John Pritchard, PhD
Vol. I · 2026
johnpritchard.me CEO · Radiant Logic
№ 01 / a thesis on compounding advantage

Don't just create value. Capture it.

Building defensible moats by turning products into platforms — and platforms into ecosystems.

Models commoditize. Context compounds.

Building the AI Data Moat ↓ PDF · 2 PG A product CEO's brief on context, platforms, and durable advantage in AI markets.
John Pritchard, PhD — CEO, Radiant Logic

Durable advantage is rarely built from features. It is built from the architecture around them — APIs that embed, developers who adopt, data that compounds, ecosystems that refuse to unravel.

This has been the through-line of my work across Adobe, Okta, and Radiant Logic, and the focus of my doctoral research in innovation management: turning technically strong platforms into category-defining assets.

Operating Profile

Where I create leverage.

Product-led CEO and operator for B2B software companies where durable growth depends on platform strategy, ecosystem leverage, and trusted enterprise data. Twenty-five years across enterprise software, developer platforms, and identity security — including both sides of identity M&A.

Best Fit
Enterprise software, cybersecurity, identity, data infrastructure, and AI-enabled workflow companies with a path from product to platform to ecosystem.
Value-Creation Track Record
Led Radiant Logic's acquisition of Brainwave GRC, expanding the platform into entitlement intelligence and strengthening European presence. Served on the integration team for Okta's acquisition of Auth0. Shaped API strategy at Adobe to make the Creative and Experience Clouds more extensible and harder to displace.
Operating Lens
Unify fragmented data, turn context into action, and build ecosystems where trust, coordination, and execution become the control points.
Board and Capital Relevance
Connects product strategy, technical architecture, customer outcomes, and enterprise value creation — with direct experience in capital allocation, cross-border M&A, and post-merger platform integration.
№ II

Anatomy of a Moat

the structural pillars

Moats are built from structural advantages. Research is how we identify, measure, and reinforce them.

1 Pillar

AI Data Moat

The advantage

Trusted, unified context — the substrate AI runs on, not the model itself.

Why it's durable

Models commoditize; the proprietary data, permissions, and execution paths around them compound.

What the research shows

Multiplayer AI: The New Operating Model For Identity Security Forbes Technology Council · 2025

2 Pillar

Switching Costs & Integration Depth

The advantage

APIs and integrations that embed the product into the customer's operating fabric.

Why it's durable

Every integration becomes a load-bearing dependency the customer must dismantle to leave.

What the research shows

You Have to Play to Win: Value Capture in Open Innovation Doctoral Dissertation · University of Denver · 2024

3 Pillar

Platform & Ecosystem Effects

The advantage

Builders extend the product, partners depend on it, customers carry it deeper into the organization.

Why it's durable

Each new participant raises the cost of leaving for everyone else; switching becomes systemic, not local.

What the research shows

Inside the Black Box of Creating and Capturing Value in Open Innovation Academy of Management Proceedings · 2024

4 Pillar

Trust & Regulatory Moat

The advantage

Earned positioning as the trusted system of record in regulated, security-sensitive environments.

Why it's durable

Trust compounds over years of audits passed, references built, and breaches not had — and resists shortcuts.

What the research shows

Research citation pending.

5 Pillar

Proprietary Domain IP

The advantage

First-principles understanding of a problem space, codified in product design and operating playbook.

Why it's durable

Generic AI tools can't replicate domain context they don't have access to.

What the research shows

You Have to Play to Win: Value Capture in Open Innovation Doctoral Dissertation · University of Denver · 2024

№ III

The Playbook

frameworks & talks
Keynote
Ready Player Two: Why Multiplayer AI Beats Going Solo in Identity Security
Identiverse Main Stage
A keynote on why identity security requires coordinated human and AI systems, not autonomous AI operating alone.
Watch the keynote
Framework
The AI Strategic Choice Matrix
Board Strategy Framework
№ IV

Research & Writing

selected works
04.1 — academic research 1 entry
  • Open Innovation Academy of Management · Proceedings
    You Have to Play to Win: Inside the Black Box of Creating and Capturing Value in Open Innovation

    Research on how firms create and capture value from open innovation ecosystems, knowledge flows, and intangible assets.

    Read the AOM entry Full dissertation
04.2 — published articles 1 entry
  • Multiplayer AI Forbes · Technology Council
    Multiplayer AI: The New Operating Model For Identity Security

    A model for identity security where AI amplifies human expertise, coordinates fragmented tools and teams, and turns identity context into action.

    Read the article More Forbes writing
№ V

For Boards & Investors

conversations worth having
Direct correspondence
[email protected]
linkedin.com/in/jpritchard
  • // ON FIT Product-led CEO for scaling identity, cybersecurity, and data infrastructure platforms through late-stage growth and beyond.
  • // ON BOARDS Bridging deep technical product strategy with enterprise Go-To-Market execution across complex, regulated markets.
  • // ON STRATEGY Navigating AI transitions, ecosystem M&A, and platform architecture where identity and data context are central to the investment thesis.