Dive deep into business, brand and strategy.
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Context isn’t the preface. It’s the work.
Most bad decisions don’t come from a lack of intelligence. They come from skipping context. You’ve seen it. Someone asks a question that sounds clear: “Should we do product-led growth?”“Should we hire an enterprise seller?”“Can you help sharpen our marketing story?” Within minutes, smart people start handing out solutions. That’s the moment you should get…
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The “Brand Positioning” Problem: Why Two Words Reveal a Fundamental Misunderstanding
The Tell Two words that reveal you don’t understand positioning: “brand positioning.” This isn’t pedantry. It’s diagnostic. The phrase inverts causality, conflates two distinct phenomena, and reveals a conceptual confusion that has cost companies billions in misdirected strategy work. When someone says “brand positioning,” they’re typically doing one of three things: using one word to…
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The Real Bottleneck in the Age of AI Isn’t Intelligence. It’s Unlearning.
The highest-IQ people aren’t the wealthiest. They never have been. The Terman Study tracked 1,528 children with IQs above 135 for 74 years — one of the longest longitudinal studies ever conducted. The conclusion surprised everyone: these “geniuses” were no more successful in adulthood than children randomly selected from similar socioeconomic backgrounds. Meanwhile, two children…
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Lovable: What the Fastest-Growing Software Company Actually Owns
A Note Before We Begin: I wrote this because I genuinely admire what Anton Osika and the Lovable team have built. I’ve been watching their journey, the social content, the product decisions, and the speed of execution. What they’ve accomplished in eighteen months is extraordinary by any measure. This analysis comes from a place of…
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Zoom’s S-1: The Gap Between What You Prove and What You Claim
How Positioning Language Shapes Market Valuation — And What Zoom Left on the Table An S-1 isn’t just a legal document. It’s a positioning claim to capital markets. It’s where you tell investors what mental territory you own, and they decide what that ownership is worth. Your product tells one story. Your metrics tell another.…
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How do I create a position?
The position you think you have isn’t the position you actually own Most companies have it backwards. They sit in conference rooms crafting positioning statements, testing taglines, building messaging frameworks. They hire agencies to help them “craft their positioning.” They run workshops to align on “brand positioning.” Then they wonder why nothing sticks. The problem isn’t…
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Wake Up, Neo
The Tax You Didn’t Know You Were Paying Every Canadian bank, from the giants to the slickest fintech, has built its business on a single bet: you won’t leave. Not because you love them. Not because they’re giving you a great deal. But because leaving is annoying. Think about what switching banks actually involves. You’d…
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Position Is Not an Opinion: The Neuroscience of What Actually Happens in Your Customer’s Brain
Most positioning conversations happen in conference rooms. Executives debate. Consultants facilitate. Post-its accumulate. Everyone leaves with an opinion about what the company’s position should be. Here’s the problem: position isn’t an opinion. Position isn’t what you decide in a workshop. It isn’t what you write on a slide. It isn’t what your leadership team agrees…
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Why “Just Do It” Actually Works: The Neuroscience of Positioning Done Right
Three words. Coined the night before a presentation. Inspired by a convicted murderer’s last words before a firing squad. “Just Do It” shouldn’t have worked. And yet, it’s become one of the most recognized phrases in commercial history. Nike’s market share jumped from 18% to 43% in the decade following its 1988 launch. The tagline…
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Wealthsimple: What Happens When You Own the Door But Want to Own the House
A Note Before We Begin: I need to be clear about something from the start: I’m a huge admirer of what Wealthsimple has built and the work Michael Katchen and his team have been doing. I’ve been following your journey for years, the product evolution, the marketing campaigns, the social content, the way you’ve challenged…
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Justin Welsh: The Solopreneur Who Proves More Than He Claims
Note Before We Begin: This analysis exists because I’ve been watching Justin Welsh’s work for years and genuinely admire what he’s built. The consistency. The refusals. The quiet proof. It’s rare to see someone walk away from easy money because it doesn’t fit how they want to live. I wrote this because I love looking…
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The Recovery Paradox: What WHOOP Proves Without Saying
Note Before We Begin: This analysis comes from a place of genuine admiration. I’ve been watching WHOOP for years. Will Ahmed’s podcast appearances, the company’s content, and the way they’ve built something that clearly matters to the athletes and performers who wear it. There’s a rare discipline in what they’ve created. Most companies would have…
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