Today’s Highlights

• AI: You have a Coding Partner: ChatGPT can now see your screen

• Design: Figma's 2024 Website Redesign

• Science & Tech: South Korea’s Morphing Wheel: Climbs stairs and Overrides curbs

• Founding: SaaS is shifting from ARR to Annualised Gross Profit

• Product: Implementing Hyper-Localisation to Win Markets, One by One

• Today’s AI image: Poetic side of AI

• Quote for the day: A Glimmer of Hope

AI

You have a Coding Partner: ChatGPT can now see your screen

OpenAI is giving ChatGPT a glimpse of your screen — well, kind of. The feature, currently in Beta for the MacOS desktop app, starts off with code editors but will broaden its app compatibility over time.

Dubbed "Work with Apps," this feature is currently limited to a few coding tools: VS Code, Xcode, TextEdit, and the Terminal.

Right now, it's available to Plus and Team users, with Edu and Enterprise customers getting their turn in the next few weeks.

Why is this a big deal?

Well, this is just the warm-up act for OpenAI's "Operator" agent, coming in January. Soon, ChatGPT could be watching your every move — and, more importantly, acting on your behalf.

The “Work with Apps” feature will create a feedback loop for the concept and functionality of the upcoming brainy agent.

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Also in AI

• Why is AI growth slowing down?

• Looks like AI is a better poet than Shakespeare

• Use xAI create a custom AI writing assistant that mimics your unique writing style

• TikTok’s Symphony Creative Studio: AI avatars, voice editing, automatic dubbing in over 30 languages, and auto-generated videos based on brand trends

• InVideo introduces an AI-powered tool that generates multi-minute videos from just one prompt

• Anthropic’s tools for developers to fine-tune prompts

• Stripe’s agent toolkit for integrating payments into LLM workflows

Design

Figma's 2024 Website Redesign

Figma’s recent web system update involved a redesign that reflects the platform’s evolution from a design tool to a comprehensive solution for product teams. Here’s a concise look at the process:

• Audit and Streamlining Components: Figma conducted a thorough audit to assess their component library. The goal was to eliminate redundancies and simplify options for designers.

• Embracing Variables and Nested Components: Previously, components were like LEGO blocks that you could stack. Now, Figma’s system integrates nested components and variables, which reduces redundancy, boosts efficiency, and simplifies updates.

• Prototyping and Iterating: A key focus was on refining CTAs (call-to-action buttons), exploring over 50 variants to test interactions and animations. This prototyping process helped optimise designs before development, saving time and reducing back-and-forth during QA.

• Branching for Flexibility: Figma’s branching feature allowed designers to test out new elements—like the evolving Figma Sans typeface—without disrupting the main project.

• Consistency Through Naming Conventions: The team made sure that all elements, from components to variables, had consistent naming conventions. This practice ensured smooth handoffs between designers and developers.

• Color and Accessibility Management: The design team implemented a more flexible and accessible color system using variables, reducing the need for multiple component variants.

• Collaboration Tools: Real-time collaboration through Figma’s chat and cursor features helped maintain alignment across the distributed team.

• Developing with Responsiveness in Mind: Figma’s approach to designing for different screen sizes involved careful consideration of breakpoints, ensuring components were responsive and ready for any device.

The project wasn’t just about updating a design system—it was about creating a flexible, efficient process that supports ongoing growth and collaboration.

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Also in Design

• New in YouTube: Users can scroll long-form videos like shorts

• The Arena is kicking off its first fundraiser looking to grow its mentorship programs and support emerging UK talent through virtual sessions and community-building

• Tactile Design is picking up: Fusing materials, texture, and weight to create multisensory experiences

• Effective error messages are essential for improving user experience on workflow automation platforms

• An AI tool for generating images, videos, and sounds to help craft cinematic stories and characters

• Claude Artifacts leverages generative AI to speed up prototyping, letting designers quickly test complex ideas and validate dynamic behaviors

Science & Tech

South Korea’s Morphing Wheel: Climbs stairs and Overrides curbs

Researchers from the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) have developed a 'morphing' wheel that adapts its shape to roll over obstacles like curbs, humps, and even stairs, revolutionising mobility for wheelchairs and robots.

Obstacle Overcoming

This wheel can surmount obstacles up to 1.3 times its radius in height. Its unique design, inspired by the surface tension of water droplets, allows it to transition from solid to fluid-like when it encounters challenges.

Applications Galore

Beyond wheelchairs, the morphing wheel could be used in unmanned delivery vehicles that climb stairs to deliver goods, or even in robots for military surveillance.

Future Goals

The KIMM team envisions these wheels enabling robots—both two-legged and four-legged—to efficiently carry heavy payloads in industrial environments, with speeds up to 100 km/h (the pace of an average car).

Technology Behind It

The wheel features a chain hoop and spoke wires that adjust their stiffness via sensors, responding to the terrain in real-time.

Why is this a big deal?

This flexible wheel is not just a step forward for mobility devices, but could also lead to smarter robots and automated systems capable of tackling a variety of real-world obstacles with ease.

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Also in Science & Tech

• SpaceX’s Starship has been moved to the launchpad for its upcoming test flight on November 18

• AI tools strive with intricate workflows and long-term dependencies, aggravating the agonies of tech debt

• Scientists have created an algorithm capable of predicting lithium-ion battery fires by analysing the sounds they produce during failure

• Fossil studies have uncovered the brain of an 80-million-year-old bird, offering new insights into the evolution of avian intelligence

• A recent study shows that the skull's bone marrow grows over time, aiding the body in producing healthy blood cells

Founders

SaaS is shifting from ARR to Annualised Gross Profit

ARR used to be quite up-to-the-mark in its annual revenue predictions. But those were times of light competition, AI-less SaaS and uniform and steady gross margins across the industry.

Market having evolved overtime, ARR is becoming less and less relevant for usage in SaaS. Instead annualised gross margins have grown useful and important. Reasons being:

Why Gross Margins > ARR?

Gross margins in SaaS no longer behave as they used to and won’t in the upcoming times. Gross margins are more variable and volatile because-

a) Methods to earn revenue have changed vastly. Industry is shifting towards usage-based/ outcome-based pricing ditching the normal subscription-based model.

b) Given the excessively large industry, both in terms of size and diversity, gross margins across cloud/AI companies vary a lot.

Reasons to farewell ARR and place bets on Gross Margin:

1. More reliable valuation: Since the revenue models are changing and profitability varies greatly, companies valued based on revenue will depict a financial picture drastically deviated from their true profitability.

2. Protection from misleading metrics: Two companies with ARR $1,000,000 and annual Customer Acquisition Costs of $250,000. Seem to be sharing the ground, right? But turns out their gross margins are 50% and 80%, respectively. A huge difference.

   Though spending 250 grand on customer acquisition made them both $1,000,000, for the first company, costs swallowed more revenue leaving less in hands compared to the second one.

So the broader lesson? Choose the metric that varies the most during the time.

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Also in Founding

• What NOT to do when Going-To-Market: Coming from a founder who bootstrapped to $1M in ARR

• AI is outpacing traditional robotic process automation, birthing new possibilities for automating complex workflows and cutting operational costs

• Programmatic SEO: Using AI and automation to scale content creation, target long-tail queries and react quickly to changes

• B2C billing systems, often overlooked as simple, actually involve complex challenges around compliance, flexibility, and customer retention

Product

Implementing Hyper-Localisation to Win Markets, One by One

Customers love personalisation. Businesses leverage this by adopting the most accurate version of personalisation. Geographical. Let’s take Canva for example-

Canva’s Hyper-Localisation Strategy

• Canva has over 24,000 web pages translated into 100+ languages.

• This isn’t just about efficiency—it’s about creating real, meaningful connections with a global audience.

More Than Just a Translation Job

• Of course, localisation doesn’t stop at language. There’s deeper forms of geographical personalisation. Culture, customs, traditions, beliefs and even religion.

• So for Canva, localisation isn’t swapping out words; it’s crafting an experience that feels homegrown.

• The platform adapts culturally. Whether you’re in Japan, Argentina, or Mexico, Canva’s design tools, templates, and messaging align with your local vibe.

• Argentina and Spain may both speak Spanish, but Canva knows their design preferences aren’t identical.

• Local design teams call the shots, ensuring every detail—from templates to messaging—feels just right for their region.

The Numbers Speak for Themselves

• Over 65% of Canva users aren’t English speakers, and localised pages drive a whopping 80% of their traffic.

• With this hyper-localisation strategy, Canva has scored an extra 100M organic visits per month, cementing its status as a global design powerhouse.

Who knew a bit of cultural flair could bring in millions of users? Canva did, obviously.

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Today’s AI Image

Poetic side of AI

Quote of the Day

A Glimmer of Hope

"Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy."

Anne Frank

What we’re working on

🧞Your wish is my command