el producto #438 🚀
Keeping pace with AI, Figma's approach to AI, Retool Agents, Google agentic shopping, WhatsApp for iPad, Claude voice mode, Apple UI updates & more
Hi friends 👋
Happy weekend, and welcome to a new edition of el producto
🎰 The week in figures
$44.6B: Nvidia reported $44.06B in Q1 revenue, driven by a 73% growth in its data center business. Despite a $4.5B charge due to export restrictions, NVDIA rose on expectations of $45B next quarter
$11B: Chime could list at $11B - a fraction of its 2021 private-market valuation, when the neobank was valued at nearly $26B
$8B: Salesforce is acquiring Informatica for approximately $8B, integrating its AI-driven platforms like Agentforce and Data Cloud to enhance CLAIRE and Einstein creating a comprehensive AI-data platform
$6.7B: Circle has officially launched its IPO, targeting a valuation of up to $6.71B, with shares priced between $24-$26
$1B: Grammarly has secured $1B in funding. The raise follows the company’s acquisition of Coda in January, a deal that helped Grammarly evolve from an AI-powered writing assistant to a productivity platform for apps and agents
$600M: Neuralink raised $600M, boosting its valuation over 50% to $9Bn. The company successfully implanted brain chips in patients, including an ALS patient who recovered speech
$300M: Grok has signed a $300M agreement to power Telegram’s AI assistant
$190M: Dojo secured $190M (€168.6M) in its first equity raise. The UK-based payments tech provider plans to expand across Europe, including Spain, Ireland, Italy
50%: Dario Amodei, Anthropic CEO, warns that AI could eliminate 50% of entry-level white-collar jobs, pushing unemployment to 10-20%
5.4%: A new report says Google is losing more staff than any other company with 5.4% of its AI Labs staff being poached in 2024
📰 What’s going on
Google is rolling out an "agentic shopping" feature that lets users set a desired price for a product. Once the price is met, an AI agent will automatically complete the purchase on the user's behalf
Anthropic’s Claude has added voice mode to its mobile app. It’s currently only available in beta, but it can access third-party applications like your Google Calendar to perform some genuinely useful tasks. It also does something other voice assistants don’t seem to have done just yet, which is to display a summary of your conversation as text on screen so that you can easily flip between voice and text modes
Meta is splitting its AI department into two specialized teams (The AI Products team and the AGI Foundations unit) to bridge the gap between short-term user needs and long-term AI breakthroughs and also speed up product development
WhatsApp has released a dedicated iPad app supporting video and audio calls, screen sharing, and multitasking
Apple is set to debut a major UI update, Solarium, at WWDC 2025, with translucent backgrounds + circular app icons. Apple is also exploring "wearable loops" as potential AI interfaces to track biometric data, offer haptic feedback, and integrate with AR
Elon Musk confirmed that X’s long-awaited payments feature is on the way. After months of anticipation, the wait may soon be over. "This will be a very limited-access beta at first. When people’s savings are involved, extreme care must be taken," he wrote
Opera unveiled Opera Neon - a new browser for the agentic web. It’s designed to understand your intent, assist with tasks like filling in forms, and take actions on your behalf. It can also build mini apps and websites - a feature could transform browsers into builders
Perplexity, has released a new tool—Perplexity Labs—to Pro users, which helps them create reports, spreadsheets, and dashboards that are backed by "extensive research and analysis." Perplexity Labs works autonomously using tools for web browsing, code execution, chart creation, and image generation, and can complete projects that would’ve taken days in around 10 minutes
Mistral introduces API for AI agents. The French OpenAI rival’s new product allows developers to easily add gen-AI tools to their applications, with their “Medium 3” model powering agents. VentureBeat describes the combination as an infinitely customizable “plug and play” platform for enterprises looking to integrate AI into their workflows
Discord has a new plan to make money. Users can earn their new digital currency, called ‘Discord Orbs,’ by interacting with content from advertisers or streaming “specific games to friends”
Miro launched a bunch of updates in May, including AI Prototyping, “Create with AI,” Miro Slides, and more
Retool has launched a new Agents feature that can drastically reduce the time spent on tasks. In a demo video, the company showed how a task like managing Stripe chargebacks is 50x faster with the use of agents vs humans. Their CEO David Hsu said in an interview that following the launch, the conversation his clients are having is: "How do we get LLMs to replace labor?"
Slack has released a new “pinch to summarize” feature that lets users pinch the screen on a specific channel and get a summary of its contents. The designer who worked on it says it was inspired by Arc’s pinch to summarize
📚 Good reads
GenAI’s adoption puzzle, by Ben Evans. Generative AI chatbots might be a life-changing transformation in the nature of computing, that can replace all software, but so far, most of its users only pick it up every week or two, and far fewer have made it part of their lives. Is that a time problem or a product problem?
Keeping pace with AI without going nuts. Cut through the AI tool noise—focus on mastering prompts and curating a personal "playbook" to amplify your workflow. David Pereira suggests a rhythm (weekly insights, bi-weekly exploration) to stay ahead without burning out. Key takeaway: AI's superpower lies in how you wield it—context and intentionality trump chasing every new tool
AI bundling: the next Product strategy shift. AI is changing how products bundle features, moving from standalone tools to integrated AI-powered experiences. Ravi Mehta explores how companies can leverage AI bundling for competitive advantage, ensuring seamless user value. For PMs, this means rethinking product architecture—balancing modularity with cohesive AI-enhanced workflows
Figma’s human-centric AI eval process. Figma’s AI Product development hinges on real human feedback, using prototypes, scaled taste testing, and iterative evals to validate quality. Their 4-path decision tree helps prioritize what not to build, while contractors and AI “judges” grade outputs nightly. The key takeaway? Isolate core personas early—designers hill-climbing the wrong metrics wasted months
Why every layer of the Vision Stack matters for Product success. Skipping layers of the Vision Stack is like skipping breakfast—it won’t kill you but makes things harder. The article breaks down how a clear product vision, well-defined objectives, and a solid strategy are crucial for alignment and focus. Ignoring these creates confusion, slows innovation, and leads to frustrated teams stuck in "feature factory" mode
[Video] Google’s CEO on the future of Search, AI agents and more. Sundar Pichai outlined his vision of the future. Some of his boldest comments include the prediction that the abstraction of UI away from users could mean companies like Uber and Airbnb demand new revenue sharing agreements, and that AI means users will democratize the app-building process
That’s a wrap for this week! 🌟
I’d love to hear your thoughts—what stood out to you, and how are you thinking about integrating these insights into your Product strategy? Reply to the email or drop a comment on Substack to share your take. And if you found this valuable, forward it to a fellow PM, Product enthusiast, startup founder or entrepreneur who’d enjoy the read
See you next week! 👋
Angel