el producto #342 🚀
Using ChatGPT Code Interpreter, Q2 results, Twitter rebrand: X, TikTok eCommerce plans, Wining on Consumer Subscriptions, Growth models, State of Fintech & more
Hey team,
Happy weekend and welcome to a new edition of el producto!
🎰 The week in figures
3B: Facebook now has over 3 billion monthly active users, a 3% increase from a year ago, according to the company's earnings report for the second quarter
$150M: OneTrust, a startup offering a privacy management platform, raised a $150M round at a $4.5B valuation, down ~18% from its last private valuation in 2021
$900k: Netflix has listed an AI PM job with a $900k salary, causing a strong response from film industry professionals as the Hollywood strike continues
-50%: X, formerly Twitter, is cutting advertising prices by up to 50% to attract advertisers amid declining ad sales
💸 Q2 results
Alphabet: revenue: $74.6B (+7% y/y), net income: $18.37B (+14.7% y/y), YouTube ad revenue: $7.67B, Cloud revenue: $8B (+28% y/y); shares were up ~6% on the news
Meta: revenue: $32B (+11% y/y), net income: $7.79B (+16% y/y), Family DAP: 3.07B (+7% y/y), Facebook DAUs: 2.06B (+5% y/y), headcount: 71.5K (-14% y/y); shares were up 4%+ on top-line and bottom-line beats
Microsoft: revenue: $56.2B (+8% y/y), net income: $20.1B (+20% y/y), Azure revenue grew 26% y/y; shares were down ~3% on the news
Snap: revenue: $1.07B (-4% y/y), net loss: $377.3M (11% smaller loss y/y), FCF: -$118.9M (19% smaller loss y/y), DAUs: 397M (+14% y/y); shares were down ~19% on the news
Spotify: revenue: €3.18B (+11% y/y), FCF: €9M; total MAUs: 551M (+27% y/y), paid subs: 220M (+17% y/y); shares were down ~14% on the news
📰 What’s going on
Apple is still considering the release of a foldable iPad in the future; the idea of a foldable iPad has surfaced multiple times in the past, and analysts speculate that it could potentially be launched in 2024
Apple and Goldman Sachs have had a falling out over their Apple Card partnership, despite Apple Card having ~10M users
AWS has debuted an AI product called HealthScribe, which helps healthcare providers summarize doctor visits, and will make it available through partners rather than direct sales
Twitter has changed its logo to “X,” and Elon Musk announced the company would eventually do away with the Twitter brand entirely
Adobe introduced "Generative Expand," an AI-powered Photoshop tool for users to expand an image beyond its borders; the tool has been used over 900 million times in the first few weeks of beta testing
Meta plans to monetize Llama 2, its updated large language model (LLM), by charging major cloud-computing companies like Amazon and Google for reselling the service; while Llama 2 is open source, Meta stipulated that the largest cloud companies cannot use Llama 2 under a free license
Cruise is expanding its robotaxi program to Nashville, Tennessee; after operating for several years in San Francisco, over the past year, the company has started offering its services in five other cities ― Austin, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, and Miami
Spotify has confirmed raising its US Premium price to $11/month, up from $10/month; it also raised Duo by $2/month and Family and Student by $1/month
TikTok has introduced a new feature allowing users to post written content on the platform; the move aims to compete with Twitter and Meta's new Threads app in the text-based content space
TikTok is gearing up to launch an e-commerce platform in the U.S. in early August, competing with Chinese shopping apps Shein and Temu; TikTok's platform will operate similarly to "Sold by Amazon," storing and shipping mostly Chinese goods such as clothing, electronics, and gadgets
OpenAI has released its ChatGPT for Android app two months after its iOS counterpart; the Android app is currently available on the Google Play Store for users in the U.S., India, Bangladesh, and Brazil
OpenAI has shut down its "AI Classifier" tool for detecting AI-written text, citing low accuracy and low effectiveness
OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and Anthropic formed a group called the Frontier Model Forum to “research increasingly powerful AI and establish best practices for controlling it”
Sequoia cut one-third of its talent team, which helps portfolio companies recruit employees, as part of a larger restructuring of the firm
📚 Good reads
Why Consumer Subscription is so hard, and what to do about it, by Casey Winters. While B2B subscription models offer predictable revenue and rational customer decisions, Consumer churn tends to be higher, and average revenue per customer is lower. Network effects are key to improve retention and acquisition, and there are always less saturated acquisition channels to explore: rather than relying solely on paid subscriptions, consider repackaging and sharing your content to attract new customers who are not aware of your product
The best of How They Grow. Jaryd Hermann has been curating some great growth case studies. Check his top 10 deep-dives, including Roblox, TikTok, OpenAI & more
What growth model should we have at our stage? By Leah Tharin. Sales-led growth is common at the initial stage to generate demand; after achieving product-market fit, changing the growth model too early can be risky. Leah Tharin maps it out nicely:
How to use ChatGPT Code Interpreter, by Akash Gupta. An invaluable guide to get your from 0 to king of AI-driven productivity. Check this cheat sheet to get started:
How to scale yourself down (not up) as a leader, by James Everingham, former VP of engineering at Meta. Leaders transitioning from leading big teams to small startups must scale themselves down, adjusting their mindset and developing different skills. Traits like frugality, quick decision-making, and prioritizing experimentation and iteration are crucial in the startup environment. By reinventing their toolboxes, focusing on customer problem-solving, and emphasizing quick iteration and adaptability, leaders can navigate the challenges of scaling down effectively and drive significant growth
What got you here isn’t getting you there. Brex survived the perilous journey upstream from SMB to Midmarket to Enterprise, while simultaneously evolving from a point solution to a platform. Art Levy, Brex's Chief Strategy Officer, shares some lessons from their journey
State of Fintech Q2 report. CB Insights released its State of Fintech Q2’23 Report, which highlights the continued multi-sector and multi-stage decline in fintech financing, but does also highlight a few surprising findings: fintech funding grew in LatAm and the Caribbean, and grew slightly in terms of IPOs last quarter as well
That’s all for today! Let me know what you think by replying back to this email or commenting on Substack
Angel