Laura Burkhauser is CEO at Descript, where she's building AI-powered video editing tools that are changing how creators work. She's previously led product at Twitter, Rent the Runway, and The Tote. She's recognized for launching Underlord, Descript's AI co-editor, and expanding what's possible in creator productivity.

Key takeaways:

Don't lead with fear, lead with excitement. Rather than being driven by FOMO and the "burning platform" of AI disruption, discover your "beach moment" - something that genuinely excites you about AI's potential. For Laura, it was successfully shipping an undo button to production using Cursor and Claude. Once you experience that superpower feeling, investing in learning becomes natural.

Start with simulate, then automate, then delegate. Avoid immediately purchasing AI tools or attempting to automate everything. Begin by simulating workflows manually to validate the concept (as Laura did with post-launch tasks). Then build or purchase automation once you've proven it works. Finally, delegate when the system is dependable enough to run with minimal oversight.

Context is the new currency for career advancement. Junior employees previously earned their way into key meetings by creating slides or taking notes - tasks AI now handles. Today's juniors must identify new ways to provide value that leverage their AI-native abilities, gaining access to the context that will make them strategic leaders.

AI won't replace creativity; it amplifies it. In creative workflows, AI isn't about delegation - it's about achieving things you never thought possible. Laura went from creating 30-second clips to producing 30-minute videos. The objective isn't to hand off creative work, but to give creators superpowers to execute their vision more quickly.

Get your whole team to vibe code something. Laura required everyone on her product team to set up Cursor and prototype something they'd wanted to build but couldn't justify resources for. Once designers could handle their own VQA and PMs could ship features independently, the team was fully bought in. The experience of power drives adoption.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Laura Burkhauser
02:00 Laura's path from fashion tech to Descript
05:00 The AI acceptance scale: from hostile to rewired
08:30 Laura's "flipping moment" with Cursor and Claude
12:00 Building AI buy-in across your team
15:00 Translating AI adoption into customer value
18:00 The two-by-two framework: what to do less vs more
22:00 Maintaining quality whilst doubling engineering output
24:00 Responsible AI and voice synthesis ethics
26:00 Advice for PMs starting their careers in the AI era
29:00 Context as the new currency for career growth
31:00 Demo: Automating post-launch workflows
35:00 Using Cursor to generate progress reports
38:00 Creating release notes and change logs with AI
41:00 Building launch kits automatically
45:00 Creating launch videos with Underlord
52:00 AI in creative work vs other workflows
56:00 How AI is changing relationships between PM, PMM, and design
57:00 Quick-fire questions and final thoughts

Referenced:

• Descript: https://www.descript.com

• Underlord: https://www.descript.com/underlord

• Cursor: https://www.cursor.com

• Claude: https://www.anthropic.com

• Whisper Flow: https://wisprflow.ai/

• Runway: https://runwayml.com

Recommended books:

• The Brothers Karamazov: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4934.The_Brothers_Karamazov

Where to find Laura Burkhauser:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/burkhauser/

• Descript:https://www.descript.com

Where to find Axel Sooriah:

• Newsletter: https://www.axel.pm