Summary

In this episode we interview Scott McLeod. Scott is the Chief Brand Officer of Resident, a direct-to-consumer company that designs and sells home furnishings such as mattresses and bedding. They were acquired by Ashley in 2024 for $1 billion.

Scott and I chat about his background in design thinking and how it has fueled his passion for experimentation, whether it’s building scrappy MVPs with minimal investment or creating environments where failure is not just accepted, but expected as part of innovation. 

He shares how he’s helped scale teams while preserving that test-and-learn mindset, why setting clear success criteria is crucial and how to gracefully let go of ideas that don’t deliver.

We also dive into the unique challenges of experimenting with physical products versus digital ones, the role of customer feedback in shaping subjective experiences like comfort, and his optimism for how AI and data-driven decision-making will transform the future of product experimentation.

I thoroughly enjoyed reconnecting with Scott since our days back at Neo together, and I’m confident you’ll learn a lot from our conversation in this episode. 

Guest Links

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mescottmcleod/
Website: https://www.residenthome.com/

Is your team guessing which experiments to run?

Discover proven ways to test your ideas before you invest.

With the Precoil Experiment Library, you’ll find the right experiment for every assumption.

👉 Explore the library at precoil.com/library

In this episode we interview JL Heather. He’s the Manager Partner at Centered. Centered empowers organizations to innovate by fostering a culture of experimentation.

JL and I explore the intricacies of innovation, design sprints, and the importance of leadership in fostering a culture of creativity and experimentation.

We discuss the challenges of making innovation stick, the role of customer feedback, and the significance of using the right language to engage teams and leaders.

JL emphasizes the need for a collaborative approach to problem-solving and the value of involving customers in the design process.

Guest Links

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jlheather/

Website: https://centered.work/

Is your team guessing which experiments to run?

Discover proven ways to test your ideas before you invest.

With the Precoil Experiment Library, you’ll find the right experiment for every assumption.

👉 Explore the library at precoil.com/library

In this episode we interview Cathy Nesbitt. She is the Founder of Cathy’s Crawly Composters, a worm composting business focused on sustainability. Cathy shares her journey into the world of worms, detailing how her business was born when the local landfill was shut down and the city began exporting all of their waste. 

We discuss the challenges she faced in testing her business and how she eventually pivoted her approach to education through workshops in schools. As Cathy reflects on her experiences, she emphasizes the importance of awareness in driving action and the impact her work has had on the community. 

Guest Links
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cathynesbitt/

Is your team guessing which experiments to run?

Discover proven ways to test your ideas before you invest.

With the Precoil Experiment Library, you’ll find the right experiment for every assumption.

👉 Explore the library at precoil.com/library

In this episode we interview Michael Leung.  Michael, is the CEO and founder of the Flo Group. He’s built his company around a simple mission, which is making hearing solutions accessible, affordable, and life-changing for people of all ages.

We discuss how his own personal experiences have shaped his approach to product development and testing. Specifically we dive into how he tested his new, open-ear bone conduction headphones with amplification, before bringing them to market.

Michael and I chat about how to test hardware products and the need for affordable and effective hearing solutions.

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-leung-462547298/

Website: https://www.theinnerflo.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theflogroup/

Is your team guessing which experiments to run?

Discover proven ways to test your ideas before you invest.

With the Precoil Experiment Library, you’ll find the right experiment for every assumption.

👉 Explore the library at precoil.com/library

Summary

In this episode we interview Moita, the Founder and CEO of Product Weekend. 

He shares his journey from studying aerospace engineering to becoming a product manager and eventually creating what is now called Product Weekend. 

It is a community of Product Management enthusiasts who share their experiences and take their careers to the next level. I first learned about it on LinkedIn through Melissa Perri and Rich Mironov and have been curiously watching them test it from the outside. 

I’m super excited to get some of the inside story on how Moita is testing out its unique format. Specifically how they are designing events that foster these deeper conversations. 

We chat about the need for testing and validating ideas, as well as Moita’s future plans for scaling the events while maintaining their core values.

Guest Links

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joaomoita/

Website: https://www.theproductweekend.com/

Is your team guessing which experiments to run?

Discover proven ways to test your ideas before you invest.

With the Precoil Experiment Library, you’ll find the right experiment for every assumption.

👉 Explore the library at precoil.com/library

In this episode we interview Charles Sims. Charles is the ex-CTO for the Los Angeles Clippers NBA team and currently Founder of Skafld, an end-to-end venture studio partner, turning visionary ideas into real-world success. 

Charles shares his journey from the entertainment industry to becoming the CTO of the Clippers. We dug into how experimentation can improve the NBA fan experience. Everything from how he and his team had to quickly invent an engaging, yet remote, fan experience during the Covid lockdown, to how he used the Unreal Gaming Engine to test the assumptions made during the building of the new cutting edge Intuit Dome.

We discuss the lessons learned from his time with the Clippers to the evolving landscape of venture capital. We wrap up with the impact of AI on investors and how it can bridge communication gaps between technical and non-technical teams.

Charles Sims LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlessims/

Skafld Venture Studio: https://www.skafldstudio.com/

Is your team guessing which experiments to run?

Discover proven ways to test your ideas before you invest.

With the Precoil Experiment Library, you’ll find the right experiment for every assumption.

👉 Explore the library at precoil.com/library

In this episode we interview Hala Saleh. Hala is a skilled and thoughtful product leader who I met by coincidence over 10 years ago while reading a copy of the Lean Startup book. 

We catch up and discuss how the term Minimum Viable Product or MVP has evolved since then and how lean startup principles can be applied outside of the digital product space to things like communities.

Hala shares her journey through various roles in tech over the years while emphasizing the need for testing and customer feedback.

I really appreciate her thought process on how she tackles problems in different industries.

Is your team guessing which experiments to run?

Discover proven ways to test your ideas before you invest.

With the Precoil Experiment Library, you’ll find the right experiment for every assumption.

👉 Explore the library at precoil.com/library

In this episode we interview Dr. Michael Neal. He is the Founder of Build My Team, a hiring service for private practices. 

We explore the rigorous testing of his innovative hiring process. From the initial missteps to the breakthrough system that accurately matches the candidates' natural strengths with the job requirements. 

In our conversation I learned about psychometric assessments, and the surprising insights that Dr Michael gained along the way. 

This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in improving their hiring practices through data-driven testing and iteration. 

Is your team guessing which experiments to run?

Discover proven ways to test your ideas before you invest.

With the Precoil Experiment Library, you’ll find the right experiment for every assumption.

👉 Explore the library at precoil.com/library

In this episode we interview Alberto Savoia. Alberto was Google’s first Engineering Director and the author of The Right It - Why So Many Ideas Fail and How to Make Sure Yours Succeed. 

He also coined the term “pretotyping” and has influenced my thinking over the years. In a previous episode we interviewed Pat Copeland, who authored a white paper with Alberto many years ago.

You may not know this, but I quoted Alberto in the Testing Business Ideas book for his Pretend to Own experiment.

Over the course of this episode we discussed the evolution of testing and in general, geeked out over testing as two of the premier minds on this subject.

Is your team guessing which experiments to run?

Discover proven ways to test your ideas before you invest.

With the Precoil Experiment Library, you’ll find the right experiment for every assumption.

👉 Explore the library at precoil.com/library

In this episode we interview Sylvia Hall. 

Sylvia is the co-founder of Lifted Naturals. We chat about how a company can start out as a solution to a personal problem, but in order to be a viable business, we need to perform customer discovery beyond friends and family to see if there is any traction.

Sylvia emphasizes the significance of authenticity in entrepreneurship and the need to rapidly test solutions, and listen to customer feedback. 

Her insights into how to grow a wellness business should provide valuable lessons for other aspiring entrepreneurs.

Is your team guessing which experiments to run?

Discover proven ways to test your ideas before you invest.

With the Precoil Experiment Library, you’ll find the right experiment for every assumption.

👉 Explore the library at precoil.com/library