started at 15still going

Fifteen years of
doing cool shit

Get in touch LinkedIn

BC Reptiles
Ball Pythons
Zero To One
Badass Paintball
Amazon FBA
Five Businesses
Paintball
Mobly
Accenture
Startup Weekend
Enterprise AI
Slalom
Agent Development Framework
BlueLabel
Mainframes
Agile Agents
Audentia
Agentic Development
Alysium
AI Agents

BC Reptiles
Ball Pythons
Zero To One
Badass Paintball
Amazon FBA
Five Businesses
Paintball
Mobly
Accenture
Startup Weekend
Enterprise AI
Slalom
Agent Development Framework
BlueLabel
Mainframes
Agile Agents
Audentia
Agentic Development
Alysium
AI Agents

My value proposition

VP.01

I help

ambitious product teams

Who I build with

who want to

turn ideas AI just made possible into products customers genuinely love

The outcome

being playful with possibility, building quickly, and testing bold ideas against reality

How I work

and

holding what ships to a useful, viable, delightful bar

What earns the right to ship

(unlike

another impressive demo searching for a problem.)

The alternative

01/042024 — present

Right now

Running product at an AI agency by day, building Alysium the rest of the time. Both of them are the same bet: agents are only useful when someone can actually operate them.

Lead Product Manager

Apr 2026 — Present

BlueLabel · Remote

Leading the product team at a generative AI development agency, and building out its AI-first development practice.

100%

Led delivery of an AI exception-scoring engine that took audit coverage from roughly a quarter of daily orders to 100%, with no added headcount

AI AgentsLegacy System IntegrationTerminal / Mainframe AutomationAgent Safety Design

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BlueLabel

Headline100%

Leads a product management team of three, and owns the build-out of the firm's AI-first development practice
Within the first 90 days: shipped a complete client engagement, built an internal development framework, and launched an AI plugin marketplace
Proved an LLM agent can operate a 1980s terminal-driven mainframe over SSH — navigating screens and performing actions the way a human operator does, on a system with no APIs and no integration surface
Rejected screen-scraping and RPA in favour of teaching the agent the system's own documented commands, so it degrades gracefully instead of breaking the moment a screen shifts
Built the translation layer that turns raw terminal text streams into state an agent can reason about — the hard part of driving a text UI, and the reason most attempts stall
Stood up a mock terminal so the agent could be developed and tested in a sandbox without touching production
Reverse-engineered an undocumented multi-phase operator workflow with subject-matter experts and encoded it as a key → screen → extract → verify script the agent follows
Documented the system's real behaviour — undocumented quirks, screen-state variants, edge cases — as explicit constraints, since the manual and the machine disagreed
Defined the agent's safety posture: sandboxed, read-and-interact only with write operations explicitly excluded, and halt-and-surface on any unexpected screen state
Designed a hybrid scoring architecture — deterministic rules first, LLM fall-through only for ambiguous cases — keeping cost bounded and every decision explainable
Built an AI-first development framework adapted for consulting — grounding specs in documented client requirements and approval chains rather than generating them from nothing
Launched an internal AI plugin marketplace so teams arrive on a project with the collective skills of the whole firm

AI Agents · Legacy System Integration · Terminal / Mainframe Automation · Agent Safety Design · Product Management · Team Leadership · Product Positioning

12 items · thank you

Founder & Product Lead

Nov 2024 — Present

Alysium Inc.

Building a platform that lets non-technical people create, embed, and share their own AI agents.

Launched a platform for non-technical users to build AI agents, with embedding features that let customers share agents with their own users

FoundingAI AgentsProduct StrategyProduct-Market Fit

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Alysium Inc.

Identified the business need and brought in technical and business co-founders to scale operations
Validated product-market fit with early customers including Fantasy Axe Throwing, B.R.A.K.E.S, and The LandSpeed Record Project
Built the embeddable widget system this site uses to surface its own agents

Founding · AI Agents · Product Strategy · Product-Market Fit

3 items · thank you

02/042022 — 2026

The enterprise years

Four years of very large organisations and very large numbers. This is where I learned what AI actually costs to deliver, as opposed to what it costs to demo.

Product Management Consultant

Jul 2025 — Apr 2026

Slalom · Atlanta, GA

Product strategy for a statewide court case management modernisation, alongside firm-wide AI enablement.

1.4M

Defined product strategy and requirements for a statewide CMS serving the Georgia court system — 1.4M+ annual case filings, 3–5M users across 159 counties

Product StrategyPublic SectorAI EnablementWorkshop Design

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Slalom

Headline1.4M

Led the largest domain on the programme, growing to a team of roughly 29 across solution architecture, design, and engineering
Took a domain from wireframes to a committee demo that resulted in a unanimous recommendation to adopt the new system
Built a training programme enabling product managers to build and validate internal applications using AI-assisted coding tools
Created an AI Ideation Workshop framework (Design Cards methodology) helping cross-functional teams identify high-impact AI opportunities
Built an AI agent used by the project team to create features, decompose them into stories, and standardise story quality

Product Strategy · Public Sector · AI Enablement · Workshop Design · Agile Delivery

5 items · thank you

I had the privilege of working alongside Brandon on one of the largest projects in Slalom's history: a statewide case management system built under an extraordinarily demanding timeline. As the experience designer to his product owner, I got a front-row seat to what exceptional product leadership looks like.

_Amanda Dinh

PostcardUX Strategy & Design Consultant, Slalom

I had the privilege of working alongside Brandon on one of the largest projects in Slalom's history: a statewide case management system built under an extraordinarily demanding timeline. As the experience designer to his product owner, I got a front-row seat to what exceptional product leadership looks like. From the start, Brandon demonstrated the kind of advocacy that separates good leaders from great ones. When it became clear our team wasn't properly resourced to meet the deadline, he identified the gaps and pushed for the support we needed, which led to onboarding additional teams and ultimately allowed us to deliver on time for the client. That intervention alone made a measurable difference in the outcome of the project. What followed was even more impressive. Brandon took on oversight of all four teams, attending every team's ceremonies, providing guidance across the board, and coordinating delivery at a scale that would overwhelm most. Yet somehow, he never dropped the ball. To help get each new team up to speed quickly, he built a Jira Rovo agent that automated the writing of Jira stories, producing tickets that were more consistent, more detailed, and easier for developers to act on. It was exactly the kind of forward-thinking solution that made a complex, multi-team operation actually function smoothly. What struck me most, though, was how he carried all of that responsibility. Brandon shielded his teams from the weight of what he was managing, showing up calm, focused, and steadying even when the pressure was immense. That's a rare quality in any leader. On top of everything else, he makes the work genuinely fun. Brandon brings energy and warmth to any team he's part of, while never losing sight of what needs to get done. I would jump at the chance to work with him again, and any team would be lucky to have him.

From

UX Strategy & Design Consultant, Slalom

— Amanda Dinh

GenAI Product Management Lead

Jan 2024 — Jul 2025

Accenture · Atlanta, GA

Led generative AI product management for the Data & AI Business Group.

$277M

Led generative AI efforts contributing to $277M in client deal formation — $107M in utilities, $170M via an AI-driven RFP/RFQ tool

Generative AIRAGKnowledge GraphsProduct Metrics

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Accenture

Headline$277M

Drove a 64% increase in total users for a major GenAI tool while cutting design document delivery time by 20%
Increased data capture 12.3x by implementing the founding metrics strategy, informing the product development cycle
Grew the user research a GenAI tool produced 10x by coaching UX team members on continuous product discovery
Developed advanced RAG systems that cut RFQ document creation time by 70%
Led development of the Global Product Management Offering for the Data & AI Business Group, aligning product leaders worldwide

Generative AI · RAG · Knowledge Graphs · Product Metrics · Continuous Discovery

5 items · thank you

An exceptional product manager with a profound technical understanding of AI. His ability to bridge the gap between business needs, customer expectations, and cutting-edge technology is truly impressive.

_Javier Torres González

PostcardAccenture

I had the pleasure of working closely with Brandon on Generative AI initiatives at Accenture, and I can confidently say that he is an exceptional product manager with a profound technical understanding of AI. His ability to bridge the gap between business needs, customer expectations, and cutting-edge technology is truly impressive. Brandon's in-depth knowledge of AI technologies and methodologies, particularly in the realm of Generative AI and agentic workflows, consistently shone through our project. He demonstrated an exceptional ability to understand and leverage the complexities of AI to develop ideas for innovative solutions. One of Brandon's standout contributions was his effort to incorporate more metrics into our Generative AI product. His focus on data-driven decision-making significantly enhanced our ability to measure and optimize performance, ultimately leading to more effective and efficient AI solutions. Brandon's strategic approach to product management, combined with his technical acumen, made him an invaluable asset to our team. He was instrumental in driving the success of our Generative AI projects, ensuring that each initiative delivered tangible value to our clients. Anyone looking for a product manager who can seamlessly integrate AI technology with business and customer needs would be fortunate to work with Brandon. His expertise, dedication, and technical prowess are second to none.

From

Accenture

— Javier Torres González

I had the privilege of working with Brandon Coates during my time as Director of the Cloud Innovation Center, and he consistently stood out as a strategic and impact-driven product leader.

_Matthew Pugmire

PostcardEngineering Leader | Builds Engineering Organizations from Zero | Enterprise Platform Modernization | AI, Accenture

I had the privilege of working with Brandon Coates during my time as Director of the Cloud Innovation Center, and he consistently stood out as a strategic and impact-driven product leader. Brandon possesses a rare combination of deep product expertise, technical acumen, and business insight—enabling him to bridge the gap between emerging technologies and tangible business outcomes. Brandon has a sharp ability to define and drive long-term product vision, aligning innovative ideas with strategic business goals. His leadership in product strategy was evident in the way he navigated complex, cross-functional initiatives, bringing together engineering, design, and executive stakeholders to execute on high-impact solutions. His customer-centric and data-driven approach ensured that every decision was grounded in real user needs, market insights, and performance metrics, leading to products that truly delivered value. One of Brandon's standout strengths is his ability to harness AI and emerging technologies to create differentiated solutions. His keen understanding of both the technical and business landscape allowed him to drive innovation while keeping a strong focus on scalability and execution excellence. He has a knack for turning cutting-edge ideas into real, market-ready products that drive business growth. Beyond his technical and strategic capabilities, Brandon is a leader who inspires teams. He fosters collaboration, challenges conventional thinking, and brings clarity to ambiguity—qualities that make him an asset in any fast-paced, innovation-driven environment. Brandon would be a game-changer for any organization looking for a Senior or Principal Product Manager who can drive strategy, build impactful products, and lead with both vision and execution. I highly recommend him.

From

Engineering Leader | Builds Engineering Organizations from Zero | Enterprise Platform Modernization | AI, Accenture

— Matthew Pugmire

Product Manager / Lean XP

Nov 2022 — Jan 2024

Accenture · Atlanta, GA

Lean XP product management across internal tooling, data modernisation, and innovation.

$200K

Reduced wasted venture spending by $200K annually by reformulating product requirements documentation through interviews with PMs, engineers, and designers

Lean XPData ModernisationDesign ThinkingPrototyping

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Accenture

Headline$200K

Led a team of 16 engineers on a data modernisation project for a financial services client, producing data later used for AI/ML model creation
Saved 20+ hours per week on note-taking, management, and analysis by designing AI-driven prototypes
Raised $20K to pursue new clients by pitching AI product ideas to senior leadership and founding a team of 3 analysts
Won Accenture's NA Innovation Pitch out of 150 teams for a GenAI concept
Improved sprint velocity 20% through cross-functional design thinking sessions

Lean XP · Data Modernisation · Design Thinking · Prototyping

5 items · thank you

Greetings from

Accenture

You're such an inspiring person to me and the team — exploring deep into customer research and analyzing patterns and behaviors like no one else.

_Gabriela Corredor

PostcardProduct Designer, Accenture

Hello Brandon, I really appreciate the hard work you put into our project every day. As a Product Manager, you're such an inspiring person to me and the team exploring deep into customer research and analyzing patterns and behaviors like no one else. You've done an outstanding job developing customer discovery system, which plays a crucial role in our ability to gather and analyze feedback across all solutions we're working on. All this emphasis you place on user feedback are significantly enhancing the overall user experience. Additionally, your expertise in user story mapping and close collaboration with me as the Product Designer has resulted in a more intuitive and visually appealing interface. Your work continues to be an essential key in our success.

From

Product Designer, Accenture

— Gabriela Corredor

Consulting Analyst — AI / Applied Intelligence

Mar 2022 — Nov 2022

Accenture · Atlanta, GA

Client-facing AI strategy work in Applied Intelligence.

Established 6, 12, and 18-month strategic growth roadmaps by leading multi-day collaboration workshops for senior client leaders

Client StrategyWorkshop FacilitationData Architecture

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Accenture

Developed a 3D interactive presentation experience that improved customer understanding through interactive storytelling
Developed data strategy and architecture for an AI messaging system notifying thousands of families about state benefits

Client Strategy · Workshop Facilitation · Data Architecture

2 items · thank you

03/042019 — 2022

Cutting my teeth

College-era internships and pro-bono work — non-profits, small businesses, local government. Nobody had budget, everybody had constraints. It's where the habits came from.

Change Agent

Sep 2021 — Mar 2022

Apparo · Charlotte, NC

Pro bono business and technology consulting for non-profits.

$20,000

Delivered close to $20,000 in value through tailored software recommendations based on client needs analysis

ConsultingNon-ProfitProduct Requirements

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Apparo

Headline$20,000

Created a software implementation plan that enabled a Charlotte non-profit to serve 4x more people

Consulting · Non-Profit · Product Requirements

1 item · thank you

Sustainability Consultant

May 2020 — Jul 2020

Trilliant · Raleigh-Durham, NC

Eight-week engagement aligning a client's sustainability goals with their culture.

Refined the company's sustainability goals to focus on four UN Sustainable Development Goals

Sustainability StrategyIoTPresentations

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Trilliant

Advised on dozens of best practices for mobilising employees toward more sustainable behaviour
Delivered a 12-step action plan for building a robust corporate sustainability programme

Sustainability Strategy · IoT · Presentations

2 items · thank you

Intern

Oct 2019 — May 2020

NCGrowth & SmartUp · Chapel Hill, NC

Economic and business consulting for small businesses and local governments in rural North Carolina.

Advanced a client's understanding of their customer demographic by interviewing 10–15 companies in the same vertical

Economic DevelopmentCustomer ResearchSEO

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NCGrowth & SmartUp

Enhanced a local coffee shop's operational capacity by synthesising advice from 10 industry experts
Accelerated a Latinx e-commerce client's Google ranking through SEO advice

Economic Development · Customer Research · SEO

2 items · thank you

04/042008 — 2021

Before any of it was a job

I was fifteen and breeding ball pythons for local pet shops. Everything after this is the same instinct with better tooling.

Aug 2016 — Jan 2021

Audentia

Founder

A B2C consumer brand company focused on strategic product placement and incremental value adds.

Grew the business to $100K+ ARR

Jan 2015 — Jul 2016

E-Commerce (Paintball Equipment)

Founder

A premium paintball equipment store focused on customer-centric branding and service.

Drove 30% month-over-month growth with a data-centric go-to-market strategy analysing price, position, and promotion

Jan 2008 — Dec 2012

BMC Reptiles

Founder

Bred exotic ball pythons with genetic colour mutations, sold through local pet stores. Started at 15.

Built a business plan targeting 50% ROI selling through local pet stores

And a pile that never became companies

Several never left prototype. That's fine — the volume is the point.

2020–21

Mobly

Mobile ordering for restaurants — marketing tools to lift revenue, and taking delivery-fee control back from the aggregators. Concept stage.

2020

Interactive Resume

An interactive, explorable resume — the first of the AI-era experiments, and the seed of this site.

2021

Voice-to-Text Summariser

Turned long recordings into usable notes, before that was a product category.

2022

AI Digital Double

An AI stand-in for dating apps. Became the NA Innovation Pitch winner out of 150 teams.

More from the people who were there

He is thoughtful, inquisitive, entrepreneurial in his thinking, and has the ability to manage the complex relationships of students, faculty, and leadership quite nimbly.

_Bernard Bell

PostcardShuford School of Entrepreneurship

I've worked with Brandon for five months, and in those five months, I've seen him quickly take the initiative, pitch new ideas, and manage projects to completion. He is thoughtful, inquisitive, entrepreneurial in his thinking, and also has the ability to manage the complex relationships of students, faculty, and leadership quite nimbly. Brandon initiated the idea of designing the inaugural Shuford yearbook, and he attacked this initiative with the same thoughtfulness and insight that I have seen with his other projects. Brandon went beyond the scope of his team and made the Shuford program look first-class to our donors and other stakeholders. Brandon's leadership coupled with his fast, agile and collaborative manner drove the Shuford Ambassadors to places they would not have otherwise achieved in the short time they had. Brandon is as great a person to work with, and I only wish I had another year to work with him

From

Shuford School of Entrepreneurship

— Bernard Bell

I had the pleasure of managing Brandon on a GenAI project, and he was truly outstanding. He's incredibly proactive, but always stepping up to do whatever needed to be done, whether it was defining strategy, building prototypes, or diving into the latest AI trends.

_Natalia Pulido

PostcardSenior Director of AI @ Unique Vacations, an affiliate of the worldwide representative of Sandals & Beaches Resorts, Unique Vacations

I had the pleasure of managing Brandon on a GenAI project, and he was truly outstanding. He's incredibly proactive, but always stepping up to do whatever needed to be done, whether it was defining strategy, building prototypes, or diving into the latest AI trends. Brandon is the go-to AI expert. He doesn't just stay on top of all the latest tools and advancements, he actually builds with them. His hands-on approach means he deeply understands how things work, which made him an invaluable resource to both the product and engineering teams. Engineers loved working with him because he speaks their language, bridging the gap between product vision and technical execution seamlessly. Above all, his passion for AI is undeniable. It shows in everything he does, from the way he tackles problems to the innovative solutions he brings to the table. Any team looking for a product manager who truly gets AI, both in theory and practice, would be lucky to have him.

From

Senior Director of AI @ Unique Vacations, an affiliate of the worldwide representative of Sandals & Beaches Resorts, Unique Vacations

— Natalia Pulido

Brandon played a critical role in the successful advancement of a new statewide case management system by providing expert technical project management and leadership.

_Rachel Gage

PostcardDirector of Data and Research, Council of Accountability Court Judges

Brandon played a critical role in the successful advancement of a new statewide case management system by providing expert technical project management and leadership. He demonstrated a strong ability to understand and adapt to our unique operational needs, ensuring that solutions were both practical and effective. His responsiveness, problem-solving skills, and ability to move work forward efficiently resulted in substantial progress in a very short timeframe. Brandon is a highly effective leader and collaborator, and I would strongly recommend him for any complex, large-scale initiative.

From

Director of Data and Research, Council of Accountability Court Judges

— Rachel Gage

Greetings from

Unbiased Insights

Someone who will take responsibility, do what it takes to get the job done, and come to you with both the problem and proposed solutions. I would hire Brandon.

_Tom Collopy

PostcardUnbiased Insights

Are you looking for someone who will take responsibility? Do what it takes to get the job done? Figure out how to learn what's needed? Come to you with both the problem and proposed solutions? That's Brandon as my teaching assistant in the Entrepreneurship Class I teach at UNC. I selected Brandon from my Spring '20 class and asked him to be my TA. He has helped me revamp the syllabus, manage the class and provide support to the students. I would hire Brandon. If you are considering doing so you won't be disappointed.

From

Unbiased Insights

— Tom Collopy

The paperwork

UNC Chapel Hill

2019–2021

BS, Economics & Entrepreneurship

GPA 3.5 · Minor in Entrepreneurship (Shuford Program)

Buck Goldstein Founder Award — for founding the first Shuford yearbook and delivering over 200 copies
Dreams Who Do Award — for pursuing the Mobly startup venture

Central Piedmont Community College

2018

Associate's Degree

GPA 3.76

Phi Theta Kappa
President's List

Certifications

AWS Certified Solutions Architect — Associate · Amazon
Associate Cloud Engineer · Google
Product-Led Certification · Pendo
Scrum Master & Product Owner · Scrum Alliance

Awards

Global Tech Innovation Contest Finalist · 2024
NA Innovation Contest Winner · 2022
Techstars Startup Weekend Winner · 2022

Got a question this page doesn't answer?

Ask Brandy in the corner — she knows all of this and will happily tell you whether I'm a fit for whatever you're hiring for. Or skip the robot and email me.

Email me Read the writing

Fifteen years ofdoing cool shit

My value proposition

Right now

Lead Product Manager

Founder & Product Lead

The enterprise years

Product Management Consultant

GenAI Product Management Lead

Product Manager / Lean XP

Consulting Analyst — AI / Applied Intelligence

Cutting my teeth

Change Agent

Sustainability Consultant

Intern

Before any of it was a job

Audentia

E-Commerce (Paintball Equipment)

BMC Reptiles

And a pile that never became companies

Mobly

Interactive Resume

Voice-to-Text Summariser

AI Digital Double

More from the people who were there

The paperwork

UNC Chapel Hill

Central Piedmont Community College

Certifications

Awards

Got a question this page doesn't answer?

Fifteen years of
doing cool shit