Solutions
A vision tells you where to go.
A roadmap tells you what to build next.
What tells you your current heading is right?
Most early products run on dead reckoning. A clear destination, visible enough to keep moving toward. It gets you further than you’d expect. You take a bearing, keep moving, correct as conditions change. When the destination is visible and the path is open, it’s enough.
At least until the terrain gets complicated. When there’s a fork, a competitor, a stall, the decisions that look like small tactical calls have consequences that compound. “Obvious” next steps turn out to have options, and the tradeoffs between them are only visible once you pause.
You have traction and momentum. The question is whether your current direction is the right one, before the terrain makes that question expensive.
Competing priorities, a new entrant, or a decision that can't be undone. The tradeoffs are real and the window to evaluate them is short.
Growth has slowed or plateaued and the cause isn't obvious. Something in the product, the position, or the market framing isn't working, and feature velocity isn't fixing it.
A move is coming: a disruptive feature, an acquisition, a push into a new market. The strategy that got you here may not be the one that gets you through it.
Services
Reviews your current strategy and roadmap against your actual goals. Identifies where the logic holds, where it doesn't, and what decisions need to be made before you keep executing.
For a specific decision you're moving too fast through. Maps the real options and produces a clear recommendation with the reasoning behind it.
For products with slower growth than expected. Assesses your product, target customer, and competitive context to identify what's working against you and what's worth fixing first.
Before a funding round, go-to-market push, or major market move. Reviews your positioning, narrative, and key assumptions and identifies what needs to be resolved before you commit.
For products with validated demand that have hit a ceiling. Maps adjacent segments and problem spaces where the capability already has relevance and identifies where to look next.
Let's Talk
Most engagements start with a single conversation. Tell me what you're working through and we'll figure out if it makes sense to go further.
No deck required.
About
Collimate Strategy is a focused product strategy practice for founders and product teams at moments when momentum alone is no longer enough. It helps clarify priorities, sharpen framing, and support better decisions about what comes next.
The name comes from the optical process of aligning scattered inputs into a single focused path. It's a useful metaphor of the problem many early-traction products face.
Todd Atkins is a product strategist and technology leader with experience across fintech, fitness and outdoor recreation, and martech. Prior to starting Collimate Strategy, he spent over 15 years in product management, including products with Garmin and Swatch, leading cross-functional teams from early discovery through shipped outcomes. He helps teams translate ambiguous customer problems into strategies that sit at the intersection of user needs, technical constraints, and business goals.