451. Best products of 2023 🛰️
From climate-saving innovations to -- you guessed it -- AI technology
Hellooo 👋 So happy to have you here. I’m Kevan. I have spent 15+ years as a head of marketing for some cool tech startups. Now I’m co-founding a brand storytelling business called Bonfire. We do coaching, advisory, and content, and we’d love to hear from you, anytime. Come say hello.
Quick poll (final call!)
If you haven’t had the chance to weigh in yet (or if you want to rock the vote multiple times), I’d love your feedback on what I should write about — or podcast about? — next year in this newsletter.
Programming note: Next week’s newsletter, the last one of 2023, will arrive on mid-week rather than on Sunday because of the Christmas holiday. 🎄
Best Products of 2023
People are just so cool and creative and inspirational.
Whether they’re writing books, articles, and newsletters.
Or giving great advice.
Or creating amazingly valuable products.
In years past, I have collected “best of” products that leaned very heavily into startups and tech. This year, my horizons have been broadened, at least a little bit, toward amazing new products that are addressing climate change or solving food insecurity. So this list will have a little bit of everything — and yes, there will unavoidably be an AI product or two.
If you’ve seen any cool new products this year, please feel free to reply and let me know. I’d love to hear what you’ve found!
Best Products of 2023
1. Tyba — Modeling software for renewable energy projects
Heaven knows we have enough tools, spreadsheets, and playbooks for modeling things like business growth and media spend. It’s great to have the same for something as important as renewable energy.
2. Re-Gen — Bioplastic additive
Throw your empty shampoo bottle in the compost. Seriously!
3. Motion — If Calendly and Asana had a baby
Plus, they get credit for one of the best benefits-not-features headlines: “There are now 13 months in a year.”
4. Motion — Reporting tool for creative ads
Yes, there are two products on this list called “Motion.” This one makes it easier for you to show ROI on all the brand-forward social ads you’re running. You know they work; here’s the proof.
5. Vori — An OS for grocery stores
Not only does it help grocers maximize their businesses, it keeps inventory on track so that there’s less food waste.
6. Blaze — An AI that learns your brand voice
There’s a lot of AI content creators out there, but few brag about an emphasis on brand voice the way that Blaze does — and brag about it with such a unique brand voice and visual identity of their own. There aren’t a lot of brands giving comic-book vibes.
7. PhotoRoom — AI photo studio that creates magic images
For everything from removing backgrounds to making world-class product images, PhotoRoom has you covered and, thankfully (for design-challenged creatives like me), no design skills required.
8. Arcane — Like having an AI chief-of-staff to run your marketing
Corral all your marketing work in one single dashboard and automate away a lot of the repetitive reporting and hunting work that slows your team down.
9. Arcade — Interactive product tours
Especially for lean teams or complex products (or lean teams with complex products), Arcade is a godsend because you can educate new signups at scale by giving them a hands-on overview whenever they sign up.
10. Pocus — Discover hidden revenue from acquisition to retention
Pocus is one of a handful of PLG-native tools that now do a lot more than just find the product-qualified leads hidden in your userbase. Pocus combines dashboards and spreadsheets (bless any new tool that reduces our dependency on spreadsheets) to give you one full look at your customer journey and where the money is hidden.
Over to you
What were your favorite products that you discovered this year?
Send me a reply. I’d love to hear from you!
About this newsletter …
Hi, I’m Kevan, a marketing exec based in Boise, Idaho, who specializes in startup marketing and brand-building. I previously built brands at Oyster, Buffer, and Vox. Now I am cofounder at Bonfire, a brand storytelling company.
Each week on this substack, I share playbooks, case studies, stories, and links from inside the startup marketing world. Not yet subscribed? No worries. You can check out the archive, or sign up below:
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I’m lucky to count folks from great brands like these (and many more) as part of this newsletter community.
