Designing an AI-Powered Advertising Platform for Independent Restaurants
Overview
Glyph is a startup I co-founded to help independent restaurants turn their physical signage into a smart advertising channel. I lead product and design, working in the same AI-assisted workflow I developed at Cabin to move from concept to working software quickly.
Categories
Startup
Co-Founder
Date
Ongoing
Client
Glyph
Opportunity
Independent restaurants have limited tools for managing and measuring the impact of their physical advertising. Most are stuck with static signage that doesn't respond to context, can't be updated easily, and generates no data. We saw an opportunity to build a platform that makes dynamic, intelligent ad management accessible to operators who don't have a marketing team.
Action
I own product strategy, design, and front-end development. The core of the product is a scheduling and content management interface that gives restaurant operators full control over what runs on their displays and when. Contextual signals like weather, local events, and time of day inform what content gets served, and POS integration closes the loop by connecting ad activity to sales data. I designed the system to serve two users equally: the operator managing their content day to day, and the admin overseeing the broader platform. Getting both right was as much a product decision as a design one.
Result
The product is actively in development with a pilot deployment underway. We are onboarding our first restaurant partner and the core scheduling and admin experience is built and running in production.
Reflection
Building as a founder is a different design problem than building as a consultant. There is no client to align with and no established team rhythm to plug into. Every prioritization decision is yours, and the cost of building the wrong thing falls entirely on you and your co-founder. The AI-assisted workflow has been essential here, not just for speed, but for staying lean enough to keep exploring while still shipping something real.
Designing an AI-Powered Advertising Platform for Independent Restaurants
Overview
Glyph is a startup I co-founded to help independent restaurants turn their physical signage into a smart advertising channel. I lead product and design, working in the same AI-assisted workflow I developed at Cabin to move from concept to working software quickly.
Categories
Startup
Co-Founder
Date
Ongoing
Client
Glyph
Opportunity
Independent restaurants have limited tools for managing and measuring the impact of their physical advertising. Most are stuck with static signage that doesn't respond to context, can't be updated easily, and generates no data. We saw an opportunity to build a platform that makes dynamic, intelligent ad management accessible to operators who don't have a marketing team.
Action
I own product strategy, design, and front-end development. The core of the product is a scheduling and content management interface that gives restaurant operators full control over what runs on their displays and when. Contextual signals like weather, local events, and time of day inform what content gets served, and POS integration closes the loop by connecting ad activity to sales data. I designed the system to serve two users equally: the operator managing their content day to day, and the admin overseeing the broader platform. Getting both right was as much a product decision as a design one.
Result
The product is actively in development with a pilot deployment underway. We are onboarding our first restaurant partner and the core scheduling and admin experience is built and running in production.
Reflection
Building as a founder is a different design problem than building as a consultant. There is no client to align with and no established team rhythm to plug into. Every prioritization decision is yours, and the cost of building the wrong thing falls entirely on you and your co-founder. The AI-assisted workflow has been essential here, not just for speed, but for staying lean enough to keep exploring while still shipping something real.
