el producto #376 🚀
How Figma grows, Reddit IPO, GPT-5, Meta Quest 3 Lite, From SaaS to PaaP (Partner as a Product), LinkedIn games, The Product operating model & more
Hey friends,
Happy weekend and welcome to a new edition of el producto!
🎰 The week in figures
$24B: A TikTok-commissioned study estimates that the app contributed $24.2B to the U.S. GDP last year. The study found that U.S. small and mid-sized businesses advertising on TikTok generated around $15B in revenue in 2023. Inflated? Likely
$748M: Reddit and its shareholders raised $748M from its IPO debut, selling 22 million shares priced at $34 each. The shares were priced at the top end of its pricing range of $31 to $34. The IPO debut prices gave Reddit a market value of $5.4B, but its fully diluted market cap is about $6.4B. Reddit's market cap is still lower than its peak valuation of $10B in 2021 when it first confidentially filed for an IPO
$650M: Microsoft is paying Inflection AI $650M, of which $620M is for non-exclusive licensing fees for using its technology, sources told The Information
$104M: Solaris, the embattled European embedded finance and banking-as-a-service platform, raised €96M ($104) to continue operations
$100M: Moove, an African mobility fintech that offers vehicle financing to ride-hailing and delivery app drivers, raised a $100M Series B from strategic investor Uber at a $750 million valuation
9.7M: AR and VR headset shipments are expected to increase by 44.2% to 9.7M units in 2024, driven by new product launches like Apple's Vision Pro and improved global economic conditions
📰 What’s going on
Apple is reportedly exploring a partnership with Google for a Gemini-powered feature on iPhones, possibly in the iOS 18 update
Apple is in early talks with Chinese giant Baidu to use the latter's generative AI technology in Apple devices for the Chinese market. Apple wants a local generative AI provider in China due to requirements by the nation's cyberspace regulator
WhatsApp now lets you pin up to three messages in a chat
YouTube TV rolls out Multiview support on iOS and iPadOS, letting users watch four TV channels at once; Android support will roll out “in the coming months”
DoorDash begins piloting drone deliveries in the US
LinkedIn plans to add gaming to its platform. Three early efforts are games called “Queens”, “Inference” and “Crossclimb”
Amazon is shifting its focus to new competitors such as Temu and Shein; the Chinese online retailers have gained users in recent months, but Amazon has started losing them. Amazon executives believe that same-day delivery and customer trust will help the company beat competitors
OpenAI could potentially release GPT-5 around mid-year, possibly in the summer. Some enterprise customers have been shown demos of the newest model and its improvements to ChatGPT. It’s expected GPT-5's ability to summon AI agents to autonomously perform tasks
Stability AI debuts Stable Video 3D, a generative AI tool built on its Stable Video Diffusion model, letting users generate 3D video from a text or image prompt
Microsoft has hired DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman to lead a new team focused on its consumer AI products, including Copilot, Bing, and Edge. Suleyman is stepping down as CEO of Inflection AI, a startup he co-launched alongside tech billionaire Reid Hoffman and scientist Karén Simonyan, who is also moving to Microsoft
Meta reportedly plans to release a more budget-friendly version of the Meta Quest 3, dubbed the "Quest 3 Lite," aiming to lower the current $499 price tag
Robinhood launches to UK customers. The trading and investing app made infamous by the Gamestop saga, launched in the UK this week, after two failed attempts. This is the first step outside the US for the firm
App analytics firm Sensor Tower paid an undisclosed amount to acquire global mobile app marketing intelligence startup Data.ai. Data.ai touched $100M in annual recurring revenue and has raised about $157M over the years
📚 Good reads
How Figma grows: design beyond designers. An interview with Figma's CTO on what's next, by Jaryd Hermann. Figma believes AI will lower the floor and raise the ceiling of design, indicating a forward-looking adoption of technology. The company is focused on operationalizing integrations and balancing resources across a portfolio of bets
The power of firsthand experience, by John Cutler. Inviting stakeholders into the product process and providing firsthand exposure is key to aligning visions and improving products. Knowledge and beliefs are shaped by practical experiences rather than theoretical understandings
TRANSFORMED: Moving to the Product operating model with Marty Cagan. How do the best product companies work? How to Transition from Waterfall, Outputs, and Un-empowered Teams to the Product Operating Model. A post by Paweł Huryn and Aakash Gupta
From Software as a Service (SaaS) to Partner as a Product (PaaP) - this is the moment to reinvent your product, by Alex klein. The real value of GPTs comes from the fact that computer programs don’t just execute functionality anymore; they partner with users to solve their needs
A deep dive on the Pirate Metrics framework, by Susannah Belcher. Pirate metrics (AARRR) are a useful tool that can be applied to many industries and contexts. As a result it’s stood the test of time pretty well. Investing time in adapting AARRR to your business context, defining your checkpoints, measuring your conversions and values is a great way to iterate your business from a product and go to market perspective. Its simplicity is a strength, and it’s worth investing effort in to analyze your business performance in this way
Rediscovering Ikigai: what we got wrong and how to find meaning in life, by Anne-Laure Le Cunff. The concept of ikigai is not about finding the intersection of passion, skill, market demand, and profit, but about finding pleasure in daily life and being happy to get up in the morning. Ikigai is found in small daily rituals, lifelong learning, meaningful connections, and embracing curiosity and connection
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