el producto #369 🚀
el producto #369 🚀
Q4 results, Apple launches Vision Pro, Amazon's AI shopping assistant, How top tech companies define ARR, Marketplaces in the age of AI, Growth sprints & more
Hey friends,
Happy weekend and welcome to a new edition of el producto!
🎰 The week in figures
$150M: Kore.ai, specializing in enterprise conversational AI and GenAI products, raised $150M. Founded in 2014, Kore.ai offers a no-code platform facilitating AI-powered "business interactions," including customer-to-employee or employee-to-employee interactions
130M: Threads reaches 130M+ monthly users, says Meta, up 30M from Q3 (before EU launch), and continues to grow steadily
$100M: DataSnipper, a startup that automates critical tasks for accountants and auditors, raised $100M at a $1B valuation
600: Apple Vision Pro launches with over 600 apps and games optimized for the new headset, while just last week, only 150 apps had been specifically designed for it
+20%: Meta stock rises 20%+, adding ~$200B to its market cap, the biggest single-session market value addition, eclipsing Apple and Amazon's gains in 2022. See Q4 results below
-10%: Block is laying off around 1,000 people, representing around 10% of its workforce
-7%: Okta is set to lay off 7% of its staff, approximately 400 employees to lower costs and improve efficiency
💰 Q4 results
Alphabet: EPS $1.64 vs expected $1.59; revenue $86.31B vs expected $85.33B. YouTube's Q4 ads revenue $9.2B vs expected $9.21B. Google Cloud revenue $9.19B vs expected $8.94B, marking a 26% expansion compared to last year. Other business units, including Waymo and Verily, reported revenue of $657M, up from $226M YoY
Amazon: profit of $10.6B, a substantial rise from $278M in the same quarter the previous year, while revenue increased by 14% to $170B, surpassing expectations. AWS saw a 13% increase in sales in Q4 to $24.2B, with an over 38% increase in operating profit
Apple: $120B revenue, up 2.1% YoY, ended a recent growth decline, with net income for the quarter at $34B, a 13% rise that surpassed predictions. CFO Luca Maestri emphasized the significance of Apple's active devices exceeding 2.2B, deeming it a crucial factor for the company's future. Sales of the iPhone increased by over 6% to $69.7B, exceeding analyst estimates of $67.6B. Apple's revenue in China, its third-largest market, fell by roughly 13% to $21B, below projections despite an overall increase
Meta: exceeded earnings and revenue expectations, with EPS at $5.33 (expected $4.96) and revenue $40.1B (expected $39.18B). Meta declared its inaugural dividend of $0.50 per share and initiated a $50B share buyback program. Meta's Q4 results showed 2.11B DAU (vs. 2.08B expected), 3.07B MAU (vs. 3.06B expected), and an average revenue per user of $13.12 (vs. $12.81 expected)
Microsoft: 18% increase in total sales to $62B, exceeding analyst projections of $61.12B. Microsoft's Azure cloud computing platform has grown significantly due to AI, with a 6pp increase in growth in the second fiscal quarter. In 2024, the business intends to invest in data centers to support generative AI, raising expenses
📰 What’s going on
Google announces that its Bard chatbot is now powered by the Gemini Pro model globally, with support for over 40 languages
Google is releasing an AI-powered tool for image creation called ImageFX, using a list of keyword suggestions that let users experiment with “adjacent dimensions”
Apple updates Shazam to support identifying songs from other apps while listening via wired or Bluetooth headphones
Amazon introduces Rufus, an AI-powered shopping assistant, in beta for selected U.S. customers within the Amazon mobile app. Trained on Amazon's product catalog, customer reviews, community Q&As, and web data, Rufus utilizes a specialized internal large language model for shopping-related inquiries
Spotify expands its partnership with Snapchat and introduces its “Share Track Lens” feature, letting users capture their surroundings while sharing a song
Substack introduces new tools for international writers and audiences, including local payment methods, support for more currencies, and setting a default language for newsletters
Shopify unveiled 100+ updates to its commerce platform, featuring AI enhancements such as Shopify Magic and Smart Sidekick, positioning itself against competitors like Adobe, Salesforce, and Oracle in line with broader industry trends in AI adoption. Shopify Magic is an AI-driven tool that can produce SEO-optimized content in seconds by automatically creating product descriptions, FAQ pages, and marketing material. Smart Sidekick functions as a commerce advisor by providing tailored suggestions for customer acquisition and inventory management
Temu will open its marketplace to U.S. and European sellers on March 15. The platform is known for marketing cheap apparel from China to consumers in Western countries
Yelp announces new features in its winter release, including a more visual feed, AI-powered business summaries, and number masking while contacting businesses for better privacy
Smart ring maker Oura rolls out its Resilience features, measuring how much stress users withstand
Neuralink has implanted its chip inside a human's brain for the first time. According to Elon Musk, the patient is "recovering well." The company claims that its brain tech will help humans control their digital devices without touching them and potentially cure blindness, among other conditions
📚 Good reads
Full-stack personal development, If you only have time to read one article, make it this one. Anne-Laure Le Cunff shares a framework that can be a useful way to make the most of your mind
Marketplaces in the Age of AI. Olivia Moore (Andreessen Horowitz), weighs in on the future of marketplace business models in the AI era. According to Olivia, Generative AI is expected to transform both product/service creation and sales. AI will enhance the buyer experience with improved search methods, customized supply creation, and better negotiation and customer service. For sellers, AI's impact is mixed. It can help, for example by automating tasks like listing creation, but poses an existential threat to certain types of marketplaces
Dark software: a new model for SaaS and fintech. Matt Brown delves into the evolving SaaS and fintech landscapes, drawing parallels with 'dark kitchens' in the food industry. He proposes a new model where software startups integrate various products to serve specialized markets efficiently, optimizing for customer value and minimizing costs
Ten symptoms of a bad growth team. According to Elena Verna, the Growth industry is facing a crisis leading to the systematic failure of growth teams across various companies and industries. Executives often lack understanding of growth fundamentals, leading to poor strategic decisions and dysfunctional growth teams. Ultimately, the road to a good growth team depends on company leadership investing the time and resources needed to understand the company’s unique growth needs
Is job-hopping bad? David Pereira says that changing jobs often isn't bad, and that it can actually help you stand out. David shares how PMs can benefit from job hopping, looking at pros, cons, and common objections
The secret to running effective Growth Sprints. A process to learn faster by Matt Lerner, co-founder at SYSTM, for First Round Review. “If you don't test big things, you won't find big levers“
How top tech companies define ARR, by CJ Gustafson
That’s all for this week. As usual, feel free to reach out and share your thoughts by replying back to this email or commenting on Substack
Thanks for your support!
Angel