Summary

In this episode I’m joined by Gil Vaisman. He’s the founder of GoADU, a construction company focused on building accessory dwelling units.

We explore how he went from a 15-year career in film editing to building a construction business that helps homeowners unlock equity and create new living spaces.

What started out as a personal project in his own backyard turned into a growing business built through trial, error, and constant iteration.

Gil shares how he tested his way into the market, from helping friends navigate permitting to evolving into a guaranteed fixed pricing model. We also dig into how he qualifies customers, avoids costly mistakes, and thinks about what to test next in an industry that’s rapidly changing.

If you’re trying to turn a personal pain point into something scalable, this episode is a great look at how testing can lead to a viable business.

Enjoy my conversation with Gil Vaisman.

Takeaways

1. Great businesses often start as personal pain points - Gil’s ADU company emerged from building one in his own backyard and helping friends navigate the same confusing process.

2. Transferable skills matter more than industry experience - His background in film production translated directly into construction, both require coordination, budgeting, timelines, and managing complex teams.

3. Early traction came from education, not selling - In the beginning, most customers didn’t even know what an ADU was, growth required teaching the market before capturing it.

4. Trial and error built the real expertise - Navigating difficult permitting processes and making costly mistakes early on became the foundation for a repeatable, refined system.

5. Pre-qualification is critical in complex services - Gil now asks 20–25 upfront questions before taking on a client, ensuring alignment and reducing downstream risk.

6. 
   Competing on price is a starting point, not a strategy - The business initially won work by being the cheapest, but evolved into a premium, top-20% offering focused on quality and service.

7. A strong value proposition can reduce industry fear - Guaranteed fixed pricing became a key differentiator, directly addressing customer anxiety around hidden costs and change orders.

8. Future innovation is constrained by feasibility, not demand - Customers clearly want faster, cheaper builds (prefab, SIPs), but adoption is limited by execution risk, expertise gaps, and inconsistent quality.

Guest Links

GoADU: https://www.goadu.com/

Vaisman Construction: https://www.vaismanconstruction.com/

If your leadership team is about to make a big strategic bet, the real risk usually isn’t the idea, it’s the assumptions behind it that haven’t been surfaced yet. A Decision Sprint is a focused 6–12 week engagement where we extract, map, and test those risks so leaders can make a clear Commit, Correct, or Cut decision before major capital moves. Learn more or apply at precoil.com.

In this episode I’m joined by Bill Fienup. He’s the co-founder of mHUB, one of the world’s leading hardtech innovation centers, located in Chicago, IL.

We explore how he went from building Nerf gun prototypes at MIT to creating a space where thousands of hardware founders can prototype, test, and scale physical products. What started out as a meetup group and a spreadsheet, grew into a full ecosystem with millions of dollars in equipment and billions of dollars in economic impact.

Bill shares how to test hardware ideas without burning capital, why most teams over-focus on feasibility instead of desirability, and how to validate what people will actually pay for before you build.

If you’re working on physical products, or funding them, this episode is a masterclass in how to test before you invest.

Enjoy my conversation with Bill Fienup.

Takeaways

1. Start with the problem, not the solution. The biggest risk isn’t building something, it’s solving a problem that customers don’t care enough about to act on.

2. Desirability and willingness to pay matter more than feasibility early. Teams often over-focus on building, but the real uncertainty is whether customers value the solution enough to pay.

3. Test demand before investing in development. Simple experiments like landing pages or fake purchase flows can validate real interest before committing resources.

4. Iterate in spirals, not stages. Move across desirability, feasibility, and viability repeatedly, increasing investment only as uncertainty is reduced.

5. Avoid building the wrong thing the right way. Strong execution can’t fix a fundamentally misaligned product, validation must come before scale.

6. Use competition as validation. Existing solutions signal real demand and confirm the problem is worth solving.

7. Focus on the majority, not edge cases. Designing for the loud minority can increase cost and complexity without improving overall product-market fit.

8. Community can be a powerful starting point. MHub began as a meetup and shared spreadsheet, showing how real user pain can evolve into a scalable ecosystem.

Guest Links

mHub’s Website: https://www.mhubchicago.com/

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

If your leadership team is about to make a big strategic bet, the real risk usually isn’t the idea, it’s the assumptions behind it that haven’t been surfaced yet. A Decision Sprint is a focused 6–12 week engagement where we extract, map, and test those risks so leaders can make a clear Commit, Correct, or Cut decision before major capital moves. Learn more or apply at precoil.com.

Summary

In this episode I’m joined by Dr. Akvile Ignotaite, a data scientist and founder building AI-powered skin health technology used by more than 800,000 people around the world.

We explore how her team combines data science, health tech, and creative marketing to rethink skincare for Gen Z and Gen Alpha. From building a vast skin care dataset to launching a TikTok influencer pimple called Pimsy that has almost 40k followers, Akvile shares how cultural insights and small tests drive their product strategy.

We also get into the challenges of building health technology for younger audiences, how to test ideas across different global markets, and why treating skin as a health problem, changes how you design products and measure success.

If you’re interested in experimentation and AI in health you’ll enjoy my chat with Akvile.

Takeaways

1. Start small and imperfect to learn faster. The team prioritizes quick MVPs, sometimes built in days, to test ideas before investing heavily in development, branding, or marketing.

2. Customer language and psychology matter. The original millennial-focused “compliance app” failed because it sounded too technical; shifting to Gen Z language, emojis, and storytelling dramatically improved adoption.

3. Meet users where they already are. Channels like TikTok became critical for reaching younger audiences, even though the team initially resisted the platform.

4. Creative experimentation can unlock growth. The “Pimsy” influencer pimple character started as a small test and quickly grew to tens of thousands of followers, proving unconventional ideas can resonate strongly with audiences.

5. Micro-learning can drive high engagement. A simple, quickly built “myths vs. facts” quiz feature created massive engagement and generated valuable behavioral data about user beliefs.

6. User feedback is a competitive advantage. Hiring a developer who criticized the Android experience highlighted the importance of listening closely to real user complaints and improving where customers actually are.

7. Cultural assumptions can mislead founders. Expanding into India revealed how preconceived ideas about markets, healthcare practices, and culture can be wrong, reinforcing the need for curiosity and humility.

8. Structured programs don’t always fit real user behavior. Highly designed 6- or 8-week skincare programs failed because users resisted rigid routines, showing how human behavior often breaks logical product design.

9. Gen Z and Gen Alpha are forming a global digital culture. The app’s success without localization suggests younger generations increasingly share common digital behaviors and language across regions.

Guest Links

System Akvile: https://systemakvile.com/
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-akvile-ignotaite/
Pimsy TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@i.am.pimsy

If your leadership team is about to make a big strategic bet, the real risk usually isn’t the idea, it’s the assumptions behind it that haven’t been surfaced yet. A Decision Sprint is a focused 6–12 week engagement where we extract, map, and test those risks so leaders can make a clear Commit, Correct, or Cut decision before major capital moves. Learn more or apply at precoil.com.