Product Discovery Services
The most expensive mistake in software is building the wrong thing well. Discovery is the work that happens before design: understanding the problem, de-risking the idea, and deciding what actually goes into the first version, so the design and build effort lands on something worth shipping.
What you get
A problem worth solving, stated clearly
Not a feature list. A sharp account of the user problem, who has it, and why solving it matters to the business, so everything downstream has something real to aim at.
The idea, de-risked
The riskiest assumptions surfaced and tested cheaply, before they cost a quarter of engineering. Better to kill a bad idea in a week than to ship it in three months.
A scoped first version
A clear line around what the first release includes and, just as importantly, what it does not. An MVP that is actually minimal and actually viable.
How it works
Frame the problem
Talk to the people who have the problem, read what the data already says, and write down the actual job to be done before anyone opens a design tool.
Test the risky parts
Find the assumptions the whole idea rests on and probe them with the lightest possible experiment, a prototype, a fake door, a handful of user conversations.
Scope and hand off
Turn what we learned into a scoped first version and a prioritized backlog, ready to move straight into design and build, often with me carrying it there.
From $5,000
A focused discovery engagement starts at $5,000 and usually runs two to four weeks. It flows naturally into design and build if the idea survives it.
Work behind the offer
Common questions
What is product discovery?
Product discovery is the work of deciding what to build and why, before you build it. It covers understanding the user problem, testing the riskiest assumptions cheaply, and scoping a first version, so the design and engineering effort is spent on something worth shipping.
How is discovery different from design?
Discovery decides what to build. Design decides how it should work and look. Skipping discovery is how teams end up designing the wrong thing beautifully, then wondering why nobody uses it.
Do you continue into design and build after discovery?
Usually, yes, and that is part of the point. Because I design and build too, discovery does not end in a report thrown over a wall. It flows straight into a scoped design and, where it helps, a working prototype.
We already know what we want to build. Do we need this?
Maybe not. If the problem is well understood and the risk is low, go straight to design. Discovery earns its cost when the idea is new, the stakes are high, or the team quietly disagrees about what the product even is.
Often paired with
Ready when you are.
A 20 minute call, no deck required. I respond within 12 hours.
Book a 20 minute call