Adopt a Product
Senior product people adopt one real product each and help it grow: pro bono, hands-on, no fluff. Light but consistent involvement, for around nine months.
1 advisor1 product9 months0 cost
One advisor. One product. Nine months.
The entire program fits on one page, and it has read the same way since the first edition.
Adoption agreement · every edition
Clause 01
Nothing for sale.
Advisors volunteer. Nobody is pitching services, nobody is upselling a retainer. When the advice has no agenda, teams can actually trust it.
Clause 02
Adoption, not consulting.
Most advice is a drive-by: a workshop, a coffee, a hot take. An adoption means committing to a single product and sticking around long enough to watch decisions play out.
Clause 03
A regular touchpoint. Real problems. Clear next steps.
The program isn't meant to add more process. Teams bring the challenges they're actually facing, advisors bring perspective and experience, and every conversation should help move the product one step forward.
Signed, every edition: the advisors and the product teams.
Pro bono, real commitmentNine months, one steady rhythm.
No sprints, no bootcamp intensity. An adoption is the same simple beat repeated until it compounds: show up every month, work on what's real, and let the product grow.
M1
Match
M2
First touchpoint
M3
Real problems
M4
Hard questions
M5
Clearer bets
M6
Momentum
M7
Fewer mistakes
M8
Sharper roadmap
M9
A grown product
From application to adoption.
Both sides apply
Advisors bring senior product experience. Teams bring a real product that needs momentum. Each side fills in a short application when the call opens.
We select
Not every application becomes an adoption. We look for registered, early-stage companies with a real product, meaningful product challenges and the commitment to work on them throughout the program.
The golden pitch
Everyone gets to know what's on the other side. In one mandatory session, companies pitch their story, product and biggest challenges to the advisors and advisors introduce themselves and their experience.
We matchmake
The match is a two-way choice. After the Golden Pitch, both advisors and companies share their preferences. We combine those choices with the teams' challenges and advisors' experience to create the most impactful matches.
The adoption
Around nine months of monthly touchpoints. Light but consistent: real problems on the table, thinking challenged constructively, no homework theatre.
The payoff
Teams get more clarity and move faster. Advisors call it surprisingly rewarding. Expensive mistakes get avoided before they're made.
Every adoption needs both sides.
Advisors give the experience, teams give the openness. When the next call opens, one short application puts you on either side of the match.
For advisors
Give back by getting involved.
- You're an experienced product leader who wants to help a team move forward
- You bring strong experience in areas like discovery, strategy, growth, UX or scaling
- You're willing to ask hard questions, share what you've learned and stay close enough to see what happens next
The commitment: one product, around nine months, roughly one conversation a month. You bring the experience. The team decides what to do with it.
For product teams
Put your product up for adoption.
- Get an experienced outside perspective on the decisions that matter right now
- Work through real product challenges month by month, not a generic audit or one-off workshop
- Build more clarity, make better-informed decisions and learn faster from what happens next
The commitment: come with real problems, be open about what's working and what isn't, and keep showing up. The program is pro bono. Your investment is the work you put into it.
This edition's adoptions.
Twelve product teams, twenty advisors, nine months. Each team works directly with its advisor, and a specialised group of seven steps in on demand for AI, UX and growth deep dives. The support is well worth €10,000+ per team in equivalent advisory value but it's all pro bono.
The Specialised Advisory Group
Seven experts any team can pull in for a focused session when a challenge needs niche depth: AI, UX and UI, growth, research.
GMGeorge MihaiDesigner @ Poiesis Lab
TITania IgnatUser Experience Researcher @ Awin Global
DPDiana PagilaSenior Product Manager @ Stockday
ATAndrei Cristian TurcuFounder @ Audit UX
IBIvona BăbăreluGrowth Consultant
MRMihaela RomanProduct Coach @ Flying Kite
TITibi IorgaSenior Product Manager @ CeraAlong the way, teams also get two program partners: Idea Morph, the collaborative workspace where advisors and teams work between sessions, and SeedBlink, whose readiness tool gives each team an investor-style evaluation of their fundraising story.
Good to know.
Real problems, real impact, zero sales pitch. That has been the whole deal since the first edition, and it's why both sides keep coming back.
Want to adopt, or be adopted?
The second edition's adoptions are underway. The next call for advisors and products opens on Slack first, so that's where to be.