Bruce BrackenTHE WHAT IF WORKSHOP
An imagined city, bridge, and river rise from the pages of a workshop sketchbook.

AI STRATEGY · PRODUCT BUILDING · CREATIVE DIRECTION

That idea
deserves 
a life.

The product you keep sketching. The business you can almost see. The team that could do so much more.

AI has changed what’s possible.
Let’s find out what that means for you.

Bring your what if
01 / IMAGINE ITA little unreasonable.
A lot worth exploring.

THE IDEA IS ONLY THE BEGINNING

You don’t need
another slide deck
about the future.

You need to know what you could actually do with it.

What could you build now that used to require a department? Which work is wearing your team out? What have you put off because it seemed too expensive, too complicated, or too far out of reach?

I’m Bruce. I bring strategy, storytelling, design, and hands-on AI-assisted development into the same room. We can work through the decisions together, then build something you can put in someone’s hands.

Let’s start with the thing on your mind

02 / GIVE IT A STARTING POINT

What’s your what if?

Choose the possibility that sounds like yours.
We’ll put a first step on paper.

Read your starting brief

No perfect brief required.
A stubborn problem counts as a starting point.

FIELD NOTES / YOUR FIRST MOVE01

Make the smallest version
that proves the idea.

Before building the whole business, let’s give one person a useful thing they can actually try.

START WITH
One person, one important task, and what gets in their way.
MAKE TOGETHER
A working prototype of the core journey, with clear scope and a list of what comes next.
FIND OUT
Can someone complete that task? What breaks, what confuses them, and what deserves a second version?
See a useful experience in practice

This note stays in this page. It isn’t sent or saved.

A suggested starting scope, not a quote or a promise. We’ll agree on the work together.

03 / GIVE THE POSSIBILITY SOME PROOF

Less “imagine if.”
More “here it is.”

Different problems. Different materials.
The same insistence that it should work.

INDEPENDENT STORYTELLING STUDY

A coastline.
A community.
A reason to care.

For a Wild Alaskan Company opportunity, I built a complete story world around the people, traditions, and connections behind a meal. Illustration, original film pitches, editorial pacing, and sound all serve that story.

The design decisionEach chapter changes the material and atmosphere while keeping the reader inside the same world.

Self-directed application work. Not a commissioned Wild Alaskan Company website.

Story → design → working experience
Separate blue, orange, and cream threads become a richly woven architectural landscape on a wooden loom.

04 / BRING THE PARTS TOGETHER

The magic is
in the making.

A great idea needs someone who can move between the story, the experience, and the thing that actually runs. That’s the work I love.

  1. 01

    Find the human reason.

    Start with the person using it. What matters to them? What would make their day better?

  2. 02

    Make something you can react to.

    A prototype, a workflow, or a clear creative direction. Put the important decisions where we can see them.

  3. 03

    Test the promise.

    Use it. Question it. Check the output, the awkward edge cases, and whether the story matches what the thing actually does.

  4. 04

    Leave you able to carry it forward.

    Agree on what’s finished, what still needs work, and what your team needs to own it confidently.

CREATIVE INSTINCT. OPERATOR’S EXPERIENCE.

I’ve built the team.
I’ve made the thing.
I know both sides.

At Microsoft, I built a global podcast business from zero to 25+ shows and led a blended creative team of 15+ people. Today, I’m building my own products, including Artwell, an AI-native storytelling product, and Maritide, a working marine app.

I own the product, design, architecture, and delivery decisions, working hands-on with Codex and Claude Code as engineering collaborators. The tools expand what I can make. The judgment, direction, and responsibility are mine.

25+

shows built into a global
Microsoft podcast business

300+

content assets delivered annually
through the Microsoft program

30–50%

production-time savings reported by
the team after AI workflow adoption

LET’S BUILD YOUR DREAM

Bring me the idea 
that won’t leave you alone.

The one you keep circling back to. The problem everyone has learned to live with. The “wouldn’t it be incredible if…” that never makes it past the meeting.

That’s where I want to start with you.

Let’s talk on Upwork

Have a starting brief? Bring it along.
Have a rough idea? That’s enough to begin.

A closer look