a truly great software designerSoleio made a name for himself as the 2nd design hire at Facebook and eventually went on to lead design at Dropbox. Now he invests in extraordinary software startups like Figma, Framer, Vercel, Perplexity, Replit, Universe, tldraw, and dozens more worldwide. So in this discussion we go deep into: - The fascinating story behind project Motion - How Soleio’s skillset evolved during his time at Facebook - When it makes sense to invest in craft (and when it doesn’t) - what Soleio looks for when hiring designers - Ho...
2024-02-1452 min
Design MBADesigning the Facebook Like Button🧠 WHAT WILL YOU LEARN IN THIS INTERVIEW?1. How the iconic Facebook like button was designed? 2. How a designer invested early in startups like Figma, Framer and Diagram? 📢 WHY IS SOLEIO CUERVO A ROCKSTAR? Soleio Cuervo is a software designer turned investor. He led early design efforts at Facebook, Messenger, then Dropbox. Now he invests in extraordinary software startups and helps them win through great design. He is a proud backer of Figma, Framer, Vercel, Vanta, Perplexity, Synthesia, Read.cv, Pulley, Replit, Universe, Liveblocks, tldraw, Plain, and dozens more startups worldwide! ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS (00:00) Interview trail...
2023-12-1453 min
Design Journeys#65 Julie Chabin - Product Hunt - Du Product Design à la stratégie produitTu peux soutenir sur le podcast sur KissKissBankBank ou en mettant 5⭐️ sur Apple Podcasts ou Spotify !Julie est l’ex-Head of Product Design de Product Hunt.En seconde, Julie joue beaucoup à Counter Strike. Pour son clan, elle crée un site internet qui le rend très populaire. A partir de là, d’autres clans contactent Julie pour lui demander de réaliser leur site. L’un de ces clans envoie même un chèque à Julie pour la payer : c’est à...
2023-10-241h 48
Hiring Guild PodcastHG 19 Soleio: The Business of DesignHiring Guild co-founder Greg Hoy chats with Combine co-founder Soleio on building the early Facebook design team, picking the right problems to solve, and reminding CEOs that design is how you make things people want.
2019-08-1455 min
Design Details250: LIVE at Combine (feat. May-Li Khoe, Katie Dill & Soleio Cuervo)We made it! Another milestone in the Design Details archive: episode 250 🎉
For this special episode we hosted a live show with our friends May-Li Khoe, Katie Dill, and Soleio Cuervo. In the conversation we dig into hiring junior designers, how to identify talent, equity and salary negotiations, building a career rubric, and so much more. Also, a huge thank you to Combine for hosting us in their beautiful new space!
To everyone who's joined us on this 250 episode marathon: thank you! Whether this is your first or 250th episode listening in, we appreciate your support and...
2018-06-061h 27
Design Details192: One Stuff At A Time (feat. Joel Califa)Today we caught up with Joel Califa, a design manager at Digital Ocean. In this episode we discuss the state of design Twitter, design quality and process, managing up, hiring designers, rethinking empathy, and so much more.
We've also got a big announcement: we're building a new thing for you! It's called Spectrum and it's a place for the community to hang out and share what's going on in design, development, and anything else you might be interested in.
We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks...
2017-04-051h 28
Design Details187: Performance Enhancing Calculators (feat. Ryhan Hassan)Today we caught up with Ryhan Hassan, a designer at Dropbox who previously worked on Paper. We dig into Ryhan's background, his transition from development to design, building side projects, easter eggs, and more.
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 7,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or...
2017-03-0154 min
Design Details120: Shout Out, Mom! (feat. Adam Polselli)Today we caught up with Adam Polselli, a product designer and design lead at Dropbox. We dig into current projects at Dropbox, Adam's background, rejection and navigating a career path, hiring designers, what keeps Adam up at night and more.
Come chat with us in our new Slack team! Over 4,200 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
2016-04-111h 01
Design Details102: Sick Ajax Skills (feat. Adam Michela)This episode with Adam Michela was soopa fun; Adam is a designer at AirBnb, previously at Last, Facebook and Gowalla among others. We caught up to talk about Adam's background as a designer, building style guides at scale, the impact of engineering on user experience, and more.
Come chat with us in our new Slack team! Over 3,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our team visit our Slack invite...
2016-02-081h 08
Design Details99: Internet Points (feat. Ian Silber)Today we sat down with Ian Silber, a designer (and design manager!) at Instagram. We dig into his background, talk about taking bets on young designers, his key learnings in management, briefly diverge into cooking, and return back to his process for hiring at Instagram.
Come chat with us in our new Slack team! Over 3,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and...
2016-01-281h 08
Design Details92: Best of 2015 - Part 2For the next two weeks we're taking some time off with our friends and family - to tide everyone over, we've compiled four episodes with some of our favorite clips of 2015. We hope you enjoy listening back and re-discovering some of our earliest content, and we'll be back with new interviews in 2016!
Come chat with us in our new Slack team! Over 2,700 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our...
2016-01-041h 01
Design Details67: Open the Kimono (feat. Soleio Cuervo)Today we caught up with Soleio Cuervo, a designer, advisor and investor. He's well known for laying the groundwork of Facebook's early design team and, of course, his work on the original incarnation of the 'like' button. He currently advises many companies and startups in tech, and we had a blast digging into his stories and lessons learned!
Come chat with us in our new Slack team! Over 900 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a...
2015-10-071h 07
Design Details34: Second Shift (feat. Allison House)This week we hopped on a call with the one-and-only Allison House! Allison currently lives in Austin, exploring her way through 3D art and design - in this episode we chat about her background in design, her transition into 3D and what she's excited for in the future. We're also in the running for Podcast of the Year!
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If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!
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2015-06-1552 min