Helping independent pizza shops in the USA reduce costs and operating complexity

Before joining Slice, I’d spent most of my career building software products.

The opportunity felt different: helping a team build products that combine hardware and software for independent pizza shops.

One of the things I’ve enjoyed most is discovering that many of the habits I’d developed building software still apply when you’re building hardware. You can still prototype, test ideas with customers and iterate based on what you learn. The feedback loops are slower, and the cost of getting early decisions wrong is higher, but the mindset is much the same.

When I joined, the team was trying to move several ambitious hardware projects forward at the same time. One of my first priorities was helping us focus on what mattered most.

Although we were working towards a broader hardware roadmap, narrowing our focus meant we could deploy our first production-ready device to customer sites while continuing to make progress across the other three products.

Along the way I’ve learnt about everything from hardware suppliers, global logistics and manufacturing to installations, provisioning and supporting physical products in busy businesses. I’ve also learnt a lot about running pizza shops.

Working at Slice has also given me a growing appreciation for products that blend physical and digital. The technology is different, but the work feels surprisingly familiar.

Curious how I tend to approach product problems?

Many of the ideas that shaped this work are ones I’ve developed throughout my career. If you’re interested, I’ve written a little more about how I think about product.