Yesterday was my last day at Neo Innovation. In the last 3+ years my colleagues and I worked to build a consulting company that did more than just deliver powerpoint decks and spec documents. We created a company that built new digital businesses. Along the way we learned how to provide lean startup, agile delivery and design services from an external vendor’s perspective and got to work with some of the biggest brands in the world.
My role at Neo evolved into one of education. I worked with our clients to help them understand and practice evidence-based decision making, cross-functional collaboration and customer empathy. The education business thrived thanks to the help from my partners in crime, Josh Seiden and David Bland.
Eating our own dog food, we had a hypothesis that workshops, coaching and speaking gigs would turn into making projects for the rest of the company. We worked to prove out this hypothesis over the last two years but despite multiple experiments, iterations and yes, MVP’s, we realized it was a false hypothesis. The education business was simply going to be a stand-alone business. With the launch of our second book next year and a renewed focus on growing the impact of that business, I’ve decided to strike out on my own.
I will continue to teach public workshops in cities around the world as well as working in-house with teams as I’ve done over the past few years with great companies like AutoTrader UK, Paypal, Victoria’s Secret, Orange, Danske Bank and many others. I will continue to speak at conferences and meetups as my travels allow. So, in essence, it’s business as usual just under my own brand. While my Neo email address will end shortly, I can always be reached at jeff@gothelf.co and my constant presence on Twitter.
I’m eternally grateful to my Neo colleagues for the amazing fun, learning and achievements we’ve made together. I’ll miss them all.
See you in your city soon.
[Jeff]
P.S. In support of this transition, I’m hitting the road in a big way in 2016 visiting 6 cities in Q1 including Paris, NYC, Richmond, Tokyo, Toronto and Denver. You should join me at one of those events.
Good luck Jeff – I’m sure you’ll have a great time!
Hi Jeff, Congratulations and good luck!!! See you around the world 😉
Good luck with your new endeavors. I loved the book and have applied several of the recommendations in my work. Your work has made a big difference in my professional learning and career.