There is a meaningful difference between a coach and a consultant. A coach develops people. A consultant solves problems. The best product consultants bring a proprietary point of view — a tested framework, a structured methodology, a distinctive lens on how customers behave or how teams should work — and apply it to your specific situation. You bring the context. They bring the system.
The consultants on this list have each built a body of work substantial enough to be considered a reference point in the field. Some are authors whose frameworks have been adopted by thousands of product teams. Others are researchers and strategists whose client work has become the benchmark for how rigorous, commercially-grounded discovery should be done. All of them are actively practicing, and all have the documented client results to back up their reputations.
This list is organized into three categories: Framework & Methodology Consultants, who sell a defined, repeatable process you can implement; Research & Discovery Consultants, who help you understand your customers and validate your direction with rigor; and Strategy & Organizational Consultants, who help you restructure how product operates at the company level.
Framework & Methodology Consultants
April Dunford
Positioning Consultant & Author
April Dunford is a positioning consultant and the author of two definitive B2B go-to-market books: Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It (2019) and…
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Bob Moesta
CEO & Founder | The Re-Wired Group
Bob Moesta is the CEO and founder of The Re-Wired Group and one of the two principal architects of the Jobs-to-Be-Done (JTBD) framework, which he developed alongside the late Harvard Business School…
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Tony Ulwick
Founder | Strategyn
Tony Ulwick is the founder of Strategyn and the creator of Outcome-Driven Innovation (ODI), a separate and distinct interpretation of Jobs-to-Be-Done theory that predates Bob Moesta's version and takes a more quantitative,…
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Dan Olsen
Lean Product Consultant, Trainer & Author
Dan Olsen is a product management consultant, trainer, and the author of The Lean Product Playbook: How to Innovate with Minimum Viable Products and Rapid Customer Feedback (2015), one of the most…
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Ash Maurya
Founder | LEANSTACK
Ash Maurya is the creator of the Lean Canvas — an adaptation of Alex Osterwalder's Business Model Canvas optimized for startups and early-stage product development — and the author of Running Lean…
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Alex Osterwalder
Co-founder | Strategyzer
Alex Osterwalder is the co-creator of the Business Model Canvas and co-founder of Strategyzer, a consulting and software firm. He is the lead author of Business Model Generation (2010), Value Proposition Design…
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Ryan Singer
Independent Consultant & Author | Creator of Shape Up
Ryan Singer spent 17 years as Head of Product Strategy at Basecamp, where he developed the Shape Up methodology — an alternative to sprint-based agile that organizes work into fixed six-week cycles…
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Research & Discovery Consultants
Nir Eyal
Behavioral Design Consultant & Author
Nir Eyal is a behavioral design consultant, former Stanford lecturer, and the author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products (2014) and Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life…
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David Bland
Founder | Precoil
David Bland is the founder of Precoil, a product discovery and business experimentation consultancy, and the co-author (with Alex Osterwalder) of Testing Business Ideas: A Field Guide for Rapid Experimentation (2019). His…
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Jeff Gothelf
Lean UX Consultant & Author
Jeff Gothelf is a consultant, speaker, and the author of Lean UX: Designing Great Products with Agile Teams (2013, with Josh Seiden) and Sense & Respond: How Successful Organizations Listen to Customers…
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Laura Klein
UX Research & Product Consultant | Passionate Alligator
Laura Klein is a UX researcher, product consultant, and the author of UX for Lean Startups: Faster, Smarter User Experience Research and Design (2013) and Build Better Products: A Modern Approach to…
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Jared Spool
Founder | Center Centre & UIE
Jared Spool is the founder of UIE (User Interface Engineering), the longest-running UX research and training organization in the field, and Center Centre, a UX design school based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He…
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Thomas Stokes
Principal & Co-founder | Drill Bit Labs
Thomas Stokes is a UX research consultant, digital strategy advisor, and Principal and co-founder of Drill Bit Labs, a research and consulting firm whose mission is to advance the practice of user…
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Strategy & Organizational Consultants
Tendayi Viki
Associate Partner, Strategyzer | Author
Tendayi Viki is an Associate Partner at Strategyzer and the author of The Corporate Startup: How Established Companies Can Develop Successful Innovation Ecosystems (2017) and Pirates In The Navy: How Innovators Lead…
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Denise Tilles
Product Operations Consultant & Author
Denise Tilles is a product operations consultant and the co-author (with Melissa Perri) of Product Operations: How Successful Companies Build Better Products at Scale (2023), the first major book to define product…
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Hiten Shah
Serial Entrepreneur, Investor & Product Advisor
Hiten Shah is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and product advisor who has co-founded KISSmetrics (one of the earliest product analytics platforms), Crazy Egg, and FYI (acquired). He has advised or invested…
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About This List
This list focuses on consultants who bring a defined, documented point of view to their client work — people whose frameworks, methodologies, and research approaches are specific enough to be evaluated, learned from, and applied beyond any single engagement. It is not a comprehensive directory of product consulting practitioners; the field is broad and many excellent consultants operate without a public profile. Readers should verify current service availability, scope, and engagement models directly, as these evolve over time.
