Product & AI strategy
Roadmapping, prioritization, and use-case selection. Figure out which product or AI investments are worth making, and which aren't, before the build starts.
Clarity before buildStrategy / Adoption / Design
The human layer of complex product and organizational adoption.
New technology exposes what already isn't working: unclear ownership, workflows nobody agreed on, and decisions nobody wants to own. Upstart-Labs works on that layer, the point where strategy, technical build, and the people expected to use the result all have to line up.
The work in between
01 Strategy
02 Build
03 People
Align
Capabilities Overview (PDF)
A one-page summary of services, positioning, and who this is for. Forward it to your team.
Download the PDFThe operating principle
Always keep the human layer, aligning people with process and technology.
01 / Who this is for
Upstart-Labs
Technology exposes what already isn't working.
We partner with enterprise organizations and higher education institutions
where a product, process, or AI initiative is stalling on the human side.
Whether it
is unclear ownership, low adoption, or a gap between what leadership wants and what teams are
building, we bridge the divide.
Organizations where a product, process, or AI initiative is stuck between leadership intent and everyday reality.
Enterprise organizations
Align product, engineering, design, operations, and executive stakeholders around the work that matters most.
Higher education institutions
Navigate faculty concerns about AI, administrative system migrations, and the need to preserve critical thinking while preparing students for the future of work.
02 / What we do
Make the next move make sense.
Upstart-Labs brings strategic clarity, human-centered design, and practical adoption planning to complex initiatives, before the friction becomes expensive.
Change management & adoption
Prosci-certified change management applied to technology rollouts, including stakeholder alignment, communication planning, and adoption tracking.
Change that sticksUX research & product design
User research, information architecture, and end-to-end design starting from what people actually need, not what is easiest to build.
Designed for useStakeholder & technical translation
Translate technical constraints into terms executives can act on, and leadership intent into requirements teams can build against.
Shared languageAI adoption advisory
Governance, workflow redesign, and planning for how people and AI systems work together day to day. Focused on adoption and judgment, not technical implementation.
Human + AI systemsWant the one-pager?
Download the Upstart-Labs capabilities overview to share with your team.
03 / Speaking & facilitation
Keynotes / Workshops / Lectures
Make the hard conversation useful.
Alexis Brochu delivers keynotes, executive workshops, and university lectures on AI fluency, adoption, and the human side of technology. She works with leadership retreats, global summits, and educational institutions.
Keynote speaking
Executive facilitation
University lectures
Interactive workshops
20+Years in product &
UX
189%Summit attendance
growth
#1Ranked university in
Chile
PMP& Prosci CMP
certified
Selected engagements
AIxUX Summit
New York City · 2025Speaker & facilitator
"Why Executives Don't Care About Your Design Work and What to Do About It."
AIxUX Summit
New York City · 2026Closing keynote
"Building Your AI Networking Agent." A paid two-day event alongside speakers from Google and Amazon. Paying attendance grew 189% over the prior summit.
Global FinTech company
NDA-protected project · Booked across yearExecutive keynote speaker
"AI Fluency for Compliance" and "Enterprise GenAI Governance, Risk Management & Operational Guidance."
International Humanitarian Organization
NDA-protected project · In redesignKeynote
"AI Fluency for PMI Project Managers." Scoped for 30 to 40. 250 registered one month out against a 750 projection. Now being rebuilt as a multi-part program.
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
PhD lecturer · Fall 2026Scheduled lecturer
"Innovation in the Age of AI." Ranked #1 in Chile across a meta-ranking of 108 university rankings.
UX Support Group (UXSG)
Ongoing · GlobalAI Core Team Instructor & facilitator
Co-hosts UXSG's weekly AIxUX thought-leadership forum with international participation, demos, and follow-up.
Featured talk
"Why Executives Don't Care About Your Design Work (and How to Fix It)"
AIxUX Summit · UX Support Group
For higher education
Don't choose between AI fluency and critical thinking.
The concern about diminished critical thinking is real. So is the cost of leaving students unprepared for the tools they will encounter everywhere. The work is finding a thoughtful, responsible way forward. AI as a tool that sharpens judgment, not one that replaces it.
04 / The approach
From stuck to moving.
The work is tailored to the initiative, but the movement is consistent. Name the friction, align the people, and make the next step usable.
See what is really in the way.
Surface the ownership gaps, conflicting assumptions, workflow problems, and adoption barriers hiding underneath the initiative.
Create shared language.
Bring leadership, technical teams, users, and stakeholders into a clearer conversation about what needs to happen next.
Turn clarity into movement.
Translate decisions into roadmaps, requirements, designs, communication plans, and adoption practices teams can carry forward.
This design elevates our project to another level.
Client presentation feedback / Enterprise SaaS company
The presentation landed with more than approval. The client turned away from the camera with tears in her eyes. A memorable sign that the work had created clarity, confidence, and emotional alignment.
Founder · Principal, AI Product Strategist
05 / About Upstart-Labs
The space between intent and impact.
Alexis Brochu is a UX product manager and AI enablement specialist with 20+ years of experience, PMP and Prosci CMP certified. She founded Upstart-Labs to help organizations navigate the human layer of complex product, technology, and organizational change.
She chairs Strategic AI Enablement for the New Hampshire Tech Alliance AI Task Force and co-hosts UXSG's weekly AIxUX meetup. Her work sits at the intersection of product strategy, UX research and design, change management, stakeholder alignment, and AI adoption. It is practical, human-centered, and built to help teams make better decisions together.
PMP certified
Prosci CMP
NH Tech Alliance AI Task Force, Chair
20+ years product & UX
Start the conversation
Ready to get unstuck?
Bring the complicated initiative, the difficult rollout, or the conversation your team has been avoiding.