This portfolio is a product

Problem

My previous WordPress site sold me as a “unicorn" instead of the AI-native product leader I've become. Hiring managers have a tough job, and I wanted to make it easier for them to see how I can help their team based on my practical experience.

Audience

Recruiters and hiring managers for Group Product Manager, Director, and Head of Product roles: people who need product leadership and evidence that I can specify and ship with modern AI tooling.

Jobs to be done

• Understand positioning in under a minute.
• Trust outcomes with named constraints, not skill tags.
• Download a resume or book a conversation without friction.
• Let a recruiter or screening model read a hiring brief (/for-recruiters, /llms.txt) instead of inferring from every page.

Stack decisions

• Next.js App Router — server-first by default.
• Tailwind + shadcn/ui — product UI I can own, not a theme.
• MDX in git — the CMS is the repo. Specs are reviewable.
• No database in v1 — Contact is email + Calendly.

Success metrics

• Resume download and Calendly clicks (Vercel Analytics).

Changelog

• v0.21 · August 2026

  500 and global error pages say I’m working on the site, so a failed render reads as a live change rather than a missing spec.

• v0.20 · August 2026

  Hiring brief at /for-recruiters and a matching /llms.txt so ATS tools and language models get target roles, outcomes, logistics, and FAQ without scraping the whole site.

• v0.19 · August 2026

  Added a writing essay on when copy and UI disagree, adapted from a 2022 Cubescrambler post about a “don’t feed the birds” sign.

• v0.18 · August 2026

  Brought the WordPress portfolio into /work as one list with the product cases. FinTech, PonyFrenzy, and GeekyBeach stay mapped to the existing product, marketplace, and After Hours stories.

• v0.17 · August 2026

  Playable 40-line Tetris sprint at /tetris. Homepage Tetris card and /games/tetris land there so visitors can try to beat the posted time.

• v0.16 · August 2026

  Accessibility contrast pass: stronger hero overlay, higher-contrast muted text on dark and light, focusable quote pause, and WCAG AA button hover colors.

• v0.15 · August 2026

  Playable 40-line Tetris sprint at /tetris. Homepage Tetris card and /games/tetris land there so visitors can try to beat the posted time.

• v0.14 · August 2026

  Homepage After Hours section below writing: metal detecting, drone, and Tetris, so recruiters meet the person as well as the product leader.

• v0.13 · August 2026

  Homepage quotes sit on aqua-ruled cards and rotate with a fade as more quotes are added.

• v0.12 · August 2026

  Homepage writing section linking to recent essays, in the same spirit as Thoughts & Insights on the previous site.

• v0.11 · August 2026

  Moved BAMDA into the main work list with the other case studies and removed the Still Building section.

• v0.10 · August 2026

  Removed the hiring-fit Ask feature. /ask redirects to the homepage; contact is email and Calendly.

• v0.9 · August 2026

  Removed the Practice section. How I specify and ship lives in the work and this spec; /practice redirects here.

• v0.8 · August 2026

  Hiring-manager copy pass: product-leadership identity on the homepage, clearer metric labels, decoded origin, quotes without unicorn framing, BAMDA as shipping proof rather than a peer commercial case, and aligned About/footer/this-site audience.

• v0.7 · August 2026

  Ask is homepage-only: removed from primary nav and the dedicated /ask page. Existing /ask links redirect to the homepage section.

• v0.6 · August 2026

  Studio-founder voice on the homepage: Funnychord origin, work before resume, founder-first role line. Portrait stays on About. Ask and footer match the same register.

• v0.5 · August 2026

  Ask is a one-shot hiring-fit check: visitor-framed prompts, proof from public outcomes, no citations, then Calendly and resume. Empty retrieval routes to a conversation instead of stretching analogously. The tool sits on the homepage above quotes; /ask remains the dedicated URL.

• v0.4 · August 2026

  Production cutover prep: canonical lauraschoichet.com metadata, Open Graph image, WordPress URL redirects, security headers, and error boundaries. Dreamhost DNS still serves WordPress until nameservers or A/CNAME records move to Vercel.

• v0.3 · August 2026

  Accessibility pass against WCAG 2.2 AA: skip link, stronger control borders and focus rings, always-underlined inline links, Ask live regions, and named theme/nav states.

• v0.2 · August 2026

  Dark mode default, Outfit headings with Geist body, and a cool ocean palette (navy, aqua, violet) replacing the warm parchment and Newsreader serif.

• v0.1 · August 2026

  First shipping version: editorial product design, four featured case studies, practice pages, grounded Ask, Vercel preview. WordPress on Dreamhost stays live until a later domain cutover.