First of Kind

What can flying teach us about software design?

Katie Dill has built world-class teams at three iconic companies—Stripe, Lyft and Airbnb—proving that thoughtful design can shape quality at industrial scale.

In this conversation with Soleio, Katie describes her winding path into technology and how fields as disparate as architecture and aviation shape her approach to leading design at Stripe.

00:00 – Intro: It's All About Mileage
02:18 – What Flying Teaches You About Design
07:01 – From History to Design School
10:30 – The IDEO Moment
18:01 – Saying Yes to the Scary Thing
19:46 – The Chair Pullback
21:16 – The Gray Room at Airbnb
25:47 – Breaking Down the Ivory Tower
30:05 – Put In the Mileage
33:35 – Beauty Builds Trust
36:53 – Steam Gauges and Simple Systems
38:53 – The Best Checkout in the World

Katie Dill: Quality Control
First of Kind, S2:E3
Hosted by Soleio and produced by Room 3: room3nyc.com

First of Kind is powered by our sponsors:
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Cursor — cursor.com
Vercel — vercel.com
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Website: www.firstofkind.com
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What is the future of design in a post-AI world?
Ryo Lu pioneered new patterns for collaboration as founding designer at Notion. He now leads design at Cursor, shaping how software gets built through a fusion of design and engineering. 
In this conversation with Soleio, he explains Cursor's approach to design and how the product will evolve to empower designers who build.
00:00 – Intro: The future of design
01:49 – What is design at Cursor?
02:50 – How the team actually works
04:46 – Generalists, Self-Starters, Ex-Founders
07:34 – Building Cursor inside Cursor
10:45 – The next level: Agents & Abstraction
13:48 – Pattern language
18:24 – A lingua franca for builders
20:34 – Baby Cursor
23:45 – The new shape of designer
26:10 – Does AI distribute or concentrate power?
29:43 – Why Cursor is the tool you should learn
30:54 – A new design philosophy
32:36 – Where the path leads
S2:E2 Ryo Lu: The Way
Hosted by Soleio and produced by Room 3 (www.room3nyc.com)
First of Kind is powered by our sponsors:
Framer: framer.com
Cursor: cursor.com
Vercel: vercel.com
Profound: tryprofound.com
Website: www.firstofkind.com
Threads: threads.com/firstofkind_
Instagram: instagram.com/firstofkind_
X: x.com/firstofkind_
Hashtag: #FirstofKind

Why did Joe Gebbia go to Washington? I spoke with America’s first-ever Chief Design Officer last fall to find out. We met on the White House grounds to discuss his newly created role, the formation of @ndstudio, and how Joe plans to weave design into the frabic of U.S. federal government.
00:00 - Intro / Eisenhower Exec Office Bldg
01:34 - From Airbnb to Washington
04:39 - The Federal Retirement Problem
06:31 - The Mine in the Mountain
08:29 - Do Things That Don’t Scale
11:35 - The Julie Prototype
14:20 - Down to 60 Seconds
16:33 - Consumer-Grade Government
18:31 - Nixon’s Federal Beautification
20:22 - The National Design Studio
24:24 - Trust Through Design
27:43 - Building the Dream Team
31:22 - The Silicon Valley Coalition
35:33 - A Golden Age of Design
Special thanks to Joe Gebbia and his team for making this conversation possible.
S2:E1 Joe Gebbia, Designer-in-Chief
Hosted by Soleio: x.com/soleio
Produced by Room 3: room3nyc.com
First of Kind is powered by our sponsors:
Framer: framer.com
Cursor: cursor.com
Vercel: vercel.com
Profound: tryprofound.com
Website: www.firstofkind.com
Threads: threads.com/firstofkind_
Instagram: instagram.com/firstofkind_
X: x.com/firstofkind_
Hashtag: #FirstofKind

Explore our Conversational Show Notes, brought to you by Granola.ai — https://notes.granola.ai/f/ee3b12a6-82bb-4662-940a-d4270871994a 
Thank you to our partners!
Cursor — https://cursor.com
Framer — https://framer.com
Granola — https://granola.ai
Linear — https://linear.app
Perplexity — https://perplexity.com

Explore our Conversational Show Notes, brought to you by Granola.ai — https://notes.granola.ai/f/ee3b12a6-82bb-4662-940a-d4270871994a 
Thank you to our partners!
Cursor — https://cursor.com
Framer — https://framer.com
Granola — https://granola.ai
Linear — https://linear.app
Perplexity — https://perplexity.com