Most companies build linearly. They have an idea, then spend months or years understanding their customer. Some find product-market fit quickly; others burn capital iterating without it. While many accept this paradigm as the price of playing, at Juxtapose, we believe in a different approach.
As the creators and stewards of our portfolio companies, we want every business we build to have confidence in their market, users, and buyers ahead of deploying meaningful capital. Before a portfolio company invests in brand work, a CEO, or capital, our entire team works to shape its future by turning early user insights into products and experiences that are differentiated, delightful, and sticky. This “de-risking” work at the heart of Juxtapose’s creation-oriented investment philosophy is led by my team, User Research & Design.
People learning up on our creation model often ask why we invest so heavily in user research, prototyping, and design before we’ve partnered with a CEO. My answer is simple: for any business to work, people have to want to buy the product and want to use it. Many companies overrotate to solve one piece of the puzzle. They find a compelling buyer who is excited about the value proposition, but the user (not the person writing the check) won’t adopt the technology. Or worse, there’s excitement from a user, but no willingness to pay. These dynamics are exacerbated in enterprise software and healthcare, where the buyer and the user aren’t always the same individual.
Juxtapose’s approach addresses this challenge from the start. We combine deep research, product strategy, and business design with rigorous multi-year concept development focused on commercial, industry, and economic model diligence. In the six to nine months before a company launches, we will often conduct hundreds of conversations with potential users, buyers, and relevant stakeholders . We blend quantitative surveys, qualitative interviews, ethnographic work, and cutting-edge methods like rapid prototyping and AI-enabled research—balancing “go slow” and “go fast” approaches to surface insights before Founding CEOs are off and running.
No one can guarantee product-market fit, but rigor stacks the odds. Great partners and investors now expect more than a pitch deck; they want evidence, traction, and a clear view of the customer. A few of my favorite examples:
- Bluebird Kids Health: Before putting a single fund dollar into Bluebird Kids Health, we mapped the full patient journey—from first ad to pediatrician follow-up—designing each touchpoint for comfort and confidence in the Bluebird care. Among other research, the URD team conducted 45 primary interviews with pediatric care practices and partnered with the Concept Development team on 334 pages of synthesized research and analysis, resulting in acquisition, retention, and referrals. Today, Bluebird serves over twenty thousand patients and recently raised over thirty million dollars to transform pediatric care. Laurel Komos Dela Cruz Chris Johnson Elizabeth Larsen Benjamin West
- Lanai: Initially an AI security concept, early CISO interviews revealed demand for broader enablement tools. Fortune 500 companies are spending $590-$1,400 per employee annually on AI tools while 95% of their corporate AI initiatives fail to reach production. Lanai pivoted to address this AI measurement gap, which expanded market appeal and opened new growth paths. Nate Foulds Steve Herrod Lexi Reese
- Earned: Research showed freelancers and start-up employees had unpredictable income, making wealth management tough. Physicians, with stable earnings and complex tax needs, were better suited for the scalable product we wanted to build Today, Earned, which focuses on tax and wealth solutions for physicians, serves over five thousand doctors and over two billion dollars in assets. Benjamin West John Clendening Alexandra Garabedian
My path to Juxtapose through brand strategy in advertising, IDEO, and Casper has been anything but linear. At every stage, I’ve challenged myself to question “the way things have always been done” and instead focused on what problem we’re really trying to solve and how we can do it best. At Juxtapose, this mindset shapes how we approach research and design: by deeply understanding buyers and users from day one, we build on real demand, not assumptions, to create products people adopt, stay with, and champion.
