Two ways to work with me
Founders and executives who want to become agent-fluent. Startup teams seeking PMF, brand development, and design engineering.
AI Coaching The JH Coaching OS
Become agent-fluent and empowered. A private workspace with an AI coaching agent that learns your business, plus live sessions where we build real things together. You keep it.
What you leave with
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A chief-of-staff agent
Set up around your own work and reading your own context docs. It is what everyone asks for first, and what most engagements have built so far.
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Or the skills to build software
Some clients want to ship their own tools. The sessions turn toward that instead: you build, I pair, you keep the codebase.
You walk away with a chief-of-staff agent set up around your own work, or the skills to build software. Every engagement is tailored to your interests and goals.
Engagement Options Flexible
Audit: one session. Guided Coaching: 4 sessions over 2 months. Build Sprint: 1–2 weeks of daily pairing. Embedded Retainer: weekly or biweekly. You keep whatever we build: workspace, materials, skills.
Guided Coaching
4 sessions over 2 months. Full Coaching OS, session notes, homework, and async support.
Best for most people starting from zero.
Embedded Retainer
Weekly or biweekly sessions. Custom AI skills, frequent content updates, priority access.
For power users who want AI deeply embedded in their work.
Build Sprint
1-2 week intensive with daily pairing. We build your specific project together.
Fastest path from idea to shipped.
Audit
Audit your tools, workflows, and AI readiness. Walk away with a prioritized action plan.
The clearest first step.
Endorsements for this track, including coaching client Ben Shapiro, live in What clients say.
Ready to start? A free intro call about what you're trying to do with AI. The Audit is a one-session starting point: you leave with a prioritized action plan.
Founding Design & Product
I take on founding design and design engineering engagements with teams building AI-native products, spatial computing, and robotics. We build real things, and you keep them.
Client work
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OpenProse 2026
Two-month founding design: brand, five logos, and 137 total brand approaches across 471 commits, distilled to one canonical style. Read the OpenProse case study.
"I love collaborating with John. A man made for this moment."
Dan Barrett, CEO OpenProse -
Transfyr 2025
MVP platform design handoff: prototypes generated as HTML with Claude and brought into Figma, synthetic data for their parallel demo build, and QA alongside their independent developer.
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Muse.bio 2024–2026
Workshop facilitation, personas and journey mapping; a FigJam workshop plus a Claude Code and Figma MCP pipeline the team runs itself.
"John recently led a customer journey mapping workshop for my team, and it was an outstanding experience. We came away with a deeper understanding of our customers and a clear appreciation for the impact of product design."
Tommy Kronmark, COO Muse.bio
Past experience Full-time roles
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Nanome 2022–2024
Lead XR Product Designer. Shipped an XR + AI molecular interface to pharmaceutical customers; multiple rounds of usability testing with scientists led a navigation pivot: Spotlight/Follow replaced teleportation. Read the Nanome 2 case study.
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BadVR 2021–2022
AROC situational-awareness AR HUD: sensor visualization prototypes and handoff assets, plus hand-tracking interaction design on Meta Quest and HoloLens 2.
Ways to work together
Two shapes: a focused deliverable, or embedded work with your team. You keep whatever we build: prototypes, design systems, shipped product.
Focused Engagements Option one · single session or sprint
Good for teams that need a clear deliverable fast: a shared map, a validated direction, or a working prototype.
You walk away with a shared customer map, a designed site, or a PRD + prototype your team can build from.
Workshop Facilitation
- User journey mapping
- Persona development
- Design thinking sprints
- Team alignment sessions
Website Design
- New site: concept to handoff
- Refresh of existing site
- Landing page design
- Design system setup
MVP Design & Handoff
- Product requirements doc (PRD)
- Interactive prototype
- Project plan & scope
- Demo support
Deep Product Work Option two · ongoing or embedded
For founding teams and companies building something new, or rethinking something that exists.
You walk away with a shipped 0→1 product and the design system, architecture, and working AI or XR interfaces behind it.
End-to-End Product Design
- 0→1 product design
- Design engineering
- System architecture
- Product strategy & leadership
AI & Agentic Systems
- Multi-agent orchestration
- LLM integration (tool use, skills)
- Conversational UX design
- AI-augmented dev workflows
Spatial Computing & Robotics
- XR interface design & prototyping
- Robot control & teleoperation
- Digital twins & 3D scanning
Endorsements for this track, including Sheila Zipfel, live in What clients say.
Building something? A free intro call about what you're making and where design would help. The Focused Engagements are the clearest way to start.
Is this a fit?
Good fit
You are a founder or executive who wants to use AI in your own work. You will attend the sessions and use the workspace.
You are building an AI-native product, an XR tool, or a robotics product. You need a founding designer or one clear deliverable.
How it works
Hands-on work. You build real systems to meet your goals with my support. If you want output without sessions, a Build Sprint fits better.
Hands-on work. We design, build, and ship together.
What clients say
"If you're building with AI agents and want to skip the frustration curve, talk to John Hanacek. I'm crushing at work right now, and John is the secret ingredient who got me here."
Ben Shapiro, Founder/CEO of I Hear Everything"He's not only a true Visionary, but also an amazing listener with incredible intuition. I've never seen anyone able to so readily understand scientists, then design an experience they can scarcely imagine, but recognize as what they wanted."
Sheila Zipfel, Product Manager, Nanome"I highly recommend John for roles requiring design leadership, systems thinking, and future-focused innovation."
Dr. Hurriyet Ok, Professor, George Washington University"I've never known someone who practices design thinking as well as John."
Ben Reed, Illustrator and DesignerGet in touch
Free intro call to talk about what you're trying to do.