Hi! I'm Brian, a Fractional Head of Research & AI Builder.
I turn customer insights into shipped products that customers love.
Fractional Head of Research
After shipping products for 150M+ users at Etsy, Bumble, StreamYard, and Meetup, leading both Research and Design teams, and teaching 200+ PMs, designers, and researchers to do discovery, I noticed every company struggles with the same thing: connecting customer understanding to what actually ships.
So I built systems that bridge that gap.
I don't just deliver insights. I deliver products customers love.
Educator
Teacher & Speaker
I've guest lectured and spoken at schools like NYU and Pratt Institute, advised at the University of Washington MHCI+D program, and teach at La Nave Nodriza Design School in Madrid.
Educational Experience Designer
I designed, developed, and led a 5-week cohort-based course on Product Discovery for 100+ product leaders and practitioners.
I helped launch Udacity's in-person learning experience in New York, serving as NYC School Director with a 4.98/5 rating.
Previously, I co-founded and directed an international experiential education company.
Course Impact
AI Builder
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I don't just think about products, I build them using AI. Try one of them yourself.
Redact
Built to solve my own workflow challenge: manually scrubbing PII from user interview transcripts before sharing them with AI tools.
Powered by a BERT neural network running entirely in the browser via Transformers.js, leveraging WebGPU acceleration for fast named entity recognition that never exposes sensitive data.
Testimonials
Eleana
Staff Product Designer, StreamYard
As a manager, Brian is empathetic, supportive, and honest, always eager to teach and empower the team. His influence shaped our company's culture while helping us make better design decisions.
Brian supported and guided the team to be more vocal and confident, involving us and giving us the tools to influence the product strategy and roadmaps. Brian's leadership has left a lasting positive impact on our team, and his dedication to fostering a supportive and growth-oriented environment has helped us skyrocket our user research skills to be more rounded designers.
Any team would be fortunate to have him as a leader and mentor.
Jason
Director of Design, Etsy
I had the chance to work directly with Brian at a critical time in Etsy's journey as a public company in 2018. He had exciting and bold ideas on how to help kick start more customer-centered work in our product teams. We both wanted our teams to spend more time with customers, specifically sellers, more often.
He drafted up an idea of a weekly pilot to bring customers into the office. Through his leadership and work, we were able to approach more innovative ideas, learn faster, and pivot or fail bad ideas. His energy and passion pushing teams to innovate were contagious.
I'd love the chance to work with Brian again.
