For Sophie Bruce & the Molo Team
I don't just understand the mental load—I've lived it.
Father of two. 30+ years shipping products. Building AI agents today.Ready to help Molo change parenting forever.
See the evidenceThey're saying that extended sleep deprivation has symptoms akin to early Alzheimer's... I remember my short-term memory was so shot at points because of terrible extended sleep deprivation, so I can literally feel the pain of the situation you're talking about.— From my conversation with Sophie, January 2026
The Alignment Matrix
Systematic, evidence-based fit between what Molo needs and what I bring.
Molo Needs
Hands-on PM who ships
Julian Brings
30+ years shipping products from idea to multi-release
Evidence
CReDO MVP Dec 2025, Google Pitch Now (15,000 users), Friends Provident (11 awards)
Molo Needs
AI/Agentic expertise
Julian Brings
Deep AI engineering + building AI agents daily
Evidence
Ceetrix (side hustle), Making AI Agents newsletter, 15+ AI prototypes in 2024-25
Molo Needs
Consumer UX excellence
Julian Brings
UX researcher & designer background, understands emotional products
Evidence
Designed all UX for Google's flagship product; "It doesn't test well" as the ultimate defence
Molo Needs
Startup mentality
Julian Brings
Founded companies, advised early-stage startups, written post-mortems
Evidence
Knowcast (founder), Earthly, Inicio, PageMind advisory roles
Molo Needs
Turnaround capability
Julian Brings
Track record of entering chaos and creating order
Evidence
CReDO: 5 orgs, 4 cities → delivered MVP; CognitionX: 6 months of nothing → weekly delivery
Molo Needs
Part-time availability
Julian Brings
Currently at 50% capacity, looking for meaningful engagement
Evidence
CReDO in transition with partial funding; timeline aligns perfectly with Molo Spring launch
Case Study: CReDO
December 2025 — Irrefutable, recent evidence of product leadership excellence.
CReDO is funded as part of a £10m Ofgem innovation fund. The goal is to help UK infrastructure (power, water, and other utilities) better plan for increasingly extreme climate events by running cross-sector simulations.
The Situation
Month 8 of a 12-month £10m climate infrastructure project. Five organisations across four UK cities. Three product managers who couldn't answer basic questions like "How does your work relate to priorities?"
The Intervention
Julian parachuted in to provide missing product leadership and UX direction.
The Actions
- Created cross-disciplinary "build team" with 6 components and biweekly sprints
- Embedded an "Ambassador User" (UKPN energy strategist) for real-time domain expertise
- Built 15-page "Master PRD" consolidating dozens of scattered documents
- Introduced OKRs for consistent reporting
- Mentored Junior PM and Scrum Master from scratch
The Results
- MVP delivered ready for UAT on December 19, 2025—as promised
- New functionality delivered every two weeks aligned with user needs
- Five organisations now operating as one aligned product team
Music to my ears... I'm so impressed with the professionalism of the team... I actually understand the Jira backlog now.
UKPN Executive Sponsor
- MVP delivered ready for UAT on December 19, 2025—as promised
- New functionality delivered every two weeks aligned with user needs
- Five organisations now operating as one aligned product team
Why This Matters for Molo
Sophie needs someone who can take a nascent product organisation and give it structure, clarity, and momentum—without making it bureaucratic. CReDO proves I do exactly that. Five organisations, four cities, one aligned team delivering on time.
Philosophy & Frameworks
Intellectual depth and shared values with Sophie's psychological approach to product.
User Experience is Competitive Advantage
I was advocating this in the 1990s, before UX was mainstream. Consumer products require emotional resonance, not just functional utility.
The Egg Framework
Hard shell on boundaries, flexible yolk on details. Exactly what early-stage products need—clear scope with room to iterate.
Decision Fatigue & Cognitive Load
Natural alignment with the psychology of parenting. Every interaction should reduce mental burden, not add to it.
Consumer Products are Emotional Decisions
Technical quality is necessary but not sufficient. The product has to feel right, not just work right.
Van Westendorp Framework
Systematic willingness-to-pay research for pricing. Data-driven approach to one of the hardest startup decisions.
"Write It" Framework
Laser-focused early customer targeting. Know exactly who you're building for before you build.
The Technical Edge
Differentiation from pure-play product managers who lack technical depth.
Side Hustle: Ceetrix
"My side hustle is working on this other project where I'm building it all myself. And it's trying to solve the problem of how do you keep these agents disciplined? How do you, when you get code generated, how do you know that it's doing what you asked it to do?"
— From conversation with Sophie, January 2026
Why This Matters for Molo
Molo is building with "Agentic AI to actually execute on your behalf." I'm not just comfortable with this technology—I'm building it myself daily. I can have meaningful technical conversations with developers, evaluate AI vendor claims critically, and spot opportunities to leverage emerging capabilities.
The Portfolio Timeline
Visual credibility through breadth and depth of experience.
CReDO
Senior Product Manager
Turnaround; MVP on time
B2BCeetrix
Founder (side hustle)
Roadmaps for small teams + AI agents
B2BKnowcast
Founder
Voice-first learning app
B2CCognitionX
PM, Tech Lead
Team turnaround
B2BGoogle Pitch Now
PM, UX Designer
15,000 sales staff users
InternalFriends Provident eSelect
Engineer, Tech Lead
11 industry awards
B2C/B2BFull portfolio includes 20+ products across B2C, B2B, internal tools, and APIs.
Let's Continue the Conversation
I'm genuinely excited about what Molo is building. The intersection of AI, parenting support, and consumer product design is exactly where my skills and passions align.
I know you're speaking with others this week. I'd be happy to share more thoughts on product roadmap priorities, go-to-market approaches, or anything else useful.
"I just need another me. I need my brain."
— What Molo customers are looking for
Let me be that for Molo's product.