Most hardware teams don't run out of money, they run out of road building the wrong product. Because they didn't make the right decisions early enough, and the gaps weren't visible from the inside.
The Product Diagnostic is a senior outside read on the alignment of strategy, product, and narrative. Two working sessions in, one executive report out. Commissioned by founders before they commit, leadership when conviction wavers, by investors before or after capital goes in.
To give you confidence to commit or course correct, and a sharper version of the product you’ll want to commit to.
Deliverable
Executive report
For
Founders · Investors · Leadership
Duration
Two to three weeks
THE PRODUCT DIAGNOSTIC
Your design impresses, the technology works, the story sounds right, but the pieces aren't quite holding together. A hardware product has to be clear about three things to make it worth commiting to.
Strategy
Is the bet sound?
Product
Does the product hold up?
Narrative
Is the value clear and believable?
Each one depends on the others, examined alone each gives a confident answer. When examined together the answers stop holding, for the team, investors and the market.
That's how teams run out of road. Not because they made the wrong decision, but because they didn't make the right one early enough to change course.
That's the decision The Product Diagnostic is built for.
How It Works
Two working sessions combining the outside perspective we bring, to the depth of the team building it. Time inbetween the sessions to synthesise what we've heard. A concise report at the end.
The Read
Listening to how the team describes the product, the strategy and the story they're telling. Probing to understand the assumptions underneath, the calls that have been made and where the doubt is. Surfacing the questions the team isn't asking themselves yet.
The Sharpen
Coming back with the initial findings. Working with the team to build on what's there, and shape the recommendations live in the room. By the end we've sharpened the version of the product worth committing to, ready for us to take away and write the report.
The Report
An executive read. Built for founders, leadership and the investors backing them. A diagnosis, giving direction and recommendations. A case you can commit to and build on.
What you get
A document that sits alongside your existing thinking and gives it weight. The way strategy, product and narrative connect, and the case for committing.
The diagnosis.
An honest read on where strategy, product and narrative are lined up, and where they're not. What's working, what isn't, and what's being avoided.
The direction.
The sharpened version of the product that's worth committing to. Built from the team's depth combined with our outside view and expertise.
The recommendations.
Sequenced and prioritised. What to commit to, what to test, what to stop. The steps to realise the direction, not just diagnose it.
Who it's for
Founders, product and design leaders building what comes next in hardware, and the investors backing them. Teams defining new products, new directions and new categories. Where the technology is reshaping what the product even is, and the answer hasn't been built yet.
Some come to us before they've committed, looking to sharpen the direction before a pitch, raise or build. Some come mid-build, conviction slipping as past assumptions are in doubt. Some come post-launch, proud of what they shipped but struggling to define what comes next.
If the technology works and the team is strong, but the product hasn't been defined sharply enough for what comes next. This is for you.
Who runs it
Matthew Cockerill is an industrial designer and strategist with 30 years' experience shaping what comes next in hardware. He works at the earliest stages — where frontier capability is still becoming product, combining pattern recognition across emerging tech with the creative leaps that define new categories. Past work spans folding screens, smart glasses, robotics, modular devices, and autonomous systems. Working with Samsung, Lenovo, Panasonic, Logitech, Ford, ByteDance, and Fairphone.
He's brought in at the moment a real product call needs to be made and an outside read matters more than process. The Product Diagnostic is that work, in its most focused form. One senior advisor.
LinkedIn →A 15-minute call.
No deck. No pitch. A direct conversation about where you are, and whether an outside read on your product would be useful.