Erik B🚮rtlett

building @listenlabs

@cal runs fueled by baked goods and a desire for wine

[Erik B🚮rtlett @barkledad]

Interviewer: How would you describe yourself?

Me:

[Listen Labs @ListenLabs]

https://t.co/EOLgZxyQIU

[Erik B🚮rtlett @barkledad]

some call my work "gpt wraping", I like to think of myself as an "llm chef"

[Alfred Wahlforss @itsalfredw]

In user interviews, a frown is great feedback.

But it never makes it into the transcript.

That's why we built Emotional Intelligence.

[Erik B🚮rtlett @barkledad]

x for y is back like it's 2015 - seriously though it's been awesome to see the team build this, and how powerful it is for our users

[Alfred Wahlforss @itsalfredw]

Introducing Claude Code for research.

Listen’s Research Agent lets you analyze data, quantify insights, and generate research deliverables all in Listen, much like how developers use Claude Code.

[Ribbit Capital @RibbitCapital]

1/ Since the start of Ribbit, we’ve always asked entrepreneurs one question: Who is your customer?

[Erik B🚮rtlett @barkledad]

there he is, always talking about how easy my job as an engineer should be 😂

[Alfred Wahlforss @itsalfredw]

Today, Listen crossed $100M in funding.

Building is easy now. Knowing what to build isn't.

Our AI finds and talks to your users so you don't have to guess.

See how Sweetgreen, Microsoft, and Replit use it:

[Kevin Clark @bykevinclark]

You gotta feel for USC. What were they supposed to do? Find a group of 11 more teams in or near the pacific time zone and play them every week? Get serious.

[Erik B🚮rtlett @barkledad]

seeing a blackout in spain/portugal and hoping @luz has his mentions silenced

[Mike Vernal @mvernal]

1/ We (@conviction) are excited to double-down on @itsalfredw, @florian_jue and the team at @ListenLabs.

https://t.co/OIUfdmBi20

[Mike Vernal @mvernal]

11/ Alfred + Florian were part of the very first Embed batch and we’ve gotten to know them over the past couple of years. They are smart, intense and have built a really great, amazingly designed product. The customer list is amazing for an early-stage startup – Google, Microsoft, Anthropic, Canva. We are excited to double down on them.

[Erik B🚮rtlett @barkledad]

@gabriel1 idk looks like a gpt wrapper to me

[Lior Alexander @LiorOnAI]

Very impressive. You can now use agents to do market research.

Listen just raised $27M from Sequoia to replace surveys and focus groups with thousands of AI interviews.

▸ Interviews, analysis, insights in under 24h
▸ Auto-generates reports, themes, highlight reels
▸ Handles video, audio, and text in 50+ languages

[Alfred Wahlforss @itsalfredw]

AI writes your code. Now it talks to your users.

We raised $27M from @Sequoia to build @ListenLabs.

Listen runs thousands of interviews to uncover what users want, why they churn, and what makes them convert.

See how @Microsoft and @canva use it:

[Erik B🚮rtlett @barkledad]

our team (specifically tobias 🐐) built a pretty awesome/powerful tool for our users. I think it's a great representation of specificity in LLM application already being incredibly powerful and useful

[Listen Labs @ListenLabs]

Listen now outputs findings directly in PowerPoint. Here is how we built it:

- .pptx is just a zip of XML and media files that reference each other. This can get complex, in fact, PowerPoint shapes and animations are already Turing-complete.

- Microsoft has a 5,000-page XML specification, but it does not include features like changing link colors or rounded corners for images.

- Existing python/npm libraries can’t even copy slides, and even Powerpoint Online has a surprisingly restricted feature set.

So we had to reverse engineer PowerPoint output ourselves. More details in our technical blog post (link in comments).

[Listen Labs @ListenLabs]

Listen now outputs findings directly in PowerPoint. Here is how we built it:

- .pptx is just a zip of XML and media files that reference each other. This can get complex, in fact, PowerPoint shapes and animations are already Turing-complete.

- Microsoft has a 5,000-page XML specification, but it does not include features like changing link colors or rounded corners for images.

- Existing python/npm libraries can’t even copy slides, and even Powerpoint Online has a surprisingly restricted feature set.

So we had to reverse engineer PowerPoint output ourselves. More details in our technical blog post (link in comments).

[Erik B🚮rtlett @barkledad]

@itsalfredw I will never say no to more attachments for my stand mixer haha

[Erik B🚮rtlett @barkledad]

@livefromisaac tough one, didn’t age well. 10/10

[Awful Announcing @awfulannouncing]

"Back-to-back weeks Miami is in a situation where it comes down to replay and you question if the officials are getting the calls correct. I do not know by the definition of the rulebook, how that is not targeting."

- Brock Osweiler

[Chris Vannini @ChrisVannini]

Very much an illegal man downfield on that Miami TD.

[Erik B🚮rtlett @barkledad]

16.667% of the way to a dozen

[Alfred Wahlforss @itsalfredw]

Erik Guander (2nd Erik) has joined our team as Chief of Staff / Operations!

He's a Harvard student and track star with 5 national gold medals who would've qualified for the Olympics if he continued racing.

Erik has brought this speed to Listen Labs, blazing through strategic work like fundraising and pricing, but he isn't afraid to get his hands dirty with mundane tasks like security questionnaires.

Thanks to Erik, we now have the Listen Labs running club too!

P.S. We’re hiring engineers and a product designer. Please tag anyone relevant.