Hi, I’m J — a product strategist, builder, author, and 9-time entrepreneur.
Let’s build something great together.
Thirty years ago, the web was just getting started. So was I.
Since then, I’ve founded and sold companies, grew a software ecosystem to half a billion users, built a digital agency serving the global travel industry, and written a book on how to build products the right way.
Along the way, I became a certified sommelier, opened and operated restaurants, and dove head-first into the world of food, wine, and hospitality — industries where experience design and business operations are inseparable.
That combination is rare. Most technology advisors have never run a business that lives or dies on the guest experience. Most operators have never shipped software. I’ve done both, and that’s where I’m most useful.
I work with founders, owners, and executives who know their business and want to leverage technology to make them better.
They’re sitting on underused tools, facing decisions they don’t feel equipped to make, or watching competitors move faster than they can. They don’t need another vendor. They need someone who can understand what they’re building, cut through the noise, and help them make smarter decisions sooner.
My clients tend to be in industries where craft, experience, and relationship matter — food, wine, travel, hospitality, and the businesses built around them. These are spaces where the gap between a great product and a sustainable business is almost always an operational or strategic one, not a talent one. That’s the gap I close.
I’ve built things, broken things, and fixed things. I know what good looks like and what good costs. If you’re trying to build something great and want someone who has been in the room before, let’s talk.
Some of the companies I’ve helped include:
The Book on Early-stage Product Design
Loops: Building Products with Clarity & Confidence
Loops is the playbook I wish I’d had when I started. The processes, exercises, and methodologies for figuring out what to build, validating it, and building it well — methods I’ve used at Delta, IHG, Fiserv, UPS, and dozens of startups. In an era when AI is accelerating every phase of the product cycle, that clarity matters more than ever.
Available in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook.
Writing
Read more →What Happens When AI Replaces the Middle Class?
If AI takes over office jobs, what will people do? Where will they work? The honest answer is nobody knows for sure — but restaurants might be part of it.
AI Won't Save You From Building the Wrong Thing
AI-powered lean teams are the new flex in Silicon Valley. But the real advantage isn't fewer people — it's faster learning.
The Interface Is Dead. Now What?
Why the companies closest to the problem will win the AI era — and why that might finally include yours.
Speaking at conferences and leading workshops is one of my favorite parts of the work — discussing ideas out loud, in a room full of people collaborating in real time.
Off the clock
When I’m not at a screen, I’m probably in the kitchen, behind the wine bar, or up in Marble Hill, Georgia — where I own Lucky Hare and Night Train Pizza. The kind of place where you learn whether the work was actually good about five minutes after the plates hit the table.
Let's talk.
Working on something interesting? Want a sharp outside perspective on a thorny product problem? Send a note — the kind of conversation I love starts with a real problem and zero pitch.