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PH1 Services & Specializations

Ship products that are proven to deliver impact in the AI era

PH1 has helped the corporations and innovative startups leverage emerging technology to transform their digital experiences. Founded in 2012, we have worked with Spotify, Microsoft, Mozilla, Hims & Hers, National Football League, Telus, La Liga, Government of Canada, plus various universities, financial services, health, and publicly-funded.

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PH1 Services & Specializations

Ship products that are proven to deliver impact in the AI era

PH1 has helped the corporations and innovative startups leverage emerging technology to transform their digital experiences. Founded in 2012, we have worked with Spotify, Microsoft, Mozilla, Hims & Hers, National Football League, Telus, La Liga, Government of Canada, plus various universities, financial services, health, and publicly-funded.

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PH1 Services & Specializations

Ship products that are proven to deliver impact in the AI era

PH1 has helped the corporations and innovative startups leverage emerging technology to transform their digital experiences. Founded in 2012, we have worked with Spotify, Microsoft, Mozilla, Hims & Hers, National Football League, Telus, La Liga, Government of Canada, plus various universities, financial services, health, and publicly-funded.

Benefits of Working with PH1

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Add Futures Perspective to Your Roadmap

We make what's possible feasible by finding the most effective way to leverage your budget and maximize the strengths of your org and culture.

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Every Decision is Founded on Evidence

Your business need certainty and we deliver this by aligning internal teams, bringing critical compeitive research, and testing prototypes.

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Big Consulting Outcomes at Small Agency Prices

Avoid the headache of working with a bloating team of juniors. You only work with experts. We're fast and knowledge of your reality.

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For public-sector, institutions, and established corporations

Accelerate Digital Transformation

Digital transformation decisions made easy. Experiences made exceptional.

Get Free Consultation

Website Modernization for AI Era

Your conversion on critical user flows is underperforming

Customer Journey Mapping

Service design, AI monetization, and workflow modernization

Rapid Prototyping Sprint

Validate ideas, test, benchmark against competitors

Digital Transformation Acceleration

Propel digital transformation workstreams that are stalling

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For startups and AI-powered orgs

Improve AI Product Success

Calibrate your AI product for success. Align your investments for product growth.

Get Free Consultation

AI Adoption Strategy

Roadmap for scaling adoption & value

AI Product Discovery & Validation Research

AI product-market before you commit the build

AI Trust & Adoption Benchmarking

Remove barriers to adoption & value delivery

LLM Product Strategy & Specification

Starts with the business opportunity, not the technology

Customer Experience Master Plan for the AI Era

Turning your institution into a customer experience leader. We've led CX innovation projects across education, health, transit, financial, commerce.


  • Conversion is declining at the interactions that matter most

  • Customer expectations are rising faster than your organization can respond

  • Your team is being asked to deliver more — with the same or fewer resources

  • AI investment decisions need to be prioritized before the budget is already spent


Services for CX

Improve University Website Conversions & Personalization

PH1 accelerates the digital transformation universities and colleges are facing. We grow applications and registrations by:

  • Simplifying the applicant & student experience

  • Modernizing website architecture and search

  • Solving how to best leverage AI

  • Pinpointing barriers to conversion

  • Prototyping & testing website improvements

Services for universities

Your first AI agent: the 90-day path from strategy to launch

PH1 helps corporations ship their first AI agent in 90 days without becoming the cautionary tale your CEO reads about. We grow the strategy, evidence, and product readiness teams need by:

  • Pinpointing which AI agent your customers and teams actually need

  • Translating that bet into a strategy that meets your budget, ambition, realities

  • Defining roadmap from working POC to product-market fit

  • Measuring the impact and sharpening the GTM around it

Launch AI product

Big Consulting Outcomes at Small Agency Prices

Get a Free Consultation

Work with us

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FOUNDED IN 2012 /TRUSTED BY EVERYONE

TRUSTED BY 300+ COMPANIES

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FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the history of PH1 and who have you worked with?

PH1 has helped the largest corporations and most innovative startups reimagine their CX. Founded in 2012, we have worked with Spotify, Microsoft, Mozilla, Hims & Hers, National Football League, La Liga, Government of Canada, universities, financial services, and many more.

How long are typical projects when working with PH1?

An audit can be as quick as one week, and research as fast as two weeks. Comprehensive, multi-stakeholder strategic projects typically require 3+ months to ensure that the process allows for appropriate engagement processes and alignment of teams. Many of our clients hire us repeatedly so that we can work close with their product, design, and/or marketing teams so that we can enhance and elevate their work products.

We're US-based, how can we work with PH1 (a Canadian-based firm) legally?

PH1 has completed dozens of projects with USA clients —all legally and without a single issue. A U.S. company can work with us legally and avoid the mandatory 30% U.S. tax withholding by completing a properly completed IRS Form W-8BEN-E. So even if your company is unable to hire employees that lack the legal ability to work in the USA —and/or need sponsorship— you can hire PH1 problem-free. Agreements, SOWs, and procurement processes used by Fortune 500 companies. Currency exchange is handled transparently, and many US clients appreciate the favorable exchange rate. We're fully insured for cross-border professional services work.

What do projects and engagements with PH1 cost?

As a small team we're unbelievably flexible. We've worked on two-week projects with solopreneurs and one-year engagements with the biggest corporations in the world. Our model is tailoring services and outcomes explicitly around what you need budgetarily and in terms of value from the process. We are champions of uncomfortable truths; if your project is unlikely to succeed because the budget is too low or the timeline too tight, we'll let you know. We want you to succeed. In terms of specifics: - Audits start at $3,000 - Research projects start at $7,500 - Rapid prototyping projects start at $10,000 - Strategic projects at $25,000

Does PH1 offer workshop facilitation and training?

Yes, workshop facilitation and capability building are core offerings at PH1. We design and facilitate strategic workshops ranging from half-day sessions to multi-day intensives, covering areas like product vision alignment, customer journey mapping, innovation sprints, and stakeholder alignment. Our facilitation approach emphasizes participation and actionable outcomes—not just sticky notes on walls. We also offer training programs to build internal research and design capabilities within your team, including research methods training, interview technique coaching, and synthesis workshops. These sessions can be delivered virtually or in-person across North America. Many clients combine project work with training to ensure lasting organizational impact.

Does PH1 work primarily work with private or public sector clients?

PH1 maintains a balanced portfolio across both private and public sectors, which we consider a strategic advantage. Our private sector experience includes work with global technology companies, financial services, retail, and healthcare organizations—clients like Spotify, Microsoft, and Dell. Our public sector work spans federal, provincial, and municipal governments across Canada, including the Government of Canada and various Crown corporations. This cross-sector experience provides valuable perspective: we bring private sector innovation practices to government projects, and the rigorous accountability standards of public sector work benefit our enterprise clients. We understand the distinct procurement, compliance, and stakeholder dynamics of each sector.

Does PH1 open to working as an agency sub-contractor or as a FTE contractor?

PH1 has partnered with dozens of leading agencies and consultancies as a trusted subcontractor, providing specialized UX research, product strategy, and service design capabilities that complement their core offerings. We operate seamlessly under agency brands with complete confidentiality—your client relationship remains fully intact while we deliver expert work behind the scenes. What distinguishes our subcontractor relationships is the seniority and autonomy we bring: we regularly serve as acting project leads on complex engagements, not just supplementary resources. Our team has led on-site workshops and executive working sessions on behalf of agency partners, facilitating strategic conversations directly with C-suite stakeholders and senior leadership teams. This means you can confidently position PH1 expertise as an extension of your own capabilities without concern about client-facing readiness. We understand agency economics and structure our pricing to preserve healthy margins for our partners. Embedded & FTE Contractor Arrangements While we're open to embedded arrangements where PH1 team members integrate with your internal teams, we believe our greatest value comes through consulting engagements rather than staff augmentation. Here's the uncomfortable truth about embedded models: they often reduce experienced strategists and researchers to task-takers, limiting the independent perspective and constructive challenge that drives meaningful outcomes. When PH1 operates as a consulting partner rather than a borrowed FTE, you gain practitioners who bring 20+ years of cross-industry pattern recognition, who aren't constrained by internal politics, and who are explicitly empowered to surface difficult truths your organization needs to hear. That said, we recognize some situations genuinely call for embedded support—team capacity gaps, parental leave coverage, or building internal capabilities through close collaboration. We're happy to discuss rates and structures for these arrangements during our initial conversation. We handle all employment logistics, simplifying your procurement and eliminating HR complexity on your end. Structuring the Right Relationship Whether subcontracting, consulting, or embedded, we customize IP assignment, confidentiality terms, reporting structures, and communication protocols to your specific requirements. Many of our longest and most impactful client relationships began through one model and evolved into another as trust developed and needs changed. Let's discuss which structure best serves your current objectives.

How does PH1 guarantee the quality of work and guarantee delivery?

Quality assurance at PH1 is embedded throughout our methodology, not added as an afterthought. Every engagement includes defined quality gates at key milestones, allowing you to review and approve work before proceeding. Our senior practitioners remain involved throughout projects—you won't experience the bait-and-switch common at larger consultancies. We document our methods transparently, so you understand exactly how insights were generated. For deliverables, we include revision cycles and collaborative refinement. Regarding delivery guarantees, we commit to timelines contractually and maintain contingency planning for unforeseen circumstances. Our 20+ years in business reflects consistent delivery—we couldn't sustain a boutique consultancy otherwise. Client references are available upon request.

What does "Big Consulting Outcomes at Small Agency Prices" mean in practice?

It means you work directly with the senior researchers and strategists who do the work — not account managers who hand off to junior staff. Engagements are scoped tightly so you pay for the output, not overhead. Most clients describe the pace and rigor as comparable to what they'd expect from a Big Four firm at roughly half the cost.

Which industries does PH1 have expertise in?

Over two decades, PH1 has developed deep expertise across technology, financial services, telecommunications, healthcare, retail and e-commerce, government and public services, and media and entertainment. We've partnered with organizations ranging from early-stage startups to Fortune 500 enterprises. Rather than claiming superficial familiarity across every sector, we invest in understanding the specific dynamics, regulations, customer expectations, and competitive landscapes within each industry we serve. This expertise accelerates project timelines and improves insight quality—we're not learning your industry on your budget. When engaging in newer sectors, we're transparent about our experience level and often partner with domain experts to supplement our strategic and research capabilities.

What is the PH1 project management process?

PH1 employs a structured yet adaptable project management approach designed for research and strategy work. Every engagement begins with a detailed kickoff establishing objectives, stakeholders, communication protocols, and success criteria. We use weekly status updates—typically brief written summaries plus check-in calls as needed—to maintain alignment without creating meeting burden. Project milestones are clearly defined with specific deliverables, and we build in formal review points where you approve direction before proceeding. We're experienced working within client project management systems when required, including Jira, Asana, Monday, and enterprise PPM tools. You'll have a dedicated project lead as your primary contact throughout the engagement, ensuring continuity and accountability.

What is the PH1 data storage and PII compliance policy?

PH1 takes data privacy and security seriously, maintaining policies aligned with Canadian PIPEDA requirements and designed to satisfy enterprise security reviews. All project data is stored on encrypted, access-controlled systems within Canadian data centres. We collect only the personal information necessary for research objectives and obtain appropriate consent from research participants. Data retention follows agreed-upon schedules, with secure deletion upon project completion or client request. For clients subject to specific regulatory requirements—HIPAA, SOC 2, or industry-specific frameworks—we adapt our protocols accordingly and can execute Data Processing Agreements. We're experienced with enterprise security questionnaires and vendor assessment processes, and maintain documentation ready for your procurement and legal teams.

Which tools and software does PH1 use?

PH1 utilizes industry-standard tools selected for research quality, collaboration efficiency, and client accessibility. For research operations, we use platforms including UserTesting, Lookback, and Dscout for remote research, along with Dovetail and Notably for analysis and synthesis. Design work leverages Figma, Miro, and FigJam for collaborative visualization. Project management and communication typically flow through Slack, Notion, and Google Workspace, though we readily adapt to client systems. For quantitative research, we employ Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey, and various analytics platforms. We're tool-agnostic where it serves client needs—if your organization requires specific platforms for security or integration reasons, we'll work within your ecosystem. All tools we use meet enterprise security and privacy standards.

What deliverables do clients typically walk away with?

Depending on the engagement, deliverables include CX master plans, customer journey maps (current and future state), AI strategy roadmaps, UX evaluation reports, concept validation research, and market demand analyses. Everything is built to be presented to a board or executive team — not just circulated internally.

Do you do implementation, or only strategy and research?

PH1 is a strategy and research practice. Clients use PH1 to set direction, build the evidence base, and define the roadmap — then execute with their internal teams or implementation partners. Some clients return to PH1 for evaluation and course-correction after implementation phases. We often work side-by-side with GTM and product teams to test, measure, iterate.

Can PH1 help if we already have an AI product in market?

Yes — AI Product Evaluation & UX Evals and AI Launch & Value Acceleration are specifically designed for teams with live products that are underperforming against expectations. PH1 diagnoses whether the gap is a product problem, a user experience problem, or a go-to-market problem, and provides a prioritized improvement plan.

What types of insurance coverage does PH1 have?

PH1 maintains comprehensive insurance coverage appropriate for professional services engagements with enterprise clients. Our coverage includes Professional Liability (Errors & Omissions) insurance with limits that satisfy typical Fortune 500 vendor requirements, Commercial General Liability insurance, and Cyber Liability coverage protecting against data breach incidents. We also carry appropriate Workers' Compensation coverage for our team. Certificates of Insurance are readily available upon request for your procurement and legal review. For clients requiring specific coverage limits or additional insured status, we can typically accommodate these requirements. Our broker can speak directly with your risk management team if detailed coverage discussions are needed during vendor qualification.