Foundations
laying the groundwork
first principles
people move from emotion, not generic “problems.”
“i have an old car” → surely a problem, but it doesn’t drive action
“my kids aren’t safe when i drive them to school” → i need something reliable before something terrible happens, the worry is driving me insane
“my friends clown me when i pull up to the golf course” → i need something fancy so my friends think i'm cool, i can't take another day of being laughed at
these are the real drivers
→ identity
→ anxiety
→ aspiration
→ belonging
→ struggle
this is the layer I work in
→ nagging discomforts that keep people up at night
→ backchannel motivations
→ subtextual status games everyone plays but no one names
Grading the Land
most products fail by attempting to grow on foundational imbalance:
→ idea clutter
→ fuzzy positioning
→ misaligned incentives
→ lack of empathy for the emotional struggles their target audience endures
this foundational imbalance is driven by the fear of exclusion and reluctance to define who you are by who you’re not
Blueprints
→ exclusion creates belonging: everyone wants to be in the club with a line outside
→ welcoming spaces: closing doors is essential to manifesting excitement of presence for your true fans
→ understanding affordances: placing a column limits ability to move through a room, but now you have the structural support to build higher
these ideas generate the blueprints I design so you have the tools, guidance, and clarity to build inevitable growth