The hottest Product Development Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Business Topics

#3 Industrial Design

Mountain Labs Newsletter • 59 implied HN points • 17 Apr 24
🪑 Design Industrial Design Product Development User Experience Prototyping
  1. When developing a hardware product, focus on three key areas: energy, communication, and form factor. Energy determines if your device runs on batteries or needs to be plugged in.
  2. For B2B products, start with communication needs since they often integrate with other systems. But for B2C products, prioritize the look and feel of the device first.
  3. Always check the costs and manufacturability of your components. If it’s too expensive or hard to make, revisit your choices before moving forward with the design.

Steve Jobs vs. the Haters

Litverse • 219 implied HN points • 26 Sep 23
🕹 Technology Tech History Product Development User Experience
  1. In 1997, Steve Jobs made strategic decisions for Apple that were heavily criticized, such as discontinuing OpenDoc and embracing a closed system approach.
  2. Jobs believed in prioritizing user experience over technology, leading to the success of Apple products despite criticism from early tech adopters.
  3. The essence of successful products lies in making life better through simplicity and providing a seamless, convenient user experience, as shown by Jobs' approach with Apple.

The Case for Being a Hyper-Responsive Leader

America 2.0 (by Gary Sheng) • 216 implied HN points • 07 Jun 23
💼 Business Leadership Product Development Politics Collaboration Community Building
  1. Responsiveness is crucial for successful leadership in various fields like product development, community building, and politics.
  2. Being hyper-responsive fosters trust, builds brand loyalty, and enhances products or services.
  3. Maintaining a high level of responsiveness can differentiate you, attract allies, and lead to collaborations and growth.

What does it mean to be "Enterprise Ready"

Brick by Brick • 18 implied HN points • 18 Nov 24
💼 Business Startups Enterprise Sales Product Development Compliance
  1. Startups need to adapt their processes to meet strict enterprise requirements, especially in compliance and security. This means being ready for audits and ensuring data protection.
  2. Creating a product that fits into the enterprise ecosystem is key. This includes having integrations, customization options, and strong reporting tools that enterprises expect.
  3. When selling to enterprises, startups must change their approach, focusing on value rather than just features. They should also prepare for complex pricing and long contracting processes.
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Output vs. Outcomes - Problem #4

Fish Food for Thought • 17 implied HN points • 27 Nov 24
💼 Business Management Strategy Product Development Performance Metrics Corporate culture
  1. It's important to focus on outcomes, not just outputs. Companies should ask themselves if their efforts really make a difference for customers.
  2. Measuring success by outputs can lead to short-term wins but might miss real problems. Companies should aim for quality and value instead of just quantity.
  3. Shifting to an outcome-driven approach means redefining success metrics. Businesses should prioritize customer satisfaction and engagement over just the number of tasks completed.

From seven failures to 10x growth

Kyle Poyar’s Growth Unhinged • 354 implied HN points • 24 Jan 24
💼 Business Startup Growth Product Development Marketing User Feedback Team Management
  1. Growing from 0 to 1,000 users was harder than the next 999,000 for Jam.
  2. Key factors for Jam's success included dogfooding, focusing on high quality, and having few, focused pilots.
  3. Jam's growth strategies involved continuous improvement, strong focus on user feedback, and engaging with the community through events and content.

Vitamin A for Engineering Teams: Dogfooding your product

The Healthy Engineering Leader • 39 implied HN points • 13 May 24
💼 Business Management Team Building Product Development Leadership User Experience
  1. Vitamin A is important for clear vision, similar to how understanding customer needs helps engineering teams succeed. It helps teams develop a better grasp of their products.
  2. Dogfooding means team members use and test their own products. This practice helps catch bugs and fosters a deeper connection with the user experience.
  3. To promote dogfooding, leaders should encourage testing, celebrate contributions, and refine the process. This creates a culture of empathy and accountability within the team.

How will Li Auto do going forward?

TP’s Substack • 15 implied HN points • 27 Nov 24
💼 Business Automotive Market Analysis Sales trends Product Development Competition
  1. Li Auto has a strong sales and product design team, but it faces tough competition from other automakers. Its sales have dropped recently, showing it might struggle to keep growing.
  2. Other companies, like BYD and Huawei, are releasing new models that might outperform Li Auto's offerings. This increased competition can make it harder for Li Auto to attract customers.
  3. Li Auto may have trouble keeping its costs down because it's unlikely to access the same high-performing batteries that competitors use. This could make it difficult for them to price their vehicles competitively.

Project Tailwind

Adjacent Possible • 538 implied HN points • 11 May 23
🕹 Technology Product Development Artificial Intelligence Information Management Content creation Data Analysis
  1. Project Tailwind is an experimental 'tool for thought' being developed with Google
  2. Project Tailwind uses a 'source-grounded AI' approach to assist with research and information exploration
  3. Features of Project Tailwind include creating on-the-fly glossaries and suggesting additional product features based on uploaded materials

AI must be more than a checkbox

The AI Frontier • 39 implied HN points • 02 May 24
🕹 Technology AI Startups Sales Market Trends Product Development
  1. AI should be seen as more than just a box to tick off. Companies need to genuinely understand how AI can help them, rather than just wanting to say they have an AI strategy.
  2. Startups often waste time on leads that aren’t serious. They need to be smart about who they spend time with to avoid low-quality customers and wasted effort.
  3. When companies buy AI products without knowing the benefits, it can lead to regret and wasted money. It's important for both buyers and sellers to clearly understand the value AI brings.

The inside story of Amplitude’s new self-service plan

Kyle Poyar’s Growth Unhinged • 252 implied HN points • 06 Mar 24
💼 Business Marketing Growth Product Development Sales Revenue
  1. Launching a self-service plan can lead to significant improvements in conversion rates, even if initial numbers are low
  2. It's important to involve the sales team in the self-serve journey to avoid cannibalization and maintain a healthy balance between self-service and enterprise sales
  3. Revisiting pricing and packaging is crucial for the success of a self-service model, including conducting user interviews, analyzing features, and monitoring competitors

The Creator's Blind Spot

UX Psychology • 158 implied HN points • 28 Jun 23
🕹 Technology AI Psychology Product Development UX Research
  1. Understanding the psychology of AI creators is crucial as they may have an overly optimistic view of their own creations, known as the Inventor's Bias Effect.
  2. Inventors may view their products more positively due to personal identification with their creations, indicating biased decision-making.
  3. The importance of diverse input in decision-making processes to prevent overblown expectations about fairness and efficiency in AI tools.

Your Feature is Not a Product

Nathan’s Substack • 79 implied HN points • 26 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Product Development Artificial Intelligence Tech industry Software Development User Experience
  1. A common mistake is mistaking a feature for a product, leading to incomplete solutions in the market.
  2. Customers care more about how a product solves their problem, rather than the specific technology used.
  3. Start with the customer experience and work back to the technology when designing products, a lesson exemplified by Steve Jobs.

A fun thought on optimization

Sunday Letters • 79 implied HN points • 22 Jan 24
🕹 Technology AI Design Optimization Product Development
  1. Avoid optimizing too early in the design process. This can lead to wasted efforts and complicated designs.
  2. In the world of AI, focusing too much on costs can lead to weak solutions. It's better to have a solid, simple design from the start.
  3. Instead of worrying about future needs, consider how hard it will be to make changes later. It's important to find a balance between planning and flexibility.

Technology & Cultural Alignment

The Digital Anthropologist • 39 implied HN points • 12 Apr 24
🕹 Technology Culture Innovation Product Development Digital Technologies
  1. Successful technology depends on aligning with cultures, as lack of alignment can hinder success.
  2. Understanding cultural alignment is crucial for technology adoption and success in a rapidly evolving digital world.
  3. Technologies that find cultural alignment with social norms and behaviors are more likely to succeed and be accepted by society.

UX Roundup: AI Video Editing | AI Avatars Compared | NotebookLM Team Leaves

Jakob Nielsen on UX • 11 implied HN points • 05 Dec 24
🕹 Technology AI Tools Video Editing Product Development User Experience
  1. CapCut is an AI video editor that, while powerful, is not as easy to learn as people say. Users can edit videos by working with AI-generated transcripts, which can improve the final cut.
  2. Creating AI avatars can be done through different services like Humva, D-ID, and HeyGen. Humva is the easiest to use, while HeyGen offers the most features but is also the most complex.
  3. It's smarter to subscribe to AI services monthly rather than yearly. AI changes quickly, and you want to be flexible to switch to better tools as they become available.

Company State of -inlang- Opral 2023

Opral (lix & inlang) • 59 implied HN points • 21 Feb 24
💼 Business Startups Product Development Team Building Globalization Market Expansion
  1. The company, known as Inlang, is changing its name to Opral to better reflect its two main products, Inlang and Lix. This will make it clearer what the company does.
  2. Inlang has built a strong core team and has created a minimal product ecosystem that users enjoy. They received positive feedback about how they facilitate teamwork across different departments.
  3. The relationship between Inlang and Lix is crucial for their growth, as Lix serves as the backend for Inlang's services. This connection is important for future development and helping other companies.

Advocating for Why

Steelhead • 78 implied HN points • 10 Jan 24
💼 Business Entrepreneurship Startup Success Product Development
  1. Understanding why customers care or don't care about a product's value proposition is crucial for building an actually robust business with a compelling value proposition.
  2. The absence of information (what people don't do or say) is just as important as what they do, highlighting the importance of understanding why customers behave as they do.
  3. By combining the Customer Development framework with a deep understanding of why, entrepreneurs can build a good product, orient business functions correctly, and operate with greater capital efficiency.

E8 - 🤖 AI Integration for Faster, Better Product Development

The Product Channel By Sid Saladi • 6 implied HN points • 29 Dec 24
🕹 Technology AI Integration Product Development Data Analysis Market research Innovation
  1. AI can help improve product development by analyzing customer feedback and identifying what users want. Using AI for market research can spot new opportunities and gaps in the market.
  2. Integrating AI into decision-making processes, like demand forecasting and risk assessment, can save time and resources. This way, product managers can make smarter choices about what to build.
  3. AI makes the design and development phases faster and more efficient. It can quickly create prototypes and help optimize engineering tasks, leading to quicker product launches.

#2 Bootstrapping a hardware product - Ideation

Mountain Labs Newsletter • 39 implied HN points • 02 Apr 24
💼 Business Entrepreneurship Product Development Market research Sales Strategy Manufacturing
  1. To come up with a hardware product idea, being obsessed with solving a problem can help generate creative thoughts. Jotting down these ideas is important to revisit them later.
  2. Understanding market trends and competitor products is key. Looking into the market size and checking sales numbers can help you decide if your product idea is worth pursuing.
  3. Finally, evaluate your ability to develop and manufacture the product. Creating a list of necessary components and their costs can give you a clearer picture of whether your idea is feasible.

3 steps to value focused data product management

Datent • 58 implied HN points • 09 Feb 24
💼 Business Data Management Product Development Project management Innovation
  1. Transitioning from a BI role to a data product team requires defining a Value Gateway to ensure projects deliver tangible benefits.
  2. To manage the progress and accountability of data work, reporting on value at key points is crucial, showcasing the value realized and areas needing support.
  3. Establishing a process around failing fast and doubling down on successful projects, supported by agile project management, is essential for efficient data product management.

Focus

Mountain Labs Newsletter • 39 implied HN points • 21 Mar 24
💼 Business Entrepreneurship Product Development Marketing Hardware Software
  1. The new product, ODAK, is a CO2 detector that helps keep track of air quality and cognitive performance during work sessions. It also features a built-in time-boxing tool and LED notifications.
  2. Building hardware products offers unique challenges and benefits compared to software. Physical products can create a stronger connection with users because they can be seen and used without relying on ads.
  3. Having a clear strategy is crucial for product development. It's important to learn from past experiences and focus on a vision that aligns personal values with business goals.

What is a Founding Engineer?

Jake [Building in NYC] • 59 implied HN points • 25 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Engineering Product Development Startups User Experience Leadership
  1. Founding engineers have to work really fast. They need to handle problems quickly and keep feedback flowing between users and the business.
  2. Empathy is key for founding engineers. They should think about how users will respond to their work and make it as easy and enjoyable as possible.
  3. A founding engineer always seeks the truth. They are curious and unafraid to ask questions to understand problems better and find effective solutions.

Are you a platform?

Developer GTM – by Calyx Consulting • 99 implied HN points • 14 Jun 23
💼 Business Platforms Ecosystems API Consultancy Product Development
  1. Platforms come in various forms, not just through APIs, and successful platforms connect different parts of the value chain.
  2. Organic growth is crucial for platforms to succeed, and the relationship between platform and ecosystem is interdependent.
  3. Building a platform requires internal buy-in from leadership and alignment with company goals to ensure long-term success.

ONT Suing BGI Again!

ASeq Newsletter • 7 implied HN points • 07 Dec 24
🕹 Technology Biotechnology Intellectual Property Legal issues Product Development
  1. Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) is taking legal action against BGI in the UK. This follows their earlier decision to pause a lawsuit in the US.
  2. Users of Oxford Nanopore products might face limitations due to user agreements, which could affect their ability to develop competing technologies.
  3. Currently, there isn't concrete evidence proving that BGI has violated ONT's patents, suggesting that the situation could require more careful consideration and evidence before further legal actions.