Jacob Andreou, former product and growth leader at Snap, shares insights on building enduring consumer products during tech transitions. He discusses distinguishing transformative products from novelties, the importance of utility in product development, and strategies for long-term AI success and customer focus.
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Quick takeaways
Building enduring products requires solving enduring needs with new technology, not just creating novelties or adaptations.
Startups have an advantage in creating transformative AI products through customer obsession and addressing users' enduring needs.
Deep dives
Stages of Technological Evolution
Tech shifts offer startups opportunities to create products that can define a generation. The phases of technological evolution, exemplified by the mobile transition, include ports, toys, and transformations. Ports involve adapting existing solutions to new formats, like early mobile apps. Toys are novel but lack lasting utility, while transformations leverage new tech for 10x better solutions, like Instagram and Uber in the mobile era.
Differentiating Transformative Products
Startups have an advantage in creating transformative AI products, unlike incumbents constrained by past structures. By understanding users' enduring needs, startups can build solutions that are significantly better than existing ones. Snap's success with Snapchat showcases solving real problems with innovative solutions. Building true transformations requires recognizing early user embrace, avoiding novelty traps, and focusing on long-term utility.
Importance of Customer Obsession
Maintaining a sustainable advantage in AI requires moving beyond temporary technical advantages to customer obsession. Talking to users and addressing their needs, as seen in Snap's Android app update, can lead to substantial growth. While foundation model providers advance research, customer-focused startups are poised to deliver tools that cater deeply to user requirements.
Greylock general partner Jacob Andreou reads his essay on how to build valuable products during moments of technology transitions. Having previously led product and growth for one of the iconic native apps of the mobile era (Snap), Andreou developed a perspective on some of the best (and worst) strategic and tactical decisions companies can make during tech shifts. It starts by asking an important question: Are you building a novel solution to an enduring need, enabled by new technology?
Using lessons learned from his hands-on experience at Snap and observations across other companies, Andreou provides a framework for evaluating your product and company to ensure you are building a transformative product and not a toy.