A computer engineering background and a corporate product management career, now applied as an independent practice.
Smith Product Sense grew out of years spent doing product management inside larger organizations — the kind of work where good judgment has to translate into things that actually ship, on teams that don't have time for theory. That background, paired with a computer engineering degree, is what shapes how the practice works now: technically grounded, outcome-focused, and allergic to unnecessary process.
The same instinct shows up in the education work. Giving students real, hands-on exposure to AI and technology — not just a talk about it — comes from believing that people learn a field by actually doing it, the same way good product sense is built by shipping, not by studying frameworks.
Every engagement starts the same way, whether it's a startup founder or a school administrator: a real conversation, with no pressure and no pitch, before anything is decided. From there, the relationship only grows as far as it's earned the right to — a deeper engagement happens because it's clearly useful, not because it was assumed up front.
That's true of the business itself, too. New ideas get tested quietly before they ever become something client-facing — so what's offered publicly is always something that's actually ready, not just planned.