Slow Down to Speed Up: AI Product Discovery and Development

I’ve spent 20+ years in tech, moving from startups to big tech, where I most recently served as UX Research Director for Meta AI. I’ve worked as a product manager and agile project manager, which means I understand the tradeoffs, timelines, and internal debates that shape what actually gets built. Today I run Lingard Strategy Studio, helping Series A+ AI founders find product-market fit through product discovery and user research. I write about product discovery and user research on Medium, and co-author a Substack on user research in the age of AI with Elissa Darnell.

I help teams figure out what’s worth building, then turn ideas into working products fast.

As Chief Product Officer at Lightful, I led product, design and engineering, building AI-powered tools used by nonprofits worldwide. I also created a cross-functional “AI Squad”, developing rapid prototyping approaches to test real problems and shape product direction.

Before that, I spent 12 years at JustGiving, building their crowdfunding product from MVP to a UK category leader, raising over £100m in just five years.

What makes my approach different is that I don’t treat AI as a strategy deck. I focus on what’s actually worth building, then help teams prototype, test and learn quickly.