Product · Technology · AI
I work with founders and software teams that need experienced product and technical leadership, but aren’t ready for another full-time senior hire.
I help decide what to build, shape product direction and work with engineering to turn that direction into something that can actually be delivered.
Product reviews · focused product sprints · fractional leadership
Start with a senior second opinionThe leadership gap
Your customers have requests. You have ideas. Engineering has constraints. And AI has created another hundred possibilities.
The difficult part is deciding what actually deserves engineering time.
That’s where I tend to work — between the commercial side of the business, the product and the people building it.
Every request feels important, while engineering capacity remains fixed.
Features are moving, but product strategy and delivery are not always connected.
Too much product context, prioritisation and decision-making still depends on you.
You see the potential, but need to separate useful product opportunities from noise.
You need experienced product and technical judgement, but not another full-time executive.
Ways to work together
I work directly with founder-led B2B software and SaaS businesses with a live product, commercial traction and an internal or outsourced engineering team. These are the three ways to work with me.
01 / Independent clarity
£1,250 fixed
A senior second opinion on what you’re building and where the product should go next.
02 / Focused direction · 1–2 weeks
From £2,750
I’ll work with you intensively on a specific product problem and turn it into a clear direction your engineering team can execute.
For a reactive roadmap, competing priorities, a product reset or an AI feature that needs validating before you commit.
I’ll agree the outputs with you around your problem, so the sprint produces engineering-ready direction. Each sprint has a focused scope; the deliverables vary with the problem.
Discuss a Direction Sprint03 / Ongoing leadership
From £2,500/month
I work as part of your team on a fractional basis — bringing ongoing product direction, prioritisation and technical judgement without the cost or commitment of another full-time senior hire.
Leadership and direction, rather than a replacement engineering team or full-time project management.
Discuss Fractional SupportI usually start with a conversation or a Product & Tech Review to understand your product, team and priorities before agreeing ongoing fractional support.
Compare the scope, investment and outcome of each engagement.
| Engagement | Product & Tech Review | Product Direction Sprint | Fractional Product & Technical Lead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Independent clarity | A defined product problem | Ongoing leadership |
| Duration | One-off | 1–2 weeks | Monthly |
| Investment | £1,250 fixed | From £2,750 | From £2,500/month |
| Output | Recommendations and 90-day priorities | A focused roadmap or validated direction | Continuous product and technical leadership |
On smaller screens, scroll the comparison horizontally.
A clear starting point / £1,250 fixed
If you’re uncertain about what to build next, where engineering time is going or how AI should fit, start with a Product & Tech Review.
I’ll spend time understanding the product, current priorities and how the team is working, then give you an independent view.
You’ll leave knowing what I’d continue, challenge, stop and prioritise — and where I think the engineering team should focus next.
Book a Product & Tech ReviewA founder or leadership discovery session, followed by time with the product, roadmap and current priorities.
I’ll review what is being built, how priorities are being set, where engineering effort is going and whether the current product and technical approach makes sense.
Written recommendations, a focused 90-day view and a 60–90 minute session to talk through and challenge the findings.
The approach
Start with the customer, the commercial problem and the decision that needs to be made.
Connect product priorities to customer needs and commercial value before choosing a model, tool or feature.
No junior consulting layer and no hand-off after the sale. I do the discovery, thinking and recommendations myself.
I help you assess where AI could improve your product, prototype the idea and test whether it’s useful before committing engineering time.
Move between customer problems, roadmap decisions, architecture, APIs, experimentation, testing and engineering trade-offs when required.
Founder-led, personally delivered
Hands-on product leadership. Technical depth. Practical AI experience.
I’m a Product & Technical Lead working across product, engineering and AI.
Today I lead product, engineering and AI initiatives for a commercial SaaS platform. My role sits between customers, the commercial side of the business and engineering — shaping product direction, deciding what gets prioritised, working through technical decisions and staying hands-on with discovery, experimentation, testing and delivery.
That’s the part of technology I’ve increasingly specialised in: turning messy business and customer problems into focused product direction that an engineering team can actually execute.
Before moving deeper into product leadership, I spent years delivering complex technology initiatives across multiple industries. That experience means I’m comfortable with the realities of delivery as well as the product decisions that sit above it.
Outside my main role, I work with a small number of software businesses that need that combination of product leadership and technical depth without hiring another full-time senior person.
Product leadership
I lead product direction, roadmap prioritisation, customer discovery, AI experimentation, technical design and engineering delivery across a live commercial software product.
Technical leadership
I work between commercial priorities and engineering — shaping features, evaluating technical approaches, prototyping ideas, testing solutions and supporting delivery.
Broader delivery experience
Earlier in my career, I delivered application, data, migration and platform initiatives across multiple organisations and industries, including large-scale international programmes.
This includes a core-platform replacement spanning 360 Canadian veterinary clinics, with a programme budget of approximately £10m.
How I work
I’m not interested in producing a strategy deck and disappearing.
I’ll use the product, understand what customers are asking for, speak to the people building it and get into enough technical detail to challenge assumptions.
Depending on the engagement, that might mean working through roadmap priorities with a founder, shaping a feature with engineering, prototyping an AI capability, reviewing what’s already been built, or deciding that something simply isn’t worth building.
The aim is straightforward: better product decisions and less wasted engineering effort.
I understand the real customer and commercial problem before defining the solution.
I help make deliberate decisions about what matters now, what can wait and what should stop.
I get close enough to architecture, constraints and implementation to make useful product decisions.
I prototype, test and validate ideas rather than relying only on documents and meetings.
A few practical questions
I mainly work with founder-led software businesses that already have a product and some form of engineering capability, but need stronger senior product direction. That might be an internal team, outsourced developers or a mix of both.
Yes. A large part of the value can be sitting between the founder and an external engineering team — helping turn commercial priorities into clearer product decisions and giving the development team better direction.
No. AI is an area I work deeply in, but it isn’t a requirement. The product and commercial problem come first. AI is useful when it genuinely improves the product, customer experience or economics.
Usually with a conversation or a Product & Tech Review so I can understand the product, team and priorities. If there is a good fit, we can agree a focused fractional arrangement from there.
Let’s talk about the product
Start with a Product & Tech Review, or arrange a short conversation if you’re not sure where the best fit is.
Book a conversationEmail contact@theaiapplabs.com to arrange a time.
In your message, share your name, company and website, and a few lines about what’s happening with the product. Tell me which service you’re considering — or just say you’re not sure yet.
If team size or engineering setup is useful context, include that too.
I don’t currently take on recruitment or staffing-sector engagements.