PRODUCT STRATEGY + USER RESEARCH
Anyone can build a product now. Almost no one knows what their users actually want.
I help teams close that gap and turn it into revenue. Twenty years of shipping products, one founder you actually talk to.
Where I usually find the gap
These are the places I find the gap most often.
EARLY-STAGE
You built it. Nobody's biting.
You shipped a v1. Maybe two. You're not sure the product is for who you thought it was for, and you can't tell whether the next move is a feature, a pivot, or a sharper story. You're building faster than you can validate, and you want a clear read on who this is for and what belongs in v1 before you pour in more.
- "Friends say it's cool. Strangers ghost the onboarding."
- "We have a roadmap. I'm not sure it's the right one."
- "I'm building things faster than I can validate them."
MID-STAGE
Sign-ups are working. Activation isn't.
You have real traffic. People sign up, poke around, and disappear. The funnel looks fine on paper and broken in practice. You can feel the activation problem but you don't have the time, the team, or the lens to map it.
- "Day-1 looks fine. Day-7 looks terrifying."
- "We don't know which step is killing the funnel."
- "The team has theories. None of them agree."
GROWTH-STAGE
You have revenue. You don't have a research practice.
The product makes money. Growth has slowed. The team is shipping but not landing. You've been running on instinct and roadmap inheritance, and you can feel that the next move requires actually talking to the people paying you.
- "We haven't done a real user interview in a year."
- "Retention is flat and we're guessing at why."
- "Three teams. Three opinions. No data."
Where to start
Strategy Session
$500 · 60-minute call + written recap
You bring the product and the metrics you have. We spend an hour digging in. A few days later you get a short written recap that names the core problem and lays out a "do this now, do this next" plan you can act on this week.
LVL-1: Early-stage product strategy
$3,500 founding price · 3 to 4 weeks
For founders with an idea or an early product who need to sharpen who it's for, define a focused v1, and turn a chaos of ideas into a roadmap they can actually execute. Ends with a written strategy report and a walkthrough call.
LVL-2: Mid-stage activation
$7,500 founding price · 4 to 6 weeks
For teams whose product is live but whose activation and early retention are weak. Week 1 is a diagnosis sprint. The rest is funnel teardown, 5 to 8 user interviews, a friction map, and a 30-to-60-day fix list with the metrics to watch.
LVL-3: Growth-stage optimization
$14,000 founding price · 6 to 8 weeks
For teams with real revenue and stalled growth. Full audit, 8 to 12 customer interviews, a revised roadmap with one big bet and 3 to 5 quick wins, plus a 30-day follow-up call after execution starts.
Founding prices apply to the first two engagements at each tier. Once those are placed, prices step up to the standard rate.
Real work. Real users. Real numbers.
DISNEY STREAMING · 2017-2022
The page in the middle
At Disney+ I redesigned the title details page. Not the homepage. Not the player. The page you land on right before you decide to watch a movie. We did the research first, listened to where users hesitated, and shipped a new version.
Double-digit lift on engagement on the page. Trailer plays, watchlist activity, overall impressions. Key driver in subscription renewal and retention.
PERRY STREET SOFTWARE · 2022-2024
The users the default playbooks miss
Two years leading product for the queer-owned company behind SCRUFF and Jack'd, queer dating apps serving millions of users. Shipped features at scale for an audience that doesn't show up in any of the default PM playbooks. That work taught me more about reading users than any framework ever did.
Millions of users. A research practice rebuilt from scratch. The reason I know how to design for the people the templates miss.
ASSOCIATED PRESS · 2005-2016
The bug nobody else opened
A customer had been stuck in a frustrating update loop for weeks. The support thread had been sitting there. I pulled it open, found the root cause, coordinated the fix. The work took about an hour once we knew where to look. The gratitude lasted years.
One small fix. Years of trust. The cheapest research source in product is the support ticket nobody bothers to read.
01. Reach out
Free, takes 2 minutes
Send a DM on LinkedIn or fill out the contact form. Tell me what's stuck. I'll respond within a business day.
How working with me actually goes
02. Free 30-min fit call
Free, 30 minutes
We'll chat for 30 minutes to see if my lens matches your project. No high-pressure sales pitches. If we aren't a fit, I'll tell you straight and point you toward someone who is.
03. Strategy Session
$500, 60-min call + recap within 3 business days
We dig into the product and the metrics. A few days later you get a short written recap that names the core problem and a "do this now, do this next" plan you can keep no matter what comes after.
05. Handoff and follow-up
Built into every engagement
You don't get a consultant who lingers. You get a written report, a walkthrough call, and, for LVL-3, a 30-day follow-up after execution starts. The team owns the work.
04. Engagement
LVL-1, LVL-2, or LVL-3, depending on stage
If the Strategy Session points to deeper work, we scope an engagement that matches where you are. Fixed price, fixed timeline, written deliverables you keep.
Why Level Up Product is different
I read people first, frameworks second
Most PM consultants lead with the framework and try to map your product onto it. I start with your users. The framework, if it shows up at all, comes after I've actually heard what's going on.
Queer-owned, shaped by queer product work at scale
Two years at Perry Street Software shipping queer dating apps to millions of users. That work shapes how I think about designing for any audience the default playbooks miss. Level Up Product is queer-owned by design, not as a marketing line.
AI-tool-fluent, not AI-hype
I use Cursor, Perplexity, and the major model consoles every day. I'll bring those tools into your work where they speed things up. I won't pretend they replace the research. Anyone can build a product now. The hard part is still the part nobody automated yet.
Two clients at a time, not a roster
I take a small number of clients on purpose. Two concurrent engagements maximum at this stage. You get me, not an account manager and a junior. Fixed scope, fixed price, written deliverables you keep.