Services
Research
Interviews first, surveys second
The mess is where the real answers are.
How I work
Bots, AI-polished survey responses, and collapsing response rates have become a problem too big to ignore. Surveys still have a place, but they sanitize by design. They force a messy reality into fixed answers and reward hindsight. The nuance you actually needed gets averaged out before you ever see it.
My center of gravity is qualitative, because talking to people is still the most durable way to surface contradiction, context, motivation, and what someone actually believes about next year. And the same technology that's breaking surveys is what finally gives qualitative work real scale. I can analyze every transcript, catch patterns of agreement and disagreement, and skip the selective recall that used to pass for synthesis. I can also go beyond interviews into behavioral artifacts like sales calls and CRM transcripts, which beat asking anyone to remember what prospects said last quarter.
Structure comes after the fact, imposed in a way that preserves reality instead of flattening it. You get findings you can defend in a room full of skeptics, because they're built from what real people actually said.
What you can buy
A research study
Instrument design through fielding, analysis, and a published report rigorous enough that experienced readers trust it. I've built these more than a dozen times, including multi-year, multi-country studies for global software companies.
A framework you own
A maturity model, index, or scored self-assessment your market uses and remembers, plus the content that makes it travel. I've built four, for four different companies, and every one outlived the campaign it launched with.
Analysis of conversations you already have
Sales calls, CRM transcripts, win-loss notes. The patterns are in there, and your team is usually too close to see them.
Positioning validation
Customer and non-customer interviews that test your message before money ships behind it.
A competitive teardown
Who's saying what in your category, what's working and why, battlecards included if your sales team needs them.
The other two
Media
Editors want work from an experienced journalist. Marketers want writing that earns attention on its own. That's the same assignment: pieces written for people, with a real point of view behind them.
How I do media →Advisory
I work down a level, into how buyers actually think and decide, so your direction rests on evidence instead of borrowed language.
How I do advisory →
Get an answer you can act on
Bring me the decision, the assignment, or the piece you need written. I'll lay out the approach, what it takes, and where to start.