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 to another festive edition of Product Tapas. 🍲🎅

🔥 What's Hot on Today’s Menu?

📰 Not Boring: From Adobe and Figma's halted deal to the explosive growth of Meta’s AI-powered Raybans, we’re serving a platter of the hottest tech stories. 🌐🔍

🎄 Festive GPTs and Time-Savers: Today we're spicing things up with smart prompt engineering tips, perfect for decking your digital halls with efficiency and flair and links to ALTERN which helps you find what’s hot in AI products right now. 🤖🍪

🎙️ Blog Bites: Dive into a smorgasbord of knowledge today featuring Elena Verna's rich growth tactics and the juciest picks from Lenny's Newsletter 2023. 🌟📚

Let’s dig in! 🚀👇🍽️

📰 Not boring

• Not surprised but still scores highly on the oof meter - Adobe, Figma shelve $20 bln deal after hitting regulatory roadblocks

• EU opens formal DSA investigation into X (nee Twitter) to probe into the spread of illegal and deceptive disinformation

• Flipboard pivots to ActivityPub; if you have a Flipboard account, you’ll soon have an account everywhere in the open social web

• Apple Watch Series 9 sales to be halted over patent dispute

• Plot twist: Consulting firm Deloitte is reportedly using AI to prevent layoffs

• Meta’s AI powered Raybans are on fire on socials

  View more →

📰 Time-Saving Tools & GPTs

1. Maximize GPT-4's Potential with Smart Prompt Engineering

   • Clear Instructions: Be specific and clear; detail your format and content preferences for precise responses.

   • Reference Texts: Supply relevant texts for more accurate, less fabricated answers.

   • Simplify Complex Tasks: Break down intricate tasks into smaller, manageable ones for better accuracy.

   • Time for Thought: Encourage 'thinking' or 'chain of thought' processes in responses for more reliable outcomes.

   • Use External Tools: Augment model capabilities with tools for tasks like calculations or data retrieval.

   • Systematic Testing: Regularly evaluate changes against a comprehensive test suite for consistent improvements.

   • Tactical Approaches: Each strategy includes practical tactics, empowering you to experiment and optimize your prompts.

   Explore these strategies in-depth at OpenAI's Guide on Prompt Engineering.

2. What AI App is hot today? Find it in ALTERN

3. 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

🌟 “My favourite go-to growth tactics” - Elena Verna

To be clear - that’s the title of Elena Verna’s article we’re summarising below as opposed to our view (although they’re very good!). It’s a great one packed with actionable tactics to help drive product growth.

📖 Read the full article here 

📆 Published: 14th December 2023

⏱️ Reading Time: <1 minute. Time Saved 5 minutes 🔥

What's The Buzz? 🐝 

Elena Verna, a growth expert, shares her favourite growth tactics in her article, "My favourite go-to growth tactics." These strategies are designed for sustainable, predictable, and competitively defensible growth, crucial for long-term success.

What's The Big Deal? 🌟 

Key takeaways from Verna's insights include:

1. Profiling in Onboarding: Tailoring user experience by understanding different customer personas through profiling questions during onboarding, enhancing activation, conversion, and retention rates.

2. Implementing Reverse Trials in Freemium: Combining the trial and freemium models to boost user engagement and conversion rates.

3. Focus on Monetisation Awareness: Ensuring customers are aware of what's available in higher-tier plans through effective UI and communication strategies.

4. Improving Load Times: Enhancing user experience and conversion rates by ensuring key web pages and features load quickly.

These tactics are effective yet often overlooked, providing a fresh perspective on growth strategies.

Why Should You Care? 💡

Implementing these tactics can significantly impact your business's growth trajectory. They offer practical, actionable insights that can be tailored to your unique business needs, boosting customer engagement, conversion rates, and overall revenue.

What To Do With This Information 🔗 

Consider integrating these tactics into your 2024 growth strategy. Assess your current growth model and identify areas where these approaches can be applied. Focus on customer understanding, the user experience, and operational efficiency to maximize growth potential.

If you’re seriously interested rad the full article to fine out more 👇

📖 Read the full article here 

The Best of Lenny’s Newsletter 2023

I couldn’t go without dropping this one in here. There’s almost no point me summarising this as you’re going to need to read the post, bookmark it and return to it over and over as it’s such a useful source of information.

That said, some of you may not have seen it - so I’ve included it on the off-chance that it’s passed you by…

📖 Read the full article here 

What's The Buzz? 🐝 

Lenny Rachinsky has compiled his end-of-year cream of the crop of his podcasts and newsletters. This comprehensive collection of the best articles and podcast episodes from the past year is extremely handily organised by specific needs and interests to refer back to time and time again.

What's The Big Deal? 🌟 

Highlights include:

1. Product Skills Development: Articles and podcasts focusing on honing product skills, including strategies, frameworks, and expert insights.

2. Product Growth: Strategies for growing products, covering SEO, content-driven growth, B2B and B2C growth, and more.

3. Startup Scaling Advice: Guides for kickstarting and scaling B2B, B2C, and marketplace businesses, along with fundraising insights.

4. Managing Stress: Resources addressing stress and overwhelm in professional settings.

5. Accelerating PM Careers: Tips for advancing product management careers, including effective habits and career growth strategies.

6. Learning from Top Companies: Insights on how leading companies like Duolingo, Shopify, and Stripe operate and build products.

7. Leadership Improvement: Guides on becoming a better leader, managing performance reviews, and nurturing innovation.

8. Industry Benchmarks: Valuable benchmarks for various industry metrics like retention rates and churn.

9. Hiring and Interviewing Tips: Strategies for successful hiring and interviewing, particularly in product management.

10. Enhancing Pricing Strategies: Advice on pricing SaaS products and monetizing innovations.

11. Sales Skills Enhancement: Tips for founder-led sales, hitting revenue targets, and crafting effective sales pitches.

Why Should You Care? 💡 

I mean do I need to write this? Look at the list above 😂 - if there’s nothing of interest there, please reach out - I would like to speak with you as you must be exceptional ;)

What To Do With This Information 🔗 

Bookmark it, go back and read it and listen to them. Or tell me which you want a summary of and we’ll do the most requested!

Best Reviews make it into the hall of fame to be included in follow-up emails!

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. This one will cap out so be fast if interested!

Packed with useful tags, product and usage details to help you find the best GPT for the job! [web users see newsletter for link]👇

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 🍽️.