First of Kind: Daily Summaries Delivered

Guillermo Rauch: One Stroke Dragon

What can a dragon painted in a single stroke teach us about software?Guillermo Rauch is the founder and CEO of Vercel. Growing up in Argentina, he taught himself English in order to teach himself programming, then went on to create Socket.io and other foundational technology for the real-time web. Along the way, he developed a cunning designer’s eye that became the competitive advantage for what is now a multi-billion dollar venture.In this conversation with Soleio, Guillermo explains why he designed Vercel’s first command line in Sketch before writing any code, why layout shift erodes trust, and why his company won’t commit any “random acts of AI.”Guillermo makes the case for why he’s not just chief executive. He is also chief designer.00:00 Human Effort Is Still Underrated00:44 Chief Executive, Chief Designer02:33 Two Bets: Software and English05:15 Gmail Was My Siren Call11:06 Exposure Hours14:49 Layout Shift and the One Stroke Dragon17:10 No Random Acts of Al25:17 Can Agents Have Taste?30:15 Software Factories and Agent Customers34:59 Everything Is Communication38:04 A New American Story41:52 LifemaxxingS3:E01 Guillermo Rauch: One Stroke DragonHosted by Soleio and produced by Room 3: room3nyc.com @room3nycGuillermo Rauch: x.com/rauchg · rauchg.comFirst of Kind is powered byFramer: framer.comNoon: noon.designGrok Bot: x.ai/botRamp: ramp.comVercel: vercel.comGranola: granola.aiProfound: tryprofound.comWebsite: firstofkind.comYouTube: youtube.com/@firstofkind𝕏: x.com/firstofkindThreads: threads.com/firstofkind_Instagram: instagram.com/firstofkind_Hashtag: #FirstofKind

Everett Katigbak: Indie Streak

Joseph Cohen: Infinite Ride

Koen & Jorn: Framer Reloaded

Katie Dill: Quality Control

What 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 Mileage 02:18 – What Flying Teaches You About Design 07:01 – From History to Design School 10:30 – The IDEO Moment 18:01 – Saying Yes to the Scary Thing 19:46 – The Chair Pullback 21:16 – The Gray Room at Airbnb 25:47 – Breaking Down the Ivory Tower 30:05 – Put In the Mileage 33:35 – Beauty Builds Trust 36:53 – Steam Gauges and Simple Systems 38:53 – The Best Checkout in the World Katie Dill: Quality Control First of Kind, S2:E3 Hosted by Soleio and produced by Room 3: room3nyc.com First of Kind is powered by our sponsors: Framer — framer.com Cursor — cursor.com Vercel — vercel.com Profound — tryprofound.com Website: www.firstofkind.com 𝕏: x.com/firstofkind_ Threads: threads.com/firstofkind_ Instagram: instagram.com/firstofkind_ Hashtag: #FirstofKind

Ryo Lu: The Way

What 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 design 01:49 – What is design at Cursor? 02:50 – How the team actually works 04:46 – Generalists, Self-Starters, Ex-Founders 07:34 – Building Cursor inside Cursor 10:45 – The next level: Agents & Abstraction 13:48 – Pattern language 18:24 – A lingua franca for builders 20:34 – Baby Cursor 23:45 – The new shape of designer 26:10 – Does AI distribute or concentrate power? 29:43 – Why Cursor is the tool you should learn 30:54 – A new design philosophy 32:36 – Where the path leads S2:E2 Ryo Lu: The Way Hosted by Soleio and produced by Room 3 (www.room3nyc.com) First of Kind is powered by our sponsors: Framer: framer.com Cursor: cursor.com Vercel: vercel.com Profound: tryprofound.com Website: www.firstofkind.com Threads: threads.com/firstofkind_ Instagram: instagram.com/firstofkind_ X: x.com/firstofkind_ Hashtag: #FirstofKind

Joe Gebbia: Designer-in-Chief

Why 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 Bldg 01:34 - From Airbnb to Washington 04:39 - The Federal Retirement Problem 06:31 - The Mine in the Mountain 08:29 - Do Things That Don’t Scale 11:35 - The Julie Prototype 14:20 - Down to 60 Seconds 16:33 - Consumer-Grade Government 18:31 - Nixon’s Federal Beautification 20:22 - The National Design Studio 24:24 - Trust Through Design 27:43 - Building the Dream Team 31:22 - The Silicon Valley Coalition 35:33 - A Golden Age of Design Special thanks to Joe Gebbia and his team for making this conversation possible. S2:E1 Joe Gebbia, Designer-in-Chief Hosted by Soleio: x.com/soleio Produced by Room 3: room3nyc.com First of Kind is powered by our sponsors: Framer: framer.com Cursor: cursor.com Vercel: vercel.com Profound: tryprofound.com Website: www.firstofkind.com Threads: threads.com/firstofkind_ Instagram: instagram.com/firstofkind_ X: x.com/firstofkind_ Hashtag: #FirstofKind

Twiddling Bits with Susan Kare

Explore 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.com Framer — https://framer.com Granola — https://granola.ai Linear — https://linear.app Perplexity — https://perplexity.com