The Variance

This article is based on my appearance on the FAFO Podcast. Each section is anchored with timestamps so you can jump directly to the moments most relevant to you — whether you are a caregiver, a disabled cook, a knife enthusiast, or an entrepreneur. The Military Mindset That Made NULU Possible Jump to: [0:24 – 5:15] I did not come from a military family. My path to West Point was almost accidental — guided by a sharp-eyed school counselor who pointed me toward the service aca

On Independence as Dignity, Why Character Is the Word I Keep Coming Back To, and Why the Best Legacy Is Anonymity in Widespread Use I sat down with A.D. Edwards on Ingleside Reviews: Innovators Unveiled — a masterclass-style show on Bravehearts TV that goes beyond titles and success stories to explore the deeper journey of the people building ideas that change lives. A.D. structured the conversation in chapters, which forced me to slow down and go deeper on questions I don't

On Killing the Death Grip, Why Adaptive Design Isn't Charity, and Why the Cool Kids' Knife Should Be an Adaptive One I sat down with Amy Bolduc on Grounded In Maine — a warm, community-rooted podcast that explores lives lived with intention — for a wide-ranging hour-plus conversation that started with the meaning of NULU and wandered through the science of the kinetic chain, the ableism inside the disability community, the DARPA-style path for adaptive innovation, and why I w

On Perseverance as the Boat and Lessons as the Wake, Why We Went Back to Adaptive, and Why the Over-50 Team Is My Trade Secret I sat down with Dave Bookbinder on Behind the Numbers — a show that goes beyond the data to explore the people, stories, and insights that drive business success. Dave is a business valuation expert and best-selling author, which meant the conversation kept snapping back to the questions founders actually need to answer: how do you scale responsibly,

On Cutting Without Grip, Why Kimberly's MS Diagnosis Made Her a Perfect Product Advisor, and How Adaptive Design Serves Anyone Who's One Second From a Diagnosis I sat down with Kimberly Nash on The Chronic Truth Podcast — a show built specifically for people navigating chronic illness diagnoses and searching for community and practical answers. Kimberly was recently diagnosed with MS and is losing fine motor control in her hands. She's exactly who NULU was built for, and our

On the In Medias Res Life, Why Ego Death Is Leadership, and How to Build Your Own Lightning I sat down with Matt Levenhagen on The Builders Podcast — a show dedicated to uncovering the first principles behind building businesses, products, and services — for a conversation that ran a little over an hour and covered ground I don't always get to explore in this depth. Matt is a builder himself (Unified Web Design, Unified Plugins) and asks the kinds of questions you only get fr

On Character as Currency, Ego Death as Leadership Strategy, and Why Retirement Is a Slide Toward Irrelevance I sat down with Dwight Heck on the Give A Heck Podcast — a show built around helping people live life on purpose, not by accident — for a wide-ranging hour-plus conversation that started with my origin story and ended somewhere I didn't expect: an argument against retirement as a life goal, and a case for character as the actual currency of leadership. Along the way we

On Military Training as Entrepreneur Training, Why Adaptation Isn't Surrender, and Why Advice Is Just Information I sat down with Peter Turner on The Break It Down Show — a veteran-led interview show with an audience of military entrepreneurs, creators, and adaptive innovators — for a nearly hour-long conversation that felt like two military guys who've been through the corporate wringer comparing notes. We covered everything from the accidental origin of NULU to why the sand

On the Science of Where Ideas Come From, Why Storytelling Is the Real Moat, and Regenerative Braking for Aging I sat down with Robert Gaines on the Free Time Mastermind Podcast — a show he built around helping entrepreneurs and inventors — for a wide-ranging conversation that started with red legs and West Point, moved through the biology of ideation, wandered into the crooked economics of the U.S. Patent Office, and ended on a philosophy I've been calling regenerative brakin

On the Agency of Others, Why the Idea Is Only 15%, and How to Stop Being Your Own Worst Enemy I sat down with the Move Swiftly Podcast — a show about innovative teamwork — for a conversation that ran about 50 minutes and went places I didn't expect. We talked about my failed side businesses, why Gen X is the "Pottery Barn generation," why the U.S. patent system is quietly broken, why your success comes down to the agency of others, and why I now believe the idea itself is 15%

I sat down for a conversation recently on the Entrepreneurs Enigma Podcast with Seth Goldstein about NULU, about the artillery officer's approach to problem-solving, about why adaptive design is just smart design, and about the actuarial tables that shape how I think about time now. There's a lot in there — some of it about the product, some of it about how a counterfire officer ends up inventing a kitchen knife thirty years later, some of it about why the venture capital wor

Veteran Founder on Servant Leadership, the PTAB Problem, and Building NULU for the 150 Million-Person Market I sat down for a long conversation recently on Entrepreneur Among Other Things with Alexander V. Johnson about NULU, about West Point and the artillery, about leaving the mortgage industry after 22 years, about why the patent system is quietly strangling independent inventors, and about why the chef's knife in your drawer has been wrong for 200 years. It ran about eigh

My Conversation with the Vet SOS Podcast I sat down with the Vet SOS Podcast for a conversation that started with "who is Doug?" and ended somewhere much bigger — the ability curve, ADHD as a superpower, why corporate America broke me, and why I now believe adaptive design is one of the most under-appreciated leadership disciplines of our time. It ran a little over an hour, and anyone who knows me knows I can talk. If you're mostly interested in the highlights, use the articl

I sat down for another long conversation with Peter Marcus Bach on The Grand Challengers Podcast recently — this one going deeper into the philosophy behind NULU than the product itself. We covered adaptive design as a discipline, why "inclusive design" and "universal design" are really just windows into the same house, why the professional chef is often the hardest person in the room to convince, and the AI-driven approach I'm building to close what I've been calling the abi

I sat down for a long conversation recently on Unconventional Money Moves with Joshua Krafchick about NULU, about leaving 25 years in the mortgage industry, about ADHD and the military and Commander's Intent, and about why the knife in your drawer has been quietly wrong for 200 years. It ran about an hour. There's a lot in there — some of it about the product, some of it about how I got here, some of it about the 150 million people this company is actually being built for. Ra

I was recently honored to be highlighted in Adrienne Barker, MAS's recent book, where she profiles entrepreneurs building businesses that solve real problems in unexpected ways. The chapter tells the story behind the NULU—a kitchen knife born from a moment of frustration in my workshop. "Disability and ability is a continuum. It's not an identity. It's not a different tribe... We all will get there. The reality is people look at disabilities and identity as opposed to a state