IDEAS ARE EASY.
PRODUCTS ARE THE HARD BIT.
PRODUCTS ARE THE HARD BIT.
I'm Alex, a product lead who can also design and build. I help founders and expert-led businesses turn an idea, or years of hard-won know-how, into a product people actually use and pay for. And when it's live but not selling, I find out why.
Recent work: turned an innovation consultancy's published methodology into a platform their clients run on their own. Built the membership product behind a driving school that now helps fund both founders' retirement. Took my own app from idea to working prototype in three weeks.
Where I slot in
I sit in the gap between idea and built, which is where most products quietly die.
Product: working out what's worth building, shaping roadmaps, setting sprint priorities and saying no to the features that can wait.
UX & Design: mapping user journeys and designing it myself, because fifteen years of doing it makes that quicker than writing a brief.
Build: getting a working version in front of real users, with the right tools for the job rather than the ones I already know.
Alignment: turning founder vision into briefs and priorities the whole team can follow.
Not sure where I fit in?
Let's work it out
Let's work it out
A BIT MORE ABOUT ME...
I started out as a graphic designer, spent fifteen years building brands, then ran my own agency working with early-stage startups.
Somewhere along the way I realised I wasn't just shaping how things looked. I was shaping what got built in the first place. Asking the uncomfortable questions, turning vague vision into clear direction, spotting what was missing long before the product hit a wall.
So I followed it. I've been a fractional CPO, built platforms for consultancies and expert-led businesses, and these days I work as a product lead who can also design and build.
Still a designer at heart. But now it's less about the colours and more about whether the thing works.
how I actually work
I ask questions before I give answers. The problem is rarely the thing everyone thinks it is.
I don't drop and run. I stick around, do the first pass work, pivot if the first idea isn't landing, and sit on a call with you while you have a rant. Sometimes that's what's needed most.
I will absolutely hold space for the hard stuff. Founders carry a lot. Teams carry a lot. I'm not just here for the strategy deck, I'm here for the bit before the strategy deck where everyone's knackered and nobody knows what to do next.
I'm your hype girl as much as your operator. Getting people feeling genuinely excited about the work is not a nice-to-have. It's half the job.
I don't piss in the wind. Decisions get made with data, not vibes.
And I make it fun. Not in a forced team-building way. Just in a "this doesn't have to be as grim as it currently feels" way.
People have described working with me as finally having someone who'll actually get shit done. I'll take that.
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"Not just creative and technical support, but moral support and kindness too. You are a complete joy to work with."
Emma Jelley, Leadership Coach
Emma Jelley, Leadership Coach