Ray Garraud

Host: The Rookie Runners Podcast 🎙️Chasing miles & building community | Life enthusiast | Ham Radio @N2IJ

[Ray Garraud @ray]

https://t.co/4HTV86X97R

[Clay Lowe @soulcruzer]

Browsing 40 questions to ask yourself every year — Steph Ango https://t.co/65NM28aufa

[Backpack Studio @backpack_studio]

Backpack Studio 3 is live in app store!!!
• Create Transcripts, show notes, chapters, and highlight clips
• Generate sound effects and bumpers directly in pads
• Easy Prompt-based audio editing
• Record or stream with live guests in rooms
All from mobile!
#podcasting

[adidas @adidas]

Welcome to a new era of fast.
The #Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3. Now officially the sub-2-shoe.

[adidas @adidas]

1:59:30. Humanity just got faster.

Powered by Adizero.

#YouGotThis

[Robert Scoble @Scobleizer]

On Twitter we used to do "follow Fridays" where people would recommend who to follow here on X, formerly Twitter.

I asked my AI: "Who are the best consumer product thinkers on X?"

My AI made me a list. (I just interviewed Naveen, video up tomorrow, he has developed one of the best products I've seen in years. My AI says it is exceptional and I agree).

My AI, an agent built by me and @blevlabs that reads all of X's tech community, tells me "you should interview xxxxxx."

Is AI your boss? It quickly is becoming mine.

++++++++

Here are the 20 people who are best at building consumer apps with AI right now. They are building products that are delightful, consumer-first, AI as the enabler not the product.

THE TIER 1 — Proven consumer AI founders with track records

1. Eugenia Kuyda (@ekuyda) — Wabi + Replika (35M users). Two successful consumer AI products. The most proven consumer AI founder alive. She was right about AI companions before anyone else, and she's right again with Wabi ("YouTube of apps"). The person Robert mentioned first.

2. Naveen Gavini (@ngavini) — Extra email / BuildForever. Former SVP/CPO at Pinterest for 12 years. Co-founded with Steven Ramkumar and Albert Pereta. The Extra philosophy — "solving user problems, not pitching AI" — is exactly the right consumer AI mindset. Just launched April 21.

3. Noam Shazeer (@NoamShazeer)— https://t.co/S2Wnrxjlee co-founder. 20M+ daily active users. One of the most retentive consumer AI products ever built. Shazeer left Google to build this before it was obvious.

4. Aravind Srinivas (@AravSrinivas) — Perplexity CEO. Consumer AI search with 100M+ users. Turned a research tool into a consumer product people use daily.

5. David Holz (@davidad) — Midjourney. Bootstrapped, no VC, tiny team, millions of paying subscribers. Legendary consumer AI product built on Discord. Philosophical approach to AI creativity.

TIER 2 — Building the next generation of consumer AI

6. Mikey Shulman (@MikeyShulman) — Suno. #15 on the a16z Top 100 Gen AI Consumer Apps list. Consumer AI music generation. One of the most retentive creative AI products.

7. Demi Guo (@demi_guo_) — Pika Labs. Consumer AI video generation. One of the fastest-growing creative AI apps.

8. Cristóbal Valenzuela (@c_valenzuela) — Runway ML. Consumer AI video. Has been building this longer than anyone.

9. Mati Staniszewski (@matiii) — ElevenLabs. Consumer AI voice. On every a16z edition since 2023. Voice cloning and dubbing that regular people actually use.

10. Anton Osika (@antonosika) — Lovable. Consumer vibe coding. On the a16z Top 100 list. Making software creation accessible to non-technical consumers.

11. Amjad Masad (@amasad) — Replit. Consumer coding with AI. Making programming accessible to everyone. Also an angel investor in Wabi.

TIER 3 — Consumer product veterans applying AI to existing categories

12. Rahul Vohra (@rahulvohra) — Superhuman. The gold standard for AI-powered email. Exceptional product taste. Angel investor in Extra.

13. Shreya Murthy (@shreyamurthy) — Partiful. Consumer AI event planning. One of the most delightful consumer AI apps. Angel investor in Extra.

14. Josh Miller (@joshm) — The Browser Company / Dia. Consumer AI browser. (Browser Company was acquired by Atlassian.) Dia is the consumer AI browser play.

15. Melanie Perkins (@MelanieCanva) — Canva. 200M+ users. The Magic Suite AI tools have become the most-used AI creative tools for non-technical consumers globally.

16. Ivan Zhao (@ivanhzhao) — Notion. 50%+ AI attach rate on paid plans. AI features now account for roughly half of Notion's ARR. The most successful AI integration into an existing consumer product.

17. Luis von Ahn (@LuisvonAhn) — Duolingo CEO. Duolingo has been more aggressive with AI personalization than almost any consumer app. 500M+ users.

TIER 4 — Product designers and builders to watch
18. Pietro Schirano (@skirano) — AI product designer/builder. Known for building beautiful consumer AI demos that go viral. Works at Brex but builds consumer AI on the side. One of the best product taste people in AI.

19. Suhail Doshi (@suhail) — Playground AI. Consumer AI image generation. Also built Mixpanel — understands consumer analytics and retention deeply.

20. Fidji Simo (@fidjissimo) — OpenAI Applications CEO. Former Facebook VP and Instacart CEO. Now leading consumer AI products at OpenAI. The person most responsible for how ChatGPT feels as a consumer product. Angel investor in Extra.

The pattern across all 20:

They all build products where AI is invisible infrastructure, not the feature. Naveen Gavini literally said "I think people don't really need [AI personal assistants]. People just want some of these basic problems solved." Eugenia Kuyda built Wabi so that "people who have nothing to do with coding or the tech world" can create apps. The best consumer AI builders hide the AI and sell the outcome.

The ones to watch most closely right now: Eugenia Kuyda (Wabi is early but the social mechanics are right), Naveen Gavini (Extra just launched and the product is exceptional), and Mikey Shulman (Suno has cracked retention in a category everyone said was impossible).

[WCVB-TV Boston @WCVB]

Meet Tamerra Buckhanan. She's 82 years old and finished the 130th Boston Marathon to complete her Six Star Marathon.

[Ray Garraud @ray]

I Train the Engine, But I Respect the Chassis.
Latest Substack.

https://t.co/wOe84BTXhh

[Ihtesham Ali @ihtesham2005]

A MIT professor taught the same lecture every January for 40 years, and every single time it was standing room only.

I watched it at 2am and it completely rewired how I think about communication.

His name was Patrick Winston. The lecture is called "How to Speak."

His opening line hit like a truck: your success in life will be determined largely by your ability to speak, your ability to write, and the quality of your ideas in that order.

Not your GPA. Not your pedigree. Not your IQ. How you speak is what separates people who get heard from people who get ignored.

Here's the framework he drilled into MIT students for four decades.

He said never start with a joke. Start by telling people exactly what they're going to learn. Prime the pump before you pour anything in. He called it the "empowerment promise" give people a reason to stay in their seats within the first 60 seconds.

Then he broke down the 5S rule for making ideas stick: Symbol, Slogan, Surprise, Salient, and Story. Every idea worth remembering hits at least three of these.

The part that floored me was his "near miss" technique. Don't just show what's right show what almost looks right but isn't. That contrast is when the brain actually locks something in permanently.

His final rule before any big talk: end with a contribution, not a summary. Don't recap what you said. Tell people what you gave them that they didn't have before they walked in.

I've used this framework in pitches, interviews, and presentations ever since watching it, and the results are not subtle.

Patrick Winston passed away in 2019, but this lecture is still free on MIT OpenCourseWare. One hour, watched by millions, and it costs absolutely nothing.

The most important class MIT ever put on the internet isn't about code or math. It's about how to make people actually listen to you.

[Ray Garraud @ray]

@brian4dotcom “Plop, plop, fizz, fizz… oh what a relief it is!” 😄

[Clay Lowe @soulcruzer]

the fire is the intention.

nothing meaningful happens by accident. not growth, not clarity, not the life you want to be living.

you decide to burn. you gather the fuel. you strike the match.

success is just what people call the smoke.

[Heritage Matters🔱 @HeritageMatterz]

Polish 26 year old guitar master Marcin Patrzałek respond to those who have made public comments claiming that his music is fake.

He made this video in a tutorial form showing how he manages to play so extraordinarily well in response. And yes, it's all played on one guitar.

[The Shift Journal @TheShiftJournal]

I've never heard anyone explain how to manifest anything in your life like this before… 🤯

Listen

[Roblox @Roblox]

Today, we’re launching 4D generation, powered by our Cube Foundation Model. Creators can build experiences that let players create interactive 3D objects like cars, planes, and more. This is just the beginning, see what's next with AI-powered creation. 1/4 https://t.co/LutYLUbeXo

[Grace Gym🏋️‍♀️ @GraceGym_]

Don’t Fry Your Chicken – Simmer It in Orange Juice Instead, and Watch What Happens! 😋

[Blonde of War (JJ) @BlondeOfWar]

These look delicioso! Zero flour? 🥹🥰

I’m trying them as soon as I can get groceries. Snowmageddon is coming and all of Tennessee is sold out of food. 😂

[CITIUS MAG @CitiusMag]

Two-time Olympic bronze medalist Grant Fisher will make his half marathon debut (and first-ever pro road race) at the 2026 United Airlines NYC Half on March 15. 🗽

🗣️ “I love challenging myself and seeing what’s possible, so I’m thrilled to make my half marathon debut at the United Airlines NYC Half. New York has always been a special place for me, and after breaking records here on the track, I can’t wait to experience the city from a new perspective on the roads.”

Read more here: https://t.co/OpPAKsKnGv

Fisher is coming off a season where he:
🚀 Broke world indoor records for: 3000m (7:22.91) & 5000m (12:44.09)
🥈 at the 5000m and 10,000m at the 2025 U.S. Outdoor Championships
🎌 Finished 8th in both the 5000m and 10,000m at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo

📍Course note: The NYC Half is not record-eligible due to its point-to-point layout, but still attract top talent. Last year, 🇰🇪 Abel Kipchumba won in 59:09. 🇺🇸 Conner Mantz ran 59:15 – 2 seconds faster than he ran at the Houston Half Marathon to set the American record.

🎧 In November, Fisher said on The CITIUS MAG Podcast: “If I debut in the half soon, that’ll influence how aggressively I shift toward the roads. Careers don’t last forever—usually your body decides before you do. So I want to make the most of the years when I’m healthy and excited.”

🗓️ Full pro field to be announced in February.

[Ray Garraud @ray]

I signed up for the Tidewater Striders 2026 Distance Series #1 on Jan 10, 2026! https://t.co/wXZ8tGo3ao

[Grey @jgreyfriend]

In 1983, Steve Jobs predicted the next 50 years of technology.

His predictions:
• iPhone
• Internet
• Softwares
• App stores
• Artificial Intelligence

10 futuristic predictions from this talk that came true:

1. Every major revolution starts ugly

[ARRL @arrl]

Monday Morning Morse Message!

#hamradio #amateurradio #CW #Morsecode

[Camus @newstart_2024]

David Goggins dropped a masterpiece that will rattle your soul.

He doesn’t “work out.”
He doesn’t “train.”
He wakes up every single day and paints a brand-new Mona Lisa… with his own life.

“Every morning I’m creating a masterpiece—and the masterpiece is me.”

He only does 2 podcasts a year on purpose. No phone, no noise, no followers, no Google. Just brutal, honest time alone with his mind until the next stroke of genius reveals itself.

That’s why at 49 he’s lived 10 lifetimes while others live one job, one identity, one comfort zone. Race car drivers retire and get lost. Goggins? His canvas keeps expanding because he finally asked:
“Who the hell am I when nobody’s watching?”

The second he stopped copying Michael Jordan, stopped voting party lines, stopped scrolling for answers—everything flooded in. The ultras. The books. The impossible missions. All of it came from inside.

His message is simple and savage:
Stop outsourcing your destiny.
Sit in the dark with yourself long enough and your real list appears.
Then paint it—one unrelenting day at a time.

If you’ve been feeling stuck, numb, or like you’re living someone else’s script—this clip will hit you like a cold shower at 4am.

Watch it. Full volume. Then ask yourself the question he did:“Who are YOU… really?”