Project
A defined problem. A defined outcome. Hands-on work, not a slide deck.
Strategic work that ships a result.
Your company has a specific challenge. A guest personalization strategy that isn't landing. An AI integration that stalled after the pilot. A competitive repositioning as AI-native players enter your market. A go-to-market plan for a new offering.
A Project is a fixed-scope engagement built around solving one problem with a defined outcome — not a research report that collects dust. The work gets embedded in the problem and driven through to a result. For travel, hospitality, and food & beverage companies, that means grounding strategy in operational reality — how guests actually behave, how margins actually work, how teams actually operate.
Your product has stalled and you're not sure why
Growth plateaued, engagement is flat, or a new feature bet didn't land. The team is too close to the problem. An outside perspective with deep product experience finds what internal teams can't see.
You've hired consultants before and gotten decks instead of outcomes
A Project delivers a concrete result — a roadmap your team can execute, a validated strategy, an implementation plan with real numbers. Not another 60-page PDF that requires a second engagement to interpret.
AI is on every vendor pitch but you can't evaluate what's real
AI concierges, AI pricing, AI scheduling — the pitches are relentless. A Project starts with the business problem and evaluates AI as a tool, not a destination. Built by someone who ships AI products, not just advises on them.
You know the problem but don't have the in-house expertise to solve it
Product strategy, AI integration, UX overhaul, go-to-market — these require a specific kind of experience. Hiring full-time takes months. A Project gets senior leadership embedded in weeks.
Two phases. One clear gate.
Every Project is structured in two phases with a decision point between them. The Discovery phase is valuable on its own — you never have to commit to more than you need.
Phase 1 — Discovery
Define the real problem — not just the presenting one. Structured intake questionnaire, materials review, stakeholder interviews, and a working session to audit the existing landscape: product, data, competitive environment, and AI readiness. Output: a strategic brief with findings and a recommended path forward. Typically 1–2 weeks.
The brief stands alone. Take it and execute independently — many clients do. It's built to be actionable without Phase 2.
Phase 2 — Execution
If the findings reveal a larger opportunity worth pursuing, Phase 2 guides the team through implementation. Scope depends on what Discovery reveals — a prioritized roadmap, a go-to-market plan, an AI integration strategy, a UX redesign, competitive repositioning, or organizational design recommendations.
You decide at the gate. Phase 2 scope and price are agreed before execution begins. No surprise invoices, no scope creep.
Strategic brief (Phase 1)
A written document with findings, key insights, competitive analysis, and a recommended path forward. Specific enough to hand to your team and start executing. Includes AI opportunity assessment — where it creates real value and where it doesn't.
Final deliverable (Phase 2)
Depends on the project: a prioritized product roadmap, a positioning document, a validated go-to-market plan, an AI integration blueprint, or an implementation guide. Concrete, specific, no open items. Every deliverable is built to be executed, not filed away.
Working sessions and recordings
Structured working sessions throughout the engagement, recorded and shared so the full context is available to your broader team.
Implementation guidance
The final deliverable includes enough detail for your team to execute independently — priorities, timelines, dependencies, and decision criteria. Not a high-level strategy that requires another hire to interpret.
AI Strategy & Integration
Identify the 3–5 highest-leverage AI applications in your business. Deliver a prioritized roadmap with build/buy/partner recommendations. Not "add AI to everything" — a disciplined evaluation of where AI creates real value.
Product Strategy Sprint
Define positioning, roadmap, and go-to-market for a specific product in 4–6 weeks. AI capabilities evaluated as part of the strategic foundation, not bolted on as an afterthought.
Guest Experience & UX Overhaul
Rethink the product from the user's perspective — especially relevant as AI changes what interfaces can and should do. Deep UX expertise applied to the moments that matter most to your guests and customers.
Hospitality & Travel Product Strategy
For hotel groups, restaurant groups, travel tech, and hospitality SaaS — strategy grounded in operator experience (three restaurants, a wine bar, a luxury travel company) combined with product and AI expertise.
Why do this?
The cost of building the wrong thing dwarfs the cost of building the right strategy. A bad product bet costs hundreds of thousands — sometimes millions. A botched AI strategy wastes a year and burns the team's trust in the technology. Entering the wrong market burns runway you can't get back.
Product strategy, UX design, software architecture, and AI — evaluated together as a system, not in silos. That's what prevents the expensive mistakes. And for travel and hospitality companies, it comes with operator experience that most strategy firms simply don't have.
Your time commitment
A few hours for the intake questionnaire and materials gathering. Stakeholder interviews typically require 30–60 minutes per person (usually 2–4 people). Working sessions throughout the engagement — plan for 2–4 hours per week during the active phase.
Who should participate
The project sponsor (CEO, CPO, or VP), plus the team members closest to the challenge. Stakeholder interviews will include anyone whose perspective matters — product, engineering, operations, customer-facing roles.
Timeline
2–8 weeks total depending on scope. Discovery is typically 1–2 weeks. Most clients have a result in hand within 30–45 days of starting. Can usually kick off within 1–2 weeks of signing.
Investment
Starting at $15,000. Most projects range from $15,000 to $75,000 depending on scope and company size. Scope and price are agreed before work begins — no open-ended billing. If scope changes, that's a transparent conversation, not a surprise invoice.
"J has helped us deliver amazing value to our customers time and time again. His ability to take nebulous concepts and drill down until they become quality products is second to none."
"For J, nothing is impossible. He knows how to get things done, even on ridiculously short notice. A great eye for small details but never forgets the high-level strategy."
"The concepts he teaches can be applied to any type of product or business idea. A clear and concise way to make sense of the chaos and build something people will actually buy."