At first, prompting seemed to be a temporary workaround for getting the most out of large language models. But over time, it's become critical to the way we interact with AI. On the @LightconePod, Garry, Harj, Diana, and Jared break down what they've learned from working with hundreds of founders building with LLMs: why prompting still matters, where it breaks down, and how teams are making it more reliable in production. They share real examples of prompts that failed, how companies are testing for quality, and what the best teams are doing to make LLM outputs useful and predictable. 0:58 - Parahelp’s prompt example 4:59 - Different types of prompts 6:51 - Metaprompting 7:58 - Using examples 12:10 - Some tricks for longer prompts 14:18 - Findings on evals 17:25 - Every founder has become a forward-deployed engineer (FDE) 23:18 - Vertical AI agents are closing big deals with the FDE model 26:13 - The personalities of the different LLMs 27:26 - Lessons from rubrics 29:47 - Kaizen and the art of communication

@ycombinator @LightconePod 🚀 NeuralOps is building an AI-powered InfraOps copilot — automating DevOps workflows for lean teams. From infra to CI/CD, we cut weeks of setup to hours. Currently building our MVP — would love to get on @ycombinator's radar!