Eric Cohen
I create products people want to talk about.
That's what I've spent 40 years doing.
I specialize in the intersection of technology and people — how products, services, and organizations help, not hinder. That engage, empower, and transform. Solutions just right, aren't over-designed, and become indispensable.
The Reebok Pump didn't become iconic because it fit better. It became iconic because it swaddled your feet in just the right way — making players feel confident. Dee Brown showed they could do anything in the Pumps, even dunk with their eyes covered.
The Giro helmet retention system is now on virtually every bike helmet on the planet. Not because it improved fit scores. Because the feeling of your helmet hugging your head in exactly the right spot makes you feel safe. Without it, you feel exposed.
Swiffer was P&G's biggest product launch ever. Not because it outperformed a mop on a spec sheet. Because it was simple, kept you clean, and was fast. Three things — the right three things.
Every product has a job to do. But knowing what that job really is — the one that makes someone feel something — takes intuition. Building everything around that one thing while letting the rest go takes conviction many teams don't have.
"From Fortune 500 to early-stage founders, I find the one thing that makes products stick."
Is AI recommending your product?
When consumers ask ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini what to buy, some brands show up every time. Most don't show up at all.
We measure the gap. Then we close it.
See how it works →Is AI recommending your product?
When consumers ask ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini what to buy, some brands show up every time. Most don't show up at all.
We measure the gap. Then we close it.
See how it works →I work with leaders who build things that matter.
Founders turning a prototype into a product people actually want. Consumer hardware, wearables, health tech, CPG.
Product and R&D leaders where growth has stalled and the next breakthrough isn't coming from the existing playbook.
Companies deploying AI into real human conversations who need to get safety right before someone gets hurt.
Building safer AI for mental health
After three years building at the intersection of AI and mental health, from a hybrid therapeutic chatbot built with a leading psychiatrist to the first independent safety standard for conversational AI, this has become one of my deepest and most current areas of expertise. Red-teaming commercial mental health chatbots uncovered failures serious enough to make national news.
If you're building conversational AI for healthcare, wellness, or any sensitive human context, I can save you time and make your system more robust and clinically relevant. Testing strategy, tech stack, memory architecture, clinical integration, experience design. Happy to share what the work has taught me.
I see what others don't
Opportunities are there for people who see them. After building one of the most evidence-based mental wellness AI chatbots, I discovered that application-level testing and independent certification is the missing layer in conversational AI safety. That insight became Vero Labs, on a mission to make conversational AI safer for people. When AI is being shipped into the most sensitive human conversations, someone needs to make sure it's doing the right thing. The human thing.
Products and strategies I've helped create and shape have generated more than $25 billion in revenue across companies like Reebok, Procter & Gamble, Target, Giro, BMW, Colgate, Samsung, and L'Oréal.
The engagements vary, but the pattern is the same:
A company has a problem they've already half-solved in the wrong direction, and they need someone from outside their walls who speaks the truth
A technical team that's built the best features no one cares about
A team that's built for the technology but not for the people using it, or the organization delivering it
The industry has reached technical parity and the point of differentiation is unclear
Sales are declining despite new product introductions
Internal teams are just stuck, and need a jolt in the right direction
Sometimes that means reframing a brief that's solving the wrong problem. Sometimes it means killing a feature set everyone is attached to. Sometimes it means recognizing that the real product isn't the technology at all. It's the trust infrastructure around it.
I build and I advise. Through OtisVP I develop IP, prove concepts, and spin out new ventures. Hello Me and Vero Labs both came out of that model. Alongside the builds, I work with a select number of companies, from early-stage founders to seasoned CEOs who expect maximum impact from whatever they're building or transforming. Relationship structures include advisory roles for equity, board seats, fee for service, and retainers.
Get in Touch
I'm actively seeking advisory and board roles where product intuition, category creation experience, and a willingness to say what I actually see would be useful. If that sounds like what you need, I'd like to talk.