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!

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 cooking this week? 🧑‍🍳

📰 Not Boring – DeepSeek is shaking up Silicon Valley, matching OpenAI’s 021 model on a shoestring budget (despite US sanctions). Samsung’s latest phones are all about AI, with personalised assistants and seamless multimodal features. Meanwhile, AI agents are everywhere – OpenAI’s Operator can browse the web, Block’s Goose is speeding up engineering workflows, and Google’s Deep Research is taking on Perplexity. Oh, and did we mention the first-ever data centre on the Moon? 🌙

⌚ Productivity Tapas – 🔥 PREMIUM ALERT! 🔥 This week's enhanced section features a complete guide to prototyping with Bolt - perfect for turning ideas into working apps in minutes - with a full step by step guide.

Want to see what the fuss is about? Try Premium FREE for 3 months - limited time offer!

Of course, we also have our regular roundup including a tool for AI-narrated videos, automated smart lead generation from socials, another great LLM aggregator and more.

🍔 Blog Bites – Dive into honest startup failure lessons, master the art of login codes, and discover how flight booking UX subtly influences our choices. Three meaty reads packed with practical insights for product teams.

🎙️ Pod Shots – VRChat's CPO Chandra Janakiraman breaks down his Operator's Guide to Product Strategy, sharing a super-practical five-step process that’ll provide food for thought for founders and product pros alike.

Plenty to get stuck into - off we go! 🚀

📰 Not boring

• In case you were living under a rock, DeepSeek gets Silicon Valley talking. Seemingly matching OpenAI’s 021 model on a fraction of the budget whilst facing US sanctions. Unsure on what’s true or not, but it’s a mighty impressive model nonetheless and that US chip ban doesn’t really seem to be having much effect…

  • Seems those “plain GPT wrappers” may actually have the edge now as opposed to betting on the single underlying LLM 🤔 

• Some interesting highlights from the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event last week

  • AI21st phones at same price point as last year (12GB ram, AI snapdragon chips, 6m of Gemini Advanced

  • Personalised AI - takes in data from several apps and personalises home screen

  • Fully multimodal - Gemini works seamlessly across apps e.g. ask assistant to find details about an upcoming premier league game, invite your mate and add to calendar

  • Share your screen via video feed with Gemini for help

• Block launches open-source AI agent Goose to help engineers speed up productivity allowing connections to tools like Google Drive, GitHub etc.

• Elon Musk’s X begins its push into financial services with Visa deal

• As expected OpenAI launched Operator an agent that can control a web browser and independently perform certain actions

  • Whilst a European startup Convergence seems to do the same thing for 10% of the cost…

• Perplexity AI revises Tiktok merger proposal that could give the U.S. government a 50% stake

  • Hot on the heels of Sonar, Perpelexity AI has announced Sonar Reasoning. Another API this time powered by the hot potato that is DeepSeek’s reasoning

  • Oh and if that wasn’t enough there’s now a native Perplexity AI app on Android. These guys SHIP 🚢 

• Not to be outdone, Google rolls out Android 16 Beta 1 for Pixel including live update functionality for those building ride sharing, food delivery, navigation apps etc…

  • Plus Google Sheets can now do more complex analysis such as better insights from data and turning into visual charts thanks to its Gemini integration

  • And they’ve announced Deep Research an agent that helps you “create comprehensive research reports on the go” (a la perplexity)

• Whilst we’re talking research, Anthropic has added a new Citations API to add references to Claude searches

• Amazon is starting drone deliveries in the UK

• "Move 37" is the word-of-week - it's when an AI, trained via the trial-and-error process of reinforcement learning, discovers actions that are new, surprising, and secretly brilliant even to expert humans. Read more here

• First-ever data centre on the Moon set to launch next month. What?

Seeking impartial news? Meet 1440.

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⌚️ Productivity Tapas

Small bites. Big impact.

Time for your second helping of The Productivity Tapas deeper dive.

🚨 From Idea to App in Minutes: The Complete Guide to Prototyping with Bolt🚨

What if you could transform your product ideas into fully functional apps in just minutes—without writing a single line of code? For Product Managers and Founders, speed is everything. Whether you're validating ideas, pitching to stakeholders, or testing solutions with customers, faster execution means faster results.

That’s where Bolt comes in. Think of it as ChatGPT, but for building apps. This AI-powered tool lets you create full-stack web apps from simple prompts, making it a game-changer for:

• Rapid prototyping

• Concept validation

• Stakeholder presentations

• Quick internal tools

Why You’ll Love Bolt:

• Showcase Ideas Faster: Skip the lengthy docs and static mockups—build a working prototype in minutes to share with your dev team.

• Test with Real Users: Validate ideas with interactive prototypes and gather feedback before committing resources.

• Impress Stakeholders: Spin up dashboards, demos, or admin tools that look polished and professional.

Want the Full Walkthrough?
In the complete guide, I’ll show you step-by-step how to go from idea to deployment, including advanced prompting techniques, real-world examples, and pro tips to get the most out of Bolt. Click below to find out more 👇️ 

⌚️ Productivity Tapas: Time-Saving Tools

• Video Llama: Create narrated videos in minutes with AI

• Opencord AI: 24/7 Social Media Lead Generation; AI Agent that continuously finds the right customers and personalises interactions

• UPDF AI: Summarise, translate & create mind-maps from PDFs in the browser

• Basedash: Business Intelligence; create beautiful charts and dashboards to understand your customers and business using natural language

• Infunzu: Another AI aggregator that automatically finds which AI model to use for every request (fyi I use and highly recommend abacus.ai )

• Coval: Simulation and evals for voice and chat agents

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 below to access 👇️ .

🍔 Blog Bites - Essential Reads for Product Teams

Failure: I am (not) a Failure: Lessons Learned From Six (and a half) Failed Startup Attempts

As all good founders and product people know, understanding the lessons behind failed ventures is as valuable as celebrating successes. But it isn’t always easy to get them out there. In this piece, Ron Garret reflects on six (and a half) failed startups and an unfulfilled academic career, sharing lessons on timing, execution, partnerships, and resilience. Despite these failures, he finds happiness in the person he's become and the life he's built.

"I learned a lot. I grew a lot. And I think my current happiness stems mainly from the fact that I like the person I've become, someone who can fail again and again and still find a way to be happy." [Ron Garret]

Design: The UX of Login Codes

Login codes are a critical touchpoint that users encounter repeatedly across services. Poor implementation can damage brand perception and user trust, while good implementation can differentiate a product in an increasingly security-conscious digital landscape

While login codes are currently necessary for security, their implementation often creates unnecessary friction. As Brad Frost covers in this article, the best experiences focus on prompt delivery, clear messaging, easy copy-paste functionality, and seamless integration with device capabilities.

Design: The UX Techniques That Make You Settle for Higher-Priced Flights

Double design whammy this week. But Peter Ramsay is back with another teardown which I wanted to share.

Understanding how flight booking interfaces use psychology and design to influence purchasing decisions is crucial for both users trying to get the best deals and product designers creating transparent, user-friendly experiences, whatever the sector you operate in.

Flight booking platforms use sophisticated UX techniques including labour illusion, multi-session design, and strategic framing to influence user behaviour and pricing perception. The interface itself creates perceived value beyond just data presentation.

🎙️ 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 below 👇️ 

👷 An Operator’s Guide to Product Strategy with Chandra Janakiraman

Product strategy is often seen as a mysterious art—something only a select few are naturally good at. But according to Chandra Janakiraman, Chief Product Officer at VRChat and former product leader at Meta, Headspace, and Zynga, strategy isn’t about innate talent. It’s a skill anyone can master with the right framework.

In a recent conversation with Lenny, Chandra shared his Operator’s Guide to Product Strategy, a practical, repeatable five-step process for developing a winning strategy. Drawing from his experience and influences like Good Strategy, Bad Strategy and Playing to Win, Chandra’s approach is practical and usable so worth digging into for product leaders at any level.

 🎥Watch the full episode here

📆 Published: January 26th, 2025

🕒 Estimated Reading Time: 3 mins. Time saved: 94 mins🔥

🎯 What Is Product Strategy?

Chandra defines product strategy as the bridge between your mission/vision and your roadmap. It’s the process of making deliberate choices to deploy scarce resources for maximum impact.

A great strategy includes three key components:

1. Strategic pillars: A handful of areas to focus on.

2. Non-focus areas: Explicitly stating what you won’t focus on.

3. The “why”: Clear reasoning behind your choices.

Chandra uses the concept of resonance from physics to explain strategy: just as an object vibrates most when hit with the right frequency, a product achieves maximum impact when aligned with the right market opportunities.

Key Takeaways for Founders and PMs:

• Think of strategy as the “frequency” that aligns your product with the market.

• Focus on a few key areas (ideally three) to maximize clarity and impact.

• Clearly define what you won’t do and why—it’s just as important as what you will do.

🛠️ The Five-Step Process for Small-S Strategy

Chandra’s five-step process for “small-S” strategy focuses on solving immediate problems and operates on a 2-year horizon. It’s designed to be completed in 8–12 weeks and includes the following phases:

1. Preparation: Gather inputs like user insights, behavioural data, competitive analysis, and leadership interviews.

2. Strategy Sprint: Identify problems, cluster them into opportunities, and prioritise 3 strategic pillars.

3. Design Sprint: Create illustrative concepts to bring the strategy to life.

4. Document Writing: Weave the insights into a cohesive strategy document.

5. Rollout: Align stakeholders and communicate the strategy across the organisation.

Chandra emphasises the importance of spending time on preparation. “The quality of your output is determined by the quality of your input,” he says.

Key Takeaways for Founders and PMs:

• Dedicate 8–12 weeks to strategy development—it’s worth the investment.

• Involve a cross-functional working group (e.g., product, design, engineering, data) to ensure alignment.

• Use a structured process to move from problems to opportunities to strategic pillars.

🤔 Why Strategy Fails Without Alignment

One of the biggest reasons strategies fail is a lack of alignment. Chandra’s process builds alignment into every step by involving cross-functional teams and leadership early on.

For example, during the preparation phase, Chandra recommends conducting leadership interviews to understand what success looks like and uncover “pet ideas” that leaders might not otherwise share. This ensures the strategy reflects both team insights and leadership priorities.

Chandra also stresses the importance of defensibility. By documenting the criteria and reasoning behind your strategic choices, you can address challenges and maintain focus.

Key Takeaways for Founders and PMs:

• Engage leadership early to avoid surprises and build buy-in.

• Document your decision-making process to defend your strategy.

• Remember: alignment isn’t just about agreement—it’s about shared understanding.

🚀 Big-S Strategy: Thinking Beyond Problem-Solving

While small-S strategy focuses on solving immediate problems, big-S strategy is about imagining an aspirational future. It’s a more open-ended process that looks 5–10 years ahead and asks questions like:

• What does the world look like in 10 years if we succeed?

• Why is the world better because of our product?

• What’s the most exciting version of our vision?

Chandra’s big-S strategy process includes:

1. Preparation: Analyse long-term trends and conduct leadership interviews.

2. Futures: Develop 3 distinct visions of the future.

3. Prototypes: Create “concept cars” to explore these futures.

4. Testing: Validate ideas with users and refine them.

5. Integration: Combine insights into a roadmap that balances short-term and long-term goals.

At VRChat, Chandra runs small-S and big-S strategy processes in parallel, with product managers leading the former and designers leading the latter.

Key Takeaways for Founders and PMs:

• Use big-S strategy to inspire your team and think beyond incremental improvements.

• Balance short-term problem-solving with long-term vision.

• Involve creative thinkers in big-S strategy to explore bold, aspirational ideas.

🤖 How AI Can Supercharge Strategy

AI tools are already transforming how we approach strategy. Chandra highlights two key ways AI can assist:

1. Preparation: Use AI for competitive analysis, trend analysis, and synthesising user feedback. For example, AI can analyse competitor reviews or generate a heatmap of investment areas.

2. Mock Strategies: Ask AI tools like ChatGPT to generate draft strategies as a starting point. While these strategies can give interesting start position, it’s up to the team to refine and focus them.

Looking ahead, Chandra envisions a future where multi-agent AI systems handle complex strategy workflows, from generating ideas to testing them in real time.

Key Takeaways for Founders and PMs:

• Leverage AI for research and competitive analysis to save time.

• Use AI-generated mock strategies as inspiration, but apply human judgment to refine them.

• Stay curious about emerging AI tools—they’re only going to get better.

📝 Final Thoughts: Strategy Is a Team Sport

Chandra’s Operator’s Guide to Product Strategy is a super practical framework for building alignment, making tough choices, and driving impact. But as he reminds us, strategy is only as good as its execution. (Remember execution eats strategy for breakfast)

Whether you’re tackling small-S or big-S strategy, the key is to involve your team, test your assumptions, and stay adaptable. As Chandra puts it, “Ultimately, any strategy is only as good as the results it can produce.”

Key Takeaways for Founders and PMs:

• Strategy isn’t about perfection—it’s about progress.

• Involve your team and leadership to build alignment and buy-in.

• Test, iterate, and refine your strategy through execution.

 🎥Watch the full episode here

📅Timestamps:

• (00:00) Chandra’s background

• (04:47) The importance of strategy

• (12:40) Defining product strategy

• (15:42) Developing a winning strategy: an overview

• 18:51) The preparation phase

• (30:46) The strategy sprint process

• (45:51) The design sprint

• (51:19) Document writing

• (57:39) Rolling out your strategy

  (01:01:28) Resourcing and roadmapping

• (01:04:42) Strategy lessons from Zynga

• (01:11:34) Strategy lessons from Meta

• (01:15:55) Big S strategy

• (01:26:58) AI in strategy formulation

• (01:38:12) Final thoughts and lightning round

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 🍽️.