Helping product leaders turn research into business growth
I help scaling startups and growth-stage teams turn user research into confident, measurable product bets that drive real outcomes
I’ve helped great teams at ↓
SERVICES
Research Strategy
Foundations Setup
Hiring Support
Team Training
Research Sprints
AI for Research Systems
Not just a researcher. Your partner in growth.
Working with product and design teams to fix decision friction and reduce wasted effort.
Every project pinpoints what drives business results and provides evidence strong enough for leadership to act on.
You gain faster decisions, stronger alignment, and research that pays for itself.
Let’s talk →
Solutions for Growth-Stage Teams
User Research Engine Setup
Lay the groundwork for research that scales with your business
What it solves:
You need a system to show ROI and save time
Insights are scattered across tools and docs no one revisits
You know research matters but don’t know where to start or what “good” looks like
Your team is running ad-hoc research that isn’t informing key product or revenue decisions
What happens:
Through a structured Audit → Design → Enablement sprint (5-6 weeks), I design and install a lightweight research system by using my CLARITY framework to make it visible, repeatable, and ROI-driven.
Audit: Map how decisions happen today and where research is breaking down
Design: Create a lightweight, repeatable system for intake, documentation, and synthesis, built around your tools and team rhythms
Enablement: Train 1-2 internal champions to run and scale high-quality studies independently
You get:
A shared repository for storing and reusing insights
Standardized templates for briefs, reports, and synthesis
A simple cadence for making research visible and actionable across teams
Outcomes:
Research operationalized and visible within 6 weeks
40–60% reduction in duplicated or redundant studies
PMs and designers running credible research autonomously
You move from “we should do research” to “we can’t ship without it”
Leadership has line-of-sight into what users need and what’s been learned
Decision Sprint
4-week engagements that identify and answer your highest-impact product questions
What it solves:
You have too many research ideas and not enough clarity on what will move metrics
You need a trusted partner to identify high-value opportunities and execute them fast
Your team is commissioning studies without alignment leading to insight overload and zero impact
What happens:
Through a focused Prioritize → Design → Execute → Activate sprint (4 weeks), I help your team identify the most valuable research questions and deliver clear, decision-ready insights fast. Each sprint blends strategy and execution, guided by the Leverage and Impact stages of my CLARITY Framework.
Prioritize: Audit your current roadmap, backlog, and data to pinpoint the number one research question that will most directly affect growth, retention, or adoption
Design: Shape a clear, outcome-focused plan that aligns methods, participants, and success metrics to those priorities
Execute: Run a high-quality study that produce evidence your teams can act on immediately
Activate: Deliver a concise, leadership-ready summary with recommendations tied to measurable impact
You get:
Rapid studies that replace guesswork with evidence
A focused research roadmap tied to business metrics
A repeatable sprint model your team can use going forward
Actionable recommendations leadership can act on instantly
Outcomes:
Confident decisions made in 4 weeks
30–40 % less wasted build time per quarter
Faster, higher-impact launches with visible ROI
Clear recommendations on what user research to run next
Product priorities backed by user evidence and clear alignment on what to build next
Team Workshops
Practical, high-impact sessions that help teams turn insight into action
What it solves:
When research is happening but struggling to influence
Your teams want to run better research but lack structure and confidence
Insights aren’t visible or compelling enough to change roadmaps or priorities
Teams collect data but don’t know how to prioritize, synthesize, or communicate it
What happens:
I design and lead custom workshops built around your org’s most pressing challenges, from setting up research projects to synthesis and impact training, and how-to’s on the most popular research methods.
Each session anchors to specific phases of my CLARITY Framework:
Alignment: Create shared language and priorities across functions
Rhythm: Establish repeatable ways of working
Impact: Learn to make wins visible through concise, business-focused storytelling
Workshops combine hands-on exercises, live facilitation, and ready-to-use templates that your team can apply immediately.
You get:
A fully customized workshop focused on your org’s needs
A documented playbook outlining new rituals and best practices
Renewed team confidence in using research to drive product decisions
Ready-to-use templates for planning. synthesis, storytelling, and alignment
Outcomes:
Shared methods across PM, Design, and Research
30–40% less time lost to unclear direction or rework
Stakeholders finally act on research instead of filing it away
Teams synthesize faster and communicate insights that land
you get everything you need + more
When decisions stall and teams start guessing, I step in to uncover what’s missing and deliver answers that move the roadmap forward.
Every project is built for traction — focused, fast, and tied directly to the metrics that matter.
RESEARCH THAT UNBLOCKS. FAST.
No decks collecting dust. The work I deliver shows up where it counts: in roadmaps, strategy sessions, and product launches.
Teams quote it, leadership acts on it, and decisions get made with confidence.
INSIGHTS THAT DRIVE DECISIONS
REAL COLLABORATION, NOT A SIDELINE SERVICE
I work inside your process with product, design, and research leads, not around it.
You get direct input, tight feedback loops, and research that integrates seamlessly into delivery
I work with a limited number of teams each quarter.
That means faster context, deeper focus, and research that stands up to boardroom scrutiny
FEWER CLIENTS, DEEPER WORK
“Working with Nikki changed how we think about research at Paxton.
She helped us build a lean research function that can scale with our growing startup. We now have a solid foundation and system in place: research templates, recruitment pipelines, a live backlog, an insight tracker tied to real product decisions, and NotebookLM that allows us to continuously mine past research for new insights.
Research now runs alongside product and design instead of trailing behind, and the work Nikki supported has directly shaped how we’re approaching multiple roadmap initiatives. We’re going into Q4 and Q1 with a clearer sense of direction, sharper product decisions, and a way of working that keeps users at the center without slowing anything down.
What stood out most was Nikki's ability to plug into our team quickly and bring clarity where things felt messy. She challenged assumptions in a way that moved us forward and left behind tools we're still using. Her support transformed the way we work.
I enthusiastically recommend Nikki to any founder or product leadership team looking to make research a meaningful, practical part of how they build. Her mix of strategic depth, hands-on execution, and genuine investment in her clients' success makes her an invaluable partner for high-growth teams.”
— Jennifer , Product Design Lead @ Paxton
“I had the pleasure of working with Nikki over the past nine months, during which she partnered with several of our product teams as a UX research expert. From day one, she brought sharp insights, structure, and real impact to every project she was involved in.
Nikki has an exceptional ability to uncover what truly matters to users and translate those findings into clear, actionable recommendations that move products forward. Beyond her professional skills, she brings an incredibly positive energy that lifts up everyone around her. She’s collaborative, curious, and a true joy to work with!
I can’t recommend Nikki enough to any team looking for a skilled, thoughtful, and all-around wonderful UX researcher.”
— Ofir , VP Product @ Artlist
“When we faced the challenge to scale and democratise UX research beyond the core UXR team, Nikki's workshop on how to set up research helped us greatly in laying the necessary foundation to enable our product teams to run their own research. Having worked in fast scaling companies herself, Nikki immediately understood our context, needs and goals, and created a workshop that was customised with hands on, interactive exercises tailored to our company. The feedback from participants has been great - both regarding the workshop content and Nikki's experienced, professional and warm workshop facilitation. We would work with Nikki again any time!”
— Caroline , Lead UXR @ Personio
Hello.
I’m Nikki.
User Research Strategist & Consultant
I once interviewed someone about their cheese spreadsheet.
Rural France. Diary study on food waste. I expected a few vague fridge habits and maybe a sticky note system.
Instead?
A spreadsheet.
With macros.
And pivot tables.
And a backup. On a USB stick.
I nearly wrote them off as That One Weird Participant™.
But then I saw it. Across the sessions, the pattern held: anyone with any kind of tracking system wasted less food. Didn’t matter where they lived, what they earned, or how much cheese they had on hand.
That one insight rerouted the whole project.
Suddenly it wasn’t about reminders or clever tips but helping people build structure. That shift ended up changing how a grocery delivery app designed its planning tools.
It also changed how I work. Because the moment I start looking for evidence to back up what I already think, I stop being useful.
Since then, I’ve coached researchers inside Google, Amazon, Meta, Spotify and inside startups where “we need answers yesterday” is the default setting. I’ve trained PMs who didn’t think they did research. I’ve helped teams stop spinning and start influencing. I’ve built systems that survive messy growth spurts, last-minute pivots, and org charts held together with Slack threads.
Now I run Drop In Research.
I work with a handful of teams each year, side by side with the people doing the work.
What I bring is structure, speed, and the kind of clarity that helps you stop circling the same problem and start actually solving it.