Anna Buldakova 🇺🇦

Three Podcast Episodes that changed the way I think about AI’s potential and challenges. 🎙️ 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸 𝗭𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗿𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗴 𝗢𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘀𝗵 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 - https://lnkd.in/ebW2pt5u A deep dive into the plans that Meta AI has for Llama 3. Explores the benefits of open sourcing, as well as the challenges faced. An incredibly fun discussion between two very passionate individuals. - 🎙️ 𝗦𝗮𝗺 𝗔𝗹𝘁𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝘅 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 - https://lnkd.in/ezd4Zxj4 A lengthy conversation about all the things that Sam Altman faces in being the CEO of an organization headlining the future of the world. Sam drops many hints of what may be to come, as well as insights on Sora AI - 🎙️ 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗲 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗢𝗻 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗹'𝘀 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗱 - https://lnkd.in/e8x8xWgW A swim through Leslie Valiant's adventure through his development of the PAC model (Probably Approximately Correct) Explores the idea that computer educatability may be a bigger piece of importance than our traditional definition of intelligence. - 🔗I'll leave the links to all three in the comments below! 🎧What are your favorite podcast episodes lately? #PodcastRecommendations #Podcasts #AI

26

37 Comments

Whenever we build product at Delighted, we always ask: "Would we use this?" It's surprising how often we run into companies who, when building their own products that have internal applications, don't ask this same question. If it's not useful for you, why would you think other folks would use it? To put myself out there (bad spelling and all), here's an example of me building a product waitlist for our upcoming Web platform for Delighted Surveys. I gave it a whirl with a brand new account so you could see the full end-to-end process. A few easter eggs in there for our latest AI features  ✨. Created 100% on mobile! We're excited to share more and more about how our product, marketing, and sales teams are leveraging our own products, to make even better products. More on that soon.

15

Most companies struggle with Product Discovery. When we ask a given PM about their company’s approach, it’s far more common to receive blank stares than a detailed, comprehensive, intentional approach. Frankly, it’s the very success of that company that most often leads it to struggle with developing new products. The typical progression looks something like the following: • A startup runs scrappy, chaotic, mostly unstructured discovery until they nail product market fit. • At this point, they flip from explore to exploit and fully structure the growing company around maximizing value capture from the initial product - the right approach! • These systems do their job - the company continues to grow, with more personnel, more specialization, more structure accruing. • Now it’s time to launch a new product! Exciting times, and since we’ve already done this once, surely we can do it even better this time. • Remember how chaotic it was the first time around? How much flailing and uncertainty and rapid pivoting we had to do? Well we have systems and expectations and polish, let’s just apply this well-oiled approach and our new product will be even more successful! So the company decides to build the new product because it knows with high confidence what its users want. And it builds the full roadmap. And commits a whole army of resources to start building immediately, typically in two-week increments, because productive companies ship. And after six or twelve months the product is completed, the company hands it to the market and the response is...underwhelming. Where are the celebratory trumpets? Why didn’t this work as we planned when we’re so smart and have already been successful?! THE TRAP The secret that every great entrepreneur knows and promptly forgets once successful is that Product Discovery and Scaling are not only dissimilar but orthogonal. The Scaling phase values certainty and predictability and clear plans and ruthless execution. Discovery cares for none of these values - it is chaotic and unforgiving and creative.   The very strengths that make a company great at scaling most often make it ill-equipped to return to the foggy wasteland of Discovery. These are relatively distinct phases requiring differentiated tools, systems, and most importantly, MINDSETS. Product Discovery ultimately requires a deep understanding of PROBLEMS, not solutions; of PEOPLE, not technology; and most of all, of OUTCOMES over outputs. Can a company run its top-down “scaling playbook” and successfully launch new products? Yes, of course. But is this the best way to innovate? Is this the highest probability approach? Absolutely not.

3

“If I had to pick one metric to track for my start-up, it would be customer retention.” When I attended Y Combinator’s Retreat in W24, many things felt familiar. One exception to that was David Lieb and Gustaf Alströmer 🇺🇦's talk on retention. I used to think this metric was (more) for consumer startups. Coming out of the talk, I couldn’t help but agree with the above strong claim. David said that you could be tracking many metrics for your start-up, including revenue, user count, CAC, LTV, etc. But if you don’t know your baseline retention numbers, you don’t know the fundamental force that guides all those other metrics. What’s a good retention number? It depends. Since retention shapes all other metrics, once you understand your retention numbers, you can think about other metrics accordingly. Gustaf clarified this with an example - even if your retention is 1%, you could multiply your CAC by 100x and see if you have a business. I think insights like these is one of the things that makes Y Combinator unique. Even better, the advice is always practical because you get to hear it from other founders who lived through it. Best of luck to YC’s S24 batch! (image from Mode.com's "Cohort Analysis That Helps You Look Ahead" blog post)

509

30 Comments

🚨Quick Reminder 🚨 We’re always looking for Founders to invest in ! We partner with: 🇬🇧 UK-based companies (or with a company registered in the UK) 💻 Founders who need a tech partner to take them to the next level 🛠 Have an MVP or early product that is revenue-generating to a B2B audience 🔛 Tech companies that need a tech partner to scale, or companies with offline revenues that they want to digitise If this sounds like you and your company, or someone you know, please message me or tag them below. Or visit the link in the comments. We’re continually on the hunt for exciting founders to work with, we’d love to hear from you ! #startupinvestment #founders #venturestudio #startups

80

13 Comments

Ida as an entrepreneur in femtech, I feel your rage. In my gut. Were we all just sucker-punched? I want to acknowledge your vision, your work, and your effort. You are extraordinary, and we are cheering for you. Raising capital for technology impacting women is grim. The constant uphill battle is exhausting, tiring the best of us to the point of wanting to quit. I encourage you to hold on to small glimmers of hope. The big lights don't come on often. I also encourage advocates and allies to shine a light on female innovators and visionaries and use the hell out of their products. As women gain control of financial resources we must focus our investments on tech that will benefit our girlfriends, daughters, sisters, and mothers because the current model refuses to make room for us. Gradually, perhaps in my grandchildren's lifetime, we may see a different game. One that is more equitable and that we are invited to play. Sending you lots of Light. 😡 🤕 #sendingcluelove

26

1 Comment

YC Demo Day Survival Guide: What VCs Say vs. What They Actually Mean 👇 What VCs say: "Not aligned with our strategy" > What they mean: "We have no idea what our strategy is, but it's definitely not this, mate." What VCs say: "That's a fascinating idea." > What they mean: "I think Juicero was a better startup idea than this." What VCs say: "We need to see more traction." > What they mean: "Your graphs are as flat as Kansas. I don't see any graphs with the line going up. Line must go up. Line must go up." What VCs say: "Please keep us in the loop." > What they mean: "Forget that you have my email. In fact, forget that email exists. If you message me again, I will call the Sopranos." What VCs say: "It's not you, it’s us" > What they mean: "It’s absolutely, unquestionably, definitively you. But if I tell you, you'll write an exposé, I’ll go viral on LinkedIn, and my partner will send me to a spa in Novosibirsk, Siberia for 6 months." What VCs say: "We’re really excited about your vision" > What they mean: "Your vision is wonderful. It’s your current business model that reminds me of a horror movie. Frankly, I may need therapy after seeing your revenue and churn." Any others? What am I missing?

62

11 Comments

Counting down to the #UrukPlatform, Base Plan-Beta #Launch. In preparation for the launch of the Base Plan of the Uruk Platform (shifting from #MVP mode), we will be sharing a module* a day, starting on Monday, April 22, 2024. Some topics to cover: ✴ The Three Simple Truths that we adopted to build the Methodology (VDM) and the #UrukPlatform. ✴ Value Delivery Methodology (#VDM), real-world application of #Hybrid! ✴ Investing for YOUR People is the people pillar of the Uruk Platform. It is a digital solution (technology) with built-in Processes, yet it is people-centric. ✴ #Tailoring per the Uruk Way: customized for project types (sector/domain), adapted for project class (size and complexity), flexible development (Big Bang or Agile). In other words, it is truly adaptive and scalable! ✴ A Project Success module that aligns with the #UrukWay Four Dimensions of #ProjectSuccess. ✴ A Captured Lessons Learned module that emphasizes applying the #learning. ✴ A Client Library to encourage shared organizational learning. ✴ Sustainability Management is a must for future generations, a GPM Global (Green Project Management®) partnership. ✴ Stage Management: success of the project requires success of every stage. ✴ Tasks Management, including list, calendar, and #Kaban views. ✴ Document Management as a module to retain organizational history ✴ Integrating project management with business, operations, and #productmanagement. ✴ Project Performance with numerous metrics and charts ✴ Executive Dashboards, transparent and real-time monitoring of any project, program, or the entire portfolio! At Uruk Project Management, we believe ... It is time for a #paradigm shift: instead of taking project failure for granted, let us take project success for granted and make project management indispensable for organizational success! Success must be pre-determined, cultivated, and achieved! #projectmanagement #4pm #urukpm ________________ * A module in the Uruk Platform is a section, feature, or functionality. A module typically consists of many processes. For example, there is the #taskmanagement module and the #sustainability management module.

13

Last week, I was fortunate to speak with Andrew Silard, the head of Growth Marketing at Notion, to hear his vision on how unstructured data could be helpful for marketing teams. There is one key learning I want to give away 👇 There are many social monitoring tools today. However, they are often viewed as a cost center. On the other hand, marketers are drowning in social channels, looking for trending topics or memes to generate new ideas. How do we bridge this gap? In Andrew’s words: “Turn it from monitoring into helping me draft all of my content.” Another way I like to describe this is “Proactive Intelligence,” a code name Apple uses for its proactive AI features on iPhone. It is a data-driven approach to spot trending topics or memes on social platforms and proactively inform marketers on what to post. With that, marketers can be enabled to be way more effective, and guess what? They can turn social monitoring into a revenue generator! So, what do you think are the prerequisites to make that happen? - First, this social data is unstructured and comes in large volumes. Modern data tools need a significant revamp to handle this data. - Second, the scope of the data team can be way bigger: in addition to product analytics, the data team can actually do way more with unstructured data with Generative AI, like helping marketing teams create better content. #data #learnings #inittogether

37

1 Comment

As a Product Marketer, here are my Top 5 highlights from the GPT-4o launch: 1) The casual demo style they adopted was really engaging and enjoyable. Instead of a formal presentation (someone in front of a big screen etc. )it felt like watching three friends trying out the new ChatGPT and having fun. This can be seen in the first video on their update page: https://lnkd.in/eKMffubE. 2) Adding humor throughout each use case was a great touch. I think humor keeps viewers engaged and makes this technology feel very easy to use, friendly. Also, the variety of use cases presented was great. 3) I was impressed by the simplicity of the launch page. Despite a wealth of information to share, they avoided overload by providing a concise and simple layout: https://lnkd.in/eKMffubE. 4) The deep dive page for those wanting to learn more about GPT-4o: https://lnkd.in/e4Q7VQNd. Brilliantly, they have a 'showing rather than telling' approach with lots of videos and Input vs Output examples. 5) Lastly, kudos to their strategic timing for the announcement – just a day before Google I/O 2024 👀 I'd love to hear your thoughts – what other elements stood out to you? #productmarketing #pmm #openai #chatgpt4o #chatgpt #ai

21

1 Comment

When I was still at TechCrunch I would get asked quite often, ‘why do you write so many funding stories?’ Implicit (if not explicit) in their question was usually a criticism of the tech and business press’ seeming obsession with funding rounds. My view, especially at the early stage, was always that a startup raising funding was a market signal where very few other signals existed yet. Meanwhile, at the later stages when rounds are much larger and companies wield more market power, a fundraise as a signal is not only stronger but warrants greater examination. In the news business, a funding round also qualifies as “hard news" and offers a springboard to tell various broader stories - such as the founders’ story, delving into an interesting or novel problem space, the company’s progress to date, a new technology or consumer trend, societal implications, and so on. The point is, the funding announcement was the editorial “in". It was never just about the funding. Need help telling your funding story? Get in touch with myself and the team at O'Hear & Co. #Funding #Entrepreneurship #FundingNews

63

10 Comments

Here is our comedic take on how Strategy is poorly implemented and communicated in many (many) companies. No offense intended if, as an executive, you feel targeted! Just saying if it's not legal to drink to excess and drive a vehicle, then why is it legal to drink to excess and define corporate strategy at an offsite?

18

4 Comments

Community #partnerships are the foundation of Workfree.io’s platform growth, and end-user value. This well written piece from Jon Younger PhD highlights some of the key success factors any freelance platform leader should consider when building a successful partnership. I particulariily like this piece: “Value the relationship as a strategic asset, not a transactional sales channel. When a platform refers a client to another platform or marketplace, whether the project is large or small, it is a gift and an invitation. Smart freelance executives treat referrals and partner interest as the rare and wonderful things they are.” —- Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/e3ftRqgn We will share our own learnings year-end 🤝

9

1 Comment

As an ambitious product person, probably the best thing that can happen to you is to report to a Craftsperson manager who has a high bar and can give specific, clear, not-hand wavy feedback on how your proposals and thinking can be more correct, although unfortunately if given a choice, >50% of ambitious product people don’t choose to report to such a manager.

809

47 Comments

🚀 Exciting news from my colleague Andreas Wagner ! In his latest talk during Berlin Buzzwords, Andreas delves into the intricate world of measuring the effectiveness of search functionality changes. It's a persistent challenge, even for seasoned teams who often depend on search relevance feedback labels. While Web-scale Experimentation like A/B and Multivariate Testing is common, few companies leverage it to incrementally improve their search systems at the query level. A/B Testing in search is particularly complex, with no one-size-fits-all approach. It involves selecting the right evaluation metrics, determining suitable randomization units, and handling imbalanced and sparse data to make precise decisions—especially when data is limited. Over time, we've developed and refined our "Query Testing" capability. Andreas shares invaluable insights from this journey, shedding light on the nuances of search optimization. 🎥 Check out his talk here: bit.ly/4clQsbl

19

We published a new Substack, looking at the evolution of the People function in 30 of Europe's top SaaS businesses that raised Series D+. It's always interesting to see how some of the most successful scale-ups built their organisations. There are, of course, many ways to skin a cat - but, also, clear best practices. We looked at: (1) When these companies hired their first People leader and CPeO (2) Typical Tenure for People leaders (3) Typical background of People leaders Our research raises a few interesting insights. For example: - 16% of the companies surveyed didn't even hire a People leader until Series C or later (!) - in this case there was a CFO/COO + HR manager combo - or only 7% of the Chief People Officers who served at these SaaS businesses were promoted to the role from within. All other CPeOs either already had the title or joined from a much larger business and received the title upon joining. You can find our hypothesis for why this is in the article. Link in the comments. Hope you enjoy it and find it useful. Thank you to the team for putting this together. Evica Borjan Antonija Sandra Elena 🙏☺️

48

7 Comments