Guessing what customers want?
Let’s de-risk your product strategy.
Customer insights consulting to help founders and product teams de-risk their investments and accelerate the path to commercial traction.
Some Brands we’ve worked with:
The Problem
Relying on guesses for product strategy leads to failure.
Unverified Ideas
Decisions based on hunches risk costly mistakes.
Biased Insights
Internal biases can skew data, leading to poor choices.
Delayed Validation
Slow feedback loops delay pivots and improvements.
The Solution
We’ll help you make smart product choices with real, unbiased customer insights and quick validation.
01. Define the Challenge
In our initial scoping workshop, we dive deep into your challenge space and capture the vision for your project. We work collaboratively to understand your goals, identify key obstacles, and set a clear direction for our efforts. This workshop ensures we are aligned on the objectives and lays a solid foundation for the research and design phases.
02. Gather Real Insights
Next, we conduct thorough, unbiased customer insights research to uncover genuine user needs and pain points. Whether through detailed customer interviews or other research methods, we ensure that the data we collect is free from internal biases and provides a true reflection of your target audience’s perspectives. This step is crucial in forming a reliable basis for informed decision-making.
03. Validate and Innovate
Finally, we facilitate a focused design sprint to translate the insights from our research into actionable solutions. During this intensive, collaborative process, we brainstorm ideas, prototype solutions, and validate them with real users. This step allows us to quickly iterate and refine concepts, ensuring that the final product is both innovative and aligned with user needs.
Ryan Brooks, Product Strategy Consultant
I'm Ryan Brooks, an independent strategy consultant and owner of Hard Knock Labs. With over a decade of experience in UX design and product management, I specialize in designing and facilitating workshops, applying design thinking, and creating research-driven, human-centered processes.
My mission is to leverage creativity and learning to turn obstacles into opportunities, helping businesses achieve their goals while creating a more equitable society.
I've had the privilege of working on consumer-facing and enterprise products for brands like AbbVie Pharmaceuticals, Merck, Ulta Beauty, and Clorox. Currently, I focus on helping SaaS companies de-risk their product solutions with real, unbiased customer insights.