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We track Product so you don't have to. Top Podcasts summarised, the latest AI tools, plus research and news in a 5 min digest.

Hey Product Fans!

Welcome to this week’s Product Tapas—your go-to for the tastiest bites from the world of Product and Tech.

If you’ve been forwarded this or just stumbled upon it, you’re in for a treat. For the best reading experience, check out the web version and sign up for future editions here.

What’s on the menu this week? 🧑‍🍳

📰 Not Boring – SoftBank is eyeing a record $16.5 billion loan for US-based AI projects, while Emergence is making waves with an AI platform that creates agents from simple text prompts. Reddit’s AI translation rollout is boosting its Google rankings, and OtterAI’s new SDR agent is shaking up product demos. Over in Cupertino, Apple is teasing its biggest health push yet with an AI-powered doctor and a playful iOS 19 preview. Meanwhile, Perplexity has its sights set on TikTok, and OpenAI is doing big numbers ver on ChatGPT.

⌚️ Productivity Tapas – This week’s tools include an awesome way to deploy AI voice agents, NotebookLM’s new mind-mapping feature, and another for building AI agent swarms in minutes. Plus, a final timesaver that lets you create production-ready AI workflows as standalone APIs. Pro subscribers can access the full database of nearly 400 time-saving tools for product managers and founders 🔥.

🍔 Blog Bites – We’ve got insights on the state of tech stacks in 2025 from Lenny, Strategy Breakdowns explores Excalidraw’s zero-friction onboarding strategy, and Ben Thompson interviews Sam Altman on OpenAI’s evolution into a consumer tech company. Essential reads for product teams!

🎙️ Pod Shots – This week’s featured podcast is a deep dive with Nat Eliason on building full-stack apps with AI in 30 minutes. From vibe coding to debugging challenges, this episode is packed with practical insights for anyone curious about AI-driven development.

Plenty to get stuck into—off we go! 🚀

📰 Not boring

• SoftBank Seeks Record $16.5 Billion Loan for AI Projects in US

• Emergence launches AI Agent platform that can generate other agents with simple text prompts

• Reddit is deploying AI translation at scale and Google rankings are booming

• OtterAI launches new SDR agent for autonomous Product demos and lead gen

• Perplexity wants to buy TikTok and open-source its algorithm

• Apple corner

  • Apple readies Its biggest push into health yet with new AI Doctor

  • Whilst, iPhone users can now set WhatsApp as their default calling and texting app

  • Plus they’ve just debuted 8 new emoji designs within iOS 18.4

  • Apple’s first iOS 19 tease gives off a much more fun vibe

• OpenAI raises $40B at $300B post-money valuation

  • But comes with a $20 billion catch

  • As ChatGPT is casually adding 1 million users per hour. Yes, you read that correctly

• Interesting read on Gemini 2.5 Pro vs. Claude 3.7 Sonnet: Coding Comparison

• Trump says TikTok deal will come before April 5 deadline

• Whilst TikTok is shutting down its Instagram competitor TikTok Notes

• Amazon’s new AI agent (Nova Act) is designed to do your shopping

• 23andMe bankruptcy: With America’s DNA put on sale, market panic gets a new twist

• Tinder’s new AI-powered game assesses your flirting skills through interacting with an OpenAI powered bot; all aimed at increasing declining MAUs

• Stablecoins and the parallels with Money Market Funds

• Replit launches Agent v2 (early access)

• NotebookLM gets some new features Mindmaps (see Productivity Tapas below) and the ability to discover sources from around the web and add to your Notebook

• Elon Musk says xAI acquired X

• Meta’s head of AI research plans to leave the company

• OnlyFans sued after two guys realise they might not actually be talking to models

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⌚️ Productivity Tapas: Time-Saving Tools & GPTs

• Vapi: Deploy AI Voice agents for your product to build voice AI product and scale phone operations

• NotebolLM: Mind Maps: Did you know you can create mind maps in NotebookLM? Me neither. Sign up here, ‘create new’ and add sources. Click on ‘Mind Map’ and hey presto

• Lindy: Build AI agents in minutes to automate workflows, save time, and grow your business. This Agent swarm company looks pretty outrageous. See here

• >_Prompteus: Build, manage, and scale production-ready AI workflows in minutes. Create AI workflows in Prompteus and deploy them as secure, standalone APIs—ready to be called from any application

Remember, as a Product Tapas Pro subscriber you can access the full time saving tools database for fast approaching 400 time-saving tools relevant for product managers and founders 🔥.

Check the link here to access.

🍔 Blog Bites - Essential Reads for Product Teams

Tech Tools: The State of Tech Stacks in 2025

Lenny Rachitsky and Noam Segal present insights from a survey of 6,500 tech professionals, revealing the most loved, frustrating, and emerging tools shaping modern workplaces. The report highlights the dominance of AI, the rise of well-crafted alternatives, and the evolving preferences of tech teams. Read the full article here.

💡 "AI tools have become as essential as having a laptop." This reflects the seismic shift in how teams work, with AI now central to workflows across industries.

Top Trends in 2025:

1. AI Dominance: ChatGPT leads with 90% adoption, followed by Claude and Gemini. AI-native tools like Cursor and GitHub Copilot are rapidly gaining traction.

2. Slack’s Continued Reign: Slack remains a top communication tool, though it also appears on the "most frustrating" list due to cognitive load concerns.

3. Linear’s Rise: Linear is disrupting Jira with its streamlined UX, becoming a favourite for project management.

4. Notion’s Versatility: Notion is praised for its flexibility, excelling in project management, CRM, and documentation.

5. Figma and Canva in Presentations: These design tools are reshaping how teams create presentations, challenging traditional tools like PowerPoint.

Meta Takeaways:

• Bundling vs. Craft: While bundled tools like Jira and Microsoft Teams dominate due to enterprise lock-in, well-crafted tools like Linear and Notion are winning hearts.

• Mix-and-Match Stacks: Teams increasingly combine tools within the same category to suit specific needs (e.g., ChatGPT + Claude for AI workflows).

• User Experience Over Features: Tools with intuitive design and flexibility are preferred over feature-heavy but clunky alternatives.

Product Strategy: Zero-Friction Onboarding with Excalidraw

Tom from Strategy Breakdowns analyses how Excalidraw's radical approach to product onboarding - eliminating it entirely - led to massive user adoption and engagement. Read the full article here.

💡 "Every PLG company dreams about word-of-mouth flywheel, but most put 47 actions between discovery and value." This highlights how removing friction can accelerate product adoption.

Implementation Success:

• 850,000 monthly active users

• 89,000 GitHub stars

• 368,000 monthly searches

• Widespread embedding across other platforms

Tech Strategy: OpenAI's Evolution into a Consumer Tech Company

Ben Thompson (Stratechery) interviews Sam Altman about OpenAI's unexpected transformation from a research lab into one of tech's rare consumer-facing giants. Read the full interview here.

💡 "The price of being on the forefront of innovation is you make a lot of dumb mistakes because you're so deep in the fog of war." This captures OpenAI's journey from nonprofit research lab to consumer tech leader.

🎙️ Pod Shots - Bitesized Podcast Summaries

Remember, Product Tapas Pro subscribers get access to an ever growing database of all the top Podcast summaries we’ve ever created. 

Check it out here

🚀 Building a Full-Stack App with AI in 30 Minutes: A Deep Dive with Nat Eliason

In Peter Yang’s latest youtube post he sits down with Nat Eliason, creator of the Build Your Own Apps with AI course, to explore the world of "Vibe Coding" and how tools like Cursor AI are revolutionising the way we build apps. From debugging challenges to philosophical musings on AI's impact on creative industries, this conversation is packed with insights for anyone curious about trying vibecoding out. HINT this SHOULD BE YOU

 🎥Watch the full episode here

📆 Published: March 23rd, 2025

🕒 Estimated Reading Time: 3 mins. Time saved: 44 mins🔥

🛠️ What is Cursor AI and Vibe Coding?

Cursor AI is a programming tool built on top of Visual Studio Code (VS Code) that integrates AI to help developers write and debug code faster. It’s similar to Lovable, Replit, Bolt etc. that we’ve covered before. Nat introduces the concept of "Vibe Coding," where you give the AI instructions, let it do the heavy lifting, and then refine the results.

Key Takeaways:

• Vibe Coding Defined: A workflow where you provide high-level instructions to an AI tool, allowing it to handle the coding while you focus on refining and debugging.

• Cursor AI’s Role: Cursor acts as a code editor with an AI agent that can generate code, troubleshoot issues, and streamline the development process.

• Layers of Abstraction: Nat compares AI-driven coding to the evolution of programming languages, where each new layer of abstraction makes coding more accessible.

Nat’s Tip: “If you’re someone who wakes up and creates things, your job is safe. But if you’re just following instructions, AI tools like Cursor might replace you.”

🖥️ Building a Content Remixing Tool with Cursor

Peter and Nat cover how to build a tool that converts blog posts into tweets using Cursor AI. The goal is to create a simple app where users can paste a blog post, click a button, and generate tweets in their voice.

Step-by-Step Process:

1. Define the Goal: Nat starts by instructing Cursor to build a tool that uses an AI API (like Claude) to generate tweets from blog posts.

2. Let Cursor Work: The AI begins generating the necessary code, including setting up the project structure and installing dependencies.

3. Debugging: When issues arise (e.g., library conflicts or folder mismanagement), Nat manually intervenes to troubleshoot and guide the AI.

4. Test the App: After resolving errors, Nat tests the app by pasting a blog post and generating tweets.

Practical Example: Debugging Challenges

• Library Conflicts: Cursor struggled with installing the latest version of Tailwind CSS, requiring manual intervention.

• Folder Mismanagement: The AI created duplicate folders, causing confusion. Nat resolved this by reorganising the project structure.

• API Integration: Adding the API key and ensuring the server was running were critical steps to get the app working.

Nat’s Tip: “Patience is key. Debugging is part of the process, but it’s 10 times faster with AI than traditional coding.”

🔑 Tips for Successful Vibe Coding

Nat shares his top tips for getting the most out of Vibe Coding with Cursor AI:

Key Takeaways:

1. Be Patient: Expect to debug and troubleshoot. AI tools aren’t perfect, but they significantly speed up the process.

2. Learn by Doing: The more you use AI tools, the better you’ll understand their quirks and how to fix issues.

3. Start Simple: Begin with smaller projects to build confidence before tackling complex apps.

4. Use a Plan: Creating a README file or a detailed plan can help guide the AI and reduce errors.

5. Iterate and Reflect: After completing a project, ask the AI to reflect on the process and suggest improvements for next time.

Nat’s Tip: “AI tools are like a junior developer—they need guidance and oversight, but they can handle a lot of the grunt work.”

📚 Editing a Sci-Fi Novel with AI

In addition to coding, Nat discusses how he used AI to edit his upcoming sci-fi novel, Husk. The novel explores a future where humanity uploads their minds into a digital paradise, leaving a quasi-slave population to maintain the servers.

Key Takeaways:

• Micro-Level Edits: Nat used AI to improve descriptions, dialogue, and conflict at the paragraph level.

• Macro-Level Feedback: ChatGPT Pro provided insights on unresolved plot threads and character arcs, helping Nat refine the story.

• Cost-Effective Editing: AI tools offer 85% of the value of a professional editor at a fraction of the cost.

Nat’s Tip: “AI editing tools are faster and cheaper than traditional editors, making them invaluable for self-published authors.”

🌍 The Future of AI in Creative Industries

Nat and Peter discuss the broader implications of AI on creative markets, predicting that AI will make creators 5-10 times more productive while reducing the need for traditional roles like copywriters and editors.

Key Takeaways:

• Increased Productivity: AI tools enable creators to produce more in less time, leading to a surge in creative output.

• Job Displacement: Roles focused on following instructions are at higher risk of being replaced by AI.

• Opportunities for Creators: Those who embrace AI will have a competitive edge, while those who resist may struggle to keep up.

Nat’s Tip: “The big differentiator will be whether you’re creating things or just following instructions. Creators will thrive in an AI-driven world.”

📖 Resources and Next Steps

Nat’s Vibe Coding Course

• Website: Build Your Own Apps

• What You’ll Learn: The course starts with simple projects and gradually builds up to more complex apps, helping you master Vibe Coding with Cursor AI.

• Peter Yang’s YouTube for more great content and how-tos.

🎙️ Final Thoughts

Nat Eliason’s approach to Vibe Coding and AI-driven creativity offers a glimpse into the future of work and innovation and it’s something ALL PMs and Founders should be working with NOW.

Quick Recap of Key Lessons:

1. Vibe Coding: Use AI tools like Cursor to streamline app development and focus on creative problem-solving.

2. Debugging: Patience and persistence are essential for overcoming challenges in AI-driven workflows.

3. AI in Writing: Leverage AI for editing and feedback to improve your writing and iterate faster.

4. Future of Work: Creators who embrace AI will thrive, while those who resist may be left behind.

 🎥Watch the full episode here

📅Timestamps:

• (00:00) If you wake up and decide what to make, your job is safe

• (03:00) Building an AI blog to tweet content remixer with Cursor

• (12:58) YOLO mode: Let AI run wild on your code

• (23:32) The moment of truth: Getting the UI to work

• (27:01) Hooking up with Anthropic's API and security tips (

• 32:02) Success! From zero to working app

• (32:46) Adding one-click tweeting that just works

• (34:55) Nat's top tip for vibe coding

• (39:36) Will AI give us digital immortality?

• (41:04) How to use AI to edit an entire SciFi novel

• (44:07) Will AI tools wipe out creative jobs?

That’s a wrap.

As always, the journey doesn't end here!

Please share and let us know what you would like to see more or less of so we can continue to improve your Product Tapas. 🚀👋

Alastair 🍽️.