2-min Technical Product Marketing: Gong, Lovable, Revolut, and Stage 2 Capital.
June 2025, Part 2 release
📈 4 MICRO [PRODUCT MARKETING] CASE STUDIES
[1] For AI-Native Products: Find your 'leading indicators of retention (LIR)' to determine which customers using their experimental budget will likely renew.
Stage 2 Capital believes traction doesn't equal staying power for fast-growing AI startups. You want to track some version of real customer behavior to see if they'll renew. A few actions that roll up into this behavior can include actions per month, % usage vs. predicted usage, % benchmarks met, etc.
[2] Set aside 5-7% of your budget to experiment and capitalize on future opportunities without linking it to metrics (measurement).
Gong's former CMO suggests having a budget to explore the unknown without worrying about how it moves traditional project metrics. This budget should also direct efforts that don't need validation from committees to avoid "vanilla work" while trying something new.
[3] Create a leaderboard to highlight the community's top 5 user projects to build use case awareness and offer a launch pad for projects.
Lovable lets you build software products with a simple chat interface. Beyond their referral program, the community upvotes interesting user projects every week, which win product credits for the creator while setting the stage for a future launch pad and potential marketplace for Lovable.
[4] Follow this 4-phase strategy (wedge, flywheel, ecosystem, and engine) to build massively popular consumer tech companies.
Revolut (fintech company) launched with a 10X solution to eliminate FX rip-offs. Their core features, like bill splitting, had built-in virality while also working as acquisition channels. With gradual trust, they became a financial control center for a user's entire life by capturing the full 'share of wallet' - think banking, investing, credit, and wealth management.
📚 1 BOOK & TOP 3 INSIGHTS
[1] Prioritize a list of 40 possible employers instead of a scattershot approach. Choose these 40 from the following 4 groups: (i) dream employers, (ii) alumni (or affinity) employers, (iii) actively hiring employers, and (iv) trending employers.
[2] Use the TIARA framework to collect valuable information during your informational meetings. Sample Questions - Trends (T): "What trend most impacts your business right now?" Insights (I): "What surprises you most about your job?" Advice (A): "If you were me, what would you be doing right now to best prepare for a career in this field?" Resources (R): "What resources should I be sure to look into next?" Assignments (A): "What's been your favorite project so far?"
[3] Be prepared to answer these 4 types of questions during informational meetings - (i) Tell me about yourself (aka "Walk me through your resume"), (ii) Why do you want to work for our organization? (iii) Why do you want to work in this role? (iv) Why do you want to work in this sector/industry?
🧠 5 CURATED MARKETING THINK PIECES
[1] What Will Automated Firms Look Like?
[2] How to Keep Your Writing Weird in the Age of AI
[3] AI Might Take Your Job. Here Are 22 New Ones It Could Give You.
[4] A Framework to Move from Director to VP in Product Marketing
[5] AI’s Trillion-Dollar Opportunity: Sequoia AI Ascent 2025 Keynote