Confronting the CEO of the AI company that impersonated me
Today, I’m talking with Shishir Mehrotra, the CEO of Superhuman, the company formerly known as Grammarly, which is still its flagship product. Back in August, Grammarly shipped a feature called Expert Review, which allowed you to get writing suggestions from AI-cloned “experts,” and recently, reporters at The Verge and other outlets discovered that those experts included me, among many others.
No one ever asked permission to use our names this way, and a lot of reporters were outraged by this. To Shishir’s credit, he did not cancel our interview and he came on and stuck it out. This conversation got tense at times, and it’s clear we disagree about how extractive AI feels for people. There’s a lot in this one, and I’m excited to hear what you think.
Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.
Links:
Why I’m suing Grammarly | New York Times
Grammarly will stop using identities without permission | The Verge
Grammarly to keep using writer identities unless they opt out | The Verge
Grammarly turned me into an AI editor and I hate it | Platformer
Grammarly is using our identities without permission | The Verge
Grammarly is changing its name to Superhuman | The Verge
Grammarly wants to become an ‘AI productivity platform’ | The Verge
Viacom v. YouTube, 2007 | Electronic Frontier Foundation
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Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt. This episode was edited by Xander Adams. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
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Grammarly is now Superhuman! CEO Shishir Mehrotra explains the rebrand | E2201
Today’s show:
*Why rebrand an app with 40 million daily active users?
On TWiST, Grammarly CEO Shishir Mehrotra swings by to explain why he’s renaming his company after the mail app he just purchased, Superhuman.
Plus he’s giving us a first look at the startup’s new AI assistant, Superhuman Go, digging into their new agent-centered strategy, looking ahead at the potential for AI job displacement, and more.
Jason and Alex also talk about our new nuclear deal with Westinghouse and Japan, OpenAI’s conversion and what it means for Microsoft, 1x’s tele-operated Neo-bot for chores, and much more!
Timestamps:
(00:07:56) Jason is headed to Tokyo, and NOT just for skiing this time!
(10:00) Uber AI Solutions**:** Your trusted partner to get AI to work in the real world. Book a demo with them TODAY at Uber.com/twist
(00:12:21) Untangling this US government-Japan-Westinghouse deal for nuclear power… and why nuclear power is SO important
(20:00)DevStats translates complex engineering metrics into a shared language everyone at your company can understand. Get 20% off by going to https://www.DevStats.com/twist
(00:20:04) Why Jason says sabbaticals and 4 day work weeks are for established brands, not startups
(30:00) Perspective AI: Real insights, straight from your customers, and your first two months are on us. Just go to getperspective.ai/twist.
(00:33:01) Will income inequality become a concern, even for the wealthy? Jason says YES.
(00:37:29) Shishir Mehrotra from Gram— NO WAIT, Superhuman! joins us to talk name changes
(00:38:16) Using Grammarly as a model for the new AI assistant, Superhuman Go.
(01:08:39) Nvidia shot past $5 TRILLION in value… How is no one freaked out about this?!
(01:14:52) OpenAI executed their conversion… but Jason says “public benefit corporation” status is pretty meaningless
(01:25:02) Checking out the Neo robot from 1x… he wants to help you with chores and he’s for sale!
(01:32:09) Uber’s speeding up its self-driving plans
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Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland
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Shishir Mehrotra on Building Tools Creators Love
What if your tools shared context like your team does?
This week on Grit, Shishir Mehrotra shares how the Coda and Grammarly collaboration unlocks context as a “superpower,” reflects on his early days at Google and YouTube, and hints at a future where tools anticipate intent and amplify how we work.
He also shares how this paves the way for agent-based workflows and AI-native communication, beginning with Superhuman’s email experience.
Guest: Shishir Mehrotra, co-founder of Coda and CEO of Grammarly
Connect with Shishir
X
LinkedIn
Chapters:
00:00 Trailer
01:24 Introduction
02:09 Zoo vs safari
12:02 A TV ahead of its time
21:25 Product decisions
31:25 The data behind the algorithm
37:26 The AI native productivity suite
48:06 Agents are digital humans
57:55 Pressure trade-off
1:12:50 Insulated from judgment
1:25:19 Who Grammarly is hiring
1:25:51 What “grit” means to Shishir
1:29:30 Outro
Mentioned in this episode:
YouTube, Ray William Johnson, Spotify, Twitch, MTV, Chris Cox, Facebook, TikTok, Google TV, Centrata, Google Chrome, Android, Gmail, Microsoft, Super Bowl, Mosaic, Panasonic, Sony, Susan Wojcicki, Rishi Chandra, Apple TV, Amazon Firestick, Comcast, LoudCloud (Opsware), Quest Communications, AT&T Southwestern Bell, Salar Kamangar, Patrick Pichette, Eric Schmidt, OpenAI ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta Platforms, Sundar Pichai, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Hamilton, Reid Hoffman, Sam Altman, Tesla, Waymo, Airtable, Notion, Max Lytvyn, Alex Shevchenko, Superhuman, Duolingo, Luis von Ahn, Khan Academy, MrBeast, Facebook Messenger, Snap (Snapchat), WhatsApp, Google+, Meta LLaMa, Satya Nadella, Tim Cook, Daniel Gross
Connect with Joubin
X
LinkedIn
Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com
Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
The Grammarly–Superhuman Megadeal, plus TWiST 500 chats with LabelBox and Apptronik’s founders | E2146
Today’s show:
Grammarly is acquiring the beloved email app Superhuman! In today’s extremely timely episode, @alex sits down with Grammarly CEO Shishir Mehrotra and Superhuman founder Rahul Vohra to unpack why they’re merging, how they plan to combine apps and AI agents, and what it means for the future of email and work. PLUS they reveal how Grammarly’s 40M+ daily users already rely on email—and why this deal is the key to building the ultimate communication assistant. Don’t miss this deep dive into one of the most exciting AI acquisitions yet!
#AI #Startups #Productivity #Grammarly #Superhuman #VentureCapital #MergersAndAcquisitions
Timestamps:
(0:00) Introduction to the future of robotics and AI regulation(1:11) Introduction of hosts and overview of today's topics(4:19) Cloudflare's new pay per crawl product
(09:37) Northwest Registered Agent. Form your entire business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. Get more privacy, more options, and more done—visit northwestregisteredagent.com/twist today!(10:41) Polymarket segment on Apple's acquisition prospects(14:29) Grammarly and Superhuman CEOs interviews
(19:42) Retool - Visit https://www.retool.com/twist and try it out today.(24:09) AI in productivity tools and email agents discussion(29:23) AWS Activate - AWS Activate helps startups bring their ideas to life. Apply to AWS Activate today to learn more. Visit aws.amazon.com/startups/credits(30:46) Grammarly's AI platform and the acquisition of Superhuman(41:16) Introduction of Manu Sharma from Labelbox(41:47) The role of data labeling in AI and Labelbox's data factory(53:44) Labelbox's market position and capital efficiency post-ChatGPT(1:03:00) Advances in humanoid robotics with Jeff Cardenas from Apptronik(1:07:09) Market readiness and capabilities of Apollo 2 robots(1:13:27) Humanoid robotics: Google DeepMind partnership and international competition(1:20:54) US federal support for R&D in robotics(1:22:10) The evolution of humanoid robotics and Apptronik's growth in Austin
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Thank you to our partners:
(09:37) Northwest Registered Agent. Form your entire business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. Get more privacy, more options, and more done—visit northwestregisteredagent.com/twist today!
(19:42) Retool - Visit https://www.retool.com/twist and try it out today.
(29:23) AWS Activate - AWS Activate helps startups bring their ideas to life. Apply to AWS Activate today to learn more. Visit aws.amazon.com/startups/credits
Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland
Check out Jason’s suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis
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The rituals of great teams | Shishir Mehrotra of Coda, YouTube, Microsoft
Shishir Mehrotra is the co-founder and CEO of Coda, and formerly head of product and engineering at YouTube. In this episode, he shares his insights on growth strategy, how he evaluates talent, a peek at his upcoming book The Rituals of Great Teams, why reference checks are the most important step in the interview process, and so much more. Join us.
—
Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/the-rituals-of-great-teams-shishir-mehrotra-coda-youtube-microsoft/#transcript
—
Where to find Shishir Mehrotra:
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/shishirmehrotra
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shishirmehrotra/
—
Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
—
Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:
• Coda: http://coda.io/lenny
• Flatfile: https://www.flatfile.com/lenny
• Eppo: https://www.geteppo.com/— Referenced:
• The Rituals of Great Teams Braintrust: https://coda.io/@shishir/join-the-rituals-of-great-teams-braintrust
• Bing Gordon: https://www.kleinerperkins.com/people/bing-gordon/
• Switch by Chip Heath and Dan Heath: https://www.amazon.com/Switch-Change-Things-When-Hard/dp/0385528752
• PSHE diagram: https://coda.io/@shishir/pshe
• Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud: https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Comics-Invisible-Scott-McCloud/dp/1627652736
• Only Murders in the Building: https://www.hulu.com/series/only-murders-in-the-building-ef31c7e1-cd0f-4e07-848d-1cbfedb50ddf
• WandaVision: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WandaVision
• Fidji Simo: https://twitter.com/fidjissimo
• Daniel Ek: https://twitter.com/eldsjal/
• Reid Hoffman: https://twitter.com/reidhoffman?
• Mamoon Hamid: https://twitter.com/mamoonha
• Quentin Clark: https://twitter.com/quentinclark
• Sarah Guo: https://twitter.com/saranormous
—In this episode, we cover:[4:13] Shishir’s background at Google and current role at Coda[7:53] How Shishir got on the board of Spotify[8:58] Black loops and blue loops and how Coda uses this internal diagram [9:52] The black loop is how a product is naturally shared[12:15] The blue loop is the emotional loop on why products are shared[14:55] Why you should think in loops instead of funnels[18:20] Mining for your business’s loops by looking at what you tell job candidates[24:37] Shishir’s upcoming book The Rituals of Great Teams [26:30] The 3 golden rituals of teams[27:10] Coda’s golden ritual: Dory and Pulse[31:29] Shishir’s most impactful rituals: Arianna Huffington’s reset, Gusto’s incredible hiring call, and Coinbase’s Rapids[40:38] How you find your own team’s rituals[42:50] How to change things when change is hard[45:01] Airbnb’s unique rituals[46:45] A backstory on YouTube, and valuing consistency over comprehensiveness[53:00] Eigenquestions: What they are, how to use them, and examples[59:05] One of Shishir’s favorite retired interview questions [1:03:11] How to evaluate talent, a story about YouTube, and breaking down PSHE[1:15:20] How to approach reference checks and what questions to ask[1:24:33] Favorite books[1:25:50] Favorite TV shows and movies[1:26:50] Favorite interview questions[1:28:44] Who in the industry Shishir respects as a thought leader[1:30:10] His go-to karaoke song[1:30:40] Where you can find Shishir— Production and marketing: https://penname.co/
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe
SaaStr 497: Founder Confidential, The Highs, and Lows of Fundraising From Founders That Raised $1B with Coda, Expensify, LaunchDarkly, Boast.Ai and SaaStr
Featuring 3 prominent Founders - from Calendly, Coda and LaunchDarkly - that have achieved scale, at "Founder Confidential" you will hear about the highs and lows of fundraising, working with a VC board, and real talk about what it really is like to be a true Founder.
Moderator: Lloyed Lobo, Co-Founder, Boast.AI
Panelists: Shishir Mehrotra, Cofounder and CEO, Coda Edith Harbaugh, Cofounder and CEO, LaunchDarkly David Barrett, Founder and CEO, Expensify Jason Lemkin, Founder and CEO, SaaStr
Blog post and video: https://www.saastr.com/founder-confidential-saas-fundraising-expensify-launchdarkly-coda-boast-saastr/
Sponsors:
https://www.invoca.com/
https://stripe.com/
https://www.ontheclock.com/
Build a better board, w/Mellody Hobson, Lisa Shalett, & Shishir Mehrotra
Your board of directors can make or break you. In fact, Reid believes, the wrong board member can break your company faster than the right board member can make it. Learn the five vital mindset shifts that can help you create a better board, with insights from Mellody Hobson, the co-CEO of Ariel Investments and the chair of the Starbucks board, along with Lisa Shalett, co-founder of Extraordinary Women on Boards, and Shishir Mehrotra, founder and CEO of Coda (Reid's on their board). These universal lessons don’t only speak to founders assembling their very first board, or board directors looking for best practices – they also offer important advice for team-building across the board.
Read a transcript of this episode: https://mastersofscale.com
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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Coda CEO Shishir Mehrotra on the productivity renaissance, enabling the maker generation, insights from early years of YouTube & more | E1160
Check out Coda: https://coda.io
FOLLOW Shishir: https://twitter.com/shishirmehrotra
FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis
20VC: The 4 Phases of Effective Decision-Making, The No 1 Quality of Good Decisions, How To Approach Effective OKR Setting, & How To Optimise and Improve Your Operating Cadence with Shishir Mehrotra, Founder & CEO @ Coda
Shishir Mehrotra is the Founder & CEO @ Coda, the startup that brings all of your words and data into a flexible all-in-one doc. To date, Shishir has raised over $140M from some great names including Greylock, Kleiner Perkins, General Catalyst, NEA and Homebrew to name a few. Prior to founding Coda, Shishir spent an incredible 6 years at Google in a couple of different roles; first as Director of Product for Youtube Monetisation and then moving to Youtube VP of Engineering, Product and UX. Before Google, Shishir was with Microsoft for 6 years as a Director of Program Management. Shishir also serves on the board of Spotify.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Shishir made his way into the world of tech, came to be VP of Engineering, Product and UX @ Youtube and how it led to founding Coda?
2.) What is the No 1 quality of a good decision? How does Shishir think through reversible vs irreversible decisions? What are the 4 phases of decision-making? When should decisions be based on speed vs not? How can teams adjust questions to come to more productive outcomes?
3.) How does Shishir encourage debate and dissent within team discussions? How can leaders build deep trust with their teams? How can leaders create true democracy for idea sharing and meritocracy? Should ideas always be acted on immediately? What are the pros and cons?
4.) How does Shishir think about and evaluate his own operating cadence? How has this changed over time? How does Shishir approach time allocation? What have been his core learnings? How does Shishir divide his time between proactive and reactive tasks?
5.) How does Shishir approach OKR setting? What can leaders do to create aspirational and inspirational goals? How should goals be correctly communicated across orgs? How many OKRs should one team/person have? How should attribution across OKRs be given?
Items Mentioned In Today's Show:
Shishir's Fave Book: Switch: How to change things when change is hard
As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!
Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
Why your company needs new rituals w/Shishir Mehrotra (YouTube, Coda)
You need more than a good product to scale – you need strong rituals. All companies have rituals, from holding all-hands meetings to measuring KPIs. The right rituals in the right places help build your culture, cohere your team, and home in on your targets. The wrong ones can lead you horribly astray. Shishir Mehrotra, former head of YouTube and co-founder of Coda, learned this when he scaled YouTube to a billion hours of watch time each day. He kept the team focused on that audacious goal by establishing fresh new rituals. And in his new role as CEO and founder of Coda, he's learned to constantly ask: What old rituals are holding us back? And what new rituals can we create together that will be inclusive, empowering — and keep us all moving forward? Cameo appearances: George Kembel (Stanford's d.School), Tobi Lütke (Shopify), and Dr. Akhila Cadet (Change Cadet).
Read more about the rituals at Coda — and add your own here: https://coda.io/@shishir/masters-of-scale-rituals
Read a transcript of this episode at https://mastersofscale.com
Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter at https://mastersofscale.com/subscribe
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Shishir Mehrotra – The Art and Science of the Bundle - [Invest Like the Best, EP.175]
My guest today is Shishir Mehrotra and the topic of our conversation is the bundle: offering access to multiple products, services, or providers for a single bundled price. This topic is full of incorrect pre-conceived notions, and as it turns out, the bundle is one of the most powerful ideas in business. Properly harnessed it is good for everyone involved. Shishir explains the ins and outs of bundles in this conversation.
Shishir ran product at YouTube for years and sits on the Spotify board of directors. He founded and now leads Coda (which is “A Doc” spelled backwards) in 2014, to bundle together productivity apps like docs, spreadsheets, databases, and applications. I love this wonky, detailed conversation which has me thinking differently about many businesses and business strategy. Please enjoy.
This episode is brought to by Koyfin.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag
Show Notes
(2:08) – (First question) – The arc of his career
(3:32) – Why he has an interest in bundling
(7:45) – The concepts of superfan, casualfan, and nonfan businesses
(11:05) – Using Spotify as an example of bundles
(13:24) – The first myth of bundling: Bundling is bad for consumers
(17:53) – The second myth of bundling: 1st vs 3rd party providers and the bundlers
(23:03) – Low usage but high Marginal Churn Contribution (MCC) business
(24:26) – How insurance fits into these models
(26:37) – Myth 3 of bundling: How this impacts consumers
(32:12) – How marginal costs play into the thinking of bundling
(34:54) – Myth 4: Bundling things that have nothing to do with each other
(39:51) – How bundling companies can apply this into their product development
(43:21) – Strategic advice to companies building bundles
(49:01) – How price and pricing power play into advantages for certain bundlers
(54:16) – How does bundling play into his investing thesis
(56:47) – Most interesting bundles he’s observed
(58:44) – Eigenquestions: The Art of Framing Problems
(59:14) – What the future of this trend is
(1:02:24) – What is an eigenquestion
(1:06:29) – Kindest thing anyone has done for him
Learn More
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag
a16z Podcast: How Founders Hire a VP of Product
Hiring a VP of Product -- especially as the founder of the company -- can almost feel like handing over your baby to someone else to hold, observes a16z executive talent team partner Caroline Horn, who hosted an event on this topic earlier this year (which this podcast is based on). Featuring Vijay Balasubramaniyan, founder/CEO of Pindrop; Shishir Mehrotra, founder and CEO of Coda; Gokul Rajaram, Production Engineering Lead at Square; and Alan Schaaf, founder/CEO of Imgur -- and moderated by general partner Martin Casado -- the discussion covers everything from what the VP of Product role really is to how to hire and integrate it into your company.
Because if you're going to be handing your "baby" over... how can you avoid common pitfalls? And know that you pick the right person for the job?
Stay Updated:
Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
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