The questions I ask before building a product
A product can work as designed and still struggle when the problem, audience, or distribution is unclear.
Journal
Notes on product, design, AI, and building companies.
I taught founders to build roadmaps at McGill. The framework still works.
I taught a product roadmap workshop at McGill in 2017. Building with AI has changed the pace, but I still use the same questions to decide what to build next.
What changed when I started building with coding agents
Building 1Health with coding agents changed how I write software. Product decisions, code review, and checking the live result still take my attention.
The best interfaces are the ones you don't notice
A small change to the session start flow at Paper made the next step clearer and increased session starts by about 25%. Here is how I look for that kind of improvement.
Buying a business starts with an operating plan
Building and buying ask different things of an operator. My work at Openfair made me pay closer attention to what happens after a buyer takes over.
What I learned about branding at Founder Institute
Mentoring founders at Founder Institute brought me back to a useful question: can a customer explain who the product is for and why they would choose it?
Choosing between a screen and a conversation
Comparing options, asking a question, and completing a form call for different interfaces. I choose the format around the task.
What early AI devices taught me about product reliability
The launches of Humane’s Ai Pin and Rabbit’s r1 made me ask what an AI device has to do well enough to become useful every day.
About This Journal
Short essays on product, design, AI, and building companies. Most begin as working notes and stay here when the idea deserves a longer life.
For case studies and brand work, see Work.