A framework born from building products that failed, studying why they failed, and learning how to build products that last.
It started with something embarrassingly small.
Instagram stripped line breaks from captions. Every post became one dense wall of text. Influencers hated it. Brands complained. Regular users worked around it with periods on blank lines.
So I built Instaspacer—a simple tool that added spacing back. Ugly, bare-bones, exactly what people needed.
Downloads climbed. Daily users went from dozens to hundreds to thousands. For a few weeks, it felt like I'd figured something out.
Then Instagram's lawyers sent a cease and desist. All those users, gone. All that momentum, stopped. Not because people didn't want it. Because the platform said no.
Losing Instaspacer stung. But it taught me something more valuable.
I was running Sidekick Digital, building products for startups and growing companies. Fintech apps, marketplace platforms, SaaS tools, consumer apps. Different industries, different users, different problems.
But in every discovery session, every workshop, every planning meeting—the same pattern:
Teams argued about features without understanding what was at stake.
"Should we add points?" "Do we need community features?" "What about a premium tier?"
These debates spiraled because nobody had a shared framework. Everyone had opinions. Nobody had structure.
I read everything about why products succeed and fail.
BJ Fogg's Behavior Model showed motivation × ability × prompt. Brilliant, but didn't break motivation into designable pieces.
Yukai Chou's Octalysis identified eight core drives. Comprehensive, but hard to apply in 90-minute workshops.
Nir Eyal's Hook Model explained habit formation. Practical, but assumed motivation already existed.
Self-Determination Theory from Deci and Ryan. Academically solid, but too abstract for product decisions.
The insights existed, scattered across frameworks and papers. But none answered the question teams kept asking:
"Is this product idea strong enough to last?"
I wanted something teams could actually use Monday morning.
So I synthesized the research around one question: What forces make people return to a product, invest in it, and stick with it?
The answer: 10 principles. Two baseline factors (Prompt + Ability) that gate behavior. Eight motivational principles (Purpose, Progress, Creativity, Ownership, Connection, Exclusivity, Curiosity, Security) that create lasting engagement.
We call it Motivational Design.
We've run it with dozens of products—from concept sketches to struggling apps to mature platforms. Takes 90 minutes. By the end, teams know which principles define their identity and which gaps might kill them.
Most importantly: they have a shared language. Instead of "let's add badges," the conversation becomes "does this strengthen Progress, and is Progress part of our spine?"
Built on decades of behavioral psychology, not trends or guesses.
Refined through real workshops with product teams across industries.
Designed for 90-minute workshops, not graduate seminars.
Built an Instagram tool that gained traction but collapsed when the platform pulled the plug. Learned that traction without foundation is fragile.
Working with Sidekick Digital clients, spotted the same failure patterns across industries and product types.
Studied Fogg, Chou, Eyal, Deci & Ryan. Identified what was missing: a practical way to evaluate motivational strength.
Synthesized research into the 8 principles. Tested in workshops. Refined based on what actually worked with teams.
Documented the complete framework and built this site to make it accessible beyond client work.
Get the complete framework with detailed case studies, tactical guidance, and real-world examples. The book that started it all.