el producto #450 🚀
Researching with AI-simulated users, Building AI agents, Grammarly's AI transformation, Google docs get voice, Acrobat Studio launch, Excel copilot & more
Hi friends 👋
Happy weekend, and welcome to a new edition of el producto
🎰 The week in figures
$10B: Anthropic could be about to raise a new round of $10B at a valuation of $170B (if not higher); was going to be $5B, but “strong demand” doubled that amount
$1B: Databricks is closing a $1B funding round at a $100B valuation. They are launching Lakebase to tap into the rising AI-generated databases trend. The company will prioritize efficient database creation and AI agents for productivity
$400M: FieldAI, which specializes in advanced robotic intelligence development, is raising over $400M. The firm is expanding its reach with projects like the Spirit Runner, a mobile food bus in Central Valley, CA
$100M: Eight Sleep raises $100M to expand AI-powered sleep
$2.91: ChatGPT has the largest revenue per download ($2.91) between major gen-AI assistant apps
95% of gen-AI pilots at companies are failing to achieve rapid revenue acceleration, with only about 5% succeeding. More than half of gen-AI budgets are devoted to sales and marketing tools, yet MIT found the biggest ROI in back-office automation - eliminating business process outsourcing, cutting external agency costs, and streamlining ops
10%: Google Search traffic is down 10% to “premium publishers” over the last 8 weeks, according to new data, while half of all journalists surveyed in select European countries now use AI in their writing process (paper)
📰 What’s going on
Google’s AI Mode can now help users complete tasks, starting with making restaurant reservations. It searches multiple platforms, finds real-time availability, and links users directly to booking pages
Google Docs is getting a new feature that will use Gemini to read the document out loud. You can customize Gemini’s AI audio output with different voices and playback speed. Doc authors can also add Play buttons to the document to allow readers to listen to docs. Handy for scenarios where you might want to catch up with a document on your morning commute
Google is also rolling out Deep Research capabilities to NotebookLM, allowing users to automatically pull research sources from both the web and Google Drive directly into their notebooks. NotebookLM is becoming one of my tools for strategy work
Google announced changes to its Android app store for users in the EU. The new policies include: making it easier for developers to send users off-app to complete a purchase, allowing for non-store downloads, and reduced fees. Whether the changes will be enough to apease european regulatory bodies is not clear
The new Google Pixel 10 lineup offers advanced AI capabilities and health coach features; models range from $799 to $1799 for Pro Fold, featuring the latest Tensor processor and enhanced cameras. Includes Visual Overlays, Magic Cue, Camera Coach, and live translation
Meta has launched an AI voice translation tool for Facebook and Instagram users, which allows them to translate content into other languages to help “reach across cultural and linguistic barriers,” and grow their following. The translations will sound authentic because the tool will use the sound and tone of the user's voice, and it will feel natural, as it also offers a lip-sync feature that matches the translation with the user's lip movements. Currently, it only supports English and Spanish translations
Meta has implemented a hiring freeze and seems to be restructuring (for the 4th time in 6 months) its newly formed Superintelligence Lab, with newly hired Alexandr Wang at the helm. Meta confirmed that the hiring freeze is simply a “basic organizational planning…after bringing people on board and undertaking yearly planning exercises.” Mark Zuckerberg began the hiring spree after a disappointing Llama 4 launch, and was personally contacting AI researchers, presenting them with un-refusable, nine-figure compensation packages, to lure them over
Anthropic has joined Google and OpenAI with the launch of their own “learning modes” for Claude. Anthropic is pitching the product directly to junior developers who need to learn new skills, as well as to new joiners who want to get up to speed quickly with a codebase. “Our approach helps them learn as they work, building skills to grow in their careers while still benefitting from the productivity boosts of a coding agent”
Anthropic includes Claude Code in enterprise plans. Enterprise and Team customers can now upgrade to premium seats that include more usage and Claude Code
Adobe launched Acrobat Studio, and honestly, it's about time someone made PDFs less... PDF-y. The new platform combines Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Express, and AI agents into one workspace where you can chat with your docs, get insights, and create content without jumping between 47 different apps. The star feature is called “PDF Spaces.” Think of it as turning your document dumps into smart assistants. Upload PDFs, docs, web pages, whatever, then AI agents help you find insights, answer questions, and cite their sources. You can even customize these AI assistants for specific roles or create your own
Reforge launches Insights MCP to bring user feedback into AI tools. Reforge Insights MCP lets your favorite AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude tap directly into real-time, structured user feedback (after connecting sources)
Microsoft is adding a new AI Copilot function to Excel. The function works a lot like Google’s own AI feature and lets users do things like summarize content, perform sentiment analysis, and categorize cell data
Linear has released a new feature called “Cursor Background Agents” that allows product teams to delegate work to an AI agent through Cursor. Once the task is complete, the Cursor agent will update the issue automatically with a PR
Spotify launches custom transitions for playlists with fade, blend, volume, and EQ adjustments using waveform data; rolling out to Premium subscribers globally, ideal for house and techno genres
DeepSeek published DeepSeek-V3.1-Base, a new version of its flagship model, and the early benchmarks show 71.6% on coding tasks (matching expensive competitors)
Grammarly has introduced a major redesign of its core app, which builds on top of Coda - the document creation app it acquired earlier this year. Like Notion, it’s a “block-first” approach that lets you insert tables, columns, rich text blocks, and other widgets, plus a new bunch of AI tools. This includes AI Agents that can detect plagiarism and AI-generated content, as well as a “Reader Reactions” tool that lets you pick a reader persona and get feedback on your writing based on that persona
Grammarly raised $1B earlier this year to fund its acquisition spree, and its CEO weighing the question of renaming the entire company as Superhuman (one of its acquisitions). Superhuman is a strong name that reflects the type of AI-first workplace productivity business it’s now trying to build
AI bots are swarming online research on sites like Prolific that pay “people” for answering questions… which points to another need for a trustworthy tool or system for proving “humanhood” online
A tiny startup just dropped something that sounds impossible: fully playable AI-generated video game worlds that run in real-time, in your browser. Dynamics Lab's “Mirage 2” lets you gallop through a Red Dead Redemption-style Wild West, then mid-ride, type "change to city environment" and watch your adventure morph into an urban landscape. Six worlds are included, as well as walking inside Van Gogh's Starry Night
Former Harvard students introduce $249 AI glasses that transcribe conversations in real-time; end-to-end encryption is promised; preorders open soon
📚 Good reads
4 AI workflows to upgrade your product game. Brian Balfour shares four practical prompt frameworks to help PMs map features, craft compelling strategy narratives, connect PRDs to vision, and pressure-test ideas. Break tasks down, inject your own expertise, and let AI sharpen your thinking
How to run product hackathons that actually drive value. Most hackathons fizzle out because they lack real business context. Noa Ganot shows how to structure hackathons around specific product challenges, guiding teams from raw ideas to actionable concepts: focus on problem definition, not just flashy demos or coding marathons
How to price yourself as a solopreneur: lessons from Elena Verna’s experience. Pricing your expertise isn’t about copying salaries or others’ rates—it’s an evolving process. Start by testing your value, build confidence through real engagements, and let the market guide your pricing. The journey from free gigs to premium rates is gradual, shaped by experience, impact, and personal brand
Can AI-simulated users replace real people in UX research? Recent studies show digital twins and synthetic users can fill data gaps and predict trends, but their accuracy depends on the richness of context and method used. Interview-based digital twins outperform models built on demographics alone, reducing bias and closely matching real human data. Still, these AI models should complement—not replace—human-centered research, as they can’t fully capture real user nuance
How to build AI agents from scratch in 2025. Aakash Gupta lays out a handy 9-step framework for building AI agents, focusing on clear purpose, structured data, and user-centric design. He explains why most projects fail—vague goals, messy inputs, and ignoring the human-AI interface—and shows how to avoid these pitfalls
Insights from shareholder letters:
Duolingo Q2 2025: record user growth, revenue, and profitability. Duolingo crushed Q2 with 40% DAU growth, 41% revenue jump, and expanding margins, all powered by product-led growth and new features like Chess and Energy. Paid subscribers hit 10.9M, and the company raised its full-year guidance thanks to strong conversion and cost discipline. The team is doubling down on gamification and AI, with more engaging experiences and profitability on the horizon
Reddit posts record revenue and user growth in Q2 2025. Reddit’s Q2 saw revenue jump 78% to $500M, with DAU up 21% YoY. Profitability hit new highs, driven by strong ad performance and expanding international reach. The company is doubling down on search, AI-powered insights, and global community growth
That’s a wrap for this week! 🌟
I’d love to hear your thoughts—what stood out to you, and how are you thinking about integrating these insights into your Product strategy? Reply to the email or drop a comment on Substack to share your take. And if you found this valuable, forward it to a fellow PM, Product enthusiast, startup founder or entrepreneur who’d enjoy the read
More next week! 👋
Angel