About Consulting for Normal People
We're a trio of practitioners—product leadership, behavioral research, engineering—who got tired of watching consultants overcomplicate simple problems and overcharge for slide decks.
Our Story
CFNP started after one too many conversations that went like this:
Founder: "We need help figuring out our product roadmap."
Typical Consultant: "Great! Let's do a six-month engagement. We'll start with stakeholder interviews, create a comprehensive framework, align on strategic pillars..."
Founder: "We just need someone to help us decide what to build next quarter."
Typical Consultant: "That'll be $200,000."
We knew there had to be a better way. Consulting doesn't have to mean months of discovery sessions and decks full of buzzwords. Sometimes you just need experienced people who can discover the truth, set the direction, and—if needed—build the first version with you.
That's what we do. And we do it as a team.
Who We Are
We're a trio of practitioners who've done the job, not theorists selling frameworks. We've built products, scaled teams, run research, and shipped code at companies from early-stage startups to public tech companies.
Simon Ouderkirk — Product Leadership & Scaling
GM-style product leadership, org design, fractional CPO work. Simon has scaled teams from startup chaos to functioning product organizations. He's sat in the chair, dealt with the constraints, and knows what breaks when you go from 7 people to 700.
Dr. Casey Schofield — Behavioral Research & Customer Insight
PhD clinical psychologist with deep expertise in behavioral science, cognition, and research design. Casey designs discovery systems that are rigorous, replicable, and rooted in science—not gut feelings. Multiple startups rely on their expertise to truly understand their users.
Kris Walker — Engineering & Prototyping
Full-stack engineer, product-minded technical leader, inventor of the Kixx framework. Kris builds rapid prototypes, MVPs, and internal tools that move at the speed of decisions. Architecture reviews, developer experience, AI-powered automation—he turns strategy into working code.
What Makes Us Different
We're the rare combination. No other boutique consultancy offers product strategy + scientific research + engineering execution in one team. Most firms give you slide decks. We give you insight, direction, and working prototypes.
We've done the job. We're not career consultants. We're practitioners who consult because we genuinely enjoy helping teams succeed. We've sat in your chair, dealt with your constraints, and navigated the same challenges.
We de-risk your executive hires. Most companies hire a VP into a broken system, then wonder why it doesn't work. We fix the systematic problems first—building vision, strategy, OKRs, and cross-functional alignment with your existing team. Then hiring into that role becomes much less risky (or unnecessary).
We charge fairly. Our pricing is transparent and reasonable. We're not trying to maximize billable hours or upsell you into yearlong retainers. We want to help, get paid fairly for our time, and move on when the work is done.
We tell the truth. If we can't help, we'll say so. If your plan won't work, we'll tell you why. If you don't need a consultant, we'll be the first to admit it.
"Most consultants talk at you. The CFNP team talked with us. They understood our constraints, respected our budget, and gave us actionable advice we could implement immediately." — Marcus Thompson, CTO at Bright Solutions
Our Approach
We don't have a proprietary framework or a seven-step process. Every company is different, every challenge is unique, and cookie-cutter solutions rarely work.
Instead, we:
Listen first. We spend time understanding your business, your team, and your constraints before offering solutions.
Get specific. We focus on your actual problems, not theoretical best practices that don't apply to your situation.
Treat your org like a product. We do discovery with your ICs and managers (the "customers"), understand what's actually broken, and build solutions WITH your team—not just for them. We're not gurus who disappear and come back with answers. We work alongside you.
Leave you stronger. Our goal isn't to make you dependent on consultants. It's to help you build the capabilities to solve these problems yourself next time.
Let's Talk
Want to work with consultants who actually understand what you're going through?
Tell us about your challenge. If we think we can help, we'll tell you how. If we don't think we're a good fit, we'll tell you that too (and probably suggest someone who is).