Cory Hymel

Crowdbotics

* Leadership role designed to synthesize the ambitions across all areas of Crowdbotics
* Bridge between the technical, product, and marketing teams
* Create research program from the ground up with leading universities 
* Author whitepapers with industry partners
* Public speaking events to share where the future of software development is going with AI

VP Product & Research

The Human Cloud

• Advising the implementation of a competitive intelligence terminal leaders can use to access hyper relevant freelance economy insights in seconds. 
• Advising ways to leverage emerging technologies such as AI, ML, and blockchain into freelance marketplaces.
• Providing thought leadership and strategy on leveraging technology to enable the human cloud.

Strategic Advisor

Gigster

*Managing 4 departments: Platform, NetOps, Product, and MetrX (acquisition)
*Direct report to CEO
*Main goal is creating company strategy and paths to revenue

VP of Product & Research

Helping lead research with Stanford and Berkeley into how distributed teams work at scale.

Head of Academic Partnerships

Leading all things blockchain. NFT's, crypto, enterprise, etc.

Director of Blockchain

Creating teams and process to build software via distributed employees. 

I also manage academic partnerships to help further research in distributed work. 

Personal areas of interest and specialization:
- blockchain                (incentive models and distributed systems architecture)
- IoT                             (sys architecture, deployment, etc.)
- embedded systems (bluetooth low energy (cypress semiconductor))
- finTech                      (international banking infrastructure, AML/KYC)

Senior Solutions Architect

Enventys Partners

....continuing to pioneer the Internet of Things.

Director of Connected Technologies

Enventys

Simble Co.

Launching iBeacons in real estate, conferences, and a consumer app.

Co Founder

Prime Notion Technologies, Inc.

Building custom enterprise mobile applications for Fortune 500 clients.

Co Founder & CEO

Pull Communications

Built platform that would allow museum curators to build self guided tours of exhibits.

Senior Developer

Resolute Games

Building 2D and 3D games for iOS and Android.

Senior Programmer / Developer

Fedex Institue of Technology

Was a member of the Dynamic Obstacle Handling Research team. Researching and building self driving tugs for FedEx.

Center for Advanced Robotics Research

VP of Product & Research @ Gigster | Innovating on the Future of Work

//--In my own words
Washed software engineer that was better at telling stories and painting visions that writing code. I usually find myself working in research or innovation teams due to attention deficient and boredom with solvable problems. I very much enjoy speaking, teaching, and sharing things I've learned with others. 


//--In my PR teams words
The root of Cory’s passion for the connected nature of tech enhancing the future of work began in the early 2000s in robotics research initiatives for the FedEx Institute of Technology. He went on to pioneer mobile helping enterprises develop strategies to mobilize staff workflows and collaboration in the pre-enterprise project management app era of “BYOD to work” in the mid-2010s. Seeing the promise of physical and digital integration, Cory brought physical products to life leading the Connected Technologies division at a hardware development firm. Beginning in 2018 Cory began researching and leading the Future of Work at Gigster as VP of Product and Research advocating for leveling outdated hierarchical structures within organizations. Cory is a futurist with the goal to continuously question the status quo. His research answers the questions that will define how the innovations of today will impact the work of tomorrow.

It was truly an honor to be invited by Hayden Brown and the Upwork team to come speak at their investor day on how AI is shaping the future of work. 

A couple key points: 

***
1. Code is no longer a defensive moat:
Operate under the hypothesis that the cost to generate code is going to $0. 

Capex to write code used to be a valid, defensible moat but with the insane progress AI code gen is making that's quickly going away. We're already seeing companies come out of Y Combinator with 2 founders and fleshed out platforms that in the past would have taken $Xm in funding to build. 

Example: 
We've been able to completely re-write a legacy java app using Cognition's Devin tool in about a day. 

***
2. The best ideas will (finally) win
Research led companies will win. Full stop. 

This doesn't mean go hire a bunch of PhD's. 
What I mean by this is companies that foster internal experimentation and validate ideas with data can now quickly accelerate on those to gain market share....and it's literally never been easier to do this. 

Example: 
We had a hypothesis that injecting business context into GitHub Copilot would improve it. So, in 6 weeks we ran a study using 300 flex talent resources from Upwork and proved it. Then we doubled down and brought that to market. 

We had a whitepaper, empirical evidence, and usage data that gave us an edge. The code was the easy part. 
https://lnkd.in/eyeZyQaE

***
***
Thank you again to everyone on Upwork team Sheri Baker, Peter Sanborn, Frisco C. and everyone else that helped prep and put on the session. 

Also, huge shoutout to my fellow panelist Gabriel Richman and Philip Rasori you guys were incredible!

VP Product & Research @ CoreStory | HCI research on AI’s impact to the SDLC

Adam Kyle Wilson

Polyform Studio

Built and scaled a 40-person product & design studio from zero.

Grew design/product org to 40+ designers, delivering consumer platforms and applications for Nike, Fortnite, Red Bull, UN, Olympics, RTFKT, Telus, Nordstrom and dozens of startups.

Specialized in AI, AR, 3D UX, and R&D, translating frontier technology into consumer-ready platforms.

Drove multiple enterprise engagements, aligning with client CTOs and CPOs on roadmaps, technical architecture, and platform delivery.

Founder & Head of Product/Design Strategy [Acquired]

SKINNER

Founded counter-surveillance outerwear brand; bootstrapped from concept to $2M+ in revenue with a globally recognized product line.

Oversaw full lifecycle: hardware + apparel product design, supply chain, digital commerce, marketing, and brand growth.

Positioned SKINNER at the intersection of fashion, technology, and privacy advocacy.

Founder & Designer

FNX Technologies (acquired by LFX Digital)

Directed product roadmap and design for 3D garment manufacturing pipeline software.

Employee #2. 

Managed product and engineering teams to build platform from 0 → acquisition by Li & Fung.

Translated R&D breakthroughs into scalable product strategy for global retail supply chains.

Head of Product [Acquired]

Jungle Scout

Scaled Jungle Scout from single tool → #1 SaaS suite for Amazon sellers.

Partnered with engineering/product to define multi-year roadmap and platform expansion strategy.

Directly contributed to $110M Series A funding, positioning Jungle Scout as market leader.

Led cross-functional design + product teams, balancing product discovery, UX, and enterprise SaaS growth.

Head of Product

lululemon

Led in-store product innovation initiative (Smart Mirror), combining hardware, software, and UX for next-gen retail experiences. Also contributed to "White Space" R&D consumer product prototypes. 

Delivered prototypes, roadmaps, pilots, and scale solutions for smart store platforms (IoT, hardware, and consumer software).

Partnered with engineering and business leadership to validate technology platforms and enterprise scalability.

R&D Product Manager/Designer

UNIQLO

Led in-store product innovation initiatives, combining hardware, software, and UX for next-gen retail experiences.

Delivered prototypes, roadmaps, pilots, and scale solutions for smart store platforms (IoT, hardware, and consumer software).

Partnered with engineering and business leadership to validate technology platforms and enterprise scalability.

Innovation Designer / Product Manager 

Momentus, A Softvision Studio

Built and managed a 20-person design org, delivering R&D-heavy consumer platforms in IoT, VR, AI logistics, and smart cities.

Clients included Lululemon, Under Armour, Tempur Sealy, Reddit, Shell, GE, Razor Scooters.

Responsible for platform product vision, team growth, and enterprise alignment.

Successfully acquired by Cognizant in 2017.

Founding Head of Product Design [Acquired by Cognizant]

Atimi Software

Promoted from product designer → head of product design; scaled org to 15 designers.

Delivered consumer-facing platforms and apps for Nike (FuelBand), Disney (Magic Band), Google (Glass), Amazon (Prime TV predecessor), Bloomberg, NYSE, Mercedes F1, NBA, NHL, CFL.

Defined product vision, design strategy, and cross-platform delivery for Fortune 500 clients.

Director of Product Design

Product Design Lead

Product Designer

I build and scale product organizations that turn frontier technologies into consumer-ready platforms.

Over the past 15 years, I’ve led design and product orgs from 15 → 75+ people, navigated multiple acquisitions, and shipped dozens of products at the intersection of consumer tech, retail innovation, and R&D.

Enterprise & Scale → Head of Product at Jungle Scout, where I scaled the company from a single tool into the #1 SaaS suite for Amazon sellers, helping secure a $100M Series A.

Innovation & R&D → Early product leadership at FNX (3D garment pipeline, acq. by Li & Fung) and innovation roles with Lululemon, Uniqlo, Nike, Disney, and Amazon Devices.

Entrepreneurship → Founded Polyform, a 40-person design & product studio serving Nike, Fortnite, Red Bull, UN, and Olympics, acquired in 2025. Built SKINNER, a counter-surveillance outerwear brand generating $2M+ in sales.

Global Impact → Directed teams delivering large-scale consumer products, from wearables and hardware to SaaS platforms and immersive experiences, across industries from fashion and retail to AI, AR, and Web3.

What drives me:

Turning complex technologies into intuitive, scalable products.

Leading cross-functional teams to deliver measurable impact.

Building strong product and design cultures inside organizations, where strategy and craft meet.

Co-Founder & CEO

We design award winning consumer products for startups and big brands. 
Apps, Augmented Reality, Experiential Retail, and more. 

Select Clients: 
Coca-Cola, Uniqlo, The Olympics, Nooks, Interactio, RTFKT, Red Bull, Wisdo, ToolBX, CVS, Nordstrom, and more

A CTO friend of mine used to say: “You can’t get 9 women together and make a baby in 1 month, app development is the same”.

Adam Kyle Wilson 

No alternative text description for this image

"Stop shipping screens. Start shipping transitions."
This is emotion first rather than function first and I'm here for it. 
Function is implied. That's the baseline. But baseline isn't enough in 2025.

Senior Product Designer | UI/UX Designer | UX Researcher @ HP

Stop shipping screens. Start shipping transitions.

The future of UI feels more like a living surface.Buttons won’t stay boxes for long. The interface will flow instead of flipping. Motion carries meaning, context shapes the layout, and the “feel” becomes the brand. We’ll design behaviors more than screens.

On a 1–10, how “alive” does your UI feel?

#UxUi #ProductDesign #UserFlow #LiquidGlass #Animation #Transition #UserScenarios

This says a lot. 
My designer brain wants to fix it.

Spatial UX Product Designer & Content Creator

Never underestimate the speed at which visionOS is evolving. Just three weeks later, with the latest beta, the Logitech Muse now supports almost any app and can be used for input across the entire system. 

I tested it with my favourite drawing app, TouchDesk, and it’s incredibly smooth – it feels just like using an Apple Pencil since you don’t even have to press a button to draw. You just touch the desk.

There’s no lag, and it even provides subtle haptic feedback while drawing. The last time I reviewed it, I wasn’t entirely sure I could recommend it, but with the new system-wide support coming to visionOS, I think it’s now a must-have for every Vision Pro enthusiast.

#VisionPro #SpatialComputing #XR

If you are a designer and more than 5 years from retirement...
Now is the time to completely rethink your workflows, to embrace new possibilities, new bars of excellence, and the new opportunities around you. 

It's never been a better time to be a designer, doing the best work of your career.

Twenty-one years ago, Mark Zuckerberg invited five friends to his Harvard dorm room to discuss a new business idea. Only two showed up. Dustin Moskovitz and Eduardo Saverin. They listened, believed in the vision, and chose to be part of it. 
That idea became Facebook. 

Dustin became the company’s first Chief Technology Officer and later co-founded Asana, a successful productivity software company. Eduardo served as Facebook’s first Chief Financial Officer and later became a venture capitalist. 
Their early involvement and ownership of Facebook made them billionaires. Dustin is now worth over $20 billion, and Eduardo is worth over $22 billion. All because they showed up. 

The lesson? When a friend tells you about a new idea, no matter how small or crazy it sounds, don’t laugh, mock, or ignore them. You don’t have to join in, but you can support them. You can listen. Because the future isn’t always built by those who wait for the perfect plan. Sometimes, it’s built by those who are willing to show up when the vision is still a seed.

I missed "Giving Tuesday" but want to shout out a program I've been supporting to for many years: CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind). They're heroes. If you can, please consider supporting their important work. 

In their words...

"About Us
Founded in 1918, the CNIB Foundation is a non-profit organization driven to change what it is to be blind today. We deliver innovative programs and powerful advocacy that empower people impacted by blindness to live their dreams and tear down barriers to inclusion. Our work as a blind foundation is powered by a network of volunteers, donors and partners from coast to coast to coast.

At CNIB, everyone belongs
At CNIB, we champion accessibility, diversity and equity to foster a sense of belonging. When we embrace accessible practices, diverse perspectives and equitable opportunities, we create an inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive. United by our mission to change what it is to be blind through innovative programs and powerful advocacy that enable Canadians impacted by blindness to live the lives they choose; we are stronger together. As an equal opportunity employer, employees can bring their best selves to work at CNIB because everyone belongs."

On behalf of all of Linkedin: We've seen enough "How to make this $100,000 marketing campaign video in 5 minutes for $10 with this new AI tool" posts. 
You can stop posting them now. Thank you.

Running a Kickstarter for our SKINNER JACKET_1.1 and so far it's been great! 
Funded in 5 minutes. Currently 579% funded. Featured on the Fashion page. 
This is the best time to get a SKINNER jacket & will be delivered around Xmas.

Thanks for the shout out! Great team & initiative over at University of California, Berkeley that I’m proud to support 🫡

It's Big Ideas' 20th Anniversary, so we are spending the next 20 weeks spotlighting 20 outstanding judges and mentors! #BigIdeasMentorMonday #BigIdeas20for20 

For our first feature, meet Adam Wilson.

Adam Wilson is a product leader with over 15 years of experience turning frontier technologies into scalable, consumer-ready platforms. He has built and led product and design organizations through growth, acquisitions, and global launches, delivering products that span SaaS, wearables, hardware, and immersive experiences. At Jungle Scout, he scaled the company into the #1 SaaS suite for Amazon sellers, helping secure a $100M Series A. His work also includes innovation roles with Lululemon, Uniqlo, Nike, Disney, and Amazon Devices.

As an entrepreneur, Adam founded Polyform, a 40-person design and product studio serving clients like Nike, Fortnite, Red Bull, the UN, and the Olympics, later acquired in 2025. He also built SKINNER, a counter-surveillance outerwear brand generating $2M+ in sales. Across every role, Adam is driven by the challenge of translating complex technologies into intuitive products, leading cross-functional teams, and building strong product cultures where strategy and craft intersect.

Thank you Adam for your contributions to the Big Ideas community!

#1 Culture Marketing Voice on LinkedIn | Co-founder @ OK COOL

Perplexity nailed this one. Lewis Hamilton & Eric André. Pure Comedy.

Produced by London-based Sata Studios, it follows André trying to impress his neighbour, Hamilton. 

He freezes, turns to Perplexity for help, and it all unravels.

Simple idea. Great writing. Real chemistry. 

It’s their second short after the Lee Jung-jae one. 

They’re building a convincing lane around culture, sport, and personality.

Perplexity, ChatGPT, Claude… who’s winning the marketing game?

SKINNER JACKET_1.1 is EASILY the most hardcore storm proof, surveillance proof, extreme weather shell ever made. Now available for the most accessible early-bird-only price EVER of $199 USD on Kickstarter. Supply is super limited. 

Link in comments.

Ok. This is hella interesting. 
The executive order officially launches the “Genesis Mission” — a nationwide initiative led by the U.S. Department of Energy to harness federal scientific data, supercomputers, and AI to dramatically speed up scientific breakthroughs and secure American technological leadership.

Open article: Launching the Genesis Mission by whitehouse.gov

Co-founder & CEO Favikon | Setting new standards in the creator economy

Authenticity always wins.

X just dropped a feature showing creator locations. And it's exposing everything.

Turns out a lot of those "American patriots" with 50K followers? Based in Thailand. Or Russia. Or random click farms.

We've been flagging these accounts for months with our X Authenticity Score. Now X is catching up. Like LinkedIn is catching up with engagement pods.

This is huge news for society. With its massive reach, X has been the wild west of manufactured influence: Pro-Russia accounts, far-right bot farms, engagement pods pretending to be grassroots movements.

Now there's nowhere to hide.

The era of fake reach is ending. Real influence is what's left. And I'm all here for it!

How I created these landing pages with Gemini 3 from start to finish

First, I start with the hero section. It includes the nav bar, eyebrow, headline, subheadline, cta, social proof and visual. I spend 50% of the time here because it sets the colors, typography, spacing, which AI uses for the rest of the site consistently.

“Create the hero section for my {app} called {name} in the style of {reference_site}”.

Pro tip: use a screenshot and you’ll get way better results.

Let’s get into the details.

For icons, I prompt: “Use Iconify {icon set name}”. Most people use Lucide, but there are hundreds of open-source sets on Iconify like Solar, HeroIcons, Iconoir, Phosphor, etc. Just need to mention in the prompt. Same for custom fonts.

For the animation, I prompt: “Animate fade in, slide in, blur in, element by element. Use 'both' instead of 'forwards'. Don't use opacity 0.”. This creates a subtle intro animation the first time users land on your page.

Gemini 3 is an excellent animator. For example, I created the beam animation with this prompt: “Add noodles that connect and beam animate into the right circle. Add subtle details to the right beam animation circle with sonar and decorations.”

For background animation, I use Unicorn Studio. Remix one of their templates and watch people click on your cover like crazy. What can I say, people love lasers.

In the hero or right below it, social proof is super important. You can put ratings or logos, or both. For logos, you can prompt: “Animate the logos with marquee animation looping infinitely using duplicated items and alpha mask.”.

Now the CTA. AI always creates basic buttons, which is fine 99% of the time. But Gemini 3 now sets a high bar for baseline design, so you will need to stand out. That’s why I put the extra human touch on animations and lickable buttons. I suggest browsing UIVerse and Codepen for buttons and reference the code in your prompt: “Change main button {code} and secondary button {code}. Add a 1px border beam animation around the pill-shaped main button on hover.”.

Once you’re happy with the hero, you’ll want to craft new sections based on your business. Features, action plan, pricing, testimonials, FAQ, CTA and footer are the popular ones. Insert a screenshot and prompt “Adapt a new section, change texts, names and numbers”. Gemini 3 is very smart. It reads your existing styles and site concept and will tastefully mold new designs to fit perfectly into your current site.

Finally, repeat the same prompts for icons, buttons and animations. Use midjourney images and remix using Nano Banana Pro. Ask ChatGPT to come up with better headlines, features, ctas, etc. Don’t skip the human part, this is where you’re irreplaceable. Start prompting top-tier landing pages and watch your numbers grow.

Let me know in the comments if you want this HTML template.

Just tore through Figma’s “How design systems power the new pace of product development,” and it confirmed something I’ve been feeling for a while:

Most teams don’t have a “design system problem.”

They have a “we’ve been winging it for years” problem.

The book basically says this:

AI is not your visionary. It’s not your taste. It’s not your gut.

It’s a design intern with unlimited energy and zero context.

If your design system is half-baked, scattered across files, full of one-off components and “temporary” decisions from 2019… AI is just going to crank out more of that. Faster. At scale. With a smile.

A few ideas that stuck with me:

Design systems are now inputs, not reference docs.
AI is consuming your tokens, variables, and patterns directly. Garbage in, garbage out... instantly.

Higher-order patterns win. 
Stop obsessing over individual buttons and fields and start codifying real layouts, flows, and reusable blocks. That’s what AI can actually do something with.

Bridge design and code or pay for it later. 
When your Figma and your production don’t match, AI just amplifies the lie and ships inconsistencies faster.

Writing is a design skill now (newsflash: it always has been)
If you can’t describe what “good” means in clear language, don’t be surprised when the model hands you something bland and generic.

The optimistic part: if you do the work = tight tokens, real patterns, clear naming, solid docs, then you free humans up to do the stuff AI is terrible at: taste, judgment, weird ideas, tension, point of view.

If you’re a founder, PM, or designer betting on AI to “speed things up,” here’s the uncomfortable truth:
- AI will only make you faster at whatever you already are.
- If your system is chaotic, you’ll ship chaos.
- If your system is sharp, opinionated, and coherent, you’ll ship that.

So before you chase the next shiny AI optimization, ask yourself:

Is our design system something worth multiplying?

If the answer’s “uh… maybe not”... that’s the real work.

New report from figma on creating Ai ready design systems 

The LinkedIn p*ss take videos keep levelling up 😂

People who post on LinkedIn (𝗺𝘆𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗱) get roasted daily on TikTok and IG… and I’m here for it.

The comment section on these videos is straight GOLD.

It’s like watching the Olympics of sarcasm.

Epic opportunity for female founders doing big things.

marketing intern @ shopify | digital comms student @ uwaterloo | bringing out the human side of entrepreneurship🫶

Just rented a $2M luxury lakefront cottage outside Toronto.

Sarah Simionescu, Maya Lekhi, Anjali Dhaliwal and I are inviting 15 female founders for a 4-day, all-expenses-paid retreat to give girls the space, community, and support they rarely get.

For 4 days, founders will have the room to:

•Show up as their most authentic selves
• Swap honest feedback
• Share resources that actually move the needle
• Form the kind of friendships that only happen when builders truly understand each other

No panels. No pitches. Just s’mores around a campfire, vision boards, and quality time with the girls who get it.

We’ll be gathering in a private cabin a few hours north of Toronto from Jan 8 at 6 PM → Jan 11 at 11 AM. 

A huge thank you to our partners — CIBC Innovation, Katheleen Eva Michelle McBane StandUp Ventures, and HOOPLAH Inc. Jesse Rodgers Builders Club Jacqui Murphy for believing in this vision and helping bring it to life.

If you’re a female founder, check the link in the comments to apply :)

BuildnChill #femaleFounders #womenInTech #entrepreneurship #startupcommunity #canadiantech

Now is the BEST time to get a SKINNER jacket. 100% waterproof, 3 layer custom ripstop fabric, built for lifelong use, packed with counter surveillance features. We're 1,000% funded on Kickstarter. Get it by Jan.01.2026. Link 👇

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The Battle

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