SPARKER

I build good products for end users.

About
Brian Sparker

Hi, I'm Brian

I work at the intersection of product, growth, and emerging technology, with a focus on building things that actually ship and scale. My career centers on turning fuzzy ideas into concrete systems, especially where AI, search, and developer platforms meet real user needs. I'm comfortable moving from strategy to execution, from whiteboard frameworks to specs, metrics, and live experiments.

Professionally, I've spent years operating in complex, cross-functional environments. I partner closely with engineering, design, sales, marketing, and leadership to push products forward without losing momentum. I tend to own ambiguous problem spaces, clarify what matters, and make tradeoffs that balance speed, quality, and long-term leverage. Distribution, pricing, and packaging are recurring themes in my work, not as abstract concepts but as levers that shape behavior and growth.

I'm deeply hands-on. I prototype, write docs, draft PRDs, pressure-test assumptions, and build lightweight tools to validate ideas quickly. I care a lot about metrics and feedback loops, but I don't let dashboards replace judgment. I like models that align value with outcomes, and I'm especially interested in how AI products should be priced, constrained, and explained so users trust them.

Alongside my core role, I consistently build side projects and experiments. These are not hobbies for show. They are a way to learn fast, explore new product surfaces, and stay grounded in how tools feel when you're the user. This builder mindset shapes how I lead. I value clarity, momentum, and practical progress over perfection.

Academically, I've pursued a rigorous and applied path that mirrors how I work professionally. I completed an MBA at Boston University Questrom School of Business, where I focused on innovation, entrepreneurship, and strategic decision-making. My academic work emphasized translating theory into practice, whether through case analysis, systems thinking, or designing new ventures and operating models. Rather than treating school as a credential, I used it as a structured way to sharpen my judgment, expand my strategic toolkit, and pressure-test ideas I was already applying in real-world product environments.

Overall, my professional life is defined by curiosity, ownership, and a bias toward action. I'm motivated by creating systems that make people more effective, and by pushing new technology into forms that are useful, understandable, and durable.

Work

AI Search Engine

Led the product shift from search results to conversational AI, growing from 1M to 10M monthly users.

Click to learn more →

Ecommerce Search Platform

Rebuilt enterprise search for Crate & Barrel, delivering 7-figure ROI in the first 30 days through unified product data and consistent discovery.

Click to learn more →

Search & Discovery Marketplace

Owned G2's buyer search roadmap, improving ranking, personalization, and LLM-powered guidance to increase engagement 145% YoY.

Click to learn more →

Open Source Mail Merge

Built a free, privacy-first mail merge tool that runs entirely in-browser, eliminating data exposure and access requirements for Google Sheets users.

Open in a new window →

Open Source LLM Evaluation Suite

Created a comprehensive evaluation framework for testing and optimizing LLM prompts, providing systematic analysis tools that help teams measure response quality and improve AI application performance.

Open in a new window →

Open Standard for AI Preferences

Built a parser library and CLI tool implementing a portable format for AI assistant preferences, enabling developers to maintain consistent coding style and context across different AI-assisted development platforms.

Open in a new window →