01
Frame
Discovery to navigate messy, ambiguous problem areas and identify what is worth solving using behavioral data, enterprise data, and primary research.
- Research methods
- 1-on-1 interviewing, diary studies, ethnography, signal listening
Insight that moves
I believe insight is only as powerful as its ability to reach the people who need to make decisions. Getting to that shared understanding is possible now in ways it wasn't before — and my research increasingly centers on designing the systems that let organizations act as one, delivering cohesive brands and seamless customer experiences.
In my research practice, I continue to exercise discernment that informs what's worth investigating in the first place. I use multipliers intentionally, in ways that expand the scope of research where necessary, accelerate timelines, and democratize access — all while staying true to the foundational human insights.
Grace Zec
Founder
15 years experience, working with business leaders, VC investors, and founders — across financial services, life sciences, healthtech, consumer goods/services, civic tech, public policy, publishing, manufacturing and industrials.
My approach
02
Triangulate
Strengthen what discovery surfaces with any additional quantitative data available; translate each problem area into a set of opportunities for leadership, or a concrete roadmap for the teams building out those opportunities.
- Research methods
- surveys, qualitative studies at scale, logs analysis, critical user journeys
03
Systematize
Turn insights into shared, queryable research infrastructure using relevant multipliers.
Multipliers — expanded speed and scope
01
Automated signal scraping and theme classification
02
AI moderation — see Resources for my POV — coming soon
03
Interactive personas, dynamic repositories — see Resources for my POV
Explore
A running series — this one's consumer financial sentiment, more industries to come.
The gap between financial confidence and competence
The 2024 FINRA National Financial Capability Study asked people how confident they were in their financial knowledge, then tested that knowledge with a six-question quiz — compound interest, inflation, investment risk, and others. This visualization shows the gap between the two, broken out by state, income, age, and education.
National Financial Confidence Ledger
Confidence compared with measured financial competence across all 50 states and D.C.
Overall gap
LowHigh
Finding 1
Every state overshoots.
1 / 5
Nationally, self-rated financial knowledge beats the literacy quiz score by +15.5 points. Louisiana overshoots most (+20.9); New Hampshire and Utah least (+9.7).
Work
Financial Services
Money Mindsets
Coming soonUBS Wealth Management
Investor Journeys
T. Rowe Price
Life Sciences
Missing Feedback Loops
Illustrative
Internal System Design for Better CX
Coming soonIllustrative
All other
How a Content Pioneer transformed into an AI Leader
Coming soonThomson Reuters
Enabling Future of AI
Coming soonQualcomm
Building App Engagement
Tonies
Weighing the risk of a logo transformation
Coming soonConfidential Sports
Testimonials
“Grace is one of those rare people who can take a messy, complicated question and turn it into something clear, useful and actionable. At Code and Theory, she brought real rigor to our research practice while always keeping the work connected to people, culture and the decisions our clients actually needed to make. She is thoughtful, sharp, highly collaborative and consistently made the teams around her smarter. Grace had a real impact here, and I'd work with her again without hesitation. Any team looking to build a stronger research capability, especially one that connects brand, product and customer experience, would be lucky to have her.”
Craig Elimeliah
Chief Creative Officer - Code and Theory
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