Product Insights for Emerging Technology

20 years in emerging tech — ex-Head of Product at Palantir, now founder of two ventures.

At Common Sense, we’re building modern agentic AI systems for local government — 100x increases in productivity across critical workflows that simplify civil service and delight citizens.

At First Principles, we help emerging tech companies generate massive value, ship faster, align teams, and unlock product-market fit or hypergrowth — through fractional product leadership and expert product coaching.

Whether it serves 10,000 users or 10 million residents, the system has to work — and keep working.

Sound like I can help you? Get in touch:

adam@firstprinciples.la or adam@commonsensetech.ai

Adam Judelson

A city once invited us in for an in-person working session.

We aligned the agenda, booked the flights, and landed.

Minutes before the meeting while we prepared in a nearby coffee shop, they cancelled due to an emergency.

Most teams would have stepped back and waited for a new date.

We didn’t.

We went to the building anyway, stood in the lobby, and said, “We’re here. We know the timing shifted. We’ll stay as long as you need.” Turns out, the opportunity to get ahead outweighed the crisis.

This should be the bare minimum when working with public institutions.

Show up. Make it easy. Remove friction. Respect their time.

The difference between us and the incumbents is simple. 

We want to have a conversation. 

We want to understand the work. 

We want to sit with the people responsible for keeping the city running.

And we believe that if the government is going to get faster and more effective, it starts with partners who are willing to be in the room, see the real constraints, and prove what they can do.

Building Common Sense (govtech) | Founder, First Principles | Product Insights for Emerging Tech | Ex-Palantir | 4x Venture-Backed Exec

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I just finished one of the most talked-about books in government right now, “Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future,” and it made me rethink something we see every day inside cities.

Wang’s core argument is that China became an engineering state, one that builds at speed and scale, while America became a lawyerly society that regulates, litigates, and creates veto points that block building.

The American “lawyerly” model has crucial advantages in protecting individual rights, constraining state overreach, and fostering a flexible, innovative society, even though it often slows physical building. He sees these legal and institutional strengths as exactly what China most needs to import, just as the U.S. should import some of China’s engineering spirit.

Local government sits right at the collision point of these two mindsets – cities need to build (housing, infrastructure, services) but operate inside a thicket of legal constraints and procedural requirements.

Most of the people I meet in government, across agencies, roles, and floors, genuinely care. They want things to work. They want residents to feel the difference.

Both types of thinking and action are crucial to progress, and the lack of understanding from these opposite optics causes the work to drag on, because every decision becomes defensive or about optics instead of outcomes.

Individuals start protecting themselves instead of the mission.

Wang’s point isn’t just about internal dysfunction – it’s about what happens when a society only optimizes for preventing bad outcomes rather than producing good ones. Local government has become very good at avoiding mistakes and needs work building things and taking bold, calculated risks. 

The question is whether we can recover some of that engineering ethos without losing the legal protections that matter to the world’s most important democratic republic.

Every city leader I meet wants faster service delivery with AI. And increasingly, the teams running those services want to deliver it.

But there’s a gap between enthusiasm and implementation.

The same AI doomerism questions come up in almost every conversation: “What if the AI makes a mistake?” “What if the AI misses something?” “What if the work or answer is incomplete?”

These are the right questions to ask. Public sector teams are accountable to their communities in ways that private companies aren’t, with a litigious public ready to pounce on mistakes. Every strong AI company must be able to explain how accuracy and quality are measured, for sure.

But it’s also worth asking: what’s the error rate in your current workflow? How much work is left entirely undone right now? How long are people waiting for answers or approvals under the status quo?

Because in most cases, the baseline isn’t perfection. It’s human staff working through hundreds of repetitive tasks under time pressure, applying convoluted legal frameworks, with inconsistent results.

The challenge isn’t that teams are being too careful. It’s that we’re measuring AI against an impossible standard while accepting a much higher error rate and set of delays from manual processes.

Government operations are excellent at managing long-tail risk.

But managing opportunity requires a different muscle to be flexed, one that involves controlled testing rather than comprehensive policy first.

AI won’t move in the public sector through white papers or policies alone. It will move through small, measured pilots that prove value in real-world conditions.

Deason Executive Coaching

Working with incredible clients to build successful businesses, develop great strategy and grow their careers.

Business Coach

Adeptmind

Advisory Board Member. Offering monthly guidance and insight to the executive team of this Series A funded startup.

Advisory Board Member

Wiggle

Role summary: Senior strategic leadership role for a leading UK sports e-commerce retailer. Reporting into the board, with responsibility for end-to-end customer strategy, loyalty and new proposition development, and 100+ contact centre staff across distributed sites.

Key achievements:
• Used AI and data modelling to identify key customer experience opportunities and win internal investment. Driving an additional £4m in sales through increased customer retention.
• Fully re-designed the voice of the customer programme, delivering richer insights and more actionable output. Used these learnings to secure funding for self-service and AI virtual assistant solutions.
• Developed an end-end customer experience strategy; aligning the organisation’s customer experience with brand strategy and overarching business objectives.
• Created a c-suite ‘customer board’ for CX oversight, new proposition development, and ensuring buy-in for CX initiatives.
• Lead, coached and developed a 100+ seat multi-lingual contact centre team to achieve record satisfaction scores.
• Restructured the contact-centre business unit to save c.20% of costs. Integrated warranty, customer service and product expert teams into one cohesive unit, sharing resource and improving efficiency.

Group Head Of Customer Experience

Pret A Manger

Role summary: Member of the global senior leadership team. Owner of the organisation’s consolidated global customer service function and voice of the customer programme.

Key achievements:
• Workstream lead on one of Pret’s most ambitious digital product launches: the Coffee Subscription (now Club Pret). Responsible for proposition testing and insight. Achieved 360% of first month target.
• Developed and delivered Pret’s first voice of the customer programme. Capturing key customer data, actionable insights and sentiment, for service and product improvement.
• Led Pret’s global contact-centre function though the COVID-19 pandemic. Handling record contact volumes while transitioning to a fully work-from-home model.
• Re-designed Pret’s social media customer service operation, aligning brand voice, service strategy and organisational objectives. Creating a best-in-class social media team.
• Pitched for, designed, procured, and operated a single, consolidated global BPO customer support solution for Pret, moving all international markets to one provider and saving c.15%.

Global Head of Customer Experience

Hotelplan UK Ltd

Role summary: Senior management role with full ownership of the organisation’s customer experience strategy, from insight and journey-mapping through to new proposition delivery. Operationally responsible for leading four contact-centre teams, delivering service throughout all stages of the customer lifecycle. Promoted from Explore following its acquisition by Hotelplan UK.

Key achievements:
• Owning the organisation’s ‘Guest First’ customer experience improvement programme. Successfully delivering customer experience projects in the first year of role which collectively resulted in NPS score improvements of over 20 points, improved customer satisfaction scores and repeat business.
• Leading, managing and developing a large contact centre operation, with 4 team manager direct reports.
• Producing actionable commercial insights from extant data. Using these insights to introduce and improve marketing content and drive tangible revenue growth.
• Leading cross-functional teams to deliver significant improvements to online customer self-service systems, improving uptake and end-user experience, leading reductions in headcount ahead of target.

Head of Customer Services & Customer Experience

Explore Worldwide

Owner of the end-to-end customer experience across the business. Accountable for ensuring that every function worked cohesively to deliver Explore’s promise to provide a “customer experience to be proud of” and that processes were optimised, and decisions were made with the customer in mind.

Manager, Customer Experience

Customer advocate with a focus on resolving customer issues and improving the customer experience, whilst balancing the financial realities and strategic goals of the company.

Manager, Customer Relations

Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd.

Responsible for the strategic management, direction and planning of a busy customer relations department, handling over 40,000 contacts yearly.

Team Leader, Customer Relations

Are you tired of feeling stuck, watching another year go by without the progress you want?

I work with freelancers and founders who are amazing at their craft, but sometimes struggle with the complexities of business growth. With 15+ years in corporate strategy and an MBA from a top business school, I make growing your business simpler and much less stressful.

I’ve helped:
•	Founders sign more clients and add $20k+ to their monthly income
•	Entrepreneurs go from 5 to 2 (no, seriously...) working days a week while making more money
•	High performers create content that generates leads consistently
•	Solopreneurs perfect their pricing strategy and 3x their revenue
•	People find balance and take back control of their lives

After years in the corporate world, dealing with slow and cumbersome decision-making, I knew I wanted to work with people who could take charge of their own destiny. You have the power to make quick, impactful changes, and I’m here to help you do just that.

Here’s what bugs me: most freelancers never get access to the strategies that big businesses have used for years. I break down those 'corporate' concepts into practical, actionable steps that fit your business. No more focusing solely on the “perfect funnel” or “perfect pitch”. I help you see the big picture and tackle every aspect of growth that matters to your business.

When we work together, you’ll get clarity on your strategy, know exactly what steps to take, and, best of all, start working less and earning more.

Ready to take control and grow your business? Let's chat. Drop me a DM for a no-obligation conversation.

Ed Deason, MBA

I’ve decided I don’t need a coworking space.
I already live in one...

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀:

👉 The guy who breathes way too loudly.

👉 The guy who insists on sitting right next to me even though there are literally 7 other chairs.

👉 The guy who stares at me while I eat.

👉 The guy with absolutely unforgivable breath.

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗲𝘀.
It’s all the same guy.

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗲𝘀.
He lives in my house.

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗲𝘀.
This is him.

Show me your co-workers... 🐱

EMCC Accredited Business Coach for Founders & Entrepreneurs | Your one-stop coach for strategy, growth & success | 15+ Years of experience

Any guesses what this number is? 👇 
3.5%
 
𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗞 𝗶𝗻 2025.
(2.7% in the US, 3.8% in Australia, etc)
 
𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿?

Because if you didn’t earn at least 3.5% more this year than last, in real terms, you took a pay cut.
 
If you work with clients on a long-term basis, there’s a simple way to mitigate some of this risk: 𝗔𝗱𝗱 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁.
 
Nothing too complicated.
 
𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲: 

To keep our work together sustainable over the long term, my fees will increase once a year on the anniversary of our work together. My rates will increase in line with the [local] Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus 2 percent, with a minimum annual adjustment of 5 percent. I’ll always give you at least 30 days’ notice before any change takes effect.

👉 If you don’t have this in place already, add it now.

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 2027 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝘁.

I've got a confession to make...


𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗝𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆, 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗳𝘁𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗮𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱…

(Definitely not resolutions 😉)

👉 Make more money.
👉 Read more books.
👉 Lift more heavy stuff.
👉 Stop sitting like a prawn.

But honestly... I suck at sticking to the things 𝗜 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 to get there.

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝘂𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗜 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗹𝗹-𝗼𝗿-𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵.

𝗧𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝘆𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗜’𝗹𝗹:
❌ Spend an hour a day doing outreach.
❌ Read for 30 mins every night.
❌ Workout 5 days a week (when I’m not even doing 1).

(sound familiar?)

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗜 𝗱𝗼 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀 𝗮 𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗺𝘆 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗴𝗼𝗲𝘀 “𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗽, 𝘄𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱 🤷”.

It’s basically setting yourself up to fail.
Trying to go from 0-100 in a day.
 
𝗦𝗼, 𝗜’𝗺 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝘁 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗝𝗮𝗻, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁.
 
Do the tiniest possible version of the thing.

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗮𝗱𝗱 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲.

✅ A plank while the kettle boils.
✅ 5 minutes of outreach each day.
 
𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝘁:
✅ Another plank while the tea brews.
✅ Another minute of outreach each day.
 
𝗜𝘁 𝘀𝗼𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗱𝗱𝘀 𝘂𝗽. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗺𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗹𝗲.
 
So, if (not)resolutions aren’t your thing either…
Start small.
Add a little each day.
 
(and if you’re one of those people with iron willpower, this wasn’t the post for you. I don’t want to hear it in the comments)
 
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗮 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗻?

Ever thought you might have to get a J O B again?
Worried that running your own business wasn’t working?
 
𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗜’𝘃𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗸 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀.
 
There’s no perfect answer. But there are some good questions that can help you figure out what path might be right for you.
 
Treasa and I talk about this topic (and others) on Boss Responses this week.
 
Check out the episode below 👇 

https://lnkd.in/ewVNqj8P

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The Battle

Adam Judelson

Ed Deason, MBA

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The Battle

Adam Judelson

Ed Deason, MBA

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