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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.

If you’ve been forwarded this or just fancy the best reading (and listening!) experience, check out the mobile app or web version. You can sign up and check previous editions here.

What’s sizzling this week? 🧑‍🍳

This week’s not boring highlights of the week are Intercom’s new Fin2 chatbot that’s one step closer to AI agents in the wild doing actual useful stuff, two new research tools that supposedly automate the whole process and SpaceX showing off jaw-dropping rocket recovery tech. Whilst from time-saving tools there’s a slew of options that can transform everything from your SEO game to your product documentation workflows.

🍔 Blog Bites – This week’s must-reads cover the success stories of remote-first companies scaling globally, a toolkit for rapid product validation without breaking the bank, and why sticking rigidly to plans could be killing your startup.

🎙️ Pod Shots – A spotlight on Alex Komoroske’s unconventional product wisdom, from thinking like a gardener to organising teams like slime mould. This one’s full of metaphors and fresh approaches you won’t want to miss!

Plenty to get stuck into – off we go! 🚀

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📰 Not boring

• TikTok owner ByteDance launches US$170 earbuds in China in push into AI wearables

• AMD launches AI chip to rival Nvidia’s Blackwell

  • But also forms the x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group with it’s rival Intel to accelerate innovation for developers and customers

• Google tests showing full recipes right in search results

• Youtube announces sleep timer to help you fall asleep watching videos and have them automatically pause after a certain time.

• SpaceX tells FCC it has a plan to make Starlink about 10 times faster

• Instagram’s latest feature is a digital business card for your profile

• Jensen Huang says he wants Nvidia to be a company with 100 million AI assistants

• Airtable launches ProductCentral taking on Jira to unify your entire product development

• Adobe announces “Project Concept“, an AI Mood-board for the early stages of product design

• Quno.ai demo’d its market research on AI. Ai bots call customers, conduct research then write up the results. No biggie…. 🤯. As I went to press, I saw a similar product from Strella.io. Pretty wild if they can pull this off

• Stripe reintegrates crypto payments in the US

• Apple introduces powerful new iPad mini built for Apple Intelligence

• Cheaper Apple Vision headset rumored to cost $2000, arriving in 2026

• Dario Amodei (Anthropic CEO) gives his views on the future of AI

• Intercom announced “Fin2”. the second iteration of its customer service AI agent. With its 3rd party integrations (e.g. to Stripe) it’s one step closer to proper AI agents in the wild doing actual useful stuff.

• For something different. Watch this. 

  • “It’s pretty crazy that AI generated video is this good already. In the near future, all media-moats are gone, and authenticity, creativity & story telling skills will be all that matters, because you won’t need filming, actors, sets or special effects.”

• And finally, in case you were living under a rock. Space X caught it’s self-landing rocket. Madness.

 Want even more news?? View more here →

⌚️ Time-Saving Tools & GPTs

• Slite: knowledge base tool aimed at creating beautiful documentation, hassle-free adoption, and AI-powered search from day one

• Basedash: Connect your database. Get an admin panel. Basedash is an AI-generated interface to visualise, edit, and explore your data

• Lychee: Slick charts from your spreadsheet data

• Rankfast: SEO on the cheap. 10x more affordable tool for analysing all backlinks, keywords, and top pages of any website. Analyse competitors' websites and craft a superior SEO strategy to improve your rankings.

• Zaplify: Sales tool to identify key decision makers, reach out automatically, and get actionable insights

• Askpot: Make competitive analysis and market scans 5x faster

🍔 Blog Bites - Essential Reads for Product Teams

Case Study: The Most Successful Remote First Companies

Whilst Amazon recently hit the headlines by announcing everyone needs to go back to the office 5 days per week. This recent article from Bill Kerr highlights successful remote-first companies like Deel, Wiz, Zapier, and Coinbase, showing how remote work has allowed them to scale rapidly and attract global talent.

He emphasises that remote work can boost employee flexibility, create dynamic work environments, and foster innovation. Companies like Atlassian and Airbnb, which offer flexible work models, are also reshaping traditional office dynamics, showing that the future of work is becoming more decentralised.

Toolkit: 18 Experiments to Test a New Product Idea (without losing millions of $)

This short piece from Pawel Huryn is a super handy guide covering 14 quick product validation experiments (e.g., email campaigns, paid ads, fake doors) to test value propositions, viability, and messaging.

It also highlights 4 minimal product experiments (e.g., Concierge, Wizard of Oz) that offer customer value without the full cost of product development. The focus is on validating learning with minimal effort. Avoid relying solely on opinions or data from others, and don't build a full product just to test an idea.

Planning: Non-Obvious Behaviours that Will Kill Your Startup

In his latest post, Andy Vandervell lists a number of “non-obvious behaviours that will kill your startup”. There’s 8 decent takes but I’ve chosen to focus on the 5th about planning.

Andy emphasises that successful execution is not about rigidly following plans, but about delivering what users actually need. A team at PostHog planned to create a new pricing model for experiments but pivoted when they realized it wasn’t user-driven. Instead, they delivered a revamped UI that increased user satisfaction and usage. The lesson: focus on delivering impactful solutions, not just following pre-set plans.

Whilst I actually think this particular advice is blindingly obvious, it never ceases to amaze me that people don’t always work in this way.

Why It Matters: Sticking rigidly to plans can overlook real user needs and reduce impact.

Bottom Line: Success is measured by results, not adherence to plans.

Applying It: Regularly reassess priorities and ship what matters to users, not just quarterly goals.

🎙️ Pod Shots - Bitesized Podcast Summaries

In product management, we often default to familiar strategies: create a plan, execute, iterate. But what if we turned that approach upside down? What if, instead of trying to build things from the ground up, we cultivated them—like a gardener? And what if, instead of managing teams in rigid structures, we thought of them as slime mold—adaptive, self-organising, and constantly growing?

This recent Lenny’s Pod is another banger. Alex Komoroske reels off great analogy one after the other including his concepts of gardening vs. building, slime mould-inspired team organisation, and using the “adjacent possible” to drive innovation. If you’re a founder or product manager looking for fresh approaches, this one’s for you.

⚒️ Thinking like a Gardener, Organising Teams like Slime Mould, and Other Unconventional Product Advice

🎥Watch the full episode here

📆 Published: October 3rd, 2024

🕒 Estimated Reading Time: 3 mins. Time saved: 80 mins🔥

🌱 Think Like a Gardener, Not a Builder

Most of us are familiar with the builder mindset: you make a plan, execute it, and adjust as needed. It’s effective, but Komoroske argues it can also limit the potential for something truly innovative. The gardener mindset, by contrast, allows you to plant seeds, nurture growth, and let ideas evolve naturally over time.

He frames this as “farming for miracles.” The idea is that instead of trying to force a specific outcome, you allow multiple possibilities to grow and see what flourishes. This way, you're not locked into a rigid structure, but are able to nurture projects that may surprise you with their growth.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Don’t try to control every aspect of product development. Instead, cultivate ideas and let them grow organically.

• Embrace uncertainty. A gardener doesn’t always know which seeds will sprout, but tends to them all.

• Focus on compounding growth. Look for projects that, if successful, will grow exponentially.

🧠 Organize Your Teams Like Slime Mould

Komoroske draws an another unusual comparison between team organisation and slime mould—a single-cell organism that can solve complex problems without centralised control. In many organisations, leadership tries to act like a “builder,” forcing teams into hierarchical structures. But as organisations grow, this structure can become cumbersome and stifling.

In contrast, slime mould operates more fluidly, adapting to changes in its environment and collaborating in an emergent, decentralised manner. Komoroske suggests that product teams should embrace this adaptability, allowing for decentralised decision-making and flexibility.

This is especially effective in fast-growing tech environments where creativity and autonomy can drive innovation far more effectively than rigid top-down management.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Allow for decentralised decision-making within your teams. Empower individuals to take ownership of their work.

• Focus on adaptability rather than rigid processes. Encourage teams to be flexible and respond to changes quickly.

• Build trust across the organisation. Like slime mould, teams work best when they can rely on shared goals without needing constant oversight.

🚪 The Adjacent Possible: Unlocking Innovation through Constraints

Often, when founders and product managers think of innovation, they imagine big, bold leaps—creating something completely novel from scratch. Whilst that can yield good results, real innovation frequently happens at the edges of what’s possible, in adjacent spaces.

Komoroske’s concept of the adjacent possible is about exploring the next logical step that builds on existing technology, resources, or constraints. Instead of trying to leap too far ahead, it’s about making incremental progress that compounds over time, creating an environment for unexpected breakthroughs.

The beauty of the adjacent possible is that it reduces risk while maintaining the potential for major rewards. Each small step opens new doors, allowing you to pivot and explore new possibilities without betting the farm on any one idea.

🔑 Key Takeaways for Founders & Product Managers:

• Don’t always try to innovate in one giant leap. Instead, explore adjacent areas where small changes can unlock big potential.

• Use constraints as a guide. They’re not limitations—they’re opportunities to focus and innovate within a manageable scope.

• Think long-term but act incrementally. Small, strategic moves compound over time.

🎯 Other Unconventional Product Advice

Beyond the big metaphors of gardening, slime mould, and the adjacent possible, Komoroske also offers practical advice for founders and product managers navigating today’s tech landscape:

• Taste Matters: In a world where AI can churn out generic products, having a distinct perspective or taste can set your product apart. Develop your own sense of what is compelling and lean into that. It’s not just about execution; it’s about standing out in a sea of sameness.

• Foster Emergence: Instead of trying to control every outcome, create the conditions for emergent behaviour. This means allowing your teams the freedom to experiment, fail, and iterate without micromanagement.

• Strategic Playfulness: Don’t shy away from playful, seemingly non-serious approaches. Sometimes, the best ideas come from spaces where you’re not taking things too seriously. Create environments (like Komoroske’s “strategy salons”) where people can engage in low-stakes, high-reward brainstorming.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Cultivate your team’s “taste” to ensure your product stands out in the market.

• Encourage experimentation and be open to ideas that may seem unconventional at first.

• Use playful environments to brainstorm and test ideas without fear of failure.

🔮 Embracing the Magic of the Unknown

In today’s tech world, we’re conditioned to chase efficiency, scalability, and measurable results. But as Komoroske’s advice highlights, sometimes the most transformative ideas don’t fit neatly into a spreadsheet. The gardener’s mindset, the flexibility of slime mould, and the adjacent possible all point to a deeper truth: great products often come from embracing uncertainty, exploring the edges of what’s possible, and trusting that the right seeds will take root.

As a founder or product manager, your job isn’t just to build—it’s to nurture, adapt, and create environments where innovation can thrive in unexpected ways. So, plant those seeds, organise your teams like slime mould, and explore the adjacent possible. Who knows what might bloom?

Want to know more quickly? Just ask the episode below [web only]👇️🤯
or if you prefer, 🎥Watch the full episode here

📅Timestamps:

• [00:01:32] Gardening mindset vs. builder mindset.

• [00:03:20] Self-reflection through note-taking.

• [00:08:05] Deep thinking requires intentional space.

• [00:10:32] AI's impact on product development.

• [00:15:02] Curiosity and play in AI.

• [00:17:09] The importance of individual taste.

• [00:19:18] AI's individual impact on work.

• [00:23:25] Organizational kayfabe in organizations.

• [00:25:53] Organizational communication challenges.

• [00:30:16] Acknowledging organizational dysfunctions.

• [00:32:02] Building versus gardening mindset.

• [00:35:03] Designing for emergence vs. control.

• [00:36:46] Team empowerment and growth.

• [00:39:21] Treating Everyone Like the Buddha.

• [00:44:53] Slime molds in organizations.

• [00:46:27] Ideas resonating with diverse audiences.

• [00:50:10] Collaborative debate environment.

• [00:52:21] Community building strategies.

• [00:56:16] Productivity through self-awareness.

• [00:59:11] Community engagement dynamics.

• [01:01:53] Energy and pride in actions.

• [01:03:52] Hallmark card fallacy insights.

• [01:08:04] The adjacent possible concept.

• [01:10:13] North Star for product development.

• [01:14:09] Happiness is reality minus expectations.

• [01:17:24] Impact of The Green Knight.

• [01:19:43] Happiness and reality expectations.

• [01:22:19] Disruptive technology and creativity.

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 🍽️.