CHRIS PAWLUS// ADVISORYBOSTON · USA
CHRIS PAWLUS / ADVISORY

Strategy before
the sketch.

Counsel for founders, VPs of Product, and CMOs whose job is to bring product to market and make money. Your entry point here isn't a tech pack — it's a straight read on positioning, risk, and the commercial roadmap before design dollars are spent.

A.00 / THE PROBLEM

The pretty-picture
problem.

AI tools have made concept output effectively free. Teams generate more product imagery in a week than they used to in a season — and it all looks great. What hasn't changed: the factory, the margin math, the consumer, and the physics of a product that has to be worn. Between the deck and the shelf sits a canyon, and most of those beautiful ideas end up at the bottom of it.

How do you de-risk 110 AI-generated models when only three can actually be produced and cost-engineered?

The answer is not less AI — it's a person in the room who has been to the factories, knows the vendors, and can smell an idea all the way through the process. That's the job here.

A.01 / FIXED SCOPE

Brand &
Merchandising
Audit

FORMAT — Corporate evaluation
TIMELINE — 2–4 weeks
BUILT FOR — Leadership teams

A structured, outside read on your line as it stands: where the assortment wins, where it leaks margin, where it duplicates itself, and where the market has moved without it. Delivered as a decision-ready readout for the leadership table — not a deck that flatters the current plan.

YOU LEAVE WITH
  • A line map — winners, passengers, and gaps against the consumer and the competition
  • Margin and price-architecture findings, including where the money is quietly leaking
  • A commercialization check — what in the current pipeline can actually be made, at cost, on time
  • A sequenced fix list your team can act on the following Monday
A.02 / PRE-DESIGN

Product
Strategy
Roadmap

FORMAT — Strategic positioning
TIMELINE — 4–8 weeks
BUILT FOR — Founders & product leads

The strategy work that should happen before a single sketch: who the consumer actually is, where the whitespace sits, what the price architecture must be, and in what order the next 18–36 months of product should arrive. Built with the supply chain in the room from day one — because sourcing is a design input, not an afterthought.

YOU LEAVE WITH
  • Consumer target and competitive whitespace, niched down to categories you can own
  • Price architecture and margin targets the factory math can support
  • A sequenced 18–36 month product pipeline with de-risked entry points
  • A go-to-market frame — how each drop earns the next one
A.03 / ONGOING

Fractional
Advisory

FORMAT — Monthly / seasonal counsel
TERM — Multi-season engagements
BUILT FOR — Executive teams

Executive product counsel on the books without the W-2. A standing seat at your table — monthly strategic input, presence in the design reviews that matter, and the judgment of someone who has sat on every side of the room: brand, design, development, and factory.

In the AI era this seat matters more, not less. Your team should absolutely use the tools — and someone senior should be keeping the output honest: which concepts survive the factory, which colorways survive the shelf, and which ideas are just this week's dopamine.

THE STANDING WORK
  • Monthly or seasonal strategic counsel across brand, product, and supply chain
  • Design-review presence — the person who can smell an idea through the process
  • Factory and vendor introductions from a vetted 20-year network
  • AI-era guardrails — productivity without the gaslighting
Looking for embedded, in-the-room leadership rather than periodic counsel? See Leadership →
A.04 / THE WAY IN

Start light.
Go deep.

Every engagement has a low-risk first step — and a clear next one.

STEP 01
The Trend Report
Issue 01 free — see how I think
→
STEP 02
Strategy Call
Your category, applied
→
STEP 03
Audit / Roadmap
Fixed scope, decision-ready
→
STEP 04
Fractional Advisory
A standing seat at the table
→
STEP 05
Studio Execution
When the plan calls for hands
Engagements are scoped to enterprise value, company stage, and strategic risk — not hourly rates. And when you get stuck downstream — go-to-market, supply chain, samples — you come back. That's the point of the relationship.

Let's talk about
your next move.

Bring your product ambitions, business challenges, and unanswered questions. Together, we’ll explore the opportunities and strategies that can move your business forward.

Connect Now →
ADVISORY@PAWLUSDESIGN.COM  ·  +1 603 892 6298