MIKE LITMAN
New Product Development · AI · Innovation · 0-to-1
Builder brain. Product instinct. Ships fast.
15+ years building and shipping new-to-market propositions for Google, Nike, Adidas, Netflix, Meta, P&G, Gucci and more. Across MediaMonks, R/GA, Contagious, Dare, and Poke. Leading cross-functional teams, facilitating workshops, developing business cases, and evangelising new capabilities before anyone had a budget for them. Always at the intersection of product strategy and emerging technology.
At MediaMonks, I founded and scaled a global emerging technology capability from zero to $3.2m+ in revenue. Built it from 0-to-1: positioning, service models, team design, and go-to-market strategy. Led strategic partnerships with Stability AI and Runway, translating AI research into commercially viable offerings within a matrixed global organisation.
In late 2025, I started building AI-driven products independently. Within weeks, I was shipping actual live products: automated data pipelines, hybrid scoring systems, multimodal AI workflows spanning generative image, voice and language models. 20+ products live. All without writing a single line of code. I understand product development and the AI production system behind it.
The thread connecting all of it is 0-to-1 product instinct. Identifying the opportunity. Developing the concept. Owning the execution through to market.
Hello!
NPD
AI Products
0-to-1
London
Builder
Right now
Building
20+ live projects across culture, brands, and design
Exploring
AI-driven product development at scale
Reading
Curation by Michael Bhaskar
Listening
The Pattern (daily culture intelligence)
“
In the AI age, taste will become even more important. When anyone can make anything, the big differentiator is what you choose to make.
Paul Graham
0
Years in product & innovation
0
Products shipped in 2026
0
Book published
∞
Tabs open
0
Lines of code
Keynote
AdWorld 2024
Recognition
BIMA 100 Tech Pioneer
Recognition
30 Most Creative, Business Insider
Speaker
NFT NYC · Google x Monks
Author
Published 2024
LinkedIn
26,000+ Followers
The Pattern
Media platforms are becoming publishers by acquiring their own creators
Tech & Digital Apple dropped App Store commission to 25% in China without announcement fanfare
Fashion & Style Alessandro Michele's Valentino debut swaps maximalism for intellectual restraint post-Garavani death
Tech & Digital ByteDance secured NVIDIA's latest AI chips for international use despite export restrictions
Brand & Business Ships near Strait of Hormuz broadcast Chinese ownership signals to avoid Iran attacks
Fashion & Style Estée Lauder sues Jo Malone personally over her Zara fragrance collaboration name
Tech & Digital Apple dropped App Store commission to 25% in China without announcement fanfare
Fashion & Style Alessandro Michele's Valentino debut swaps maximalism for intellectual restraint post-Garavani death
Tech & Digital ByteDance secured NVIDIA's latest AI chips for international use despite export restrictions
Brand & Business Ships near Strait of Hormuz broadcast Chinese ownership signals to avoid Iran attacks
Fashion & Style Estée Lauder sues Jo Malone personally over her Zara fragrance collaboration name
The Clients
Brands I've worked on
NIKE
Google
NETFLIX
GUCCI
BMW
McLAREN
adidas
TikTok
STARBUCKS
P&G
UNILEVER
SONY
CHELSEA FC
EA
BRAUN
Siemens
Macy's
Boots
Pearson
Smirnoff
Orange
Premier Inn
Dulux
Magic Leap
Cool Cats
HuffPost
FCUK
The Career
Places I've worked
Monks
Sr Director, Brand & Innovation Strategy
2019–2025
the big one
Poke
Strategist
2011
where craft lived
Digital Frontier
Innovation Director
2025
Dare
Strategist
2010
digital was new & exciting
AnalogFolk
Strategist
2012
R/GA
Strategy Director
2019
Contagious
Head of Digital
2017–2019
Burst
Founder. Micro-content agency. Acquired.
2013–2017
my first build →
Earlier builds
Brandsonvine · Remote Palette · KingCube
What People Say
From people I've worked with
“Michael is a rare combination of highly-driven expertise and calm, easy-to-work-with attitude. He has a real affinity for the digital space and is able to follow real human insights as well as following the money. Creatively and technically skilled. Top bloke.”
Conor McNicholas
via LinkedIn
“Michael is an entrepreneurial, creative, detail-orientated business operator. Much more multi-faceted now. Hire him.”
Gabbi Cahane
via LinkedIn
“Mike is an extremely likeable, creative and nimble media exec and entrepreneur. Always a pleasure to deal with.”
Daniel Fisher
via LinkedIn
“Loveable Geek.”
Nick Emmel
via LinkedIn
Presentations
The talks
click any to view full deck
The Strategist Who Ships
The Last Unfair Advantage
The Non-Coder's Manifesto
Generalists Are Having Their Revenge
The Work
Things I've built
Flagship
Modern Retro
100 brands × 1970s storefronts. 857 images generated.
AI-generated nostalgia that people actually buy. this one went viral ↗ The Pattern Daily culture briefing. 150+ sources curated into one editorial voice. Published 365 days a year, fully automated. flagship build ★ CultureTerminal A Bloomberg Terminal for culture. 150+ sources, 800+ articles scored daily across fashion, brands, design, music, art and tech. runs itself daily ↻ Automated Trove Save links. See your taste mapped. AI analyses every save to build your personal taste profile. personal favourite ★ Little London 160+ weekend activities for London families. 8 categories. Updated daily via automated pipeline. built for my son Taste OS Score any brand's taste across 5 dimensions. 20 pre-scored brands. Interactive scorer built in. taste as a system
AI-generated nostalgia that people actually buy. this one went viral ↗ The Pattern Daily culture briefing. 150+ sources curated into one editorial voice. Published 365 days a year, fully automated. flagship build ★ CultureTerminal A Bloomberg Terminal for culture. 150+ sources, 800+ articles scored daily across fashion, brands, design, music, art and tech. runs itself daily ↻ Automated Trove Save links. See your taste mapped. AI analyses every save to build your personal taste profile. personal favourite ★ Little London 160+ weekend activities for London families. 8 categories. Updated daily via automated pipeline. built for my son Taste OS Score any brand's taste across 5 dimensions. 20 pre-scored brands. Interactive scorer built in. taste as a system
Curio
Social signal aggregator. Tracks links shared across your network in real time.
Oishii London
50+ Japanese restaurants in London. Curated, mapped, verified.
First Out
259 stations. 11 lines. Platform positioning for every stop on the tube.
EVERYWEAR
Wearable tech news. 30+ sources. Automated daily digest.
Pub Guide
200+ London pubs. Curated by neighbourhood. Updated daily.
The Visible Shelf
99 books. Phone photos → gallery site. Vibe-based curation.
Nihongo
Japanese learning app. 4 levels, 5 study modes, spaced repetition.
Sociology of Capitalism
74 brands scored twice daily. Cultural relevance vs business performance.
The Relevance Index
1,203 brands. 5 scoring dimensions. Weekly automated pipeline with AI insights.
Forest Quiz
303 questions. 10 categories. Built for Nottingham Forest matchday.
Forest Flash Cards
30 players. 3 game modes. Top Trumps-style card game with flip animations.
Going Deeper
Featured case studies
The Relevance Index
Can you score culture?
1,203 brands scored on cultural relevance using Wikipedia, Reddit, and AI. Updated weekly. What started as a spreadsheet became a live index.
The insight
The brands with the highest cultural scores rarely have the highest market caps. Cultural relevance and commercial success follow different curves.
See the project →
The Pattern
A daily culture briefing, built by one person
150+ sources curated into a single editorial voice. AI-synthesised, narrated in a cloned voice, published as a podcast every morning at 7am.
The insight
The future of media is not about more content. It’s about better editorial filters. One person with the right tools and taste can build what used to require a newsroom.
See the project →
Taste OS
What if taste had a score?
A framework for measuring the unmeasurable. 5 dimensions, 100 points, zero subjectivity theatre. Used to score 35+ brands from Aesop to Temu.
The insight
Every brand claims to have good taste. Almost none can define what that means. The framework forces precision where vagueness usually hides.
See the project →
The Writing
150+ posts and counting
How I Think
Beliefs
01
Taste is the last unfair advantage
When everyone can build, what you choose to build becomes the differentiator.
02
Build for yourself first
If you are not the user, you are guessing.
03
Curiosity compounds
The more you notice, the more you see. Go deep on the edges and the centre makes more sense.
04
Connect the dots others miss
Insight is pattern recognition across worlds.
05
Curation is a creative act
Choosing what to include and what to leave out defines the work.
06
Show it early
A working anything beats explanation.
07
AI is a taste amplifier
It doesn't replace judgment. It gives judgment more surface area.
08
Status is a signal system
Objects, brands, and interfaces are coded language. Learn the grammar.
09
All brands compete for cultural capital
Power comes from being culturally fluent, not just commercially present.
10
Always archive the signal
What you collect, track, and document becomes future capital.
Off the Clock
Beyond the build
⚽
Nottingham Forest. Lifelong, deep, part of who I am. Every Saturday, 3pm. Non-negotiable.
🍜
London's variety in art, culture, shopping and entertainment is my favourite thing about this city. I love sushi, magazine and design shops, hype and streetwear shops, art galleries and finding new places and spaces.
☕
Hot chocolate, not coffee. Caffeine doesn't agree with me. Yes, really.
🌃
Night owl. One kid. Builds between 9pm and midnight.
📚
Currently obsessed with: Claude Code, Nottingham Forest, and building The Pattern: a daily culture briefing from 150+ sources.
Inspired by
Artists & Filmmakers
David Hockney, Andy Warhol, Wes Anderson, Yayoi Kusama, Roy Lichtenstein, David Shrigley
Writers & Thinkers
Pierre Bourdieu, Alain de Botton, W David Marx, Michael Bhaskar, Luke Burgis, Emily Sundberg, Jason Kottke, Kyle Chayka, Dan Ariely
Culture & Strategy
Marcus Collins, Bobby Kim, Sahil Bloom, Ethan Mollick, Kevin Kelly, Ana Andjelic, Noah Brier, Richard Huntington
Visionaries
Iain Tait, Virgil Abloh, Nils Leonard, Pharrell, Michael Acton Smith, Alex Tew, Daniel Ek, Shigeru Miyamoto
The Wildcards
Brian Clough, Michael Cera, Daniel Taylor, Rob Saunders, Pete Cashmore, Harry Stebbings, Danny Wallace, Dave Gorman
Print
Works In Progress, i-D, Dazed, WIRED, Monocle, The Face, Wallpaper*, Courier, Colossus, Mundial, Highsnobiety, Hypebeast, 72 Magazine
What's next
I translate AI capability into commercial products. That’s what 15 years of product strategy and innovation trained me to do. The difference now is I can build the thing too.
I’ve spent the last year shipping 20+ AI-driven products using automated pipelines, scoring systems, and multimodal AI workflows. All live, all working, all built by someone who understands both the product vision and the technical system behind it.
I want to build inside a global organisation: the person who identifies opportunities, develops AI-driven product concepts, owns business cases, and delivers through to market. Running workshops. Aligning stakeholders. Shipping products that generate revenue. The builder who can sit with R&D and shape what’s next, then take it to market.
Try It Yourself