Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Welcome to Founder Fridays - a Notion founder series - where we sit down with builders who’ve been in the trenches to talk shop - product, design, and the real lessons no one puts on a slide deck.

Scott Shumaker, Co-founder & CEO of Persona AI, joins Shivani Sharma, Notion’s Head of Growth Engineering, to break down what it really takes to build AI that feels human – not robotic. Scott shares the new rules for designing trustworthy AI, building moats in a world where tech advantages don’t last, and keeping speed as your company scales.

To learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: https://ntn.so/founderfridays

Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:12 Leaving big tech
03:38 Games → AI: Designing Engagement
07:00 Trust & Authenticity in AI
08:50 What Stays Hard in AI
12:20 Scaling Teams the Right Way
15:09 Speed vs Quality
16:27 The Tool Stack
18:48 Advice Block