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#dogoodwork is not a label but a way of living.
It is the constant and diligent effort to achieve a new level of excellence in one’s own life.
It is the hidden inner beauty behind the struggle to achieve excellence.
It is not perfect but imperfect.
It is the effort, discipline and focus that often goes unnoticed.
The goal of this podcast is to highlight that drive.
The guests I have on this show emulate this drive in their own special way. You’ll be able to apply new ideas into your own life by learning from them.
We will also have 1on1 episodes with me where we’ll dive into my own experiences with entrepreneurship and leadership.
Every episode is designed to provide you with ideas that you can apply and grow in excellence in all areas of your life, business and career.
Do Good Work,
Raul
INTRO
PODCAST
raul-_1_11-08-2024_120840:
Varun, welcome to the pod,
squadcaster-h87h_1_11-08-2024_120840:
Awesome to be here.
Thank you for having me.
raul-_1_11-08-2024_120840: dude, I love
how LinkedIn can connect, top voices,
but also I'm seeing your content.
I'm seeing what you're talking about.
It is so on point.
Can you tell the audience who you
are, where you're from, what you up to
squadcaster-h87h_1_11-08-2024_120840:
Absolutely.
It's been awesome to connect with
you a little bit about myself.
I am a developer turned product
marketing leader, and I'm extremely
passionate about generative AI.
I have a YouTube channel with over 35, 000
subscribers where I break down the latest
and greatest concepts in generative AI.
And you never really run out
of material because everything,
Is changing
raul-_1_11-08-2024_120840: every
squadcaster-h87h_1_11-08-2024_120840:
time.
raul-_1_11-08-2024_120840: comes out.
squadcaster-h87h_1_11-08-2024_120840:
Yeah, we have.
And so I enjoy breaking that down because
it helps me learn better and think
about how I can apply it in my life.
And then if that makes it accessible
for my network that's so much better for
me because then we can have thoughtful
conversations about where this is going.
And I think this is truly
going to be transformational.
It's up to you and I, and all of us to
define the trajectory where AI takes us.
And it's one of those
technology shifts where I think.
There's just so much more participation
at the ground level compared
to other tech transformations
that I've seen in the past.
I think AI is one which is really tapped
into the imaginations of so many people.
It's just been super
exciting to be in this space.
And I recently even started a LinkedIn
newsletter on it where I package
up all of my content and engage in
different types of conversations
I'm on my 11th edition right now.
So still, Early but it's been
really fun building that out.
raul-_1_11-08-2024_120840: Yeah.
And I think because the tools are so
easily accessible that a lot of people
can start flexing their creativity.
One thing that I see that you
advocate is a venture mindset.
Can you tell me more about that
mindset as a business owner?
Cause every time that I look at
a new tool or a new solution, you
can either look at it, Oh, let me
just see the latest and greatest.
And then you go down that rabbit
hole and every single, there's that,
there's like a repository or a website
that shows you all the AI tools.
There's thousands.
On that website.
It's insane.
And you don't even know the
privacy policy on half of those.
So you gotta be safe on that.
But on the other flip side, the
other mindset is to look at something
and here's a use case I'm trying to
solve for what tool solves for that.
I think that might be more empowering,
but walk us through the venture
mindset and how you take, this approach
when you're exploring new tech.
squadcaster-h87h_1_11-08-2024_120840: and
experimentation is just so crucial, right?
Like it's this idea of not really
spending too much time in analysis,
paralysis, having a hypothesis around
what do you think is going to help you?
And then trying a few
different things out.
I'll give you an example.
I heard about this tool
NotebookLM from Google and it
was still very new at the time.
And I.
Started to experiment with it, and
I found it to be just remarkably
powerful for a lot of different
use cases that I was going through.
Alongside my full time job, I'm
actually pursuing a master's in computer
science, and I had an exam coming up.
And so I had to summarize a
bunch of different chapters
from a few different textbooks.
So I took this NotebookLM
tool and had it create.
an AI podcast for me using just a bunch of
the material and it was a lot easier than
having to read through three chapters of
deep learning or reinforcement learning.
It just created an actual podcast
that was exciting to listen to.
And I was blown away, man,
it sounded really realistic.
And so that's just one example.
I think.
GPT is what is being used the most
nowadays by a lot of people to make their
lives easier at work and personally, but
I think with agents, it's going to get a
lot more autonomous where you're not just
asking, For questions you're honestly
having a coworker work alongside you.
I recently tried out this new
tool, Cove, which is phenomenal.
And that's like a visual workspace
that you can collaborate with.
I had it plan out my next trip.
And so there's a lot of different tools
that you can just start to experiment with
and then you start to dial into, okay.
This tool is useful for X use case.
And so this is where I'm going
to try to experiment even more.
And so you're not spending a ton of
time just thinking about what to use.
You're actually playing with
these different tools because the
reality is none of these tools
are perfect but they're only
going to get better over time.
raul-_1_11-08-2024_120840: Yeah.
And I think, we're going to have
to definitely do a tool list.
In a bit because I know that's
what people are going to ask for.
I like the fact that you're diving into
specifically, what is the use case?
And also you have to find
the radius for these tools.
Like you actually have
to get in and experiment.
Like I'm experimenting a lot with a lot
of go to market tools every single week.
Like just to give a preface for the
audience, when we talk about go to market
tools there's Signal based tools to
figure out what are people searching for?
If they're in the buying cycle
then inbound based tools.
How do you actually get contact
information and outreach based tools or
filtering tools to figure out okay, is
this the right person, the right ICP,
the right contact or all the analysis and
then outreach so that is a whole stack.
And I can, one Saturday I just
spent 500 bucks just testing things
and just, you know how it is.
So I, I love to know more about
what are you seeing professionally?
So you mentioned about.
You're pursuing your higher advanced data.
You use a notebook element.
I've heard fantastic things in notebook.
I've toyed around with it.
But when you're working at work,
I know some companies, like a
friend of mine, she, it's still in
person, so they're not fully remote.
So it's I know that's a, not a
judgment call there, but it's
a, it's still in person shop.
And they're all talking about,
Hey, we actually will not be
using AI because of the privacy
concerns, et cetera, et cetera.
How are you seeing that?
Discerning that through the work
that you're doing, other people that
you're working through, maybe even
clients that you're seeing like data,
privacy use cases, and then also
solving real professional problems.
Because I think if you're not leveraging
the technology, you're significantly
being left behind right now.
squadcaster-h87h_1_11-08-2024_120840:
100%.
I am a product marketing and go
to market leader at Rubrik and
Rubrik is a data security company.
So we take privacy very seriously.
But we do have an AI committee that
has Basically vetted different AI
tools and enabled us to start taking
advantage of generative AI with the
tools that do prioritize the same
things that we do in terms of privacy.
So we've started actually leverage a lot
of these tools internally for a number of
different things Summarizing conversations
for example, scaling content creation.
There, there's a number of different
things that we built out internally
as well, we have AI powered
customer success organization.
Has built out their own.
Generative AI assistant, for example.
And there's just a number of use cases
internally that we've been able to create
while prioritizing data security and
then externally as well, we continue
to help our customers take advantage
of AI but do it in a secure manner.
raul-_1_11-08-2024_120840: Yeah.
I think that's one of the key things is,
just, everyone has their AI committee,
but it's not legal or whatever advice,
but the thing that I look for specifically
is, what is their data privacy?
who owns the IP when I use this tool?
How are they using my data?
Obviously, you can only trust that so
far, are there any other parameters
that you suggest, business owners
or individuals look at as they
start leveraging this new tech?
squadcaster-h87h_1_11-08-2024_120840:
Yeah I think it's really important to have
validated feedback from other customers
and other users where they can speak
to the experiences that they've had.
I think the vendor should be able to
clearly specify like where the data is
going and what data is and isn't being
used to train the underlying model.
I think even initially we didn't see,
for example I'm going back to when
chat GPT first came out, they didn't
have the opt in or opt out of, Hey, my
data can be used to train your model.
So people were having all these
conversations and without you realizing
it, All of your conversations were
being used to train the base model.
And so if in that conversation, your
credit card number ended up in there it's
in the, it's in the underlying LLM now.
I think more and more vendors are
having to be extremely clear about
their compliance and privacy around AI.
And how are they actually handling
the data from the conversations?
How are they handling access controls?
How are they handling sensitive data?
All of that is just extremely important,
and I think that is something that
we look at very closely when we are
working with different vendors and
we make sure to read them thoroughly
before using any tools for that.
raul-_1_11-08-2024_120840: Yeah, I
think it's important, even if you're
doing it as an individual, because
what is your take on the future of IP?
Is IP going to be as important?
Who owns the IP?
If new things can be created
or new iterations of existing
ideas can be created?
Have you had those kinds of
discussions with customers?
squadcaster-h87h_1_11-08-2024_120840: It's
certainly something that comes up more
broadly from an industry level, right?
And I think even personally, at
a philosophical level, I was.
Thinking about like notebook
LM, for example, like you and
I just chatted about that,
raul-_1_11-08-2024_120840: Yeah.
squadcaster-h87h_1_11-08-2024_120840:
the podcast that the AI created, it
sounded so realistic, but it's probably
been trained on millions of podcasts,
like the one you and I are in right now.
And let's say it picked up on.
The way you and I talk, and that's
how the AI ends up sounding is that
RIP then is the original podcast,
the content that it learned from, and
do we get any attribution for that?
It's the same questions
that came up when the whole.
OpenAI Sora thing was being explored
when they were asking if it was
trained on YouTube content or not.
raul-_1_11-08-2024_120840: Yeah,
squadcaster-h87h_1_11-08-2024_120840:
there's just a core philosophical
question that, that there's no
easy answer but I think undeniably
the original content creators need
to be accredited for their work.
I think that to me is really critical.
raul-_1_11-08-2024_120840:
Like a footnote.
And for the record, this is
not a notebook podcast, this is
squadcaster-h87h_1_11-08-2024_120840:
Yeah.
raul-_1_11-08-2024_120840: At least,
that's what I hoped that this is,
squadcaster-h87h_1_11-08-2024_120840:
You need that on the record.
raul-_1_11-08-2024_120840: Yeah,
we need that on the record.
You don't know which one's a simulation.
squadcaster-h87h_1_11-08-2024_120840: Yeah
raul-_1_11-08-2024_120840: that's
obviously insightful, but let's dive
into there's a lot of hype around
a lot of these different tools.
I was having coffee this
morning with a gentleman.
He flew out.
He's visiting family.
So we just grabbed coffee and we
were having this conversation cause
it was like, these conversations are
a little bit on the cutting edge.
Not everyone's using it.
I still have a vendor right now that
literally wants me to mail them a check.
listening to this, I love you.
Peace, but like, why am I mailing a check?
Like, why are we not using Stripe?
Like that?
That's life happening right now.
So that's the reality
that we live in right now.
And the conversations right now are
what tool stacks are we leveraging?
How are you developing something faster?
Instead of taking three months,
you're taking three hours and
that's not an exact duration.
With your YouTube channel, with
the feedback in the comments that
you're getting with the subscribers.
And I know now on LinkedIn, where
are you seeing that people are?
It's there's some sort of.
Magic trick, but then once you really
see that's not a smoke and mirrors.
How do you help people demystify
to really take action and
implement this in the real world?
Because I think the workflows that we can
execute through AI are really beneficial.
But how have you had conversations
either with users or subscribers
to demystify it, to make it more
tangible for them to execute on?
squadcaster-h87h_1_11-08-2024_120840:
absolutely.
And I think we often run into the
core technology messaging problem
where a lot of times these tools end
up being hammers looking for nail.
And that's not how users
think like a lot of times.
What I've seen work in terms of
demystifying some of these new tools
or just generative AI in general
is meeting people where they're at
in terms of the problems that need
to be solved and thinking about,
okay, what use case do you have?
And then working backwards into Hey,
here's how AI can help you versus
hey, here's this awesome new tool
that can summarize text there you go.
Like it like that is not enough for
anyone to stop what they're doing or
change behaviors and start doing something
new, but if I Went up to a college
student and said, Hey, you're really
struggling with these five different dense
textbooks that you need to study in the
next week to, to prepare for this exam.
You know what?
There's a school tool that can
help you summarize that and
create an AI powered podcast.
So that, that's a flip in terms of
you have a problem that drives a
solution versus an existing tool where
you're looking for a problem to solve.
And I think the smart.
AI companies are realizing that
and they're trying really hard to
differentiate themselves in terms
of the value that they bring to the
customers and to the users versus
Hey, I am AI powered, insert whatever
you're doing before AI here, right?
A lot of companies that perhaps
had nothing to do with AI in the
past, just say they are AI powered.
raul-_1_11-08-2024_120840: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-h87h_1_11-08-2024_120840:
software now.
I think it's really important to
be able to differentiate yourself
and talk about what users really
value and solve real problems.
Cause at the end of the day, like people
like the tech, but no one really cares
so much about the underlying tech as
much as they care about the problems that
need to be solved and how there's going
to make a difference in their lives.
raul-_1_11-08-2024_120840:
Which tools are you currently
happy that you're paying for?
squadcaster-h87h_1_11-08-2024_120840:
I'm definitely happy.
I'm paying for chat GPT the premium
service because they keep adding
new stuff and any time there's a
new beta feature they do release
it in the premium version first.
I'll give you an example.
I find that a new search
capabilities really slick which
is the search GPT functionality.
ChatGPT could use the web before, it could
source stuff, but it wasn't as clean.
It wasn't as sophisticated and definitely,
yeah, that, yeah, basically Perplexity
was doing a much better job of that.
So I feel like now they're getting to
parity with perplexity, but I think
that the advantage that ChatGPT has is.
Once you start using one generative
AI tool, it develops a sort
of stickiness and that user
behavior is hard to change, right?
So if chat GPT is what
you started using first.
You're going to probably go
back to it multiple times.
I tried to use perplexity.
Notebook LM is one that I
definitely valued, but I use the
free versions for both of those.
I don't use the paid version.
I think if there's one thing that I feel
good paying for is it Chat GPT right now.
raul-_1_11-08-2024_120840: Yeah, even
for Rubrik or for any other company
that you're working at for go to
market, are there specific tools?
It's a tool tech stack that
you love using, especially
in the go to market function.
squadcaster-h87h_1_11-08-2024_120840:
Yeah.
So we have copy AI at rubric.
And that is a pretty compelling tool.
I found it useful for like
workflows, for example.
I think as a business, we made a
decision that we wanted to scale content.
And copy AI was where
we decided to invest.
And so far that's been I think
that's been pretty useful.
raul-_1_11-08-2024_120840:
No, that's good.
Yeah, I think, on my end paying for
Clay as I needed, Zapier GPT, I did U.
com I think I did Perplexity
at some time list goes on.
If it's out there and there's a paid
version, I'm probably testing it.
squadcaster-h87h_1_11-08-2024_120840:
What do you think of cloud?
I think cloud is a very.
Built our platform.
Like I think that commitment to
human, like the human centric
portion of AI is really cool.
what did you get from the paid version?
I haven't tried the paid version yet.
raul-_1_11-08-2024_120840: The
artifacts that you're able to
leverage and then from there.
You can create custom code and it
has the artifact there next to you
when you're doing the custom code.
squadcaster-h87h_1_11-08-2024_120840:
Oh, wow.
raul-_1_11-08-2024_120840: For GPT.
I did love Claude for like feedback
on writing and writing style and
it got the tone of voice faster.
I always edit anyways before shipping.
So I never like do that thinking.
But ever since I got access to
Oh one on GPT, it's superior
to Claude and a lot of reasons.
And the Claude, if you're
listening to this Anthropic.
love that I was able to get really good
insights in the first answer, but the more
conversations that you had in that thread,
the more water down the conversation
got like it remembered less, even
though the token usage wasn't that high.
Like I wasn't using 2000
tokens per conversation.
It was like a simple conversation,
but I feel like the reply rate, I
had a less mental power being used.
And that with GPT 4 all the time with a 4.
0 in, in, in mini.
But with 01, it's probably
the most The most advanced
that I've experienced so far?
squadcaster-h87h_1_11-08-2024_120840:
That's fascinating.
I personally love O1 because I
think like it at least takes the
time to think through the prompt.
Like I've tried some complex
prompts with it and I think the
quality of the code is stronger.
With Claude I recently checked
out their desktop control
capability, which is very new.
It's, I checked out the demo for that.
And I think once that gets released, I
might be willing to actually start paying
for it because I think that is a really.
unique capability that I haven't seen the
other Gen AI tools start to invest in.
There's better search, like search
GPT or perplexity, like they're
investing a lot in making that better.
But Anthropic, I think is going
down a different path with this
desktop control capability.
And they're really, I think once they
figured out the artifacts, like they've
figured out, like that's the path
that they want to go down further on.
And it's just fascinating to see
the two different trajectories.
And if there's a difference in
like the value you're getting,
why not pay for two tools?
raul-_1_11-08-2024_120840: Oh
squadcaster-h87h_1_11-08-2024_120840:
These things pay for themselves in
like the amount of time they save you.
raul-_1_11-08-2024_120840: Oh yeah.
No, it's not even a question.
And, Claw, or, it's anthropic
with Claude, like recently go with
AWS on some defense contracting.
So there's, you can see
where the tools evolving.
There's no clear winner in
the marketplace, obviously.
Open AI being the first
to market approach.
squadcaster-h87h_1_11-08-2024_120840:
yeah, AWS seems to be really all
in on their cloud partnership.
Like I know they have.
Other models on bedrock but I have
seen they are investing deeply in
their anthropic and cloud partnership.
And to be fair 3, 5 is a
very sophisticated model.
So it makes sense that maybe
a lot of their customers are.
actually choosing to just go with Claude.
raul-_1_11-08-2024_120840: Yeah,
no, I can completely see that.
Switching gears here.
I think like a lot of the exploratory
conversations, observations, and tool
stack, I feel like that's a natural
pursuit of how can we pursue like
becoming better in our work, becoming
better in execution dominating a
marketplace, or dominating your company.
It's not that hard.
Not to sound too egotistical,
but like, why not go all out.
I know you shared with me that your mother
has been a huge influence in your life.
And part of this podcast is to
honor experiences and those who've
influenced us and what we're doing.
And I know that's a significant
part of why you're doing.
Can you share a little
bit more about that story?
Because I think it's absolutely amazing.
squadcaster-h87h_1_11-08-2024_120840:
Yeah.
My mother was the most
exceptional human being.
She basically from my childhood
was really focused on, The
power of knowledge and learning.
So for example, even before we
had a computer at home, she would
buy encyclopedias for me and help
me learn about the planets, help
me learn about geography before,
it was even taught in school.
And then.
When the internet came out, she helped me
take advantage of those same things online
and start to use the internet and she
would do courses herself to help me just
take advantage of this new technology.
And then, throughout my education,
throughout my career, she was my
biggest support, my biggest rock.
And I always felt.
I wanted to get her a better life and
make her proud, which is by I continue
to pursue my goals of moving abroad.
So I grew up in India and
moved to the States for my MBA.
And then I was able to help her
live through a lot of experiences
that were just dreams for us.
For example, she used to talk about us
renting a Chalet as a family growing up.
And we were able to do that in Tahoe.
And that was one of her happiest memories.
And when I lost her in 2023, I
felt like anytime, You go through
a very difficult experience.
Like losing a loved one.
There's really two paths, right?
It's either you go down a spiral of
grief and that is hard to come back
from, or you, try to live up to the
memory of the person that you have lost.
And so she was the brightest light.
And so I always felt like people used
to tell me that my smile was her smile.
So I was like, If I can broaden
my influence in the world and my
impact in the world in a way like
More people will know her story.
Or more people will be able to connect
with her even if it's indirectly so that
was the big motivation behind scaling
my youtube channel it's a private video,
but one of the youtube videos that I
had first posted on that channel was my
mother's prayer ceremony or her memorial
service I made that video private, but
then I was like, I'm going to take this
channel and make this into something
that helps me reach the world broader.
And I was really interested
in generative AI at the time.
I was learning a lot about it.
I was like, Hey, I'm learning might
as well make some good content.
And hopefully people like it.
And it took off and yeah, I'm really
proud that I was able to do that
for her and so yeah now I feel like.
It's been over a year since I
lost her, but I still feel like
she's a huge influence in my life.
I was able to channel something
that was a very dark time in my life
and do something hopefully that's
positive and helpful to the world.
raul-_1_11-08-2024_120840: yeah, it's
such a powerful and beautiful story, man.
Again, my deepest condolences.
think what I appreciate.
There's multiple ways to use tools,
like going back to the AI piece to
like multiple ways to use these tools.
But the fact that how are we figuring out
how to better ourselves, our community
and others, and our clients, and to use
your words, like, How do you leverage
this for positivity to provide hope and
to do this courageously in a way where,
sometimes in the marketplace or sometimes
in the world, it may not be as positive.
It might be a little dark.
So I really do appreciate
that in our conversation here.
But for everyone listening here,
where's the best place for everyone
to one, thank you for being on it to
learn more about you and the YouTubes.
squadcaster-h87h_1_11-08-2024_120840:
Thank you so much Raul.
It's been awesome having
this conversation with you.
If anyone who's listening wants
to find me my YouTube channel is
called Generative AI with Varun.
Very easy to find.
And you can find me on
LinkedIn as Varun Grover.
That's where I publish
my Generative newsletter.
And if anyone just wants to
connect and nerd out about AI,
just send me a DM on LinkedIn.
More than happy to talk.
raul-_1_11-08-2024_120840: We'll
put those links in the show notes.
Thank you again for being on it.
squadcaster-h87h_1_11-08-2024_120840:
Awesome.
Thank you, man.
Thank you for listening to the podcast.
If you'd like to get more of
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I give freely online, as well as low cost
resources, Such as my books and guides.
You can get all of that
by going to dogoodwork.
io forward slash free dash growth
dash resources 90 percent of all
these resources are not behind any
email opt ins you can get instant
access by going to dogoodwork.
io forward slash free dash growth dash
resources Now, if you'd like to accelerate
your progress and shorten the gap between
information and action and start seeing
results in your business, let's work
together to increase your company's
performance and scale profitably and
serve more clients without the overwhelm.
You can request a free clarity call
to see how we can best support you to
reach your goals by going to DoGoodWork.
io forward slash apply.
Again, that's DoGoodWork.
io forward slash apply.
As always, it's an honor to be
a small part in your journey.
This is Raul Hernandez.
Do good work.