When to call, what it costs, how to start.

When should I call you?

When something isn't working and the explanations don't align. A redesign that didn't move the numbers. Product, Sales and Leadership each blaming something different. Or quieter signs that customers are working around you: exports climbing, support fielding the same "can you send me" requests, customers saying "we track that ourselves." Each usually means someone has built a spreadsheet to cover what your product or service lacks. Worth a call when getting it wrong with your customers gets expensive.

Can you help me make the case internally?

Yes. You may already suspect what's wrong. I help you take more than an opinion into the room: what's known, what's assumed, and what it means. The decision stays yours.

What if the answer isn't what we expected?

Then that's what you'll hear. I'm not there to confirm a preferred fix or prove anyone wrong. You'll know what's solid and what's shaky.

We have AI. Why not do this ourselves?

Use it. Answers are getting cheap: it can summarize interviews and build prototypes by lunch. What's still hard is everything around the answer:

Context you can trust. AI works from what you give it. If Sales and Product describe the problem differently, it will happily summarize both.
The missing perspectives. The customer who left, or the person quietly absorbing the workaround, rarely make it into the data.
The awkward question. An outsider can raise what's too politically sensitive for someone on your payroll to say out loud.
Responsibility. Someone has to stand behind a consequential recommendation. That's my job.

Are you a product manager? Will you lead the build?

No. A product manager owns the roadmap and delivery. I help test whether what goes on it is aimed at a real customer problem. I work alongside your team, and you keep the delivery and the decision.

Have you worked in ______ industry?

Possibly. I've worked across logistics, life sciences, education, agriculture, energy and senior care. That range helps me recognize patterns, but it never replaces knowing your business. The ways smart teams get in their own way look similar in every category. I follow your customers end to end and learn how your organization actually works, instead of importing assumptions from another category. Familiarity can make gaps hard to see.

How do we start, and what does it cost?

Start with a 90-minute working session on one decision, for $800. You bring what you know. I bring an outside perspective, challenge the assumptions, and point to what deserves a closer look. Within two business days you get a written take: what I'd do, what I'd check first, and what to watch. It's yours to keep and act on, whether or not we work together again.

To get started, fill out the form below.

When it needs a deeper look

If that isn't enough to decide, we'll scope the next step together, with a fixed fee and timing agreed before you commit. You come away with a named decision and a recommendation: proceed, redirect, stop, or find out one thing first. Some clients keep me on as an advisor once we've worked through something hard together.