Product Strategy & Thinking
Turn your idea into a clear plan. What to build, what to cut, and how to get to traction without burning through time and budget.
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Available for consulting
Go from idea to product, fast.
5x founder. 18 years of building.
I help founders ship beautiful products and figure out where AI actually matters.
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What I do
Product Assessment
Something feels off but you can't pinpoint it. I bring fresh eyes, 18 years of pattern matching, and the honesty to tell you what needs to change.
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AI Strategy
Everyone says "add AI." I tell you where it actually helps and where it's noise. Practical guidance from someone who builds AI-native products every day.
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See how I think about building
What I've built
18 years of products. From zero to seven-figure exits, from platforms serving millions to AI-native apps built in days. This is what I do.
Bucket.io
From Idea to 7-Figure Exit
Took a marketing tool from concept to a SaaS product used by thousands. Grew it to seven figures. Saw it through to a successful exit.
Qrvey
Building an 80+ Person Product Team
Built design and product from scratch. Scaled the team from 0 to 80+. Helped grow this data analytics SaaS to 8 figures.
Mashable
Transforming a Media Giant's UX
Rethought platform UX and performance for Mashable. Shipped a redesign that scaled to millions of readers.
PeopleHR
Simplifying HR, Amplifying Growth
Modernized a legacy HR platform. Redesigned the UX to be cleaner and faster. Contributed to a 7-figure exit.
AskMethod
Leading Multi-Product Development
Managed design and engineering across multiple SaaS products. Built team workflows. Improved product cohesion company-wide.
Benchmark
Modernizing a Legacy Platform
Modernized Benchmark Email's legacy platform. Redesigned workflows based on customer research, balancing user needs with technical constraints.
ClawDeck
AI-Native Arcade Game
Built and launched an AI-powered claw machine game. Profitable from week one. Proof that one person with the right tools can ship a complete product in days.
tini.bio
From Idea to 4,000+ Users
A link-in-bio tool built in days with AI-native workflows. 4,000+ users and growing. Fast validation, real traction.
gratu
Rethinking Gratuity
A tipping product built from scratch in days. Live and generating revenue. Another example of what AI-native building makes possible.
Why founders work with me
Three things: speed, clarity, and taste. Speed to get your product into the world before the window closes. Clarity so you always know what's being built and why. And the design eye to make sure people actually want to use it.
Taste
Products look and feel exceptional. Beautiful, usable design is not a nice-to-have. It's what separates products that gain traction from products that get ignored.
Speed
Products move forward fast. Not rushed, not sloppy. Fast because I've done this hundreds of times and I use AI to compress timelines that used to take teams weeks.
Clarity
No confusion about what's being built or why. A clear plan from day one. Founders always know what's happening, what's next, and what it means for their business.
Full Picture
Strategy, design, and technical thinking. One person who holds the full picture so nothing gets lost in translation between specialists.
Articles
Ideas, frameworks, and lessons from 18 years of building products. Not theory. Things I've learned by doing it.
Entrepreneurship
You Don't Need a Product Strategist. You Need a Right Hand.
Every founder I talk to has the same gap in their operation. They know their market. They can sell. They can raise. They can build relationships and …
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Entrepreneurship
How to Validate a Startup Idea in 2026 (The Old Playbook Is Dead)
Every startup blog will tell you the same thing: validate before you build. Do 20 customer interviews. Run surveys. Create a landing page. Collect …
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Software
The Old Rules of Building Software Are Dead
For 20 years, building a software product meant the same thing. Hire a team. Write a spec. Sit through standups. Wait months. Spend six figures. Hope …
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Software
AI Agents Helped Me Ship Five Products. Two Are Already Profitable.
I shipped five products recently. All within about six weeks. Different stacks, different users, totally different problems. Two of them are already …
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Software
Feature Prioritization When Everything Feels Urgent
The hardest part of product isn’t deciding what to build. It’s deciding what not to build. When your biggest customer threatens to churn …
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Software
Are Large Software Teams Still Relevant in the Age of AI?
A 5-person team in 2026 can ship what a 50-person team shipped in 2016. AI has compressed the development curve dramatically. The question every …
Read article →From idea to traction
The stuff most founders learn too late. One email per week.
About me
I'm Max. 5x founder. Product builder. 18 years turning ideas into real products.
I've taken products from zero to seven-figure exits, scaled teams from 0 to 80+, and hired over 800 engineers and designers. I know what works, what breaks, and what founders wish they'd known earlier.
Today I advise founders one-on-one on product decisions, validation, and AI strategy. I also build my own AI-native products at mx.works. The best advice comes from people who are still building.
Max
Product Builder, 5x Founder
