It usually starts
with “what if?”
Brian Sparker is a Staff Product Manager at You.com, working on AI, search, and developer tools.
Hi, I’m Brian.
Some places I’ve
helped build things
The day job, and the work along the way
Making the complex feel simple.
You.com
I helped move search to a chat-first experience, then turned it into an API platform that developers and agents can adopt without talking to sales.
Commerce & discoveryCrate & Barrel
I worked on search and product data so shoppers could find what was available.
Search & recommendationsG2
I led work on search, ranking, and recommendations for software buyers.
Built because I wanted to use them
On my workbench.
SuperPaste
Press Option+V and the right text appears in whatever you are typing. Native macOS, Swift, MIT.
frugal
The open routing layer for AI tool calls: every search, extract, and browse call routed to the cheapest provider that works, with failover and a receipt. One Go binary.
you.md
One portable preferences file for AI coding tools instead of six that disagree. Open protocol, TypeScript, MIT.
PromptLens
Prompt and agent evaluation from one YAML golden set across Claude, GPT, Gemini, and local models, with cost and latency in one report. Python.
The interesting stuff happens
between the lines.
I like systems. I also like the ideas that don’t quite fit them. This site is a bit of both: a structured home for an always-unfinished collection of things I’m making and thinking about.
Notes from figuring things out
Thinking out loud.
- I build the prototype before I write the PRD
AI has changed the order of my product work. I build a small version, learn from users, and share the evidence before writing the plan for a larger investment.
Oct 16, 2026
- Agents search like it's 1999
Coding agents now pick tools while a developer watches, and the queries they send look nothing like a buyer's. They are terse, literal, and dated. If your pages only answer the human query, the agent never finds you.
Sep 23, 2026
- Attribution is who called, never what they asked
Most agent traffic reaches an API through SDKs, plugins, and MCP servers that never identify themselves, so the channels driving adoption look like they do nothing. The fix is a client identifier everywhere, with one line you do not cross.
Sep 23, 2026
Keep the curiosity going
Something
on your mind?
Ask my AI about my work, projects, or how I think. It answers from my writing and links to its sources.
Or email the actual human ↗
Ask Brian’s AI
My work and writing, open for questions
Brian’s AI can make mistakes. Check the sources. Email Brian