el producto #349 🚀
el producto #349 🚀
Klarna's success story, New iPhones, WhatsApp's integration of 3rd party apps, TikTok Shop, PLG resources, Duolingo music, How Nvidia operates & more
Hey team,
Happy weekend and welcome to a new edition of el producto!
🎰 The week in figures
$10B: Microsoft predicts its AI software business will reach $10B in revenue - faster than any other business in the history of software
$2.2B: In just half a decade, the Revolut alumni ecosystem has pulled off an astonishing feat – it now boasts a collective funding haul of $2.2B, surpassing the very company where it all began. While Revolut itself has secured $1.7B in investments from 52 VCs since its inception in 2015, a remarkable 102 startups led by former Revolut team members have risen to prominence
$1.4B: Starlink generated $1.4B in revenue last year, up more than 6x from $222M in 2021
$500M: Databricks, an AI and data analytics software company, has secured over $500M in funding, valuing the company at $43B
$379M: The EU fined TikTok ~$379M for breaching GDPR re: handling the data of children after a review by Ireland's DPC
$150M: VideoAmp, a startup that directly competes with Nielsen by offering tools to measure audience and ads, raised a $150M Series G at a $1.4B valuation
$123M: Spanish digital car subscription startup Revel secured $123M funding
1M: X / Twitter competitor Bluesky has hit 1 million users. The product is currently invite only
65%: More than 65% of startups, or 134 companies, in Y Combinator's summer cohort were developing AI-powered solutions for a wide range of use cases, including healthcare automation, customer service, sales outreach, coding, and game design
📰 What’s going on
Microsoft's attempt to avoid further regulatory scrutiny and potential penalties by unbundling Teams did not satisfy EU regulators, who are preparing a formal antitrust complaint against the company
Apple announced iPhone 15 Pro and Max with USB-C, new A17 chip, starting at $999 and $1199, respectively
Tim Cook has officially announced that the Apple Vision Pro is set to launch in early 2024. The mixed-reality headset will run VisionOS, a specialized operating system created by Apple exclusively for spatial computing
Apple will release iOS 17 to the public this Monday, September 18. The update brings major changes to key iPhone apps and services, including new ringtones, the ability to create iMessage stickers from photos, and the ability to leave FaceTime audio and video messages. Additional features include:
Live voicemail transcripts on the Home Screen
The ability to set more than one timer
A new StandBy mode that acts as a clock/information hub when the iPhone is horizontal and connected to a charger
The ability to activate Siri without having to say “hey"
Smarter autocorrect
Interactive widgets on the Lock Screen and Home Screen
"Check in" location sharing in the Messages app
A new Journal app with AI capabilities, which will likely launch later with iOS 17.1 or iOS 17.2
Google has granted early access to a handful of companies to try out Gemini, its next-generated series of large language models. Gemini, built on the capabilities of DeepMind's AlphaGo AI system, will reportedly be multimodal, integrating text, images, and other data types
Gmail is developing emoji reactions that would allow users to quickly respond to emails
WhatsApp is testing a new feature that could open it up to other messaging apps. A new screen called Third-party apps is currently blank but it’s understood the new feature is in testing ahead of the EU’s new Digital Markets Act legislation which will require major messaging apps to be cross compatible. The company is also rolling out its Telegram-inspired Channels product to over 150 countries
Meta is developing a powerful AI model to compete with OpenAI's GPT-4. Meta is aggressively acquiring advanced AI training chips and building out its data centers to develop the chatbot for potential release next year
TikTok started rolling out TikTok Shop to all US users, adding a marketplace button on the app’s home screen; the service already has 200K+ sellers. Creators can now upload shoppable videos and live streams and access a new affiliate program
TikTok is planning a music subscription streaming service to compete with Spotify
Salesforce announced an AI chatbot for all of its apps called Einstein Copilot, which will launch via pilot this fall
Amazon is releasing a tool that helps sellers write product listings. The e-commerce giant announced its generative AI-powered feature at the Amazon Accelerate conference
Duolingo is rumoured to be expanding its offering to include music. The new product is under wraps at the moment but the company has started hiring for key positions to help develop it. If the new product follows in the footsteps of DuoLingo Math, it’ll likely be a niche learning service for folks to focus on one skill set
Samsung is reportedly developing an XR headset that allows users to smell virtual environments. The high-end device, co-developed with Google and Qualcomm, is expected to feature a groundbreaking 3,000 ppi pixel density
📚 Good reads
How Jensen Huang runs Nvidia: questioning everything we think we know about how a company should operate. A short post by Dan Hockenmaier explaining how Nvidia is optimized for (1) attracting amazing people, (2) keeping the team as small as it can be, and (3) allowing information to travel as quickly as possible
Case study - The inside story of how Meta’s product team launched Threads. It took a small, nimble engineering team working alongside Meta’s infrastructure teams to take Threads from zero to 100M people in record time with no major downtime
Why do providers and users leave platforms? By HBR. "Disintermediation" is a key threat to platforms. The first thing platforms need to do is to understand why users leave and why users feel the platform isn't adding significant value. The solution to disintermediation is straightforward: platforms should create more value than they extract. They should transition from being mere gatekeepers to value-adding partners. Some interesting ideas and examples are provided in the piece for reference
PLG - A resource bank. Product-led growth has become almost synonymous with business strategy, especially in the SaaS world. This piece by OpenView Partners is meant for those who are starting out or refining their PLG journey. Divided in complexities, and broken down into topics like - PLG's basics, implementation, pillars, metrics, tools, and technologies among other key focus areas, this is truly a PLG treasure trove
Evaluating how effective the Product strategy is. Measuring the impact of strategy is fundamental to hit the nail on the head, and David Pereira walks us through some fundamental aspects to consider
Klarna’s success story. From a first mover advantage, to a profitable model, this article explores the elements that have made Klarna so successful. “Klarna is able to borrow money at a cost, offset the cost through commission from retailers + some late fees, collect most of the money back, and at the end of this be profitable”.
Pricing a Gig: a strategic task and a design decision. Nice read by MIT Sloan on the consequences and dependencies of policies for price-setting in marketplaces. While platforms like Uber control prices for streamlined operations, others like Upwork empower service providers to set rates. Customer-driven pricing, as seen on Temper, caters to specific needs but can misjudge market dynamics. Hybrid approaches, blending these models, can offer a more equitable and sustainable solution
How long does it take a unicorn to exit? Interesting data on successful startups by Visual Capitalist
That’s all for today! Let me know what you think by replying back to this email or commenting on Substack
Angel