Pip & Nut and All Things Butter spotted the same kind of gap in the food market — and validated it in completely opposite sequences. One sold peanut butter from a weekend stall in 2013. The other built a million-follower TikTok audience before the product existed. Here's how to tell which route fits your product business.

You sit down to write handover notes before a week off — and realise you can't explain your own job. Most product businesses run on a person, not a system. Here's what "documented" actually means in practice, and where to start.

Nobody needs a £38 ceramic bowl. But desire isn't about need — it's about the weight in your hands, the uneven glaze, the feeling that this one was made by a person. Most product businesses reach for the cost sheet when something doesn't sell. The real problem is almost always somewhere else.

"Can we make it cheaper?" is never really about cost. It's about what changes when the price drops — and whether the product still works when you've changed it. Here's what that looks like in practice.

"Lightweight cotton, natural colour" can mean ten different things depending on who's reading it. That's not a factory problem — it's a specification gap. Here's how to write a brief that removes the guesswork before sampling begins.

Six weeks into development, that question isn't about colour anymore. It's about whether your process can handle change without turning it into delays, extra cost, and a very awkward conversation with your factory.

Nobody needs a £28 candle. And yet entire industries are built on products people want but don't need. Most business advice doesn't distinguish between need-based and desire-based businesses — and that's where founders get stuck. Here's the validation framework that actually works.

Ordering 25 units instead of 5 was the right production decision. It was also completely wrong. The MOQ wasn't the problem — the sequence was. Here's the calculation most product businesses skip before placing a production order.

I added five numbers to my 2023 product range spreadsheet and asked Claude what the maximum revenue could have been at launch. The answer was £161. The spreadsheet had nine sheets. None of them flagged a problem — because the most important data wasn't there to find.

"How many should I order?" is the wrong first question. This post breaks down first-order vs second-order production decisions — with real margin data at 25, 50, and 100 units — so you stop guessing and start ordering based on evidence.

This week I'm sourcing badges, mugs, clothing, and accessories for one client. Same five sourcing questions. Completely different answers. Here's what changes when you apply the same framework across multiple product categories—and how to compare unlike things strategically.

My husband needed 200 custom rulers. I had no idea how to source 3D printing. After years briefing manufacturers for fashion and products, I was hesitating before sending that first email. Here's what being out of my depth taught me about asking better questions - and the 6-question email template that works for any product, any manufacturer.

I spent 200 hours creating products and 6 hours marketing them. Zero strangers bought. Here's what £500 and three years taught me about validation—and why your product should be the last thing you build, not the first. The maths I wish I'd done before I invested.

My friend wanted to build an app. She had the interface mapped out—tabs, features, user flow. I stopped her: "You're 10 steps too far ahead." Here are the 5 validation questions I walked her through instead—the ones I wish someone asked me before I spent 6 months building products nobody bought.

You've analysed your business from every angle. You know what went wrong. But you still can't figure out what to do next. Here's how to know you've hit the limit of self-analysis and need external data instead.