
Blog
In Which We Take a Stand
A collection of viewpoints, articles and opinions on user experience, technology, AI, and leadership in ever-evolving, high stakes industries.
Why User Experience Matters When The User Is Not a Decision Maker
In industries like insurance or finance, end users don't choose you—but they can influence who does. Here's why UX is your secret competitive weapon.
Q&A: How do you turn app users into brand advocates?
Getting users is hard. Keeping them is harder. But getting them to champion your brand? Learn how to earn that promotion from your app users.
Q&A: Why isn’t our app more sticky?
From nailing entry points to creating habit-forming loops, discover strategies to make your app more sticky and retain users long-term.
Q&A: Why Aren’t More People Signing Up for Our App?
Low adoption of your app, SaaS product, or portal? Discover why your signup conversion is low along with how to fix process leaks, optimize messaging, remove cliffs, and boost signups.
The 5 Humbling Stages of Tech Leadership
Discover the 5 stages tech leaders go through—from "I'd rather be building" to strategic cartographer and see how to identify patterns holding you back.
What White House Executive Orders Tell Us About AI Risks Ahead
How will new AI executive orders reshape costs & competition? Learn to navigate rising AI expenses and build sustainable strategies beyond efficiency gains.
Executive Overconfidence Meets Opportunity in AI
Regulated industries have higher AI trust rates but are stuck on chatbots (and saddled with a case of executive overconfidence). Learn why healthcare, finance & insurance need better AI strategies.
Don’t Let AI FOMO Make You Build the Wrong Things
Move your app past AI FOMO to build solutions that matter. Discover how using AI to address functional and emotional user needs creates real loyalty.
Feeling drained? You’re not alone.
Every visionary feels drained from time to time. Find out how to get your spark back and how to protect it so you don’t become burned out.
Users Actually Want More Notifications (When You Do Them Right)
Learn how your app’s push, email, SMS & in-app notifications can drive user engagement in regulated industries without overwhelming or annoying users.
Three Rules to Create Better Tech, Faster
Learn why a lack of deadline rules causes most digital transformation projects to fail and how proper timeline management forces decisions, prevents scope creep, and delivers results.
Why Emotions Drive 95% of Our Decisions (And How Smart Leaders Use This)
If you’re being asked to build loyalty, stickiness, or increase referrals, what you’re really being asked to do is drive behavior. Emotions drive 95% of our decisions, and there’s a simple 3-step formula you can use to drive beneficial behaviors (video included).
iOS 26 is coming whether you like it or not
Apple releases a new operating system every fall. However, it’s been several years since one garnered as much pre-season speculation and hand-wringing as iOS 26. Read on for what to expect, and a link to our exclusive readiness guide.
Softening User Rage Moments
User rage is something most leaders don't like to think about. Handle it well (like KFC did with their FCK campaign) and you can generate goodwill. But ignore it and watch your churn rates skyrocket.
What Drives the Highest ROI When Developing Tech Products?
This article provides a framework for thinking about ROI decisions and some concrete things to look for. If your organization could benefit from help with designing exactly what that could look like for your situation, that’s something we do for clients a few dozen times per year, and you can learn more here.
The greatest visionary in the world
It’s satire. It’s a love letter. It’s a light roast with notes of disruption.
Meet Everest Kale, the visionary behind KNOWN2MAN—a product designed to solve every problem known to man in just six weeks. What could possibly go wrong?
Magnetic Tech: What Insurance Has Been Missing
If you’ve made your career in insurance (or another highly regulated industry), you may have resigned yourself to the idea that those aesthetic, user-friendly digital experiences you see in the best consumer apps aren’t for you. Not only are they available to insurance, but they drive customer loyalty and brand connection.
The 5 essential team members you need to build a revolutionary tech product
Are you expending a lot of energy trying to force yourself to do everything–even things you’re not good at? Are you delaying bringing the team into your vision? Way too many visionaries try to carry more than they should, stretching themselves into roles they aren’t well-suited to. However, products that succeed do so because they incorporate a team that hits all of the right angles by letting each person do what comes naturally to them.
What to build first: the hardest question in product strategy
Roadmapping is one of the most underrated factors in highly regulated industry product success.
The greatest product idea, the most eye-catching marketing plan, and the most well-coded, secure, compliant product will fail if it lacks a thoughtful roadmap.
A roadmap isn’t just a list of features—it’s your strategy for surviving the constraints and still delivering something users care about. For founders, the question isn’t just what to build—it’s what to build first, and what to leave out for now.
Apple vs. BlackBerry: People Don’t Buy Features, They Buy Feelings
There’s a trap visionary founders fall into all the time: assuming users are buying the same thing you’re building.
They’re not buying secure email. They’re not buying multitouch screens. They’re buying a story about themselves. They’re buying a feeling.
In this installment, we’re looking at one of the clearest case studies in tech history: Apple vs. BlackBerry. Both had vision. One built a product. The other built an identity.
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