What is Product Cocktail?

Welcome to Product Cocktail, where the takes are as polarizing as a shot of Fernet—but the insights come together like a perfectly crafted daiquiri.

Come for the cocktail puns, stay for the unfiltered product opinions—from a practitioner who has shipped at scale, tried the tools, and isn't afraid to say when something is unbalanced.

Hi, I'm Taylor O'Brien.

I'm a product manager who has been in the trenches building and scaling platforms for over a decade, focused on monetization, subscriptions, and commerce. I brought PlayStation's DTC from idea to launch, then built the only PS5 pre-order experience that didn't fall apart on launch day (what, like it's hard?). I scaled HBO Max In-App Purchase to 60 countries, launched the tools to enable a 90%+ CSAT customer support team, and clawed back nearly 1pp of invol churn.

I sit comfortably in the uncomfortable tension between driving revenue and empathizing with customers. Most PMs pick a side, and I think they're wrong. It's about balance, which leads me to this newsletter.

I've spent the majority of last year developing POVs and building demos; writing about AI from a product lens on LinkedIn. I decided to take my talents to Beehiiv for a bit more flexibility. The vibes were off on LinkedIn (as were the character limits). As for Product Cocktail: expect a weekly product perspective on something AI, monetization, or anything that pisses me off.

Why the name? Allow me to take you on a journey at the intersection of two of my passions, product and cocktails, to explain the concept of this newsletter (I might recommend sipping a strong drink to get through this piece).

When I thought of what to call this newsletter, one of the first things that came to mind was "Product Cocktail." While I've had a long-held, strong opinion on how to make Proper Old Fashioned (Wisconsin has left the chat), COVID enabled me to discover a passion for crafting cocktails. One of the first things I learned: balance.

Every cocktail breaks down into four components: alcohol, sugar, acid, dilution (water). Get the ratio wrong on one thing, and the whole thing falls apart—that's why I lost 89% of you when I said daiquiri in the lede.

Product works the same way — value, desirability, tension, and delivery. Delivering the right formula is more art than science, which is why we call it “taste” instead of “math.”

I'll try to be your proverbial "product bartender" in this newsletter each week in three ways:

The Shake: Here's where I'll deliver a perspective on something in AI, product, or life, with the occasional deep dive. Maybe you'll see a product teardown, demo, or even a prototype here from time to time.

The Recipe: One recently launched product or feature put through the balance check, offering a point of view on what's over hyped or what's missing.

The Garnish: One signal, stat, or link worth one minute of your time.

If you've made it this far, thank you for your support. I hope you enjoy the ride. I welcome any feedback and pushback, but I suspect any vehement disagreements would probably best discussed over drinks.

Send me questions, feedback, and cocktail recipes:
[email protected]

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