Hi, I'm Brendan. I build products that make messy work simple.

The Problem

Content developers build courses to meet specific state education standards — for example, Texas might require 50% of a maths course focused on Algebra 1. To fill gaps, developers needed to find relevant lessons, questions, and items across thousands of objects nested several levels deep. The process relied on manually navigating hierarchies, separate spreadsheets, and tribal knowledge from a handful of experts. A complex course build could take 1 to 7 days, affecting roughly 80% of content developers.

The Hypothesis

Identified the problem firsthand, validated through ride-alongs with power users, and quantified the impact using Pendo analytics to build the business case.

The Approach

1. Discovery: Identified the problem firsthand through direct observation and power user ride-alongs.
2. Validation: Quantified the impact using Pendo analytics to build a compelling business case.
3. Prototyping: Led discovery with AI-assisted low-fidelity prototyping to validate the concept before engineering commitment.

Execution

• Spearheading a conversational search tool using NLP technology.
• Enabling natural language queries against the CMS for intuitive content discovery.
• Building the solution to handle thousands of nested educational objects across multiple hierarchy levels.

The Problem

The platform serves multiple apps, each managing hundreds of courses. App teams needed to build content for the next school year without breaking live courses. The only option was to manually duplicate entire courses and build on the copy — making it difficult to associate versions together and leaving teachers unable to easily identify next year's updated content. Content developers were bottlenecked, and building from scratch slowed speed to market.

The Hypothesis

Creating a structured Course Editions system would enable teams to create new versions of courses without manual duplication, maintain clear version associations, and accelerate content development for upcoming school years.

The Approach

1. Feature Design: Designed a Course Editions feature enabling content teams to create new editions of existing courses.
2. Version Management: Ensured editions remained structurally and content-wise near copies, but editable independently.
3. Association System: Maintained clear associations between editions for teacher visibility.

Execution

• Delivered Course Editions feature from concept to production.
• Enabled independent editing without risk to live course versions.
• Provided teachers with clear visibility of updated content for the coming year.
• Eliminated the need for manual course duplication and rebuilding from scratch.

The Problem

The business grows heavily through acquisition, requiring fast onboarding of new products onto the platform. However, the CMS had been built in silos — each app had its own implementation, creating inconsistent code, lack of testing, and a 'Frankenstein' effect across the platform. Regression bugs and merge errors were frequent, releases took almost a full day, and the support team was handling roughly 10 bug tickets per week.

The Hypothesis

Refactoring the CMS to establish a shared, reusable core would eliminate siloed implementations, reduce bugs and merge conflicts, accelerate releases, and position the platform to rapidly onboard acquisitions.

The Approach

1. Core Refactoring: Led the refactoring of the CMS core to strip back siloed implementations.
2. Shared Architecture: Established shared, reusable functionality that could serve all apps consistently.
3. Component Alignment: Aligned components for consistency across the platform.
4. Scalability Foundation: Built a foundation designed to scale quickly as new products were onboarded.

Execution

• Systematically refactored siloed CMS implementations into a unified core.
• Established testing standards and reusable patterns across the platform.
• Reduced technical debt and improved code consistency.
• Positioned the platform architecture to support rapid acquisition onboarding.

The Problem

The business was traditionally subscription-based, with the bulk of revenue coming from university librarians paying for access to entire catalogues of books, journals, and case studies. However, professionals like paralegals and lawyers needed access to specific academic content but couldn't justify the cost of a full subscription. These potential customers were reaching out through sales and marketing but had no way to buy.

The Hypothesis

By analysing inbound enquiries from sales and marketing, an underserved market of academic professionals was identified. Rather than launching broadly, specific niches — such as criminal research — were targeted to trial e-commerce with a focused, marketable audience.

The Approach

1. Market Discovery: Analysed inbound enquiries from sales and marketing to identify underserved markets.
2. Niche Strategy: Researched specific niches (e.g., criminal research) to trial e-commerce with targeted audiences.
3. End-to-End Ownership: Shaped the approach, delivery, and go-to-market niche strategy.
4. Platform Build: Owned the complete build and delivery of the e-commerce platform from search to checkout.

Execution

• Delivered a full e-commerce platform from concept to production.
• Implemented search, product discovery, and checkout functionality.
• Targeted specific professional niches to validate the revenue model.
• Collaborated with sales and marketing to align go-to-market strategy.

The Problem

When the pandemic hit, hotels shut overnight. Many were sitting on thousands of pounds worth of food stock with no guests to serve — facing massive losses. Hotels needed a way to sell when nobody could come in.

The Hypothesis

A rapid MVP allowing hotels to sell food stock in baskets at scale could help hotels recover losses and turn a crisis into an opportunity.

The Approach

1. Rapid MVP: Delivered an MVP in a single weekend with a small team of 2–3 developers.
2. Simple Solution: Built a straightforward app allowing hotels to sell food stock in baskets (e.g., £50 veg basket).
3. Iterative Evolution: Post-launch, rapidly evolved the platform based on user needs.
4. Feature Expansion: Added delivery radius, add-ons, restaurant ordering, room service, and table ordering within 7 months.

Execution

• Delivered functional MVP in a single weekend to address immediate crisis.
• Launched simple basket-based food stock selling functionality.
• Iteratively expanded into full food ordering platform with multiple features.
• Built and shipped delivery radius, restaurant ordering, room service, and table ordering capabilities.
• Completed full feature set within approximately 7 months.

The Problem

As COVID restrictions tightened, hotels needed to operate with minimal physical contact. City hotels staying open for critical workers had no digital infrastructure for contactless guest interaction.

The Hypothesis

A comprehensive guest app enabling contactless interactions would allow hotels to meet strict no-contact rules while maintaining security, trust, and operational capability.

The Approach

1. Early Identification: Identified the need early based on incoming COVID restrictions.
2. Comprehensive Solution: Spearheaded a guest app covering the full guest journey.
3. Security Focus: Ensured digital door keys and billing maintained security and trust.
4. Compliance-Driven: Designed to meet strict no-contact rules while keeping hotels operational.

Execution

• Built contactless check-in functionality accessible from guest phones.
• Implemented room billing and check-out capabilities.
• Developed guest messaging system for hotel communication.
• Integrated digital door keys for secure, contactless room access.
• Delivered complete solution enabling full no-contact guest experience.

The Problem

The business was growing fast but didn't have enough trainers to onboard new hotel clients. Traditional onboarding took roughly 2 weeks plus 3 weeks of maintenance support — expensive for the business and for clients paying for dedicated trainers.

The Hypothesis

Offering clients a cheaper, self-serve alternative would enable smaller hotels to onboard independently while freeing up internal resources for larger chain clients who wanted the personal touch.

The Approach

1. Self-Serve Design: Built a guided onboarding and training tool that walked hotel staff through setup.
2. Integrated Training: Trained users on every area while they completed setup.
3. HR Integration: Included staff training schedules trackable by HR departments.
4. Support Integration: Connected with support system to direct untrained users to relevant articles first.

Execution

• Developed guided onboarding platform with step-by-step setup instructions.
• Built comprehensive training modules covering all system areas.
• Implemented staff training schedule tracking for HR visibility.
• Integrated support system to filter queries based on training completion.
• Created self-serve pathway for smaller hotels while maintaining trainer option for chains.

The Problem

Chain hotels needed to manage multiple properties from a single place — rates, invoices, reservations, and accounting — but the platform lacked this capability. Competing systems offered this as standard.

The Hypothesis

Building a Central Reservation System that not only matched competitors but improved on the experience would unlock growth into the chain hotel market.

The Approach

1. Competitive Analysis: Studied existing enterprise platforms to understand baseline requirements.
2. Enhanced Design: Designed to not just match competitors but improve on the experience.
3. Centralized Management: Enabled chain hotels to manage entire portfolios from a single interface.
4. Comprehensive Features: Covered rates, invoices, reservations, and accounting across properties.

Execution

• Built Central Reservation System from the ground up.
• Implemented multi-property management capabilities.
• Developed centralized rate management across hotel chains.
• Created unified invoicing and reservation systems.
• Integrated accounting functionality for portfolio-level visibility.