Season 05 - Newsletter 01 --> Look back at 2024 and forward to 2025
Hi Friends -
This has to be my favorite time of the year for a variety of reasons, but one that stands out is the now common practice from organizations and individuals to look back at the year and sometimes cast forward. 2024 continued to be challenging for many of our friends, peers and colleagues in Big Tech and product management. A few years removed from COVID it’s obvious the run on Big Tech, anything digital, and the golden era of Product Management is now in a new less heralded and golden chapter. But the promise of the impact we can make for the better as a discipline remains.
So lets look back at the year and perhaps a bit forward to see what might be coming. Like last year, we’ll look at broad consumer behaviors, the economy before diving more into the macro.
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2025 - Divergence and Paradox
In 2024, we saw continued uneasyness in consumer confidence and spending in part exacerbated in the US with the presidential elections. That same year, affluent consumers drove retail momentum, younger generations asserted their influence, and AI evolved into an everyday companion tool while major players like OpenAI, Amazon, and Google competed for dominance. At the same time, tech leaders stepped further into public discourse, shaping not just products but cultural and political narratives.
As we step into 2025, the product and tech landscape is defined by divergence and paradox—a world where (seemingly) opposing forces coexist, and success depends on balancing universal values with niche depth, economic angst with consumer optimism, and AI-driven efficiency with human trust. And you thought it was going to get easier
For product leaders, the year ahead isn’t about resolving these tensions—it’s about navigating them with clarity, adaptability, and purpose. All the while when it comes to the discipline of product a growing chorus and challenge in the value it truly is delivering.
🛍️ Customer Insights in 2024
In 2024, US consumers balanced economic caution with pockets of resilience, driven by a blend of apprehension and optimism. If the Vibes of the economy were confusing that is because high income earners continued to expand on their spending in retail while low income earners fell back to last place. Key insights included:
Affluent Consumers Driving Retail Momentum: Higher-income households became central drivers of spending, particularly in categories like premium retail, travel, and dining.
Growth of average retail spending overall and decomposed by household income (seasonally-adjusted and inflation-adjusted) Younger Consumers as Market Shapers: Younger generations—especially overseas—balanced their commitment to sustainability and social impact with an unyielding preference for convenience.
The Emotional Paradox: It’s no surprise that work and life imitated each other with consumers having to navigate a complex emotional landscape where optimism about personal futures (Hey my stocks are up) coexists with economic concerns (gas is high and lots of layoffs). Despite those economic uncertainties discretionary spending increased.
Seamless Shopping Experiences: The divide between e-commerce and physical retail continued to blur, with in-person spaces becoming experience hubs and online platforms driving immediacy and personalization.
In 2024, affluence, youth preferences, emotional clarity, and blended retail experiences defined consumer behavior. Products that aligned with these values thrived amidst uncertainty.
🔝 Posts by Product Hustle Stack in 2024
🚀 Pivotal Moments in 2024 for tech and startups
2024 was a year where AI, economic resilience, and evolving leadership dynamics reshaped the tech and startup landscape. Some defining moments included:
The Intensifying AI Race: Companies like OpenAI, Amazon, and Google accelerated innovation, pushing AI capabilities into everyday use cases. The space is evolving beyond pure technical superiority with speed, cost efficiency, and seamless integration into real-world use cases becoming more of a differentiator. With 12 days of open AI, the jump back into the pool from Google with their late Gemini releases and DeepSeek v3, feels like the space is moving at a weekly cadence. With that said Agentinc frameworks (ie the use of agents to complete tasks) will be a key space to watch in AI development.
AI killer feature might be the AI companion: While AI enabled development is a popular companion use case (we’ve all see the videos of content creators develop an app in 5 minutes) countless workers are using AI to respond to emails, build decks and think through strategies regardless of what the company policy on the matter is. Another emerging use case is AI as a life coach, whether that is seeking guidance on the next vacation or more often than not in talking, yes talking through a personal issue with their favorite AI model. AI transitioned from being an isolated tool to becoming an indispensable companion in both professional and personal domains.
Tech Leaders Stepped into Public Discourse: Figures like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and firms like Andreessen Horowitz who have been privately shaping policy, public opinion, and cultural narratives went full public with their attemps. As their platforms themselves become more politicized as they become a core part of our communities and not just this thing called the internet, regulation, free speech and privacy will continue to rise and dominate the global discourse.
Fintech Disruption: With VC funding still not quite back to previous levels, we saw many Startups switch from B2C to B2B models in the Fintech space. To add insult to injury, the collapse of Synapse, a major backend fintech infrastructure provider, signaled a deliberate approach to Fintech risk management backend financial systems diversification is needed.Fintech Disruption: The Collapse of Synapse
2024 reminded us that adaptability, speed, and strategic foresight are essential for navigating a landscape where innovation and disruption collide.
📊 What to Look for in Product Management in 2025
The central theme for product leaders in 2025 is adaptability amidst complexity. Success will depend on balancing seemingly opposing strategies:
Universal Utility vs. Segment-Specific Depth: Mature products will lean on broad scalability, while emerging products will focus on targeted, segment-specific value creation.
Emotional Resonance as a Strategic Edge: Products that address both emotional anxieties and functional needs will stand out.
AI as a Strategic Pillar: AI will continue to evolve as a companion tool—products must seamlessly integrate AI-driven insights without disrupting user trust.
The Role of Intermediaries: Trusted voices, influencers, and community-led adoption strategies will become even more central to product success.
Tech Leadership Beyond Products: Product leaders will need to understand how their decisions intersect with policy, public sentiment, and broader societal narratives.
2025 will reward product leaders and practitioners who can adapt to complexity, work within ambiguity, balance universality with specificity, and deliver clarity amidst uncertainty.
🏁 Final Takeaway
The paradoxes of 2025 aren’t barriers—they’re opportunities. Product leaders who embrace these tensions with intentionality and focus will define the next era of success.
Are you ready to navigate the divergence and paradox of 2025?
Let’s keep building. 🚀
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