Dipl.-Ing. Lars Behrendt

//CEO@GRANNY&SMITH, DE-RISKING INNOLAB FOR THE MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANIES

I’m an inventor, innovator and investor. I turn real problems into real companies.My career changed the moment I realized most innovations fail for the same reason: everyone talks about ideas - almost no one builds them.In boardrooms and workshops, I watched brilliant concepts suffocate under politics, process and PowerPoints. The spark in people’s eyes faded the moment reality entered the room. I couldn’t unsee it.So I stopped helping people discuss the future and started building it.Over the past 15 years, I’ve created products, ventures and business models that didn’t exist before. What began as engineering evolved into a practice: recognizing real unmet needs, inventing the solution and forming a company around it.Today, I operate where invention, innovation and investment meet. I don’t manage portfolios — I create the companies they’re built from.How I work: • real-world problems • physical + digital products • validated demand • scalable models • long-term ownershipWhat drives me: If you can see a better future, you’re responsible for building it. I work with people who believe progress comes from creating, not talking — and who want to bring things into the world that should already exist.That’s why I build.More: grannyandsmith.com

We are here to help you develop, test, and grow new business ideas in a few weeks instead of months. We specialize in innovation development, constantly keeping up with the latest trends, methods, and ways of working.

We have been developing innovation for our customers for more than 15 years now. Our teams, consisting of designers, engineers, software developers, and business model experts, have tried a lot and gained much experience. Today we know what works and what does not - so you don't have to make all those experiences again.

Our INNOWEEK® method is the result of more than 15 years of continuous development and project experience with well-known DAX groups and Fortune 500 companies and helps you to develop, test, and grow new business ideas in a few weeks instead of months.

YOU FEEL TIRED?

If you are feeling tired in your life...

...then you should take a good look at this video*!

Don't ever let somebody tell you you can't do something. 

_You got a dream? 
_You gotta protect it. 
_You want something, go get it

P.S.
*Actually, this movie is based on a true story by Chris Gardner
He is also here on Linkedin

———

This is how we bring your ideas to market in 2025:
https://lnkd.in/dexsVrw8

#innovation

Dipl Ing Lars Behrendt 

INVENTOR · INNOVATOR · INVESTOR - Building Companies. Not Slide Decks. We build and scale industrial ventures. At own risk.

THE FOUNDER OF NETFLIX LITERALLY DROPPED HIS BEST BUSINESS ADVICE IN UNDER A MINUTE 🔥

The most valuable business advice I've heard in years 💡

Netflix's founder just dropped this truth bomb that every entrepreneur needs to hear:

"Nobody knows anything when it comes to new ideas. I've started seven companies, including Netflix, and I promise you - I could never have predicted which would succeed and which would fail on day one."

His solution? Stop overthinking and START DOING.
→ Take the risk → Build something
→ Test something → Try something

Because here's the reality: 
You learn more in one hour of action than in three months of planning.

This hits different when you realize Netflix was just one of his seven attempts. 

Imagine if he'd stopped at attempt #6 because he was afraid of failure.

The companies that win aren't the ones with perfect plans - they're the ones brave enough to test their imperfect ideas in the real world.

What's one idea you've been overthinking that you could test this week?

P.S.
This is exactly the approach we are taking with our startup studio and family office. Reach out if you're interested in collaborating to build startups systematically.  

#innovation #vc #familyoffice

I am an accomplished Product Management expert and instructor. After working 15 years in small and FAANG companies, I moved on to helping others excel in their product career. My online courses were attended by over 20,000 people, and hundreds of them got a new job thanks to my help. I am also a co-author of a best-selling book, "Next-Gen Product Manager," and a successful live event speaker.

I'm currently focusing on growing my Newsletter, tending to live cohort training I lead with Aakash Gupta, a fellow product creator, and growing as a speaker and in-house trainer for companies that seek my help.

If you need my help, make sure to contact me today on LinkedIn or email me at contact@drbartpm.com.

Bart Jaworski

I am terrible at design, but I can still guide my teams to create awesome-looking products.
So can you! How?

When working with a designer, you should not focus on details like button layout or colors. That doesn't mean you should simply leave the design team to do all the work for you.
Here are 6 ways to make the best out of this relationship:

1) Explain what you want to achieve
It's best to know the goals the design needs to reach and what problem you are solving. Details can come later.

2) Start with a simple wireframe to show your high-level vision
It's a great kick-off point. You need no talent, just an idea to put on a screen!

3) Share your inspirations
You may have seen another product that solves a similar problem elegantly. Or something you'd use if you were creating the design yourself? All you need is a screenshot and perhaps some pen and paper suggestions.

4) Acknowledge competencies
Make sure that the team understands they are to create their design, not draw what you asked. They are the experts!

5) Set milestones and check-in points with your team
People will take as much time on a task as they are given. Checkpoints will also allow you to identify if the design is going in the wrong direction. Again, Notion will be a great tool to monitor progress.

6) Get the rest of the team involved
Allow the developers and other stakeholders to enter the design brainstorm. You will get a diverse outlook and might avoid technical issues.

Ok, but what if you do not have any designers and you still want to present excellent work? Or you want to walk into a design review with something that already makes sense before design even starts?

That is exactly where Figr, partner of today's post, fits in. With Figr, you can start from your real product. Most AI design tools jump straight to mockups from prompts.

Fast, yes.
Useful, rarely.

Figr works differently. Instead of generating mockups from a blank prompt, it starts with what you already have. Your live product, screen recordings, analytics, and even your design system. So you're not copying some other app's UI. You're building on your own.

What surprised me is how it picks up on your actual flows and suggests designs that make sense for your product logic, not generic best practices. It pulls from thousands of real-world UX patterns, but applies them to your context.

The other thing I didn't expect: it catches edge cases I'd missed. It finds how similar products actually handled them.

Remember, the goal isn’t about faster mockups.

It is to solve problems faster. 

So when you hand it to your designer, you're handing them clarity, not a puzzle.

How do you come up with great designs for your products?

Let me know in the comments.

Also, check out today's post partner: https://figr.design/

#productmanagement #productmanager #design

Dr Bart Jaworski

Become a great Product Manager with me: Product expert, content creator, author, mentor, and instructor

You know what the thing is that Product Managers get mostly wrong? They chase details while they should focus on the big picture. How to escape this trap?

Listen, I get it. A product manager is responsible for the end shape of any product and release, so no wonder you may feel compelled to micromanage every detail.

Even worse, your stakeholders might force you to do that, by putting a lot of pressure on you (after all, if you fuck up, it's like they did as well).

But it's simply not the way, not the proper way. At least, unless you prefer to be a product manager in title only, and instead focus on project and engineering management.

At the same time, it's not like I will tell you this and magically you can shift your attention from detail-oriented to high-level. You need to set this up properly. 

How?

1) Delegate the responsibility for quality to your team
Your engineers and designers are professionals. Trust them to deliver quality work. Set clear standards, provide context, then step back. Create systems where quality is everyone's job, not just yours. Regular code reviews, design critiques, and testing protocols should run without your constant oversight.

2) Ensure you won't proceed without a stellar strategy and goals that you can monitor with metrics
No initiative moves forward without a crystal-clear "why" and measurable success criteria. Before diving into features, nail down the business case, user problem, and specific metrics you'll track. This becomes your north star when everyone else gets lost in implementation details.

3) Secure the support of your manager
This part is political, and it matters more than you think. You need air cover. If your manager expects you to chase Jira tickets, you’ll never have the space to think strategically. Fix that first.

4) Put extra care into product requirements and background for any initiative
Invest heavily upfront in comprehensive PRDs that capture context, user stories, and success metrics. The more thorough your requirements, the less you'll need to micromanage implementation.

5) Define your future focus outcomes
It's best to translate your future-focused efforts into something tangible. Otherwise, you may end up working a lot with nothing to show for it.

Only with this will you find the proper space that will fall into place naturally and will allow you to do proper product management. After all, you are there to secure a stable and prosperous future for your product, not just the next sprint.

Are you able to focus on the big picture right now?

Let me know in the comments.

Do you want to have a great strategy to land your next product job? Get a new PM job in 2026 with Aakash Gupta and my cohort "Land PM job". We're starting the 2nd cohort next week, after already getting many people hired from the first one. Check it out here: 

www.landpmjob.com

#prodcutmanagement #productmanager #strategy

It's so frustrating that great product managers won't get a job unless they are also great at job interviews. Why is that? How to correct it?

Before the promised 8 reasons, let me note that there is nothing wrong with this discourse. Knowing you are not great at product interviews should only motivate you to improve. 
Having said that, here's why theory is so different than reality:

1) Lack of clean narratives
Interviews love tidy stories: one problem, one action, one outcome. Real product work is messy, circular, and full of tradeoffs that do not fit a STAR template. A great PM often tells the truth instead of polishing a perfect arc. And truth rarely sounds impressive in 30 minutes.

2) Too much context to compress in little time
Strong PMs carry years of product, domain, and organizational context in their heads. In an interview, that becomes a curse. Explaining why a decision mattered requires ten minutes of setup, and you only get two. Shortcuts sound shallow. Depth sounds rambling.

3) Real impact is often invisible
Great PMs spend most of their time preventing disasters, aligning people, and killing bad ideas early. None of those ships. None of those screenshot well. Interviews reward visible launches, not the quiet work that saved the company millions.

4) Refusal to oversell
Bad PMs exaggerate. Great PMs qualify, caveat, and acknowledge uncertainty. They say things like “it depends” and “we were partially wrong.” Interviewers often hear this as a lack of confidence, not intellectual honesty.

5) Discomfort with hypotheticals
Interview questions love imaginary worlds. “How would you design X?” Great PMs are wired to ask for data, constraints, users, and context before answering. Pushing back or asking clarifying questions can be misread as avoiding the question.

6) Optimization for outcomes, not optics
In real work, you optimize for long-term outcomes, team health, and sustainable delivery. Interviews optimize for sharp answers, bold claims, and fast thinking. Different muscles. Different game.

7) Assumption games vs actual data-drivenness
Interviews often reward confident assumptions made on the spot. You are expected to “pick a direction” quickly and defend it. Great PMs do the opposite: slow down, ask for data, validate hypotheses, and avoid premature conclusions. In a real product, guessing is a risk. In an interview, not guessing fast enough can look like hesitation.
 
Is this also your job experience? 

Let me know in the comments.

Do you want to excel as a PM and at product interviews? Get a new PM job in 2026 with Aakash Gupta and my cohort "Land PM job". We're starting the 2nd cohort, after already getting many people hired from the first one. Check it out here: 

www.landpmjob.com

#productmanagement #productmanager #jobsearch

It can be extremely stressful when an authority figure, like a manager or CEO, comes to you with a bad idea. Here are 8 ways to say "No" effectively:

1) Force the CEO/manager into a discussion
Don't just say "yes" or nod. If the CEO/manager wants you to do something, you need to do your due diligence. Having a conversation is the first reasonable step.

2) Ask for the reasoning
You need to understand what user/business problem the CEO/manager wants to solve. Perhaps you can offer a better alternative? Or at least understand that the request is not that stupid from a wider perspective.

3) Ask for data
To have the request added as a task to the backlog, you need data to allow prioritization and to estimate the impact hypothesis. If the figure of authority gave you the request, perhaps it comes with some handy data. You wouldn't act on an opinion, now would you?

4) Ask for time
If there is no data and no good reason, you will need time to look into this. Anything stupid on the surface can be a hidden gem (say, the original premise of Twitter: Who would want to run a microblog with only 160 chars to work with?), and you need time to evaluate.

5) Perform your research
Is there any data on the request? How did competitors solve the same problem? Did science tackle it? Was it tried in the company before? You know, the usual backlog item stuff :)

6) Prioritize the request in your backlog
Now that you can assess the impact, certainty, risk, and perhaps the effort needed, it's time to see where the CEO/Manager mandate items rank in the list of priorities. If it's a round the bottom or middle, time to:

7) Arrange a follow-up meeting
You are now able to speak with the stakeholder again on a more equal footing. This should be set as soon as possible. Perhaps you will need to timebox your research phase to adjust to the other side's calendar.

8) Demonstrate the cost of prioritizing the request
Show the CEO/Manager all your other plans, the problems they solve, and the expected impact. The stakeholder will have a clear visibility of where his/her request ranks in comparison.

Afterward, you shouldn't even need to say "No". The CEO should withdraw her/his request!

Would you be able to say "No" to a high authority figure?

Let me know in the comments.

Are you sick and tired of a role that forces you to say "No" too often? Time to land your next product job. Get a new PM job in 2026 with Aakash Gupta and my cohort "Land PM job". We're starting the 2nd cohort next week, after already getting many people hired from the first one. Check it out here: 

www.landpmjob.com

#productmanagement #productmanager #leadership

Original meme template: shencomix

Senior AI PM makes $184K (US) with Meta, paying $737K+. An analysis of over 100+ AI PMs job offers shows 5 most common skills they're looking for:

1. AI Product Lifecycle (82%)

Example: Owning product strategy, vision, and go-to-market (AWS).

Start here:

→ How to Create an AI Product Strategy: https://lnkd.in/ds9EQ7hS
→ How to Design a Value Proposition: https://lnkd.in/du9zcZDA
→ 5 GTM Principles You Should Know as a PM: https://lnkd.in/dEPMtmKU
→ AI Evals for PMs: https://lnkd.in/dHUFrkVs
→ How to Evaluate AI Agents: https://lnkd.in/dKM9YvNW

2. Cross-Functional Collaboration (76%)

Example: Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including engineering, UX/UI, and business stakeholders (Google).

Start here:
→ WTF is an AI Product Manager: https://lnkd.in/dBZUmDHq
→ What is Product Discovery: https://lnkd.in/dNUB__n3
→ AI Prototyping: https://lnkd.in/dPaKYv7S
→ Experiments Library: https://lnkd.in/dvUisjR2
→ AI PRD Template: https://lnkd.in/dQ2jiMfr
→ Product Discovery Course (free for premium subscribers): https://lnkd.in/eianWDnk

3. Gen AI, LLMs, and AI Frameworks (69%)

Example: Experience with Generative AI or LLMs (T-Mobile).

Start here:
→ Neural Networks, Transformers, and LLMs: https://lnkd.in/dveWsD9f
→ AI PM Glossary: https://lnkd.in/dVCki_gf
→ 14 Prompting Techniques for PMs: https://lnkd.in/dnCGVH6a
→ Fine-tuning for PMs: https://lnkd.in/dwJfQiC7
→ Context Engineering for PMs: https://lnkd.in/d_XVN5KV
→ AI Agent Architectures: https://lnkd.in/dnmQ_kP8
→ The Ultimate Guide to n8n for PMs: https://lnkd.in/dKYZ5Y3n

4. Data-Analytics for AI (67%)

Example: Define and track key performance indicators (KPIs) for product success (ZnA).

Start here:
→ How to Find The Right AI Product Metrics: https://lnkd.in/d9tZcvVT
→ Cohort Analysis: https://lnkd.in/daJ5KQWW
→ Funnel Analysis: https://lnkd.in/d8Gt5ECV
→ AARRR Metrics: https://lnkd.in/dpM_9A55
→ North Star Metric: https://lnkd.in/dfBNB77S

5. AI-Driven Customer Experience (48%)

Example: Create conversational experiences that are personalized, relevant, and grounded in trusted information (ServiceNow).

Evals are not enough. Develop an AI intuition by building, not theorizing. Step-by-step guides (no coding):
→ RAG chatbot: https://lnkd.in/dew--RqD
→ AI voice agent: https://lnkd.in/dSW6_KiT
→ Multi-agent research system: https://lnkd.in/dpBGF3pq

Thank you, Paweł Huryn for the original analysis.

Which skill will you prioritize?

Let me know in the comments.

P.S.: If you want to become an AI PM, then Product Faculty's #1 AI PM Certification, built with OpenAI’s Product Lead, Miqdad Jaffer, is for you.

1. Master the full AI product lifecycle
2. Build scalable, production-ready AI products
3. 3,000+ AI PMs graduated
4. 600+ reviews - highest on Maven.

The next cohort starts NEXT MONDAY, the 26th. Secure your spot with 500 USD discount using my link:

https://lnkd.in/diQHbFth

#productmanagement #aipm #ai

If you’ve ever tried to evaluate translation quality in your product, you know the pain. 
However, there is a solution:

Actually, it's best to use MQM (Multidimensional Quality Metrics), the gold standard for evaluating translation quality, adopted by major localization teams.  In practice it often means spreadsheets, manual setups, or heavyweight enterprise tools that slow everything down.

Not anymore!

Alconost, my ongoing partner and patronm, just released a free MQM Annotation Tool that makes translation quality evaluation actually usable in real workflows.
What it does well:

• Allows you to evaluate human or machine translations using the full MQM error taxonomy 
• Supports custom error weights and pass/fail thresholds aligned with business quality goals 
• Visualizes error distribution and segment-level scores 
• Exports results as CSV, TSV, JSON, or PDF for reporting and vendor discussions
  
Works instantly in the browser, no setup, no install needed.

This is especially useful for: 
• Multilingual products
• Localization managers benchmarking
• MT quality LSPs documenting quality in a structured way
• ML and NLP teams are building annotated datasets
• Product teams that need objective, explainable quality signals
  
If MQM ever felt 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦, this tool is worth a look.

👉 Check it out and support the launch on Product Hunt: 

https://lnkd.in/dN4eA8zF

What's the best translation failure you have ever seen that this tool could have prevented?

Let me know in the comments.

#productmanagement #productmanager #localization

You are an experienced and talented Product Manager, yet you struggle through painful job interviews. 
Why? How to overcome this? Here are a few tips:

First, let’s get one thing straight:  There is nothing wrong with you.
 
Being good at PM interviews is a different skill from being good at product management. Just like discovery, stakeholder management, or roadmap thinking, it’s a muscle. If you don’t train it intentionally, it will fail you under pressure.
 
I can’t give you time.  But I can give you guidance.
 
Here’s what actually helps:

1) Learn and improve with every interview
Treat interviews like another chance to practice them. After each one, summarize what aspects still need work. Patterns show up fast if you look for them. Most candidates repeat the same mistakes for months because they never do a proper retro.

2) Practice common interview questions
This way, you will have your best answer at your fingertips rather than making it up on the spot. You will also avoid common pitfalls, for example, “Tell me about a failure” is rarely about failure, but about learning and improving from it. 

3) Product Management fundamentals > jumping to solutions
Strong PMs often lose points by skipping framing. They rush to solutions because that’s what real work rewards. Interviews reward the opposite. Problem definition, user clarity, constraints, and success metrics. If you don’t anchor there first, even a great idea sounds random.

4) Use a visual aid to help structure your long answer
A simple mental model works wonders. “I’ll walk you through this in three steps,” immediately calms the room. It signals control, not hesitation. You’re not thinking out loud. You’re leading the conversation.

5) Start with a short, 1-sentence answer and add a summary at the end
Interviewers get lost. They always do. Open with your direction in one sentence. Then explain. Then close with a crisp takeaway. This isn’t redundancy. It’s empathy for a tired human on the other side of the table.

6) Keep relaxed, smiling, and confident, even if it is just an act
Interviews are emotional theater. Confidence is often perceived before competence. You don’t need to oversell, but you do need to look comfortable owning your decisions.

Listen, following those pieces of advice might not land you a job at your next interview. It is a process to follow and improve with every try, until it's your second nature, just like it is to find the right product solution to the hardest of challenges.

Did you ever struggle through a job interview?

Let me know in the comments.

Do you want to excel as a PM and at product interviews? Get a new PM job in 2026 with Aakash Gupta and my cohort "Land PM job". We're starting the 2nd cohort, after already getting many people hired from the first one. Check it out here: 

www.landpmjob.com

#productmanagement #productmanager #jobsearch

Controversial opinion: Product Managers don't need a roadmap. They needs goals to achieve with a deadline. How to find a realistic middle ground?

Here are 7 actions to consider:

1) If possible, commit to working on goals, not features
This is the ideal situation: Your roadmap is showing how you will timebox different challenges and goals over the coming months. However, let's be honest: Hardly any management will accept such a roadmap. In that case, you will need to supplement this with a set of proposed deliverables that you MAY work on that should address your challenges. 

2) Show how your propositions fit into the wider narrative
If you can highlight how your proposed changes address your goals, but also fit into product/company vision, and strategy, and answer market/user needs, you will be a Product Management GOAT (Gen Z readers, how I used that correctly ;)? ). Trust me, this is a roadmap masterclass in this single paragraph.

3) Don't go too granular
You want to impress and inspire your stakeholders. The roadmap meeting will be a long one, and if you dive too deep, you will confuse your audience and lose the narrative. Do it Hollywood style: show, not tell! In any case, you should focus on the details over the course of the year, not when you are launching.

4) Include visualizations
If you have any wireframes or early designs, show them! They might change 1000 times later, but showing early concepts will show that you are nicely progress with your plans. This will build confidence that the presented outcomes will land when you say they will land.

5) Make it easy to access and check the progress
This will save you time on updates - either stakeholders will be able to check your progress on their own, or it will be easier for you to create a "check-in" presentation. 

6) Involve the team
Before showing the roadmap to stakeholders, show it to your team for input. Make them a part of the roadmap, not receivers. They should feel proud to follow it and feel co-responsible, not be surprised by your propositions.

7) Stress that it's always only a draft, not a commitment
That's right! If you make this a commitment, it will make it harder for you to change direction later if, say, another ChatGPT pops up out of nowhere. You, as the Product Manager, should always pursue the best value for your product, and no roadmap should stop you from doing that!

How do you craft your roadmap? 

Let me know in the comments. 

Do you want to have a great strategy to land your next product job? Get a new PM job in 2026 with Aakash Gupta and my cohort "Land PM job". We're starting the 2nd cohort next week, after already getting many people hired from the first one. Check it out here: 

www.landpmjob.com

It's only this weekend to sign up!

#productmanagement #productmanager #roadmap 

P.S. Thank you 🥞 Carl Vellotti for another inspiring visual :)

What if I told you you can make your company legendary starting with... localization? That's basically the story of CD PROJEKT RED, and it all starts with one game:

In the late 1990s, Poland was not an obvious place to build a global gaming powerhouse. The PC market was small, piracy was everywhere, and publishers treated localization as an afterthought. Then Baldur's Gate arrived and changed everything.
 
When CD Projekt decided to publish Baldur’s Gate in Poland, they made a radically different bet. Instead of cutting corners, they invested heavily in a premium localization. The game was fully translated, professionally edited, and dubbed with well-known Polish actors. 

Manuals, boxes, and extras were treated with the same care as the game itself. All world-class.

I was 13 and hyped as crazy when I preordered the original BG in my home in Poland.
 
The result?

Amazing!
 
Over time, sales exceeded 50,000 units, an extraordinary number for Poland in 1999. This was not just a commercial success. It was proof of something many believed impossible: 

Players were willing to pay for games if they were respected as customers.
 
That single release rewired CD Projekt’s future.
 
First, it gave the company financial stability in a market considered hostile to legitimate sales. Second, it built trust with global partners like BioWare and Interplay, showing that CD Projekt could handle flagship IPs responsibly. Third, and most importantly, it shaped the company’s philosophy: 

Localization is not translation; it is cultural adaptation.
 
Years later, when CD Projekt moved from publisher to developer, those lessons carried over directly into The Witcher. The game’s success came down to narrative authenticity, mature writing, and deep respect for the gamers, the same values first proven with BG. 

The Witcher felt local, grounded, and honest, yet it resonated globally.
 
The pattern repeated with Cyberpunk 2077. Despite its troubled launch, the ambition was unmistakable: massive localization efforts, full voice acting across languages, and an attempt to deliver a consistent narrative experience worldwide. Few studios would even try at that scale.
 
In hindsight, Baldur’s Gate was not just CD Projekt’s first hit. It was their strategic foundation. It taught them that quality builds trust, trust builds loyalty, and loyalty builds global brands.
 
A masterfully localized RPG in 1999 did not just sell hundreds of thousands of copies in Poland. It launched a company on a path to becoming one of the most recognizable names in global gaming.
 
Sometimes, the road to glory starts with a really good translation. 

Those can be provided for you by the partner of this post: Alconost! Whether you need a localization partner for your game, app, or website, they are the best of the best and my trusted patron for years now.

So, what localized game made you fall in love with it?

Let me know in the comments.

#productmanagement #localization #gaming

You know what the most infuriating part of a Product Manager's job is? It's that it all takes FOREVER. But not with Figma Make. Why?

Ideas are fast. Alignment is slow. Execution is painfully slow.
 
And this is exactly why what Figma revealed recently made me stop and think.
 
I had the opportunity to dive into Figma Make, and while there were many impressive capabilities, one thing stood out immediately:
 
Turning fuzzy product ideas into working UI without waiting weeks for handoffs.

Stop me if you heard this one before: You have an important goal or user problem to solve. You get everyone into a room to get the ideas going. Thus, impressive before you know it, amazing solutions pop up every minute, and you feel that success is just around the corner.

You generate tons of notes and napkin designs and high-five each other. After that, it's up to designers to translate it into something the team can realistically refine and take to the sprint.

Then you wait.

However, the designer has a deadline on another important project, not to mention the flu season, which won't spare her.

Weeks later, the 1st real design appears.

By the time the first real screens appear, the original energy is gone. The context is cold. You are basically restarting the conversation.

If only you could have a prototype of your idea right there on the spot...

Well, you can!

This is where Figma Make quietly changes the game.
 
Instead of stopping at notes, frames, or vague wireframes, you can move straight into something tangible.

A real interface.
Editable.
Interactive.

Good enough to react to and get the energy going again.

You finally work as a cheetah, not a snail.

You suddenly have something you can:
• pressure test with stakeholders
• use to anchor roadmap discussions
• something to iterate on with your team
• validate direction before over-investing
 
Does it still need taste, judgment, and human refinement?

Absolutely.
 
But the difference is timing.
 
You are no longer waiting weeks to see if an idea even makes sense visually. You are shaping it while the thinking is still fresh.
 
For Product Managers, this is not about speed for speed’s sake. It is about shortening the gap between thinking and seeing.

Thinking and releasing.
Thinking and testing,
Thinking and... succeeding!
 
And that gap has been killing great ideas for years.
 
Curious what this unlocks for PMs and teams that already live in Figma.
 
What's the first prototype you'd create?
 
Let me know in the comments.

Or better yet... 

Just create it: https://lnkd.in/dHwTHm5k

#productmanagement #design #figmapartner

With AI being everywhere in Product Management, somehow no one talks about how to ace AI product design interviews. Here's how to do it:

Let's start with these 7 pieces of advice:

1) Start by asking a few sharp clarification questions
Show you can reduce ambiguity fast. Make sure to clarify assumptions, limits, and what “success” means. You are signaling maturity, not stalling.
 
2) State your framework out loud before you start solving
Use a visual (paper or e-whiteboard), clean structure: 
users → problems → solutions → prioritize → design → AGI connection → risks. 
This prevents wandering, repetition, and “great idea, messy answer” failure.
 
3) Select the right userbase
A key insight: even if the product is “for pets”, the buyer is the human. Call out user archetypes, then pick one and say why (motivation, willingness to pay, measurable outcomes).
 
4) Prioritize problems using a simple hierarchy
Use a “pyramid” idea: first understand 𝘄𝗵𝘆 behavior happens and 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻, to best understand where the problem to solve appears. Interviewers love this because it proves you can identify foundational problems, not just brainstorm features.
 
5) Tie the solution back to the company's mission early and use it to prioritize
When OpenAI says “AGI progress is the metric”, don’t ignore it. Use it as a filter: this product improves multimodal understanding, real-world behavior interpretation, and generalization. That becomes part of the prioritization logic, not an afterthought.
 
6) Generate multiple solutions, then select using explicit criteria
Produce a few ideas, then rank them with a lightweight scoring table: user impact, feasibility, differentiation, engagement. The trick is not do the math, but to show logical thinking under pressure.
 
7) Design core flows, then finish with risks and mitigations
Once you pick a direction, shift into product design mode: onboarding, passive vs active usage, “magic moment”, key design decisions, etc.. End with practical AI risks: hallucinations, privacy, cost, scalability, etc., and concrete mitigations to those issues.

Would you to best understand these points in action?

Check out my mock product design interview with Aakash Gupta, where we show how to utilize this post's guidance:

https://lnkd.in/gptaf3is

Have you already taken an AI Product Design job interview?

Let me know in the comments.

#productmanagement #productmanager #ai

AI can already save you a ton of time, but buying all those subscriptions will get you broke. What if I told you there is another way? There is:

We’re barely at the start of the AI age, yet we already have tools that save hours every week. As a content creator, I feel this daily: writing, editing, image generation, meeting recaps, research…

Without AI, I wouldn't have enough time in the day to do all I need.

Not with kids around.

As a creator, all of that used to mean juggling 5–6 different AI tools. Different UIs. That forces me to constantly switch, not to mention the payments for all those subscriptions.

That’s the real productivity and/or mood killer.

That’s why I gave Genspark, partner of today's post, a try.

It recently crossed $100M ARR in just 9 months, becoming Silicon Valley’s first AI agent unicorn, and is positioning itself as an All-in-One AI Workspace 2.0.

One workspace. One dashboard. One subscription.

From content ideas, to images, to animations, to deep research. You just say what you want to achieve, and it figures out how.

In practice, it replaced three tools for me instantly:
• image generation and style transfer - no more Midjourney and ChatGPT needed.
• animation and short video creation - no more need for Google Gemini.
• research - farewell, Perplexity
  
𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 just scratching the surface.

And here’s the wildest part.

Genspark is offering 𝘂𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗔𝗜 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗜 𝗜𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲.
That means unlimited access to top models like 𝗚𝗣𝗧-𝟱.𝟮, 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗢𝗽𝘂𝘀 𝟰.𝟱, 𝗚𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶 𝟯 𝗣𝗿𝗼, 𝗙𝗹𝘂𝘅, 𝗦𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺, 𝗡𝗮𝗻𝗼 𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗮 𝗣𝗿𝗼, and more.

There are also, to name a few:
• AI Sheets that turn spreadsheets into a chat
• AI Inbox that summarizes threads and drafts replies
• AI Developer that plans, writes, runs, and debugs code end-to-end
• AI Image / AI Designer for visual assets, edits, and variations
• 
It honestly reminds me of early Netflix. One place. Everything you need. Before fragmentation ruined it.

If you’re serious about output, not collecting AI subscriptions, this is worth trying.

Test it for free: https://lnkd.in/dG4J8WfQ

Then come back and tell me how many tools you were able to cancel.

#Gensparkpartner #WorkwithGenspark

Did you ever want to test your PM skills by creating a mobile app, but the process felt way too complicated? I have a solution for you:

Before I begin, let me just stress that having a side project as a product manager is super important. It's something you can show on a CV. Something to train your product muscles. And something that gives you proof of your product skills, regardless of your issues at work with the team, strategy, tech stack, etc.

When you are your own boss, your product management skills truly shine, and this is an opportunity you don't want to miss. 

And when it comes to creating a mobile app, there is something where you can simply focus on product management and not on the technical aspect. 

Replit has a solution for you! Whether you are prototyping or building a production-ready app, Replit lets you securely vibe code using natural language- with database, auth, and deployment built-into the platform.

However, unlike similar tools, Replit can now help you get your idea not only working, but also live! 

They’re introducing Mobile Apps on Replit, a conversational way to build, test, and publish 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘀 just by describing what you want.
 
Users can now push their ideas to AppStore without learning mobile frameworks, installing Xcode, or managing complex build pipelines (and whatever other secret signs and languages do iOS developers use to put apps live). 

This is as easy as the following steps:
 
• You describe your app in chat.
• Replit builds it.
• You preview it on your phone.
• And when you’re ready, you publish it.
 
Behind the scenes, Replit handles the entire mobile stack,  from frontend to backend to App Store submission, so creators can focus on the idea, not the tooling.
 
Thus, expect to be able to test the MVP of my future game:

"Spiders on my face!"

This is meant to be a "simple", 8-bit style game, catching the simplicity and absurdly scaling difficulty of games like "Pac-Man" or "Tetris" in 2026.

You can check it out NOW using the QR codes visible on the video attached :)

Why is it an MVP? What do I want to do with it? 

Stay tuned!

In the meantime, check out Replit and create your own games and apps, without any tech experteese:

https://lnkd.in/dzHhirRV

What will you build?

Let me know in the comments.

#productmanagement #productmanager #vibecoding

Most companies still think they have an API problem. They usually don’t. They have an API discovery problem. How to solve it?

APIs exist.
They work.
They scale.

And you know what? AI might be the game now, but API are still the key to connecting to your key partners and customers.

Even so, teams cannot find them. Partners cannot understand them. Every new integration feels like starting from scratch.

You, the product manager, are leaving long-hanging fruit (value, income, clients) on the table!
That is exactly why I am hosting a live session on API discovery, developer portals, and turning APIs into a growth engine.

This will not be a theoretical talk. No buzzwords. No vendor fluff.

We will break down:
 • Why API programs fail even when the tech is solid
 • How scattered docs silently kill adoption
 • What internal teams really need to reuse APIs instead of rebuilding them
 • How modern developer portals change onboarding speed dramatically
 • Where monetization actually makes sense and where it does not

If you have ever heard:

 “Do we even have an API for this?”
 or
 “Integration will take a few months.”

This session is for you.

My guest will be the Digitalapi.ai’s CPO, Srinivasan Shanmuganathan ( Shan ), who will also show how teams solve this problem in practice.

If APIs are part of your product strategy, you do not want to miss this.

Register today for free: https://lnkd.in/d2RdhPxd

Will I see you at the event?

Let me know in the comments :)

#productmanagement #productmanager #api

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Dipl.-Ing. Lars Behrendt's LinkedIn Performance

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