Stop guessing whether anyone wants it.
A three-week validation sprint that ends in a decision: build, pivot, or kill. For funded early-stage teams who have signal but not certainty.
20 minutes · free · you'll know either way by the end
Or start on your own: take the Kill Decision assessment →
You're not short on data. You're short on a verdict.
You have interviews nobody synthesized. Analytics that contradict each other. A roadmap built on assumptions that haven't been tested since the deck.
And a runway that makes "let's keep building and see" an expensive answer.
The hardest part of early-stage isn't gathering evidence. It's knowing what the evidence means — and being willing to act on it when it says something you didn't want to hear.
42% of startups that fail cite the same cause: no market need. Not funding. Not team. Not execution. They built something nobody was waiting for.
Tools give you transcripts. I give you a decision.
There are a dozen AI research platforms that will run your interviews and cluster the themes. Some are very good. None of them will tell you what to do on Monday.
My background is in cognitive psychology and psycholinguistics — the study of why people say what they say, and what they leave out.
That's the difference between a customer telling you they'd "definitely use this" and you knowing whether they mean it.
Three weeks. One decision.
Week 1 — Frame
We define what would have to be true for this to work, and what evidence would prove it. Most sprints fail because nobody agreed on the question first.
Week 2 — Listen
Real conversations with real people in your target segment. Not a survey. Not a panel. Structured interviews designed to surface what customers won't volunteer.
Week 3 — Decide
Synthesis, positioning, and a written recommendation: build, pivot, or kill. Plus the activation plan for whichever way it goes.
You get
A decision memo. A refined ICP definition. Messaging that reflects how your customers actually describe the problem. An onboarding plan built on what you learned.
You don't get
A 60-slide research deck nobody reads.
Why me
Research training in cognitive psychology, psycholinguistics, and data science. Years of applied user research across CX and product.
I don't run discovery the way an agency runs discovery. I run it the way a researcher does — with a hypothesis, a method, and a willingness to be wrong.
More about my background →Signal & Sense
A biweekly newsletter about what happens when cognitive psychology, psycholinguistics, and user research talk to each other.
What CX measurement misses. Why customer complaints reveal more than CSAT scores. How people actually make decisions about products.
Start with twenty minutes.
Tell me the decision you're stuck on. I'll tell you whether it's the kind of problem I'm good at — and if it isn't, where I'd point you instead.
No pitch. No deck. You'll know either way by the end of the call.
Book a fit call