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Everyday InnovationAuthor: Jordan Divecha
Everyday Innovation is the podcast for life & venture design tailored to creatives, entrepreneurs, and leaders who do things differently. Episodes deliver practical resources, proven tools, strategic frameworks, plus thoughtprovoking conversations that fuel realworld innovation. Hosted by Jordan Divechaventurestudio founder and creative systems architectyoull gain the insights and processes to build ventures and lives aligned with your values and vision. Language: en Genres: Business, Entrepreneurship Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
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Turning Consumer Signal Trails into Lovable Products with Russell Evans (#34)
Episode 34
Monday, 15 December, 2025
Russell Evans, Principal at ZS, shares how he built Atlas - an AI-powered consumer insight platform - from inside a global consulting firm. When traditional research methods broke under the scale of 60,000 interviews, Russell and his team engineered a new way to extract insights from the signal trails consumers leave across product reviews, social media, and online behavior.This conversation explores the intersection of intrapreneurship, AI innovation, and consumer intelligence - from discovering that people use mini marshmallows as coffee sweetener to rebuilding how brands bring lovable products to market.What You'll Learn:Why 60,000 consumer interviews led to building something entirely newHow to find "unknown unknowns" hiding in consumer signal trailsThe difference between curated data and black box AI approachesUsing AI to design products from consumer "Lego blocks"Navigating intrapreneurship inside a 14,000-person consulting firmWhy clients wanted service over another toolBalancing AI speed with human decision-making capacityThe industry shift from pilots to actual adoptionHow AI search is changing brand strategy Chapter Markers:(1:15) Introduction and Welcome(2:47) From Toyota and Honda to Consumer Brands(3:39) What is ZS and How They Work(7:36) The 60,000 Interview Problem(11:03) Building Atlas: Engineering Consumer Intelligence(14:10) The Marshmallow Discovery: Unknown Unknowns(18:00) Curated Data vs. Black Box AI(23:26) Intrapreneurship Within a Large Organization(28:03) Client Adoption: Learnings and Roadblocks(31:11) New Product Development with Consumer Lego Blocks(36:03) AI Search and Brand Positioning(40:26) From Pilots to Integration(42:51) What Everyday Innovation MeansGuest:Russell Evans - Principal , ZSConsumer insights and innovation leader with two decades of experience helping brands understand consumers and bring better products to market. Russell led the development of Atlas, an AI-powered platform that extracts actionable insights from consumer signal trails at scale.Connect with Russell and ZS:ZS: zs.comAtlas Intelligence: zsatlasintelligence.comKey Takeaways:Unknown unknowns are your competitive edge - consumers leave signal trails if you know where to lookEncode expertise into AI systems rather than automating around itSometimes technology enables better service delivery, not a standalone productYou can build faster than organizations can absorb - design for adoption, not just speedInnovation is often intelligent recombination of known valuable elementsThe market is shifting from AI pilots to actual process integrationEnjoyed this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or follow on YouTube for more conversations with founders and innovators.--New: Signal Sprint Session for Founders + Innovation Leaders - Jordan is currently taking on select 1:1 for venture design and innovation systems sessions.https://stan.store/jordandivecha/p/signalsprint--More innovation content on https://everydayinnovation.io
