el producto #306 🚀
Google Maps AR, Nubank hypergrowth, Notion AI, YouTube shopping, Nike virtual store, How Figma builds product, PM development framework, Twitter...mess, & more
Hey team,
Happy weekend & welcome to a new edition of el producto!
🎰 The week in figures
$150M: Astera Labs has raised a $150M D1 round to help connect AI systems to the cloud; the company is now valued at $3.15B
$135M: California-based AI data platform Weka raised $135M at a valuation of $750M; Weka's software-based distributed file system provides in-demand data for AI and ML workloads
$100M: the Hive ransomware crew has extorted ~$100M from more than 1300 global victims, according to the FBI
$70M: Ramp Network has raised a $70M Series B funding round to enable users to buy crypto without leaving their wallets; the company has partnered with Axie Infinitnity, Opera, Avalanche, Sorare, etc
$68M: Advanced Navigation, a Sydney-based startup that builds AI-enabled navigation systems, raised a $68M Series B; customers include Google, Apple, Boeing, and General Motors
$60M: On-demand car rental app Kyte raised a $60M Series B; Kyte users can have cars delivered to them for daily, weekly, or monthly use; the company has now raised ~$300M in equity and debt
$50M: Descript, an AI-powered editing and transcription tool, raised a $50M Series C without disclosing a valuation; Descript has raised ~$100M since its founding in 2017
11k: Of the ~11K jobs cut at Meta, 54% were business-related roles, and 46% were technology-related; Meta has also paused developments for its Portal and smartwatches
10k: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wrote in a memo to employees that layoffs will continue into 2023, intending to eliminate 10K jobs; Amazon offered some employees a voluntary severance package to reduce its headcount; impacted employees have until Nov 29th to make a decision, and their last day of employment would be Dec 23rd; the package includes three months of pay + one week extra for every half year of service
-4.3%: In 2022, the video game industry will see its first revenue decline in over a decade; 2022 projected revenue: $184.4B (-4.3% y/y); the main cause of decline is the spending decrease in the mobile game industry
-8%: Carvana is laying off about 8% of its workforce, or about 1,500 employees; the online used-car retailer pointed to the economic downturn and the company’s uncertain future as the reason for the job cuts
-12%: Indonesian super-app GoTo will reduce its workforce by 12% (1,300 employees); GoTo blamed the layoffs on "challenging global macroeconomic conditions" and said they'll affect all divisions
💸 Q3 financials
Alibaba missed expectations on revenue and profits; the company posted a revenue of RMB 207.18B ($29.12B), up 3% YoY; it reported a net loss of RMB 22.5B ($3.2B), down from a net income of RMB 3.4B (~$471.8M) reported during the same period last year
JD.com: revenue increased by 11.4% YoY in Q3 to $34.2B; the company recorded a net income of $842.7M in the quarter after it posted a $393.3 net loss in the same quarter last year
Nubank: generated revenues of $1.31B, more than double $480.9M a year before and up around 13% from Q2; the neobank posted net profits of $7.8M, swinging from a $34.4M loss a year earlier and a $29.9 loss in Q2; Marcel Van Oost shared some slides showing the amazing growth of the company; without doubt, one of the biggest success stories of 2022
📰 What’s going on
Notion is now testing AI software that generates blog posts, press releases, sales emails, poems, and more; called Notion AI, the software's pre-release early version is open to users via a waitlist
WhatsApp has added the ability for users to link their primary accounts to another smartphone or an Android tablet; the syncing feature, known as companion mode, is now available to test in WhatsApp's latest beta version
Google has added several augmented reality (AR) tools to its search engine; users can now view sneakers in 3D, discover how foundations will look on their skin tone, more
Google Maps will begin rolling out a mobile AR feature that overlays information about nearby businesses and landmarks onto the real world
YouTube announced a new shopping feature allowing users to purchase products within YouTube Shorts; the video platform is also developing a new commission framework for creators to get paid through shoppable links; this follows TikTok launching "TikTok Shop" in the US
YouTube launched a "Live Q&A" feature to make interacting with creators easier; streamers can enable a Q&A prompt that filter submitted questions in the Live Control room
Twitter has disabled badge access to company offices until at least Monday, coinciding with the deadline of Elon Musk's "Twitter 2.0" ultimatum, as the company anticipates a large number of resignations; about 1,200 Twitter employees resigned on Thursday; earlier in the week, Elon Musk emailed Twitter employees and welcomed them to join "hardcore" Twitter by 5pm on November 17th or take three months severance
Twitter is developing the ability for users to compose long-form tweets; the new feature will automatically break up your tweet into 280-character chunk
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky announced several measures to help increase the supply of offerings on Airbnb; Chesky noted he was dissatisfied with the increased costs of staying in Airbnbs, pointing to limited supply in popular locations and a jump in cleaning fees; some measures announced to address rising costs include Airbnb Setup, a program to pay existing hosts to help new ones get set up on the platform, and plans to reduce cleaning fees
Airbnb will start filtering wheel-chair friendly homes under the “Adaptive” tab to make travel more accessible; the lodging platform works with Matterport, a 3D scanning company, to vet each property
Amazon announced Amazon Clinic, a new telehealth service launching in 32 US states; the company acquired One Medical in July and sunset Amazon Care in August; customers can connect with healthcare providers to treat over 20 common ailments; the service will not accept health insurance to start, and prices will vary by provider
Amazon is piloting a facial recognition system that enables U.S. merchants to authenticate their identities; the system will capture and compare photos of a merchant's face with a government-issued identity document
Apple is likely nearly complete with its rumored mixed-reality (MR) headset codenamed "Oak;" the device is expected to debut in 2023 for between $2,000 and $3,000; Apple is growing its AR/VR team despite cutting down on hiring elsewhere
BNPL company Klarna launched a price comparison feature in the UK and Nordic regions after acquiring PriceRunner for $125M in Q1; its goal to diversify revenue away from "Buy Now, Pay Later"; Klarna's CEO said this is a big step toward the company becoming a "single shopping destination"
TikTok plans to double staff at Mountain View offices; as most Silicon Valley tech orgs are cutting staff, ByteDance plans to double its presence in the Bay Area to about 2k employees
On Feb 1st Apple will launch its MLS streaming package for $14.99/month or $99/season; Apple TV+ subscribers will get every regular season and playoff match with no blackouts and a reduced price of $12.99/month and $79/season
Nike will release a virtual store within the metaverse; its NFTs may represent access to real-world items and admit entry into in-person events; the collection debuts in January, and the company has already earned $200M from selling digital goods like NFTs
An SEC filing revealed that electric scooter company Bird inflated revenue between Q1 2020 and Q2 2022; the company recorded deferred revenue from unpaid trips in its top line; Bird said it may need to scale back operations or seek bankruptcy protection
Crypto lender BlockFi is preparing to file for bankruptcy; FTX extended a $400M revolving line of credit to BlockFi earlier this year after the Terreform Labs collapse
📚 Good reads
How Figma builds Product. Lenny Rachitsky and Yuhki Yamashita, Chief Product Officer at Figma, discuss about Figma's planning process, how they use OKRs, their product review process, org structure, favorite tools, lessons learned, and a ton of actual templates that Figma uses to do their work
The importance of getting your timing right. Diana Hsieh explains one of the most critical ingredients to success, and how to think about it
The blind men, the elephant, and the 3 data mistakes. Julie Zhuo shares a reflection on typical mistakes teams make using data. I’m sure they will sound familiar to most
The Product Manager (professional) development framework. Julian Dunn shares a simple framework to help evaluate ourselves (or our teams) on different competencies relevant to be successful on Product Management. Here is the template
Using Hick’s law in Product. Nick Babich explains one of the most important guiding principles in product design
That’s all for today! Let me know what you think by replying back to this email or commenting on Substack
Angel
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