Becoming Proactive in Startups

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Brittany is a mid-career research leader based out of Portland, Oregon. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Industrial Design from the University of Oregon and a Masters in Information Science from the University of Michigan. She has worked with startups, nonprofits, mid-size and Fortune 100 companies as an independent contributor as well as a manager of research teams.

Currently, you can find her building a research practice (and team) at Chorus Innovations, a startup working to provide innovative behavioral healthcare solutions to agencies, counties, and states across the U.S.A. Before Chorus, she managed a large research team in an agency environment supporting topics related to consumer trust and privacy for big tech clients.

She firmly believes research and collaborative teams are at the heart of every successful business, and that everyone’s life story would make a great movie. When she isn’t working, she enjoys outdoor adventures and wellness activities, and spending time with loved ones.

In our conversation, we discuss:

* How strategic research actually plays out in early-stage companies, and why researchers shouldn’t wait for perfect briefs.

* Moving from research receiver to research requester and how that shift changes your role entirely.

* Coaching ICs to trust their instincts when they’re the only ones seeing a gap.

* What makes something “strategic,” and how to avoid wasting time on low-impact requests.

* How Brittany and her team adapt when projects get shelved, priorities flip, or research gets ignored.

Some takeaways:

* No one will ask for what they don’t know exists. Waiting for research requests is a trap. If you’re seeing patterns, pain points, or opportunities, you might need to be the one raising your hand. The best projects often start when researchers pitch work that no one else thought to ask for.

* Gut checks are data points too. If a product decision feels off, or you’re thinking “we should probably look into this,” that’s reason enough to pause and dig deeper. The instinct to question is part of the job. Lean into it instead of waiting for someone else to validate it.

* Strategic research doesn’t always mean big projects. It can be a one-question survey. A reused screener. A short desk research doc. What matters is that it moves things forward, not that it looks impressive in a deck.

* Blocked ≠ Wasted. Brittany’s team logs blocked work in a “vault” and revisits it later. When projects get paused or dropped, they reflect on what caused the stall. Sometimes it’s organizational. Sometimes it’s a signal that previous research wasn’t shared well enough. Either way, it’s fuel for doing better next time.

* Every team needs a vision even if it only lasts six months. In startup settings, long-term planning is a luxury. Brittany meets with her team every 3-6 months to reset direction, recheck learning goals, and match priorities to what’s actually happening across product and design. It keeps the team from floating aimlessly when the org shifts.

Where to find Brittany:

* LinkedIn

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