Icarian Forge

Dan West · A Portfolio · Open to Conversation & New Roles

Big picture, small print.

I’m Dan West. I like big ideas, and I like them even more when they work. Fifteen years in technology taught me that good ideas rarely fail for lack of vision. They fail in the quieter places: adoption, trust, and whether anyone tells the builders what customers are actually saying. That’s where I like to work.

Selected work

3 projects · 1 live

About

Why this portfolio

Great capability doesn’t change the world. Capability that people understand, trust and use well does.

I’ve spent fifteen years in technology watching good products fail for boring reasons: nobody adopted them, nobody trusted them, or nobody told the builders what customers were actually saying. It’s made me a big-picture thinker with a soft spot for the details, from the strategy on the whiteboard to the last mile with the customer.

I’m happiest helping a team see where we’re going, then getting us there together. I’ll set the direction and hold a high bar, and when the work needs another pair of hands, mine are usually free.

I also think we’re living through one of the most consequential moments in human history. I’d rather understand AI than admire it, so I use it every day, at work and at home, and I’ve earned an MIT certification and the Claude CCAO-F certification along the way.

This portfolio is where that curiosity meets the work. A résumé lists what you’ve done; this shows how I do it, including what didn’t work the first time.

  • Begin with the personWho it’s for and why it matters, settled before anyone opens a laptop.
  • Then read the small printA strategy only counts once it’s delivered. I keep the team pointed at done, and help carry it there.
  • Adoption is the productCapability means little until people trust it and use it well. I listen to customers and make sure the builders hear it too.
  • Keep a human in the loopAI drafts, people decide. Every AI-written fact on The Unlisted is checked before it goes live.

Contact

Email or LinkedIn

Need someone who sees the big picture, and reads the small print?

I’m open to roles leading strategy and the teams that bring it to life, and always glad to talk through how any of this was made.

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