Description:
In this episode of The Builders Podcast, Matt Levenhagen sits down with Shaun Modi, product designer, founder, and builder whose career has taken him from NASA and MIT to Google, Airbnb, startup studios, government projects, and ultimately the founding of Capital AI.
From designing lunar habitats with astronauts to helping shape products at Google during the rise of social computing and contributing to Airbnb during its rapid growth, Shaun offers a firsthand look at some of the most influential technology movements of the past two decades. The conversation explores how great products emerge from understanding people, challenging assumptions, and relentlessly improving the customer experience.
The discussion eventually lands on Capital AI, where Shaun and his team are building the intelligence layer behind high-stakes enterprise workflows. From financial services to government agencies, they’re helping organizations move beyond scattered AI tools toward governed, repeatable systems that deliver reliable outcomes. For builders, founders, and product leaders, this episode is packed with lessons on innovation, execution, and seeing where technology is headed before everyone else.
Key Takeaways:
- Great builders learn to recognize transformational technology shifts before they become obvious.
- Customer experience is often the strongest competitive advantage a company can build.
- Working alongside exceptional people accelerates growth and sharpens your thinking.
- Successful companies stay close to customer problems and avoid building in isolation.
- Enterprise AI adoption requires governance, workflows, and repeatability, not just powerful models.
- The best opportunities often emerge at the intersection of technology, design, and real-world needs.
Shaun Modi
Shaun Modi is the founder and CEO of Capitol AI, a Y Combinator–backed company building the intelligence infrastructure that allows companies, publishers and governments to turn overwhelming amounts of data and information into clear, contextual stories that drive action.
A founding designer at Airbnb and one of Business Insider’s “Top 75 Designers in Technology,” Shaun has shipped 60+ products and holds 15 patents. His work spans the private and public sectors – contributing to projects at Google, NASA, the White House, and the U.S. Department of Defense – and centers on turning complex information into clear, actionable insight.
A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design with additional study at MIT Sloan, Shaun blends UX, emerging technologies, and strategy to help enterprises move faster with confidence.
THE MEAT OF IT!
- Design, Curiosity & Early Influences Growing up in a family of designers
- RISD, MIT, and industrial design
- The path to NASA
- Building for Space Exploration Designing lunar habitats and vehicles
- Human-centered design in extreme environments
- Lessons from NASA
- Recognizing Technology Shifts Early Multitouch and the mobile revolution
- Motorola and enterprise mobility
- Seeing where technology was heading
- Building Inside Google Working with Sergey Brin and Andy Hertzfeld
- Product design at scale
- Challenging assumptions and craftsmanship
- The Airbnb Years
- Designing trust and user experience
- Competing in a fast-moving market
- Building products people love
- Launching a Design Studio
- Working with startups and emerging technologies
- Product Hunt, Brex, transportation, and government projects
- Choosing meaningful work
- Founding Capital AI
- Lessons from government and defense projects
- The opportunity behind enterprise
- AI Building intelligence systems for high-stakes decisions
- Lessons for Builders
- Following curiosity
- Staying close to customers
- Building through major technology transitions
Check out these related Episodes:
- Episode 276: Bob Labbe – Building Solutions Through Curiosity, From Golf to Coasters
- Episode 272: Miguel Carranza – Building RevenueCat by Solving Subscriptions for App Developers
- Episode 264: Lee Rossey – Building Proving Grounds for AI Security: Trust, Testing, and Reality
