Services
$400 / month
Start free, decide later
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1
Free intro call
No card needed to book. -
2
Ongoing calls + chat
2 × 60-min calls per month, unlimited Q&A. Replies in 24 hours or less. -
3
No lock-in
Month to month, no contract.
MentorCruise summary
Chris is a Product Leader at Xelix. He has 20 years of experience in B2B SaaS, has built products from $3M to more than $50M in ARR, and has coached product managers and leaders for five years. He helps product managers and leaders use AI in their work, build AI products, and grow into larger product roles.
Based on 15 verified mentee reviews
- Reviewers often praise his outcome-focused sessions, which end with clear weekly objectives or action items.
- Mentees value coaching that starts with their goals and current challenges and adapts to their needs.
- Several reviewers describe his advice as practical and direct, especially for leadership and complex product challenges.
About
I lead product and design at Xelix, where we are building an agentic AI platform for enterprise finance. I have also coached product managers and leaders for the past five years, from APM up to CPO. So I am not teaching AI from the outside. I ship it every week, and I coach the people learning to do the same.
Twenty years in B2B SaaS taught me the difference between shipping and shipping the right thing. I have built and scaled products from $3M to $50M+ ARR. I have hired and managed more than 30 PMs and designers, and grown product teams from a couple of squads to ten.
Most product people I speak to are stuck on the same question. What does AI change about my job, and what stays the same? The fundamentals hold. You diagnose the problem before you reach for a solution, and you define the outcome before you build. But the pace has changed, the tooling has changed, and the bar for what one PM can do alone has moved. Most people are working that out with no one to test their thinking against.
I build as well as coach. Alongside Xelix I build my own AI tools, including an AI chief of staff I use daily. I work with Claude, Claude Code and Cursor. I build at the agent and harness layer, not just the chat window.
That is what I am here for. Bring me a real decision or a stuck project, and you will leave the session with a clear next step, not a pep talk.
👷🏻♂️ What I can help with
• Using AI in your own work: discovery, prototyping, research and analysis, so you move faster than the PMs around you
• Building AI products: scoping agentic features, defining outcomes and evals, deciding what to build and what to buy
• Leading through change: setting product strategy when the ground is moving, and carrying engineering and design with you
• Career growth: getting promoted, stepping into Head of, Director or VP, or repositioning for an AI product role
• The core craft: strategy, prioritisation, roadmaps and stakeholder trust
🤯 Who I work best with
Senior PMs and product leaders who want to lead in an AI-shaped market, and ambitious PMs ready to step up.
What mentees say
5 out of 5 stars
My ultimate goal for the mentorship was getting to a destination quicker and I have done that. I have been able to save months if not longer deciding what to do, at the moment it is actually stepping away from the tech sector however I appreciated all of the insights and help during my active job hunt
Ryan
Lite Plan • 7 months
5 out of 5 stars
Loads of experience and very helpful
Angelina
Lite Plan • 9 months
5 out of 5 stars
I've had Chris as a mentor since October 2024, and it's been one of the best career decisions I've made. From the start, Chris was focused on what I was looking for in a mentor, what my current challenges were as a product manager, and whether he was the right fit. I also appreciated that he offered different ways he could provide feedback to suit my personal style. Since then, I've come to Chris with all sorts of challenges and questions related to my product career. His insights and support have been fantastic. I value that he challenges me and pushes me to engage my product thinking, offering feedback on where I could improve or approach a solution differently. I also really appreciate the stories he shares about facing similar challenges, how he handled them, and what he learned, which he often passes on to me. I've applied those changes into my career and have seen a noticeable improvement in how I conduct solving problems through product thinking and how to engage with stakeholders at all levels at my current company. Finally, Chris is incredibly non-judgemental and supportive. Whether you're facing a big or small challenge, he's always ready to listen, offer support, and give the feedback you need to hear in order to grow. I highly recommend Chris as a mentor for anyone looking to take their product career to the next level.
Shakeel
Lite Plan • 9 months
Get to know Chris
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Article 5 min readTailoring Your Application: The Key to Standing Out
Results of resume and cover letter survey
Read more
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Article 5 min readChris Nicol – Meet the Mentor
VP of Product at Hubble. I'm a Product Leader and Coach. I've managed, mentored and coached many amazing Product Managers …
Read more
What happens when you start
You tell Chris your goals. They see exactly what you want to work on before session one.
You meet within days. Chris reviews your application and books your first session, usually within a day or two.
You leave with a plan. Concrete next steps and a weekly rhythm from your very first week.
