our mission
At Prototype Thinking Labs, we are obsessed with the moment when a real human touches a product or service, and there’s a spark. An instant of deliciousness, of magic, when something has shifted and it makes a real difference to their life.
When we work with clients who are building new products, we help them create that spark over and over using experimental conditions. Together, we have created hundreds of different magic moments in dozens of industries from consumer goods to financial services, from software to cosmetics, from healthcare to enterprise.
But the most magical instant for us, the spark that WE have the privilege to create, is the moment when our clients’ eyes light up and they say, “NOW I understand how to make this!”
It happens when the reality of the solution and the user really clicks, when suddenly all of the flying pieces that have been in chaos and uncertainty find their true north and transform into a rush of clarity and momentum. Then the team knows exactly what to do.
They know the user will absolutely love what’s about to happen.
our team
Founding Partner
J Li (she/her)
J is the creator of the Prototype Thinking program. She believes that work should be really fun and really meaningful pretty much all the time. Over the past decade, J has shaped this unique process by drawing both from her experience as a disabled leader and from projects with hundreds of clients, and thousands of students. J is former a Stanford mathematician / computer scientist, game designer, change consultant, and can reliably be found pursuing unique tropical fruit.
Partner
Xiaohoa Ching (she/her)
Xiaohoa is a Harvard Ph.D., visionary cross-medium designer, founder, strategist, artist, and poet. She is on a mission to scale love. She speaks 4 languages has lived in 5 countries. An award winning entrepreneur and scholar, Xiaohoa was named by Forbes 30 under 30 as an “intelligencer…set to influence the next century.”
Project Manager
Alexis Lanham (they/them)
Alexis is infinitely curious about people. An essential face of the PTL team, they operate the gears that keep client projects moving at every level.
Ask Alexis about literally any topic, and odds are they know a medium amount about it.
Founding Partner
Wes Wakefield (he/him)
Wes is a globetrotting financial wizard who shines when building creative new things in industries that are historically underappreciated for innovation such as finance, legal, manufacturing, agriculture, and real estate. An investor and founder, he has a lifelong passion for making businesses work far more effectively.
Head of Content & Curriculum
Jon Argaman (they/them)
Jon is an empathy-driven communicator who turns complex systems into personalized journeys. Previously a professor of writing and specialist in neurodivergent curriculum design at the University of Pennsylvania, they are passionate about creating spaces where multiple worlds coexist.
Jack of All Trades
Linden Lewis (she/they)
In work as in life, Linden transcends categorization. They are the author of the First Sister series, a queer writer, and world wanderer currently living in Madrid. Linden enjoys editing, tech support, and digging into Prototype Thinking methodology so they're never faced with writer's block.
our offices
while our main office is in the SF bay area, we're an international team who works from around the world.
