Full-Stack Product Consulting
There are lots of great product consultants and coaches. Many of them excel at teaching their clients frameworks, giving advice, or being a sounding board. I'm different. I specialize in helping leaders develop and implement sustainable solutions for key technology and business problems, quickly. I can offer this service because at some point in my career, I've dealt with just about every problem a founder or technology executive can face — from recruiting and hiring to making technical decisions — at companies big and small. I don't use frameworks or gimmicks, I read the research on software development, innovation, productivity, and workplace psychology and apply it sui generis to build products, teams, and companies that deliver real value. I can help you do that, too, as a consultant, coach, or fractional product leader.
Working With Me
I work in two ways: one-time strategy calls and time-limited, goal-driven engagements.
Book a paid one-hour call, get unstuck and save thousands.
If you're struggling with a specific problem and need to get unstuck, you can book a one-hour call with me right now for $400 (introductory price). From recruiting and hiring to evaluating tech stacks or deciding whether to pivot, chances are I've been where you are before and know how to move forward quickly, which will save you a huge amount of time – likely thousands of dollars worth.
I will read everything you send me (within reason), do several hours of research on you and your problem, spend an hour with you discussing my findings and co-designing a solution with you, and send you a transcript and summary of our conclusions afterwards. If I can't help you, I'll return your money and help direct you to someone who can. If we have our call and you're not satisfied with the results, I'll give you $200 back. Calls are always confidential.
Unsure or want something more? Book a free 15-minute consultation.
If you'd like to design a longer, goal-driven engagement, or if you're just unsure and would like to meet me, you can book a free 15-minute call. I'll listen deeply and provide one of the world's most valuable commodities: total honesty. If I can be helpful, I'll tell you how. If I can't, I'll try to point you in the right direction. And if I think you're way off track on the problem itself or how you're trying to solve it, I'll tell you (in a very nice and constructive way).
How I work
There are no frameworks, no special sauce, no magic behind my work (though I have encountered every framework, technique, and grimoire). I have three things going for me: a diverse array of hands-on experiences in software development, product management, media, academia, startups, and non-profits; a unique gift for quickly learning the "full stack" of almost any problem from the code and minutiae of how people get work done all the way up to the forces and trends shaping society; and, a critic's eye for bullshit.
Send me your problems at the intersection of technology, business, and society. I will dive into them incredibly deeply to help you understand what they actually are, then work with you to develop solutions you can sustainably implement. It's actually quite simple. But it's not easy.
What people have said
I've never asked for testimonials. Here's what folks have told me or written about me, unsolicited:
"Gabe Stein is unusually talented. His background is a mix of media and programming; he’s also thoughtful and somehow conversant across the full stack, so to speak—from the bowels of the software all the way to core issues in scholarly publishing."
"This is a belated note to say “Thanks!” Went live with the new home page and email signup system about a month ago, and it’s working beautifully. We’re on pace to sign up over 1,000 new newsletter subscribers a month—and have already brought in 75 new paying members. Learning to pull the right levers…."
"You know, you basically roughed out our entire workflow in like two weeks. We're still using most of it two years later. Thank you."
What I've done
This is a small sample of the types of work I've done. As I said, I've probably been where you are before, and can help you move forward.
- Coached a computer science professor in product management, helping them step into a full-time leadership role at a stealth AI startup
- Helped an AI data brokerage startup vet and hire their first non-founding engineer and product manager
- Optimized the membership funnel for a non-profit science news organization, leading to significant increases in paying supporters
- Developed an employee handbook for a non-profit that helped them get things done faster and more efficiently while maintaining their core values and business needs
- Worked with a team to research and develop actionable digital membership growth strategies for a major public institution
- Lead teams building complex enterprise software products from 0 to 1 and personally sold the first six-figure deals
- Scaled complex consumer software products from the first dozen core users to hundreds of thousands of MAUs
- Raised millions of dollars from VCs, institutional investors, angels, and foundations
- Managed teams of high-performing engineers, designers, and product managers
- Developed media brands that have reached millions of monthly readers
- Built teams and companies that high-performing people love working for
- Managed multi-million-dollar yearly budgets
- Successfully completed non-profit audits with no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies
- Made very difficult personnel and budgetary decisions with grace and humility
- Written production code for dozens of websites and apps
- Developed a repeatable process for extracting actionable brand integrity insights from social network metadata and helped sell it to multiple Fortune 500 companies on six-figure annual contracts
- Developed and deployed complex production features like multi-tenant analytics pipelines and dashboards, PDF generation engines, and CRM systems using a combination of production code and low-code automation tools
- Conducted focused user interviews and research alongside developers and designers
- Developed, deployed, and reported on A/B and split tests, leading to many-X improvements in conversion and activation rates
- Written a lot of prose both for my own blog and top publications like Fast Company and Business Insider that millions of people have read
- Given public talks on topics ranging from media theory to bitcoin and web annotation standards
- Developed, hosted, and GM'd text-based multiplayer roleplaying games with hundreds of daily active users