Andrew Chen’s 2024 Predictions: The Future of Product, Growth, and AI

Andrew Chen’s 2024 Predictions: The Future of Product, Growth, and AI

2024 Predictions: The Future of Product, Growth, and AI with Andrew Chen

What's in store for 2024? 🤔 Andrew Chen, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, joined us on the Season Finale of Unsolicited Feedback to share his insights.

Before we dive in…

1. Surprise! This is only the first part of our conversation with Andrew. Make sure to mark your calendars for Part 2, landing on January 3, 2024!

2. This marks our Season Finale, but fear not! We'll be back and better than ever. Season 2 kicks off in late January with an updated format, new guests, and an elevated spice level as we're shifting from Jalapeños 🌶️ to Habaneros 🌶️🌶️🌶️.

3. We want YOU to be part of the show and the conversation. We're discussing predictions RIGHT NOW on LinkedIn, HERE. Think we're wrong? Tell us live. Let's talk about it. If you prefer giving us feedback offline, please fill out our "feedback form” HERE, and we'll start discussing your feedback during episodes next year.

Now, without further delay, let's attempt to predict the future with Andrew Chen!

🔥 High growth, high churn? 🔥

Right now, many AI experiences are seeing high growth and high churn. The novelty factor is strong. But what happens when that wears off? Will these experiences be able to sustain their growth, or will they burn through users? Only time will tell. ⏳

💥 MVPs Have Power, For Now… 💥

Right now, AI is at the beginning of its S-curve. It's a wild west where even the rawest form of AI can grow and be used. People are excited to kick the tires and try it out. Remember when the App Store was a hotbed of flashlight and fart apps? That's where AI is right now. There's a lot of movement, a lot of turnover. It's a fertile ground for innovation and experimentation. But will it last? 🤷‍♂️

🕰️ To Predict The Future, Look At The Past 🕰️

In the early days of a new technology, the MVP strategy can work wonders. But as the technology matures, the bar gets higher.

Andrew highlights that it only took a few years for the App Store Charts to stabilize, dominated by a few core mainstays.

Long term, the Apple approach might be the way to go. 🍏 Apple didn't invent wireless headphones or smartphones. They perfected them. As AI matures, the companies that stand out will be the ones that take existing AI technology and make it amazing.

🔮 So, Now It’s Time To Predict The Future… 🔮

🚀 More IPOs in 2024 🚀

While 2023 didn't exactly make headlines with a high number of IPOs, we're banking on 2024 to change the game. Why? Simple. Businesses are maturing and the market is ready and waiting for fresh players. Plus, let's face it, 2023 set the bar pretty low, so there's pretty much only one way to go from there - up!

Now, Fareed is wearing his rose-colored glasses and is making his new year’s wish: what if we could start seeing IPOs at the 100m ARR stage when there's still a whole lot of runway left for a 10x growth? It's kind of a drag seeing IPOs happen only when the business has already fully realized.

📈 More M&A in 2024 📈

With the startup market overflowing, we're predicting a rise in mergers and acquisitions. However, considering the current regulations (cough...cough Figma), we think it's the startups that will mainly be acquired. Whether these young ones have cut costs to survive a downturn and are seeking a soft landing, or they've reduced expenses and hit new success levels, we believe they'll be the main attractions in the M&A scene of 2024.

60% of startups are going to have to raise funds before the end of 2024. There are many categories where companies are generating single-digit million revenue, up to 20 million revenue. They might be close to breaking even, but they don't have enough cash to make a significant investment and they don't have the growth to raise funds. This situation is likely to force some form of consolidation in many of these categories.

🤖 Big Breakthrough in AI in 2024? 🤖

The jury's out on this one. While we're likely to see incremental gains in AI, a major breakthrough isn't guaranteed. However, we do anticipate a wider breadth of capabilities and more integration of AI into everyday tools and processes.

💻 More Product Managers in 2024 💻

Despite the ongoing debate about the value of product managers, we predict an increase in the number of product manager roles in 2024. As companies continue to grow and evolve, they will need more product managers to oversee the development and execution of their product strategies.

However, the role of the product manager is evolving, and we predict a shift towards more senior, principle PM roles. As AI tools become more sophisticated, they're taking over many of the tasks traditionally handled by PMs, freeing up these professionals to focus on strategic, high-level work.

Next time, we're picking up with New Growth Channels and Marketing Trends for 2024 before diving into our Main Story, “Lessons Learned from Gaming in AI.”