Mike Krieger

This resonated with me today: "“One flaw of designers (as people) is pretending faster is always better and quick always equals efficient. A fast pace can feel good and productive short-term, but there are many long-term consequences: losing productivity, overlooking important things, and undermining diversity. It is not efficient to move so fast that we exhaust ourselves, overlook the obvious, or break everything along the way, yet we often make that assumption.” It's from Assembling Tomorrow and I highly recommend the book. https://lnkd.in/gK43NueY

3

1 Comment

Build transparently. This is one of the core values at PDS Lab and now, theanna.io. A little anecdote before I explain what I'm going to do. When I got really into product development about 5-7 years ago, I became obsessed with people who built in public. I followed them on LinkedIn and always thought how helpful it was to learn from them. (ps. they were all men, I never saw a woman doing this) I'd watch these men talk about code mistakes and finding customers and then interact with people who had questions. And I would tell myself, one day I'm going to do that. I want other people to learn from me failing and doing things. It's fun when you feel like you're building with people. So fast forward to today, I started the lab to help women build. The way I led my core value of building transparently was just literally building alongside every founder at the lab. I'm doing it today. I'm learning from them, and hopefully, they feel like they're learning from me too. Now, at theanna.io, I'm about to embark on a 14ish week journey of building before launch. I've signed up for Customer.io and every single week, I will document my journey to the founders. I have never seen a woman do this, and I thought, why not me? I have nothing to lose here. Well, maybe I do. But who cares, we live once and I want to build a company in a way that feels very aligned with my personal goals and dreams. And that is... transparently. I want to share what I'm doing, how I'm making decisions, how I'm messing up, where I'm struggling, what I'm testing, everything. Because I know that if I do that, someone who hasn't been on the journey yet will learn something. Currently, I have 35% of my user base "aspiring" to be a tech founder. They're at the idea stage and I want to help them launch as fast as possible. And I know if I build transparently, it can help them! So, next week is "Week 1" building transparently to each of you on this list. Some would gasp I'm even showing this data to you.. but how will you know if there is any value in what I'm building if I'm not honest with you?! Let's go ladies, it's our time! -- I'm Nomiki - the founder of PDS Lab, a tech accelerator for women, and theanna.io, a data-driven network activating women tech founders from $0- $1M ARR. I'm on a mission to bring access to all women tech founders, close the gender gap, and support women build products that change the world. Follow me on my journey as a tech founder, accelerator builder, and mom of 4.

56

24 Comments

The newest issue of The Pragmatic Engineer found a surprise uptick in eng hiring in the typically slow summer season - I'm curious to see how the macro environment impacts this uptick as we head into the fall, but I remain hopeful. I asked Gemini to give me the tldr of the article to share with my team (sorry, Gergely Orosz) and found it missed one of the most interesting pieces of the article. Gemini's highlights - Unexpected surge: Tech recruitment has seen an unusual spike in June and July, contrary to typical trends. Increased demand: Startups, especially AI-focused ones, are driving the hiring uptick. Global phenomenon: This trend isn't just limited to the US; Europe is also experiencing increased recruitment activity. Reasons for hiring: Companies are backfilling positions, investing in growth due to improved financials, and responding to increased VC funding. Challenges remain: While the job market is improving, finding qualified candidates and offering competitive compensation remains difficult for many companies. What I found most interesting - The nature of the backfills: the article finds that a lot of new headcount are actually backfills of folks that were "over-slashed" during rounds of layoffs. Not entirely surprising with the "trim the fat" and "rebuild lean" mentality, but interesting nonetheless. Either way, the uptick is encouraging (and don't always rely on Gemini's tldrs). #hiring #startups #VCbacked #softwareengineering

11

1 Comment

I remember chatting with Steve Jobs when he would come to our office at IDEO with his most intractable design problems. He was so much more than the co-founder of Apple. He was the man who truly merged technology and design. The man who raised consumer expectations for thoughtfully made products. The man who gave users not what they asked for, but what upon seeing it, is what they wanted all along. His influence still looms large more than a dozen years after his passing. Even the staunchest critics of Apple can’t deny he helped shape the modern design and business world. We often ask: “What does it take to make the next Steve Jobs?” I interviewed dozens of designers, design scholars, entrepreneurs, and CEOs on the role of design in Silicon Valley. My research led me to identify five traits (what I call ‘Jobsian’ traits) that could shape the next great design-tech leader. If you want to be the next great leader in design-tech, this is *all* you need.

145

15 Comments

I have a similar bias to Marty Cagan - I'm a Scientist by training (PhD), but moved to Product after learning the ropes via an Entrepreneurship route. Is Product an Art or a Science? We at Iteraite think it should be made more into a Science. And one of the ways we're doing it is helping #ProductManagers create with the help of #AI (of course) and generate ideas. Here's what I can say from years of experience working with some of the most brilliant people at places like University of California, Berkeley and various companies: Many people may be "brilliant", but have very low #creativity - which is something we usually associate with "Art". So what happens if you're a PM, and you have a low Creativity capability? Or are highly Creative, but don't know how to do things in a rigorous manner? That's where AI-Frameworks really shine - doing things Methodically can help both creative people become more scientific (use rigorous approaches, utilize data, etc), whereas it can help spark the creativity in those who lack it by helping them think and sift through ideas that the AI generates. You can try out some of our tools for free by logging into iteraite.com and using the free access code FreePRD2024 to help you generate ideas (we have better tools in the paid version, like OST).

1

⚡New news - new gig - new product ⚡  Thrilled to announce my reunion with April Alexander, Sasha Aickin, and Jamie DeMichele, esteemed colleagues and old friends, as we embark on a journey to pioneer AI development tools for the future. Yes, you heard it right – AI for AI. It's meta, it's recursive, and it's incredibly exhilarating. Back in the early startup mode, Libretto has just emerged from stealth, and we're eager to invite pioneers like you to try us out. 🎥 Check out our 2 minute Libretto demo on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gPitCe7F If you're immersed in LLM prompt engineering and passionate about maximizing prompt efficiency for optimal outputs (think measurable optimizations!), we're currently inviting select individuals to join our closed beta. Sign up now in less than 2 minutes at getlibretto.com to be among the first to experience the future of AI development. I'm also on the lookout for developers, PMs, and product innovators who are integrating LLMs into their projects and shaping AI strategy with real-world product use cases, regardless of scale. Let's dive deep into UX research together and geek out over the possibilities. Drop me a DM if you're keen to connect and discuss any of the above! 🌟 (Midjourney rendering for attention) 🌟 - Exploring tools of the future from my ongoing series on world printing. Imagine molecular design at a planetary scale.

96

16 Comments

Thrilled to finally announce WattBot — what I’ve been working on for the past year and plan to work on for many, many more. Since 2018 I’ve felt that the most present danger to humanity is climate destruction (aka “change”). Most frustratingly within this abstract danger lies our inability to deploy *existing* climate solutions, and quickly. But whether it’s convincing farmers to plant cover crops or consumers to go solar, I’ve learned that deployment is mostly an issue of education, motivation, and facilitation. Fortunately these are things software can help with, and quickly (see https://lnkd.in/gc4FnCtB). I was lucky enough to meet Dhanur Grandhi in 2023, at a time when we both felt an urge to pursue a similar idea: a software company that could solve deployment for residential solar. How? Well, the way solar is sold in this country leaves trust to be desired. As a result, one third of what you pay for home solar goes towards a massive sales apparatus: around $8,000 on average. This is a number we want to drive toward $0, making the process of going solar cheaper and more enjoyable for consumers. At WattBot, we are excited to: 1. Build tools for solar installers to 10x their growth in a matter of years 2. Use great design to make software this industry has never seen before 3. Build upon the shoulders of giants, and partner with the best out there 4. Focus on profit over valuation We’re starting with our first product, Yellow Page — a free reputation amplifier to help the top 5% of solar installers compete on track record instead of price. We’re truly honored that incredible businesses like Good Faith Energy and Transform Solar are already using their pages in the wild, and are grateful for Mohammed Abdalla 🍉 and Jason Humphrey for their feedback as we perfect the product. Learn more at https://www.wattbot.app/ The truth is, while starting a company is hard the last year has actually been a *blast* thanks to an amazing group of mentors, friends, and family who helped us get here: Dori Rutkevitz Conrad Kramer Shadi B. Allison Mateo, PPS, NCC, APCC Shikha Agarwal Legarlin Li Peter W. Aditya Sharma Hannah Yang Cole Ashman Billy Parish Phil Narodick James Gordey James Quazi David Rusenko Graham Turk Anay Shah and Ben Eidelson just to name a few!

103

13 Comments

A thorny problem loomed over everything I did at Spotify: How should you innovate knowing a bigger tech giant can always just copy your idea? Or bundle it directly into their platform and give it away for free? Or rewire distribution to bypass you altogether, so millions of potential users never even see what you’ve built? Of course this challenge isn’t unique to Spotify. It’s an existential issue for many tech companies that came of age in the 2010s – Airbnb, Pinterest, Shopify, Uber & Lyft, Slack, Snap, Discord, and a few dozen more. On the one hand, this cohort has been incredibly successful and surprisingly durable. Many have hundreds of millions of users and $10B+ of market cap, and have established new nouns and verbs ("pinning", "tweeting", "ridesharing", "zooming"). But there’s always a sense of tension, like throwing a killer party that’s hosted in someone else's backyard. This looming pressure forges an approach to product development unique to this stage of company. And it makes these companies incredibly interesting places for builders. Yet I don't see enough concrete examples out there about how to build for this stage. How product development in the face of this existential problem is different, why those differences exist, and how to lean into them. So! I have a new writing project. My goal is to shine a light on this, based on what I’ve seen and what I’ve learned from my peers at various companies. It’s just a small, personal project, but I think it’ll be interesting to anyone curious about building in the shadow of tech giants. My first post is below, a lesson from Spotify's AI DJ where a small design tweak unintentionally led to a much more defensible product. If this hits home for you, follow along for future posts! https://lnkd.in/eXB6jsi5

149

6 Comments

Figma got the approach to how AI should go to market right the second time, calling it “first draft”. I think that’s perfect. Although this scares me a lot, at the same time this opens up so much possibilities for someone who directs product designs. Improving the details through iterations of a design while using it and playing with it are so important that the idea of a first draft fits the context so perfectly. 👏🏻 Generative AI + Taste & human iteration 🚀

12

This week on Unsupervised Learning Scott Belsky shares his thoughts on the future of creative tools with AI, how hyperpersonalization will be enabled and what humans will do amidst a sea of AI content. Scott is the founder of Behance, a creative platform sold to Adobe in 2012. He’s since gone on to take on the role of Chief Product Officer at Adobe leading design for all products across Creative Cloud, Document Cloud and the Digital Experience business. Some of my favorite takeaways from this episode👇 Everything hyperpersonalized Scott breaks down how hyper-personalization will change websites and emails, making each experience feel like a conversation. Behind the scenes, it will be not just about the data or the models but the workflows and systems that manage and optimize these interactions, ensuring they're both effective and appropriate. As brands race to deliver these personalized experiences, there's a growing need for nuanced control and creativity in content creation, highlighting the importance of human touch in a digital-heavy landscape. Craving Scarcity Scott reflects on how our craving for exclusivity extends beyond just physical goods like luxury shoes and cars, into the realm of digital products. As software becomes more commoditized, there might be a rise in distinctively human rather than AI-generated software. He uses the example of Superhuman's onboarding experience as a marker of luxury in software, emphasizing that people are willing to pay for software that offers a more personalized, premium experience. This shift underscores a broader desire for meaningful and crafted digital interactions, potentially revitalizing the role of human creativity in content creation. What comes next for Generative AI GenAI is basically a glorified assistant today in that it can handle searches and answer questions. The next phase will come when AI can perform tasks, simplifying creative processes in software like Photoshop, allowing users to breeze through tasks with minimal effort. The tier after that is proactively pushing users to explore creative avenues they hadn’t considered, which could significantly enhance problem-solving and innovation. An amazing conversation with one of the most prolific design-thinkers of our time. Thanks again to Scott for coming on and hope you enjoy! YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gggJX48v Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3KFqG5Y Apple: https://apple.co/3VBzyzG

35

💡 As an early-stage startup, I’ve found adopting a 'no systems policy' to be incredibly useful. Not a single second gets wasted on over-engineering processes or workflows. I’ve spent time in the past trying to systematize everything, only to realize that most of those systems were never used, and we often hacked together better solutions on the fly. ❓Have you ever been in a similar situation? #startup #system #earlystage

2

What are Nature-Based Restorative Solutions? Nature-based restorative solutions are strategic initiatives that leverage natural processes to address environmental, social, and economic challenges. At FloCard, we're actively engaged in these solutions through dynamic partnerships and innovative technologies that ensure effectiveness and sustainability. One of our notable collaborations is with the SERVE Council, a tech-enabled, ESG-driven organization dedicated to environmental conservation and promoting sustainable livelihoods. Raosaheb Samrat, Yuvraj Seth and his team at grassroots have pledged for #BetterPlanetTogether Together, we are working on several impactful projects: 1. Serve Trees Project: This initiative combines digital and blockchain technology to enhance tree plantations' monitoring and transparency. By facilitating real-time data access, we ensure that every tree planted is accounted for, contributing to more significant environmental recovery and community trust. 2. From Seeds of Hope to Fruits of Opportunity: In partnership with SERVE Council, FloCard supports the free tree-sapling program, empowering rural communities through sustainable tree farming. This program distributes high-value species suitable for local climates and markets, provides comprehensive training on sustainable planting and care, and connects participants with market opportunities. This approach not only combats biodiversity loss but also boosts local economies by creating stable, sustainable livelihoods. 3. SERVE Livelihood - Micro Entrepreneurship Development & Livelihood Enterprises Development: Our joint efforts extend to fostering micro-entrepreneurship, providing tools and training that enable community members to start and sustain their green businesses. This initiative supports economic empowerment and sustainable development in tandem with environmental conservation. 4. Distance Learning Innovators Alliance: This alliance, supported by FloCard and SERVE Council, bridges distance learning and innovation, offering a platform for remote learners to connect, collaborate, and grow their entrepreneurial ventures. It’s an ecosystem designed to foster networking and development among those who might otherwise lack access to traditional educational resources. Through these initiatives, FloCard is a participant and a driver of nature-based solutions, ensuring that every project is impactful, sustainable, and aligned with our commitment to advancing corporate sustainability and empowering communities. Join us in protecting biodiversity and nurturing a green economy. Follow https://lnkd.in/dKJ8aBQS

14

2 Comments

Brilliant venture studio manifesto. The work comes in generating real traction. “We don't fund entrepreneurs-in-residence with a deck and a check. We think product-market fit is a hard problem and we don't think it can be industrialized or handed off - but it is possible to solve repeatedly. We get in the guts and build the thing from day zero. Most of the work of a scientist isn't generating hypotheses, it's running experiments to get the data. That's what we do. Once we've created real traction, we partner with best-in-class operators to create a second founding moment to scale the company. That's because the skills at each stage of a startup are different, even if vesting schedules pretend they're the same. We aim for unreasonable speed with each portfolio company while making decisions at Boulton & Watt like we're going to be in business for decades. We go long: building networks of talented people we someday hope to work with, waiting patiently for businesses to compound, and preferring to make the pie bigger for everyone instead of owning all of a small pie of our own.” Boulton & Watt

5

3 Comments

Many folks wonder about the role and impact of software in fighting climate change… Conversations often go to “well the thing we need most is (low carbon) steel in the ground,” referring to the need for hardware tech for difficult to decarbonize industries. And while this is very true, it’s not innovation that’s needed to accelerate low carbon technologies, it’s money. But money alone doesn’t get us there either. Funding and financing only flow in a major way when the analysis, due diligence, and underwriting are done at speed, scale, and importantly with confidence and certainty. So we return to our starting question. What role can software play? Software can unlock information which unlocks financing which enables steel to go in the ground which then lets us decarbonize hard to abate industries. Enter Halcyon. A mashup of seasoned operators from big tech and energy industry veterans building an AI-assisted search and information platform that helps people navigate the energy transition and decarbonization. I’ve had the joy of working with co-founders Bruce Falck Nat Bullard J L. and Alexander Huras as well as their PMF team Vicky Homan Alyssa Thavorides Alex Klaessig Ted Schaller Jeff Fisher and am so excited about their launch and their future. Check out the Axios piece below and go get on their waitlist at www.halcyon.eco. https://lnkd.in/gsyg7Mcb

32

5 Comments

🤔 How do you make product decisions when you have lots of ideas, some traction, but aren't sure what to build next? Over the past few months, I've spoken to several founders of early-stage climate startups who have all been grappling with this exact challenge. ⚠ They know that focusing on the wrong feature or use case can not only set back their journey toward product-market fit. It could also risk their next round of funding or demotivate their team. Founders at this juncture can get stuck inside the big vision for their business, becoming interested in the many ways they can solve a constellation of problems. If they’re not careful, these leaders will spread their teams too thin by trying five or more different paths simultaneously. How to navigate this? ▶ At Kakuy, our approach is to do one thing at a time, testing and iterating in short cycles until we find the path to product-market fit. 1. [People] Start with the customer. Find a finite group of individuals you’re looking to serve in this next iteration. Narrower is better at the start, because you’re looking for commonalities in their experience that mean many of them will have the same problem to solve. 2. [Problem] Make sure you know what problem you’re solving for your target group. Combine evidence from user interviews, sales calls, product usage analytics, and market research to target the specific problem and what it would mean to your customers if you solved it. 3. [Product] Quickly build a minimum valuable product (or feature) that solves the problem well enough that a customer will pay you something for it. By starting with the customer and quickly validating each of these three aspects of fit, it’s possible to mitigate the risk of wasting time building the wrong thing. 📈 When done right, you can kick off a positive flywheel that generates revenue, which you can then raise against. If you want to find out more, please comment or reach out. #productleadership #productstrategy #MVP

32

4 Comments

At IDEO I spent countless hours agonizing over the smallest detail of a brand new product. Now as a VC, I push founders to zoom out to see both the forest AND the trees. Or to build upon last week’s introduction to the concept, the whole damn iceberg… :-) Picture an iceberg: At the top of the iceberg, we are presented with events. The incidents we encounter from day to day—the hurly-burly of life. Patterns live just below the surface. These are the accumulated habits or behavioral “memories” that result from repeated, unconsidered reactions to events. Structures are how the components of the system are organized. These structures underpin the patterns and events that confront us. Values are the vision we have for our future—what we aspire to and the basis for our mental models. So what’s the point? As an illustration, let me share a recent story from Foundation Capital. Six weeks ago during our investment team offsite, one of my partners conveyed a concern that since coming back to a more in-person culture, we just weren’t on our A-game in one of our new investment pitch meetings. The conversation quickly jumped to specific 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 (above the water line): a couple members of the team were on their phones during the presentation, one person stepped out to go to the restroom, someone else just seemed low energy. And while we didn’t all agree on which specific behaviors were the most troubling, we were all able to agree that there was a 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻 of inattentiveness that wasn’t consonant with our values. And specifically the value of respect we all have for the entrepreneur’s journey. So we came up with a few guidelines—𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 really—for our meetings: no smartphones or open laptops between you and the entrepreneur, we asked our administrative partner to take notes for all of us, and we even flipped our Monday schedule around to invite presenting companies in during the morning when our team was at its best. And no surprise, when we aligned around our core values, we started having way better, more engaged meetings. This same approach can be applied to so many design challenges, where our first instinct is to react to events. To blame and judge. To throw design resources at symptoms. When instead we need to tune into root causes and system failures.

89

5 Comments

I just got a demo of https://www.usegalileo.ai/ from the head of our design department. It looks awesome and can save so much time in design prototytping. Just furthers my belief that the most valuable members of any technical team (designers, developers, etc) in the future are going to be those that have the deepest context of the business problem they are solving and can communicate about it in simple language. In other words, an ability to see their business at a high level of abstraction than is often required today. This is highly valuable already today...but as AI tools make the execution of technical tasks faster...contextual knowledge and communication will be 100x more important than even now. TIA Ventures ScrumLaunch

12

1 Comment

We think a lot about UX at Durable. With AI-generated code becoming more prevalent, it's more import than ever to ask: what is the optimal UX for specifying software? While chat is the predominant interface to AI, we don't think it's particularly good for defining software requirements. That's why we've build our product from the ground-up around a document interface. In this article I dissect the pros and cons of GenAI interfaces with a focus on AI-generated software, and map out the characteristics of an ideal interface.

23

5 hours long Lex and Dario Amodei, the co-founder and CEO of Anthropic, a company behind Claude 3 Haiku, Claude 3 Sonnet, and Claude 3 Opus LLMs, speak about how AI is shaping the future and how it could impact the way we live and work. They discuss how far AI can go. Amodei thinks AI can match human intelligence and even surpass it in areas like biology, where complexity overwhelms humans. But in other areas, like speech recognition or conflict resolution, AI might hit limits close to ours. One of the challenges is the fact of running out of quality data and the cost of scaling compute power. Enjoy the entire talk! https://lnkd.in/dRhpafzU

9

2 Comments