CONVICTION-FIRST EXECUTION
About Rationale
AI has made execution cheap and fast. But speed without direction accelerates waste. The bottleneck has shifted from execution to conviction—knowing what to build is harder than ever. We help teams build that conviction before committing resources.
Studio OverviewThe Whiteboard Moment
"Get the work so close to shipping that all you need is engineering resources to make it real. Anything to the left of that mark doesn't get you much value."
— Advice from a Meta Reality Labs VP that became Rationale's founding principle
At Meta, right after the Oculus acquisition, a designer wanted to create a vision video for the AR platform. A senior leader stopped them and drew something on a whiteboard: a lightbulb on the left, a ship on the right, connected by a line. That conversation changed everything—it's why Rationale exists.
Read the full origin storyCore Principles
Usage is the oxygen for ideas
Ideas suffocate in documents and Figma files. They need real users, real interactions, real feedback to survive. We build functional prototypes because anything less doesn't tell you what you need to know. Can people use it? Do they want to? Will they come back? You can't answer those questions with slides. You need usage.
Get to conviction before you commit engineering
Most teams start building with incomplete clarity. They think they'll "figure it out" during development. This is expensive and demoralizing. The goal isn't perfection: it's conviction. Conviction means you've validated the core idea, refined the UX, tested with users, and know what you're building and why. With conviction, engineering becomes execution, not exploration. That's when you move fast.
Design value is upstream
The biggest impact isn't making things pretty. It's clarifying what to build and why it matters before anyone writes production code. This requires systems thinking, strategic prototyping, and rapid iteration. It's part strategy, part design, part product, all focused on one thing: getting you to conviction. Upstream clarity compounds downstream. Bad decisions made early cost 10x later.
What We Learned at 2B+ User Scale
Production necessity at scale. Not theory. Not academic research.
Specs Failed in Predictable Ways
Detailed specs described interactions clearly. But they couldn't predict how users would actually behave. AR interactions are physical—they require body movement, spatial awareness, gesture memory.
Proof at Scale
At Meta Spark AR, prototyping led to 60% velocity increase.
Why This Matters
We prototype before committing to production. Working software reveals truth that documents can't.
Prototypes Revealed Truth
Put a prototype in someone's hands and their behavior tells you everything. They reach for the wrong gesture. They expect feedback at different timing. All discoverable in hours, not months.
Proof at Scale
Led UX for Meta's Orion AR Glasses day 1 launch slate. Working prototypes resulted in 15+ patents.
Why This Matters
We validate with working software. When you know what you're building, engineering becomes execution.
Scale Amplified Mistakes
When you ship to billions, small UX issues become massive problems. 0.1% of users is still millions of people. The cost of mistakes was measured in millions.
Proof at Scale
Managed a 400+ person organization serving 2B+ users. Validation became essential, not optional.
Why This Matters
Startups face higher stakes: limited runway. Validate early. Pivot cheap. Ship with conviction.
Every Engagement Applies Patterns Proven at Scale
Rapid prototyping before production commitment
Systematic testing with real users
Clear pass/fail criteria for each prototype
Pivot-friendly development
Meet the Founder
Matt Hanson
Systems thinker, product architect, builder of clarity
Matt Hanson founded Rationale in response to a critical problem he observed: AI has made execution cheap and fast, but teams are building the wrong things faster than ever. Before founding Rationale, Matt led AR product development at Meta (2018-2024), scaling the Spark AR team from 2 to 22 people, building AR commerce from prototype to production, and defining UX for Meta's Orion AR Glasses and Quest MR Mode. He brings deep experience in 0-1 product development, AR/MR systems, and AI-integrated experiences.
Track Record
- •Scaled Spark AR platform 150% YoY, drove 100x growth in AR-enabled product inventory
- •Built AR commerce ecosystem serving 10+ retailers with 200+ products
- •Led UX for Meta Orion AR Glasses and Quest MR Mode
- •Defined foundational UX for Meta's "Family of Agents" AI systems
Capabilities
- •AI-integrated UX and agentic system design
- •AR/MR platform design (Meta Spark, Quest, Orion)
- •0-1 product design and strategic positioning
- •Full-stack development (React, Next.js, TypeScript, Python, SwiftUI)
Ready to build with conviction?
We bring the same systematic approach to every engagement—whether it's a 3-week sprint or 12-week pilot.