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Hi. I’m Brian. A relentlessly curious human-centered product research & design leader.

Testimonials

  • Eleana: Staff Product Designer, StreamYard

    As a manager, Brian has been 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.

  • Sophie: Senior Product Researcher, Bumble

    Brian is truly one of the best things to happen to our research team at Bumble! His leadership style creates an environment of safety and openness. I can confide in him as a peer whilst getting the support and inspiration I need from a manager. Brian came in to help us figure out what product research really meant in the world of Bumble and within a matter of weeks, he was running initiatives that shaped the way the product teams viewed and used research across the organisation.

  • 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.

  • Elena: Head of Product, Bumble

    Beyond being a great researcher (which he is) Brian understands product, business and company politics; knows how to navigate the nuances of a growing-fast-paced business and adds value without the unnecessary “pompa”. He was instrumental redefining the role user research played at Bumble Date to influence strategy and roadmaps, always understanding where the team really added value and where it was an unnecessary waste of resources to just “add validation” to personal bets. I would consider myself very lucky if we get to work together again (and if we don’t, I’ll miss all the fun!)

  • Salwa: VP @ Udacity

    Brian embodies the entrepreneurial spirit. He was the perfect partner for Udacity Connect when we first launched and iterated on a part-time blended learning program, the first of its kind in online education. He was proactive in his feedback and experimenting with new in-person teaching styles that complemented our existing online courses. Brian was also instrumental in building community. He is always someone I think of when I come across a role that requires leadership, ingenuity, creativity and persistence.

  • Andres: Chief Strategy Officer @ Meetup

    I loved working with Brian. He was a force in evolving our research program at Meetup. We evolved the research program dramatically while he was here. He continuously experimented with all aspects of our research program to improve how we work and help us make bigger impact. He was proactive in identifying potential solutions and would roll up his sleeves to figure out how to make it work. He brings the same energy to individual research projects he is working on. It is clear that he is deeply curious about how people behave and how changes to a product can change that behavior. He genuinely cares about his teammates and will jump in to help them succeed.

Human-Centered Leader

Until its recent acquisition, I was Head of Research and Interim Head of Design at StreamYard, formerly a Hopin company. Previously, I helped build, scale, and lead the user research practice and team at Bumble. I’ve held positions at Etsy, Udacity, and Meetup. I designed and led a successful Product Discovery course for product managers and leaders and spent time as an entrepreneur, co-founding and directing an international experiential education company.

My Mission

To transform people and organizations by putting human needs at the heart of decision-making in order to deliver products people love.

Product Thinker

Product thinking is foundational to impactful product research and means much more than using “agile methodologies.” Properly applied, it requires a deep understanding of customers, the business, and product strategy across the end-to-end product development process combined with the ability to apply that mindset via cross-functional partnership and collaboration throughout problem and solution discovery into delivery, which is where the magic happens when users experience—and the business captures—value.

Impact-Led UX Researcher & Strategic Partner

User research is more than just asking great questions and identifying impactful problems, although those are foundational. Its true power lies in enabling an organization to prioritize and execute on the most important opportunities, leveraging both qualitative and quantitative data. When we do that, the best measure of success isn’t research output but research impact.

Further, user researchers drive the highest impact when operating as strategic partners. The partnership model best enables them to work proactively to create foundational understanding and empathy within a culture of continuous learning while providing their teams and companies with consistent signal to inform and direct each level of decision-making from strategic to tactical.

Builder

The aim of product research and discovery is building and delivering things that improve people’s lives, not developing knowledge for its own sake.

I made Reflect Daily Habits to help people achieve positive long-term behavior change. Try here, or in a new tab.

Educator, Advisor, Speaker

I’ve guest lectured and spoken at schools like NYU and Fordham, advised at the University of Washington MHCI+D program, and helped launch Udacity’s in-person learning experience in NYC, serving as NYC School Director.

I designed, developed, and led a 5-week cohort-based course on Product Discovery for product leaders and practitioners and teach at La Nave Nodriza Design School in Madrid.

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You can typically find me in NYC or Spain :).