
John Milinovich
Serial entrepreneur and GenAI product leader in design and creativity
johnm
San Francisco Bay Area, California
Joined August 2024
Network
9.5K connectionsCORKAS
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Summary
John Milinovich is a technology executive and serial entrepreneur with a strong focus on Generative AI and its application in design and creative fields. He currently leads GenAI Product at Canva, where he is instrumental in developing AI-powered design tools like Magic Studio, which was recognized by Time's Best Inventions of 2024. His work at Canva is centered around expanding creative possibilities by integrating AI into design workflows and exploring human-AI co-creation. jmilinovich+1
Milinovich has a deep interest in AI agent systems and their practical implementation. His GitHub repositories demonstrate this, including 'prompts' for LLM prompt engineering, 'claude-code-debate' for structured AI-driven discussions, 'agents.json' for standardizing AI agent interaction with websites, and 'stylegen' for generating high-quality prompts for Stable Diffusion XL. These projects showcase his hands-on approach to developing and understanding advanced AI capabilities. github+4
As a two-time Y Combinator founder (URX and Aesthetic), John possesses extensive entrepreneurial experience. He co-founded URX, a mobile search startup acquired by Pinterest, and Aesthetic, a creative automation software company. His entrepreneurial journey has equipped him with valuable lessons in product-market fit, startup scaling, and internal communication, which he actively shares through his writings and insights. jmilinovich+3
Milinovich's career path reflects a continuous pursuit of innovation at the intersection of technology and creativity. Starting with Architectural Studies at UCLA, which ignited his interest in algorithmic and human co-creation, he transitioned through roles at Google and Yahoo. His product leadership roles at Pinterest and Clubhouse, focusing on discovery, monetization, and taste graphs, further honed his ability to build and scale products for millions of users. jmilinovich+1
John is a prolific writer on his personal website, sharing insights on various topics including managing agentic workforces, product strategy for GenAI native apps, multimodal AI, and the future of generative interfaces. His articles reflect his forward-thinking perspective on the evolving landscape of AI and its impact on product development and entrepreneurship. jmilinovich
Work
Education
Projects
Writing
Managing in the Age of Agentic Workforces
July 1, 2025Just do things
April 1, 2025Creative compression
March 1, 2025“Why did people need to remember things?”
February 1, 2025Glass minds
January 1, 2025The great acceleration
January 1, 2025Simulating reality
December 1, 20242025: the year of voice AI
December 1, 2024The AI feature trap
November 1, 2024The art of bending
October 1, 2024Thoughts to docs
September 1, 2024Product sense
September 1, 2024The real AI goldrush
September 1, 2024The courage to remove
July 1, 2024The future of generative interfaces
July 1, 2024The speciation of LLM products
July 1, 2024The AI-enabled entrepreneur
April 1, 2024Organizational OODA Loops
February 1, 20242024: the year of multimodal AI
December 1, 2023Dangerously good product managers
March 1, 20232023: the year of natural language interfaces
January 1, 2023On Chain Conglomerates
July 1, 2022The crypto mullet: web2 in front, web3 in back
June 1, 20222022: web3 predictions
January 1, 2022The courage to course correct
January 1, 2021Pinterest for marketing
December 1, 2020Web in chains
November 1, 2020Content alchemy
May 1, 2020A founder’s guide to design
January 1, 2020URX retro: business model-vision fit
May 1, 2017How to ace your YC interview
April 1, 2016Small is fast
May 1, 2015URX’s YC story
October 1, 20131 year, 11 months at Google University
January 1, 2013Hobbies
He enjoys exploring the world with his young family, turning everyday experiences into adventures. jmilinovich
Notes
SRShreenath Regunathansaid
JMJohn Milinovich
is one of the most impressive product managers they've seen working with AI or machine learning products.Sep 30, 2025
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