el producto #170

Airbnb online experiences, Facebook quiet mode, Apple TV+ free content, Virtual events, WFH resources, Disney+ growth, Lyft+Amazon partnership & more.

Welcome to a new edition of el producto

🎰 The week in figures

50M: Disney+ claims more than 50M subscribers globally; includes users who have access to the streaming service via third-party deals; Disney+ has 8M subscribers in India, where it launched last week through Hotstar.

43M: India-based food delivery firm Swiggy raises $43M from Tencent, Ark Impact, Korea Investment Partners, and others; the company has a post-money valuation of $3.6B; Swiggy provides on-demand restaurant deliveries across multiple cities; has raised $1.4B to date.

59K: China has surpassed the US to become the lead nation in international patent applications, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO); China filed almost 59k patents in 2019, up 11% on 2018; the US made almost 58k filings, up 3% YoY; the total number of patent filings through WIPO’s system grew 5% last year to ~266k; 52% of applications came from Asia, 23% from North America, 23% from Europe.

54%: Airbnb expects revenue to fall 54% this year; the company anticipates it will generate $2.2B in sales for fiscal 2020, down from $4.8B last year; the projection is preliminary as the company is unsure how long the coronavirus outbreak might impact its business.

50%: Just Eat Takeaway reports a 50% increase in orders during Q1; the company notes it saw a decline in orders in mid-March due to the coronavirus outbreak, but says it has also added thousands of restaurants since social distancing orders have been put in place; additionally, the firm says it suffered a cyberattack on March 16 that impacted several hundred thousand orders.

📰 What’s going on

Microsoft bought corp.com in an attempt to keep the domain name from hackers.

Google expands its AI-powered calling service Duplex to Australia, Canada, and the UK; Duplex lets users place computer generated calls to certain businesses via Google Assistant.

Google rebrands Hangouts Meet as Google Meet and Hangouts Chat as Google Chat; comes as the company highlights the service’s various privacy measures and increased daily active users.

Airbnb is in talks to raise an additional $500M to $1B after recently securing $1B debt and equity; the company is considering selling an equity stake or a convertible debt offering; Airbnb has agreed to pay investors interest of more than 10% for its recent $1B funding round; the company is currently valued at $18B, roughly half Airbnb’s worth since it last raised funds in 2017; as part of the investment, Airbnb has also promised to bolster its leadership team.

Airbnb launches online experiences. Zoom-based, at launch, there are about 50 tours and classes to check out.

Lyft is partnering with Amazon to help its drivers find work.

Uber says it will add job listings to its app to help US drivers who are struggling amid the coronavirus outbreak; the company will show roles for logistics, food production, and the grocery industry; Uber will also contact 240k drivers who have commercial driving licenses to inform them of delivery roles for which they might be suited; additionally, Uber is encouraging drivers to sign up for its Uber Eats service.

Uber resumes some services in India amid the coronavirus outbreak; Uber is partnering with e-commerce Flipkart and grocery companies BigBasket and Spencer’s Retail to deliver goods to consumers; Uber says it temporarily forgo commission fees, allowing drivers to keep 100% of fares.

Amazon will suspend its logistics service Amazon Shipping this June; Amazon has taken the decision because it relies on people and capacity to make the service function properly; Shipping competes with rival offerings from UPS and FedEx.

WhatsApp introduces new forwarding restrictions for content shared via the platform; users that try to forward a post that has already been forwarded five times or more will only be able to pass it along one chat at a time; the company says it has seen an uptick in forwarded info, which it says can add to the spread of misinformation.

Facebook introduces Quiet Mode, a feature to let users mute the app’s notifications for a specified period; Quiet Mode can be turned on and off ad hoc, or set to activate at predetermined times; users who open Facebook during Quiet Mode will see a notice advising them the mode is on.

Apple makes some of its Apple TV+ original shows and movies available free to non-subscribers; includes documentary “The Elephant Queen,” children’s show “Helpsters,” and “Servant,” which was created by M Night Shyamalan; follows similar moves by HBO, AMC, and others.

Brazil-based iFood merges with fellow food delivery firm Domicilios; financial terms undisclosed, but iFood is taking a 51% stake; Domicilios, which is based in Colombia, is owned by Delivery Hero, which will take a 49% holding in the merged business.

Transnote (Chrome) lets users create time-stamped notes for online videos; users can jump to specific parts of a video based on the note; currently in beta, the service works with YouTube.

👩🏾‍💻 Good reads

Mobility in times of pandemic. Google used the anonymous location data it collects from Android phones to build global indices of how much people have stopped moving around, for every country and major city.

Bring Product thinking to non-Product teams, by Jeff Gothelf for HBR.

Know your audience — getting the most of out roadmaps. John Carter argues that Product Managers who get the most out of them realize that roadmaps are not for them.

How tech leaders navigated crisis & crossroads: Microsoft, Apple, Slack & more. Take a look at 8 of the most-discussed business memos of the last 30 years, highlighting their lessons and the impact they’ve had on the world.

How to keep your company alive — observe, orient, decide and act. Steve Blank offers a five-day playbook to help CEOs of cash-flow negative startups, or ones about to go negative, assess the new normal and respond with speed and urgency.

The founder’s field guide for navigating this crisis — Advice from recession-era leaders, investors and CEOs currently at the helm, by First Round Review.

Inside Alphabet’s X: nurturing radical creativity [audio]. CEO Astro Teller reveals how Alphabet Inc.’s X develops breakthrough technologies that change the world.

💻 Upcoming online events

ProductTank BCN Virtual Meetup with Jeff Gothelf, by ProductTank Barcelona, Wednesday, Apr 15, 2020, 6:00 PM GMT, Free

Best practices for hosting online events, by Zoom, Apr 15, 2020 11:00 PM GMT, Free

Webinar: AMA w/ Nir Eyal, Author of ‘Hooked’ & ‘Indistractable’, by Product School, Friday, Apr 17, 2020 6:30PM GMT

VIRTUAL ProductTank April — Start-up to scale-up to enterprise, Wednesday, Apr 29, 2020, 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM GMT, Free

List of Design online conferences for 2020, curated by InVision.

🏠 WFH resources:

Is it possible to work remotely as a product manager? Tips and resources by Product School.

How to keep your team motivated, remotely, by HBR.

Remote work for Design teams, by Ben Goldman, Abby Sinnott, and Greg Storey for InVision. Learn the best practices for running a remote design team, and discover how designers can help teams collaborate while working apart. InVision is a fully remote company.

More resources updated weekly at elproducto.eu.

🙂 #alwaysbekind

During the upcoming weeks (for as long as the Covid-19 crisis goes on) I will keep dedicating my evenings to offer free consultation / advice / coaching / casual chats to any impacted professionals that would like to reach out. Don’t be a stranger, reach out by DM if you are interested, and let’s help each other. We are all humans after all, and we are all on the same boat.

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