Areas of
expertise

Prototyping

What are we building, exactly? Early stage startups often don’t know the answer to this question, and that’s OK. But before precious resources and engineering cycles are invested, there’s prototyping. Daniel pioneered the “build to think” process at IDEO, and has since helped many founding teams de-risk product ideas through a combination of low-tech mockups and rapid feedback loops. Applying the design lens in this way, Daniel will help your team further define the problem you’re out to solve, the nature of the product or service you intend to create, and your assumptions around the business model. The process looks different for each team, but the results are always powerful: a clear vision that enables your team to move forward with confidence.

Product Design

Product design is at the center of Daniel’s wheelhouse. Formally trained as an industrial designer, Daniel led Fortune 100 clients through design programs at IDEO, from research to market release, resulting in award winning products, services, and experiences across fintech, healthcare, and other consumer industries. Daniel also founded multiple companies, leading design for physical, digital, and hybrid products across mobile and web, working closely with eng teams on everything from information architecture to onboarding UX. Whether your product is comprised of pixels or parts, Daniel will lead your team through the human-centered design approach pioneered by IDEO – and used by the world’s most successful companies – to create a beautiful product experience that delivers on business objectives.

Brand & Mission

Brand is everything. And innovative brands don’t just disrupt categories, they create entirely new ones. But new category creation doesn’t happen on its own. The categories themselves must be designed. Daniel has created new methods for successfully leading teams through the category design process. This emerging field of design is often the single most important exercise an early stage company can invest in. It informs the brand, the product roadmap, the marketing strategy, the internal team culture, and the company’s ecosystem of partners. But most importantly, category design positions your brand to lead the conversation in your industry (before your competitors do).

Design Research

Behind every great product are great insights. Design research is how those insights are unearthed. With a background in cultural anthropology and human factors, Daniel brings 20 years of experience organizing, conducting, and activating design research. At IDEO, Daniel invented new research practices that are still used by IDEO teams today, and he continues to adapt research techniques for distributed teams during the pandemic. Daniel will lead the process for your team to participate in, and benefit from, a compelling cycle of qualitative research and synthesis, generating the key insights that will become the foundation of your company’s unique perspective.

Workshops

Sometimes you just need to get the team together to figure things out. Daniel secretly loves designing and facilitating bespoke workshops with ambitious goals for leadership teams.

Learn more about Daniel.