AN INDEPENDENT RESEARCH LAB Focused on:
RESEARCH LAB: Focused on:

How AI changes
the way we build digital products

We study what's working, what's failing, and what the frontier looks like, then help teams put it into practice.

AI BETTER DECISIONS EFFICIENT WORKFLOW SMARTER FEATURES BETTER PRODUCTS, SHIPPED FASTER FIG. 01
§ 01Why this matters

AI is both overhyped and genuinely transformative.

Most of the conversation is about tools, models, and implementation. That's the easy part.

The hard part is knowing what's worth building for a specific company. Context changes everything: data maturity, business model, operational readiness, team capability, industry dynamics. All of these shape which AI opportunities are real and which are noise for any given company.

Most AI projects don't fail because the technology is wrong. They fail because the problem was wrong for that company at that moment, or because the foundation wasn't ready. The model is almost never the bottleneck.

When AI works, it shows up as two things teams can measure: speed of shipping, and quality of what ships.

§ 02Research

Five chapters,
one direction.

§ 03What we do

Applied research
& networking

01 · Research

Learn what's working

We combine meta-analysis of existing research with primary fieldwork. The goal isn't to describe what's happening. It's to understand what actually works, what doesn't, for whom, and why.

02 · Engage

Apply what we learn

Where the research gets applied. We partner with a small number of companies, sometimes as deep residencies, sometimes as targeted advisory, to put ideas into practice.

03 · Connect

Connect with others

We bring together founders, researchers, and operators for focused exchanges on what's changing. Small, deliberate, and off the record.

§ 04Contributors

Contributors that
make this possible.

Carlos Cardona

Director

Serial entrepreneur with 15 years building products used by millions. Has led teams of forty, and mentored founders running $100M+ in monthly volume.

M. Aalto

Advisor · Product

Built and shipped AI-native products at two consumer companies. Thinks mostly about interfaces and the shape of new categories.

J. Bakken

Advisor · Infrastructure

Research scientist turned infra lead. Interested in the systems underneath, and how data maturity gates what teams can build.

§ 05Supported by

Companies who
believe this matters.

Some provide infrastructure and tools. Some contribute funding. Some partner on specific research questions in exchange for early access to what we find.

§ 06Call

Want to be part
of the conversation?

We're always looking for founders, operators, and researchers to contribute to the chapters in progress. In return, you get early access to what we find: drafts, interviews, and the conversations around them.

Let's talk