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.

Hello, Product fans!

Welcome back I hope you enjoyed the break. I’ve eaten my fill of turkey, the guests have left and so I figured there was just time to squeeze one more serving of Product Tapas in before 2023 is done. 🌮

What’s on the menu 🧑‍🍳 ?

📰 Not Boring News: From cutting-edge AI breakthroughs to pivotal market shifts, we're bringing you a selection of the hottest topics in tech. Stay tuned for insights on Xiaomi's electrifying EV venture and the latest about streaming media giants feeling the heat. 📈🌍

🤖 GPT & Tool Time: Discover the latest AI advancements shaping the product world. Explore tools like Kombai for design-to-code magic and Tally for creating smart, versatile forms (for free!). 💻🚀

🍔 Blog Bites: Delve into how to choose your startup and what to consider if you’re looking to make the move to an interim role. Plus of course, we couldn’t end without a quick overview of some of the trends forecast for 2024 from various Product thought leaders. 🌟

Finally - we wouldn’t be here without you and your input really does help shape Product Tapas! So please let us know what you want more (or less) of to make this newsletter your go-to resource for all things product.

And of course, please also share widely. We had our largest week of growth just last week all thanks to you! 📣👥

Let's jump in 🚀👇

📰 Not boring

• 4-year campaign hacked iPhones using possibly the most advanced exploit ever

• Apple can temporarily sell smartwatches again after US appeals court win

• Shakeout has begun’ after $5bn streaming loss for Netflix rivals Disney+, Warner, Comcast & Paramount

• LinkedIn ad prices rise 10% as advertisers leave Elon Musk’s X

• Xiaomi Unveils Its First EV, With Ambition to Be China’s Porsche or Tesla 👀 

• Affirm’s stock up 4x this year, beating all tech peers, on Buy-Now-Pay Later boom and deal with Amazon

• Have a face-to-face chat to Chat GPT with Chat.D-ID- an app that puts a face to your AI chatbot

• Using AI, MIT researchers identify a new class of antibiotic candidates

  View more →

📰 Time-Saving Tools & GPTs

1. Kombai is an AI model that you can prompt with designs instead of text. Once you drop in the design it will generate high-quality, usable code from it.

2. Craft a form for any task for free with Tally. It has smart features such as conditional logic and calculations too for ultimate flexibility.

3. Declutter your inbox in minutes with Inbox Zero an open-source email app that puts you back in control.

4. Product Manager Expert - The PM Sage 📊🔮

   • This GPT helps product managers with their daily tasks. It offers expertise across the board, from strategy development to user experience.

   • Sample Conversations:

     "I need advice on developing a market strategy for a new software product. What are the key factors I should consider?"

     "How can I improve the user experience of my mobile app to increase customer retention?"

5. Kraftful - The Product Development Coach 🛠️💡

   • Kraftful serves as a product development coach, offering insights from top product gurus. It's a guide for best practices in product.

   • Sample Conversations:

     "What are the best practices for product development in the context of IoT devices?"

     "I need guidance on incorporating user feedback effectively into product iterations."

6. Product Tapas Product Audit tool: Our own comprehensive Product Management Audit tool 👀 👀 👀 allows you to thoroughly evaluate your organisation’s end-to-end product management practice, by gauging Product Maturity across four key areas:

   1. Strategy & Principles

   2. Execution & Delivery

   3. Team Capabilities

   4. Data-Driven Insights

   Featuring 19 targeted questions, this audit tool generates a dynamic visual output making it easy to pinpoint strengths versus development areas.

   Tailored recommendations then provide clear direction on reaching the next level of product management maturity and help facilitate productive prioritisation conversations with cross-functional partners.

   The full spreadsheet tool equips you to independently conduct audits while accessing the GPT version simplifies the process further. Drive organisation-wide product excellence through objective assessment.

   Sound interesting? Snag your free copy just by bringing 5 friends to our Product Tapas family using the link below [web users see newsletter for link] 🚀👇

🍔 Blog Bites

🌟 How to Choose a Startup

Another from Dan Hokenmaier covering a neat framework to you can use if you’re looking to choose a startup to work at.

📖 Read the full article here 

📆 Published: December 204, 2023 ⏱️ Reading Time: <1 Minute - Time saved 4 mins 🔥 

What's The Buzz? 🐝

Dan Hockenmaier offers insights into choosing a startup, highlighting common pitfalls and proposing a structured approach to evaluate potential opportunities. He suggests focusing on various key factors including the business stage, team quality, metrics, roles, and compensation.

What's The Big Deal? 🌟 

Hockenmaier details a "hierarchy of needs" for selecting a startup, stressing the importance of understanding several key factors (in rank order):

1. Business Stage: Understanding the startup's phase (Pre-product fit, Post-product fit, Early growth, Late growth, Scale) to align with personal goals and risk tolerance.

2. Team Quality: Evaluating the team's integrity, intelligence, energy, and founders' characteristics to ensure a successful and fulfilling working environment.

3. Metrics: Key metrics like retention, growth rate, unit economics, and payback period are essential to gauge the startup's health and potential

4. Role: Opt for roles that leverage your strengths and expertise, and align with the company's needs. Flexibility is key in startup roles.

5. Compensation: A mix of salary and equity, indicative of the startup's stage and how they value your contribution.

   Why Should You Care? 💡 

Choosing the right startup can significantly impact your career trajectory. Understanding the nature of startups at different stages helps in aligning your skills and risk tolerance with the right opportunity, maximizing career growth and satisfaction.

What To Do With This Information 🔗 

If you’re looking to work at a startup (or already do) consider Hockenmaier's framework. His advice is grounded in understanding the inherent risks and rewards at different stages of a startup's life cycle and the importance of team dynamics and company culture. Assess the startup's stage, team quality, and culture. Reflect on your career goals and risk appetite to see if they’re aligned!

📖 Read the full article here 

⁉️ What it Means to be an Interim Leader

One for those considering doing interim roles instead of taking permanent positions. It’s got a US market bent, but offers good perspectives. Elena also mentions not many interim roles are advertised which is not the case here in the UK as there are specific agencies that can help with this. If you’re interested in finding out more, get in touch as I know a few decent contacts worth recommending.

📖 Read the full article here 

📆 Published: 22 Dec 2023 ⏱️ Reading Time: <1 minute. Time Saved: 4 minutes 🔥

What's The Buzz? 🐝 

Elena Verna's article serves as a comprehensive guide to interim leadership roles, offering valuable insights from her experiences in various interim positions, including at Miro, Netlify, Amplitude, and Dropbox.

What's The Big Deal? 🌟 

Key aspects of interim leadership covered in the article include:

1. Interim vs. Full-Time Roles: Interim leaders are like guest stars in a company, with a short-term, full-time, contract-based role for a specific purpose and time. Unlike full-time leaders, they focus on a particular objective and transition period, often during critical company phases.

2. Finding an Interim Role: She cites how these opportunities are rare on job boards but can be created by leveraging specific expertise [as per my intro, if you’re in the UK/Europe and want recommendations let me know]. Verna shares her experiences at companies like Miro and Dropbox, highlighting how specialised skills can lead to interim roles.

3. Structuring Interim Compensation: She covers the compensation differences between 1099 contractors and W2 employees (US market), emphasising the importance of negotiating a mix of cash and equity that reflects the absence of benefits in contractor roles.

4. Making Interims Successful: Success in interim roles hinges on quick impact, relationship-building, pattern matching, and effective succession planning. It's about validating company hypotheses quickly, building trust, and ensuring a smooth transition to the next leader (which are all spot on). 🚀

Why Should You Care? 💡 

Understanding interim roles is crucial for professionals exploring flexible, impactful career paths in dynamic industries like tech. And from what I can see, more of us seem to be looking for increased flexibility in our roles.

If you are considering interim leadership roles, use this article as a resource to understand the nuances of such positions. Assess your expertise and market value, strategise how to find and negotiate these roles, and plan for impactful and successful stints in interim capacities.

📖 Read the full article here 

🙀 What Will 2024 Hold For Product Leaders

Well, we couldn’t end the year without linking to a final prediction to the year ahead. We’ve turned to trusty faves Mind the Product to see what they are predicting for us. Read on to find out 👇️ 

📆 Published: 27th December 2023 ⏱️ Reading Time: <1 minute. Time Saved: 3 minutes 🔥

📖 Read the full article here 

What's The Buzz? 🐝 

The future of product management in 2024 is explored in an article featuring insights from various experts and leaders in the field, discussing the evolving role of product managers amidst advancements in AI, shifts in business focus, and the changing landscape of product development.

What's The Big Deal? 🌟

Key predictions for product managers in 2024 include:

1. Continued AI Integration: Enhanced data-driven decision-making and innovative AI tools will become more prevalent in product management. Seems like a safe bet….! 🚀 

2. Focus on Product Thinking Skills: Successful product managers will be those who thoughtfully apply AI to solve real problems, rather than using AI as just a buzzword. ❓️ 

3. Reduction in Duplication Efforts: As AI tools mature, product teams will focus more on unique problems, potentially leading to innovative combinations of AI tools for user solutions. 💡 

4. Thoughtful Application of AI: Differentiating between superficial and truly value-adding AI applications will be crucial, akin to the principles of the Kano model. 🤖 

5. Shifting to Impact and Profitability: A move from focusing on outputs to outcomes and impact, with a greater emphasis on profitability and reducing development waste. 💵 

6. Existential Debate and Role Evolution: Ongoing debates about the necessity of the product manager role, with an emphasis on justifying their value in organisations. 💀 

7. Blending of Roles: Expectations for product managers to blend skills from multiple disciplines, especially in AI and design. 🤹 

8. Maturation of the Product Career Path: An increase in accessible product resources and a more defined career path, leading to more diverse product management. 🗺️ 

Why Should You Care? 💡 

As a product manager, someone in a related field or just interested in getting into product, understanding these trends is crucial for adapting to the rapidly changing landscape, leveraging new technologies effectively, and ensuring continued professional relevance and growth.

📖 Read the full article here 

Please, one last thing - share the love!

• ONE: Get one person to sign up and get access to our curated selection of Product GPTs; handpicked from our review of over 15,000 GPTs (and counting)

• FIVE: Send this to five people who sign up and get our free Product Maturity Audit

• TEN: Get three 1:1 coaching/mentoring sessions with me.

That’s a wrap.

As always, the journey doesn't end here! Keep exploring, keep questioning, and most importantly, keep growing in your product journey. Until our next issue, keep savouring the bites of wisdom we've shared. 🚀👋

Alastair & the Product Tapas Team 🍽️.