Understand the work
I map the person, task, existing workflow and decisions. We identify where the current experience breaks down before choosing an AI feature.
Shona Neary / product systems / one service
I shape AI products around work people need to get done.
I help founders and teams take an AI product from a real user or operating need to a clear brief, a product prototype and a practical build plan. I start with the work, the information the product depends on and the role AI can responsibly play. If AI is not the right tool, I will say so.
New York / Berlin / working globally
A live cultural infrastructure
COUNTERCULT
A product connecting local cultural knowledge to discovery, relationships and paid work.
Open Countercult ↗one service / from problem to prototype
A clear product to build, not another AI concept deck.
I work with founders and teams to decide what the product should do, where AI belongs and what a first version needs to prove.
Shape the product
I define what the product should help someone do, what information it needs, where AI can contribute and where a person must remain in control.
Make the direction tangible
I shape the product flow and prototype, then set out what the team should build, what needs testing and how to judge whether it is useful.
what the team can take forward
The decisions and materials for the next build.
- A clear product brief and priority use case
- A user and workflow map with information boundaries
- A product flow and working prototype
- A build plan with evaluation and human-review criteria
founder / product / cultural infrastructure
Countercult, a founder-built cultural product
I founded and built Countercult to make local culture easier to discover, understand and connect to paid opportunity. Its product brings public discovery, artist and place knowledge, member workflows and commercial delivery into one connected system.
My roleFounder / product / network / commercial strategy
What it connectsPublic discovery / cultural networks / paid work
The product challenge
Local cultural knowledge is valuable, but often hard to find, interpret and commission. I set out to build infrastructure that could carry that knowledge into real relationships and paid work.
What I built
I connected the Network, Studios and Fund in a product and operating model shaped around artists, places, businesses and institutions. The work includes product direction, information architecture, public and member experiences, consent decisions and the route from discovery to a brief.
Why it matters here
Countercult is not an AI product, and I do not present it as one. It is the founder-side product case: I have had to connect interface, information, trust and a commercial model in a live system. That is the product judgment I bring to AI work.
how I use AI
The tool should support the work. It should not take credit for it.
I use AI as a product tool, not as a substitute for an artist, writer or cultural worker. If a product touches artists’ work or community knowledge, consent, attribution, human judgment and fair value need to shape the brief from the beginning.
bring me the product question