Rob Webb

Childcare is a movable barrier and the care economy is workforce infrastructure. Siran Cao dropped so much truth on First Builders this week and shared why even capitalists in a vacuum should care.

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Building a startup is hard. It is especially hard in a country like Nigeria, where the ecosystem is yet to mature, and there are still many challenges to navigate. It is confusing, lonely, and full of uncertain decisions. Founders, especially early-stage founders, need as much support as they can get. Not “inspire to perspire” posts, but practical support on hiring, operations, funding, customer research, and navigating the regulatory landscape. Too many founders are surrounded by noise, surface-level advice, and generic content that does not reflect their current realities. What they need is a community that understands exactly what they are going through and can offer context that is immediately useful. Sierra Collective exists to be that community. A space where founders learn from one another’s live experiences and shorten the painful trial and error that usually defines the early stages of building. At Sierra, we believe that the most valuable support comes from those who are active in the trenches, navigating the same obstacles. If you are an early-stage founder, you should join the Sierra Collective. You do not have to figure everything out alone. As the African proverb says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Join Sierra: https://lnkd.in/d-Nzmtkq

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Today we're changing Clay's pricing. Pricing changes are scary (for you and me!), but we are trying to do this in the most authentically Clay way possible - thoughtful, transparent and community-first. We've been thinking about this for almost a year (maybe too long Karan!), and have talked to hundreds of customers and partners. We want to align our business model with how our product is being used today, and set us up to grow sustainably together. When we launched, our customers used us for data enrichment. And now our community is using Clay to power their GTM engineering motions. But the pricing model hasn't evolved, so we're making some changes to reflect that. Here’s what’s important to note: First: nobody is getting forced off their plan. Every existing customer can stay on their existing plan. We have to earn the right for you to move to a modern plan. Second: most customers will see better value for their money with this change. If we think you'll save money by switching to the new pricing, we're going to reach out and tell you proactively. Third: we're separating the cost of data from the cost of the platform. We want to keep bringing down the cost of data in Clay, and make the value tied to what you orchestrate and build with it. Fourth: our best features are now more accessible. The new Growth plan includes things that used to live exclusively on Pro at a 38% lower price. Many of our most advanced users will save thousands a year. Our plans now come with a new metric called Actions, which measures the orchestration work Clay does for you: the workflows, AI research, and logic that turns raw data into a GTM motion. 90% of customers will never hit their Actions limit. We want most people to never think about it. That way, we’re only winning if you are. Data Credits now cover just the data - and they're cheaper. We’re reducing the cost of the data in our marketplace by 50–90%, making prices comparable to what you’d pay externally. Karan and I recorded a video walking through the full reasoning and who gets affected - positively and negatively (including us – we’re taking a 10% revenue hit). If you're a Clay customer and have questions, we want to hear them! Full pricing announcement and the internal memo we sent our team below. Announcement: clay.link/nF1eKMH Internal memo: clay.link/wiw2NHK

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The next wave of consumer products will revolve around one thing: taste. With vibe coding essentially leveling the playing field and greatly reducing the barrier to entry, what’s going to stand out at the end of the day is style. AI can now do a lot: read, summarize, speak, think, and it's just starting to take action through the agent layer. But one thing they can’t do is edit itself. You still need the human touch to discern good taste from bad. At the end of the day, the winners will be defined by who understands the consumer best and who knows how to make products fundamentally easier to use. Thanks for the great conversation Akash Pasricha | The Information

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Talking to users and thoughtfully integrating their needs and wants was woven through everything we did at IDEO—threaded through every prototype and product decision. Reading my colleagues Joanne and Leo's latest work brought that to mind. They describe a future where research runs continuously, with AI agents recruiting participants and instantly surfacing insights. Synthetic personas, carefully trained on consumer signals, mirror human behavior closely enough to extend live studies and compress timelines from weeks to hours. Today user research mostly runs in fits and starts, prohibitively expensive and locked away in dedicated project cycles when it could be a constant companion, seamlessly integrated into the product development process. Joanne and Leo lay out the full vision here: https://lnkd.in/gEUBSG_J

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Leading product at Haast, I've seen skepticism that surrounds AI firsthand, especially when it comes to legal and compliance. In this space, speed isn't enough. Enterprises demand accuracy, explainability, and reliability—without compromise. Building our product is more than great design and code. It requires training AI on real-world compliance scenarios, partnering closely with legal experts, and embedding human-in-the-loop validation at every step. That behind-the-scenes rigor is what makes the difference. Our AI not only flags risks, but also explains *why* they are risks, referencing the exact policy or regulation. We’ve baked transparency and data security into the product from day one, because in compliance, trust isn’t a feature, it’s the foundation. Curious to hear from others: What’s your biggest trust barrier when evaluating new AI-powered tools? #ProductLeadership #AIEthics #EnterpriseSoftware #TrustInTech

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Most teams don't struggle with speed anymore. They struggle with building the right things. That's exactly where my brother thrives. He's a Principal Product Designer who brings real product thinking into design. The kind of person who helps teams cut through complexity and focus on what matters. If you're building serious products and need that level of thinking, take a look at his post below.

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