I built a custom Slack inbox. It was easier than you’d think. | Yash Tekriwal (Clay) · How I AI summary

Key takeaways

Effective categorization of notifications can reduce anxiety and improve productivity.
AI tools like Perplexity Computer and OpenClaw can be used together to build tailored productivity solutions.
An 'anti-to-do list' can focus on automating tasks that drain time and energy.
The future of software may trend towards micro-solutions that fill specific user needs.
Using AI prototypes for team projects can enhance collaboration and streamline workflows.

Summary

Introduction to Yash Tuckeral and His Work with AI

In this episode, host Claire Vo welcomes Yash Tuckeral, the head of education at Clay, who identifies as a hyper optimizer. The discussion centers around Yash's experience using AI tools like Perplexity Computer and OpenClaw to streamline his overwhelming daily workflow, particularly how he manages over 150 Slack notifications each day. Yash shares insights about his journey towards developing customized productivity solutions.

Managing Overwhelming Notifications via AI

Yash discusses the anxiety of waking up to 100-150 Slack notifications, most of which fall into the FYI category. He shares his method for categorizing these notifications into actionable priorities, including DMs, group messages, and threads. By utilizing tools like Proplexity Computer, Yash highlights how he created a system that prioritizes the important notifications while organizing the rest.

Building Custom Productivity Apps with AI

The conversation delves into Yash’s development of a Slack digest system using OpenClaw, which categorizes notifications, and Perplexity Computer for creating personalized UIs. He explains the benefits of these platforms and why he believes Perplexity Computer surpasses others like Claude Code and Codex in terms of flexibility and efficiency when building productivity apps.

The Anti-To-Do List Framework

Yash introduces the 'anti-to-do list' concept, a practice that encourages dedicating time to automate tasks one never wants to do again. He advocates for proactively creating systems to automate repetitive tasks, improving overall efficiency and reducing stress.

Micro-Software and the Future of SaaS

The podcast explores the debate on the relevance of SaaS, with Yash arguing against the narrative that SaaS is dead. Instead, he expects an explosion of micro-software solutions to emerge, catering to niche needs that traditional software has overlooked. This accessibility empowers individuals to build customized solutions to optimize their workflows.

Team Collaboration and AI Prototyping

Yash discusses how his team at Clay leverages Perplexity Computer for prototyping design systems and improving communication across functional teams. This approach provides a visual bridge, facilitating understanding among designers and stakeholders, thereby enhancing collaborative efforts.

Show notes

Yash Tekriwal is the head of education at Clay. A self-described hyper-optimizer, Yash has built multiple custom productivity applications using Perplexity Computer and OpenClaw to manage his overwhelming daily workflow—including a Slack digest system that categorizes over 150 daily notifications into actionable priorities, and a consolidated news/email/Slack dashboard that serves as his personal command center.

What you’ll learn:

How Yash built a custom Slack digest that categorizes 150+ daily notifications into action-required, need-to-read, and FYI buckets
Why Perplexity Computer beats Claude Code and Codex for building personal productivity apps
His “anti-to-do list” framework: spending an hour daily automating tasks you never want to do again
How to use AI for deterministic tasks (APIs, structured data) vs. subjective tasks (categorization, summarization)
Why the SaaS apocalypse narrative is wrong—and why we’re about to see an explosion of micro-software
How his team uses Perplexity Computer to prototype design systems and communicate with cross-functional partners

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Introduction to Yash

(02:38) The burden of 150 daily Slack notifications

(05:45) When to use AI for tasks vs. building deterministic code

(06:38) Building the Slack digest with OpenClaw

(11:33) Introducing Perplexity Computer and the visual dashboard

(14:28) Three reasons Perplexity Computer beats Claude Code