From ChatGPT to Instagram to Uber: The quiet architect behind the world’s most popular products | Peter Deng

Peter Deng has led product teams at OpenAI, Instagram, Uber, Facebook, Airtable, and Oculus and helped build products used by billions—including Facebook’s News Feed, the standalone Messenger app, Instagram filters, Uber Reserve, ChatGPT, and more. Currently he’s investing in early-stage founders at Felicis. In this episode, Peter dives into his most valuable lessons from building and scaling some of tech’s most iconic products and companies.

What you’ll learn:

1. Peter’s one‑sentence test for hiring superstars

2. Why your product (probably) doesn’t matter

3. Why you don’t need a tech breakthrough to build a huge business

4. The five PM archetypes, and how to build a team of Avengers

5. Counterintuitive lessons on growing products from 0 to 1, and 1 to 100

6. The importance of data flywheels and workflows

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Brought to you by:

Paragon—Ship every SaaS integration your customers want

Pragmatic Institute—Industry‑recognized product, marketing, and AI training and certifications

Contentsquare—Create better digital experiences

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Where to find Peter Deng:

• X: https://x.com/pxd

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

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Introduction to Peter Deng

(05:41) AI and AGI insights

(11:35) The future of education with AI

(16:53) The power of language in leadership

(21:01) Building iconic products

(36:44) Scaling from zero to 100

(41:56) Balancing short- and long-term goals

(47:12) Creating a healthy tension in teams

(50:02) The five archetypes of product managers

(55:39) Primary and secondary archetypes

(58:47) Hiring for growth mindset and autonomy

(01:15:52) Effective management and communication strategies

(01:19:23) Presentation advice and self-advocacy

(01:25:50) Balancing craft and practicality in product management

(01:30:40) The importance of empathy in design thinking

(01:35:45) Career decisions and learning opportunities

(01:42:05) Lessons from product failures

(01:45:42) Lightning round and final thoughts

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Referenced:

• OpenAI: https://openai.com/

• Artificial general intelligence (AGI): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_general_intelligence

• Head of ChatGPT answers philosophical questions about AI at SXSW 2024 with SignalFire’s Josh Constine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgbgI0R6XCw

• Professors Are Using A.I., Too. Now What?: https://www.npr.org/2025/05/21/1252663599/kashmir-hill-ai#:~:text=Now%20What

• Herbert H. Clark: https://web.stanford.edu/~clark/

• Russian speakers get the blues: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11759-russian-speakers-get-the-blues/

• Ilya Sutskever (OpenAI Chief Scientist)—Building AGI, Alignment, Future Models, Spies, Microsoft, Taiwan, & Enlightenment: https://www.dwarkesh.com/p/ilya-sutskever

• Anthropic’s CPO on what comes next | Mike Krieger (co-founder of Instagram): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/anthropics-cpo-heres-what-comes-next

• Kevin Systrom on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinsystrom/

• Building a magical AI code editor used by over 1 million developers in four months: The untold story of Windsurf | Varun Mohan (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-untold-story-of-windsurf-varun-mohan

• Microsoft CPO: If you aren’t prototyping with AI, you’re doing it wrong | Aparna Chennapragada: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/m