Swipe to Unlock: The Primer on Technology and Business Strategy (Fast Forward Your Product Career: The Two Books Required to Land Any PM Job)

"Swipe to Unlock" provides a fascinating delve into the digital era, dissecting the influence of technology on society. From smartphones to social media, the book delves into how these innovations mould our behaviour, relationships, and even politics. With a blend of research and engaging anecdotes, it encourages readers to reassess their connection with technology and its implications for the future. An indispensable read for anyone navigating the intricacies of the digital realm.

I'm a Product Marketer in a software company, and this book was really useful. It's got an excellent coverage, and explains difficult technical concepts using simple language and analogies. The masterstroke, though, is covering tech and business strategy in the context of real-life examples from the world's tech companies. This really brings the explanations to life.

Self printed by Amazon so not great quality, but the content is a great simple exploration of key concepts. Highly recommend for entry level PMs who want to grasp engineering concepts. Not at all a deep detailed book but a brilliant all rounder and written in a way that it’s very easy to understand and appreciate the ideas. Lovely stories to illustrate the concepts, and a very easy read.

So firstly massive caveat - i have 20 years in global tech companies - so this should have felt basic. However it is well written (clearly the authors get the importance of user experience and applied it to this book) , very understandable (to the point i would recommended my mother to read it or at least the first half) and full of examples and concepts. The second half gets more into the application of fundamentals you received in first half in context of products, markets and GAFAM/FAANG competitors etc. The additional content / videos are good - especially the teleportation example. Possibly as it is close to how i work/think and very well executed. Could you be a PM reading this book no (not their intent) but will it sensitize you to the kind of things you should think about yes. Also if your coming from specialist role the breadth will benefit you. It is B2C oriented so if your working in B2B you will need to transpose some the concepts. Overall i really rate this and would consider signposting colleagues to it.

For the first time in a long time I read a book that is fit for purpose. Straight to the point, relevant examples explained with great analogies. This book is waffle free, can’t stand books that use ‘death by examples’ they spend 4 pages using stories and examples to make a point-this book is not one of those books. All examples in this book take a few lines and are simple to understand. I have not been able to put the book down since I bought it. It is quite engaging.

You wont be disappointed. Id describe swipe to unlock as an insight into the tech scene for those not super technical that will give you enough great detail to understand what the big companies are doing what they are doing and also a glimpse of the global picture that i personally wasnt aware of especially from the companies operating in the asian and african tech markets. A lot of food for thought to help future proof your products or assist when creating new ones with the do's and dont's in creation

A very good primer on tech industry and innovative business strategies that drive the digital world. Provides an overview of existing and emerging technologies and products, and their implications for the users - both good and not-so-good. It is, however, only an overview with limited technical details. Its written in a creative and engaging way - for readers from within or outside the tech industry.

This was quite a brilliant read. The authors did a good job simplifying a lot of the tech world even for technophiles. I wish I had found this book sooner. An interesting read with so many relevant concepts discussed that brought to life the inner machinations of the tech world.

This is by far the best book I've ever read that makes me feel tech-savvy after reading it. I had been looking for a book that explains technology from the view of business strategy, and this book does the job extremely well. It addresses whys and hows related to most important topics in technology. It starts from the very basic/fundamental so that you know where exactly it is coming from and takes it to the level above explaining clearly in points the most important factors and aspects related to the topic. I usually have a ton of question after reading a book, mostly related with clarity, but this book makes you understand a topic from end to end, so that no doubt remains. Loved it. Cant wait to read their next book Bubble or Revolution. Thanks Neel, Adi, and Parth!

Nice recap of major trends and tactics in the ‘tech’ industry - not only in US/EU but across the globe. And some nice additional online bonus material. Also the interviewing videos are great, whether you’re looking for a job or hiring.

El libro aborda de forma muy accesible y digerible conceptos elevados de la labor de las empresas tecnológicas modernas, aterrizando a ejemplos concisos y casos de estudio los temas. Altamente recomendable.

I am a PM at Quora and discovered Swipe to Unlock through our company book club. One of our leads nominated it as our read of the month. Our books are usually more of stories (e.g. Bad Blood) rather than case studies, so I was a bit reluctant reading “a primer” given that I have been working in tech for almost 8 years now. I have to hand it to the authors though, they did a phenomenal job incorporating vivid storytelling into the book! Each chapter of the book is full of key insights regarding business trends and tech developments. I think this book is a must read for everyone working in tech, but especially product management professionals. There’s few good resources to help PMs think big and critically analyze opportunity. I think Swipe to Unlock and Zero to One are probably the best books on the market for that. I was familiar with at least half the material in this book, but I previously lacked the ability to explain the concepts in ways that non-technical members of my team could understand and thus comprehend the significance of the technical product decisions we were making. So this book definitely helped with that. But, the real value I got from this book was in the later chapters which focused more on business strategy and emerging market trends. Having a Western-centric user base at Quora, I haven’t yet had much exposure to the tech trends in high growth tech markets such as South East Asia. This book does a phenomenal job breaking down key growth strategies other companies have used to successfully win market share in emerging markets. It also reveals that rationale behind major acquisitions such as Microsoft acquiring LinkedIn and provides actionable analysis on what things to look for to make an acquisition successful. If you are a product manager, I would highly recommend reading this book. It will broaden your perspective from thinking how to incrementally improve your product to how to spot the next major opportunity. I just ordered copies for both of my reports to read!

As someone who is currently working in technology, I found this book to be very helpful. The book does an excellent job of going into detail about past, present and future trends in technology. What I found to be most beneficial was the fact that it was simple, and yet used real life examples / experiences, from tech giants such as Google, Uber, and Amazon. I also like how it was broken down into small bite size chapters each with its own flow. This made it easy to comprehend complex ideas, and supported with evidence from a business perspective. As I continued to read the book I found myself learning more and more about the importance of technology and how it will come to shape our present and future.