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I engineer traction.

I help leaders find traction faster — real customers, real adoption, real revenue. Not more plans. Not more features. Traction. Author of the #1 best-selling Traction First™ series. CEO. Coach. Speaker.

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Also accepting select coaching engagements for 2026.

"9 out of 10 new ventures fail. What would our world look like if they succeeded? That's a world I want to live in — and that's why I do what I do."
— Josh Barker
Trusted by leaders at
Consumers Energy Gordon Food Service KPMG Wolverine Building Group Ferrara Candy Co. Terryberry Cavallo University of Michigan University of Chicago Global Innovation Institute Tech Week GR West MI AI H-SPEC West MI Product Community
Consumers Energy Gordon Food Service KPMG Wolverine Building Group Ferrara Candy Co. Terryberry Cavallo University of Michigan University of Chicago Global Innovation Institute Tech Week GR West MI AI H-SPEC West MI Product Community
Josh Barker
Josh BarkerGrand Rapids, Michigan
About

Software engineer turned traction engineer. Same discipline. Different engine.

I spent a decade deep in code — from Big 4 consulting at KPMG, to managing dev teams, to co-founding a Silicon Valley startup. That startup failed spectacularly — and taught me the most expensive lesson in business: building the wrong thing.

It sent me on a mission to understand why great products don't get traction, and what systems make traction predictable. Today I lead City Innovations, a corporate venture studio, and a portfolio of companies all built around one idea: Traction First™.

I mentor founders at the University of Chicago and University of Michigan, and help organizations from startups to the Fortune 500 find market traction faster than anyone thought possible.

#1
Amazon Best Seller, Day 1
20+
Years building ventures
6
Active companies
100s
Teams coached to traction
Core Ideas

What I Believe About Traction

01

Traction Before Everything

Don't build for 12 months then hope. Sell first, learn from the market, and let evidence — not assumptions — guide what you build.

02

Engines, Not Fuel

Most traction problems aren't fuel problems. They're engine problems. Build a system that reliably turns $1 in into $10 out.

03

Kill Innovation Theater

Activity isn't progress. Meetings aren't momentum. The only metric that matters is traction — real customers, real adoption, real revenue.

04

Speed of Learning Wins

The fastest company to learn from the market wins. Compress months of guesswork into weeks of signal discovery.

05

Engineer Your Traction

Traction shouldn't be a mystery. Apply systems thinking, repeatable frameworks, and measurable rhythms — like building great software.

06

AI Amplifies, Not Replaces

The companies that win with AI won't just cut costs. They'll amplify people, increase speed, and turn expertise into leverage.

Frameworks

The Traction First™ System

These are the proprietary frameworks behind Traction First™ — battle-tested across hundreds of ventures and outlined in the book series.

01

Market Traction Funnel

From idea to viable venture

MVM Minimum Viable Model — Customer discovery, modeling & validation
MVL Minimum Viable Learnings — Customer development & market experiments
MVS Minimum Viable Solution — Low-fidelity, high manual touch; Bootstrap & growth hack early adopters

Replaces the traditional MVP with smaller, faster bets. Instead of one massive gamble, take many small experiments to learn what works — compressing years of guesswork into weeks.

02

Traction First™ OS

Agile Scrum — applied to growth

Sprints 2-week traction cycles with clear hypotheses and measurable outcomes
Roles Traction Owner (the "what") + Traction Master (the "how") + Traction Team
Rituals Sprint planning, standups, retrospectives — all oriented around market learning
Backlog A prioritized queue of traction experiments ranked by signal strength

Engineers perfected iterative development. Traction First™ OS applies the same discipline to growth — fast cycles, clear roles, and ruthless prioritization. Ship, learn, repeat.

03

Traction Flywheel

One team, four disciplines

A Attraction — Growth Marketing running rapid experiments to drive demand
C Conversion — Agile Sales selling-to-learn, turning demand into revenue
E Expansion — Product/Service ensuring customers realize & expand value
S Scale — Growth Engineering scaling what works through systems & AI

The ACES framework. Most teams treat marketing, sales, and product as silos. The Traction Flywheel unifies them into a single engine that compounds momentum. Leverages an opinionated Lean Canvas and Pirate Metrics.

Author

The Traction First™ Book Series

I wrote the books I wish existed when I was building my first company. Designed for leaders who need the mindset and operators who need the roadmap.

  • The 12 Laws of Market TractionStory-driven. CXO-friendly. The mindset book.
  • A Corporate Innovator's GuideThe practitioner's textbook. Frameworks, not fluff.
  • Field ManualThe companion playbook for teams in the field.
Get the Books →
#1
Best Seller

Kindle · Paperback · Audiobook
(narrated by the author)

Ventures & Companies

What I'm Building

Watch

See Josh in Action

▶

Keynote reel coming soon

Work With Josh

Speaking & Coaching

Available independently for keynotes, workshops, and executive coaching.

🎤

Speaking Engagements

Keynotes, fireside chats, panels, and interactive workshops for conferences, corporate offsites, leadership retreats, and universities.

Tech Week GR West MI AI U of M Guest Lecturer Ferrara Candy Co. Global Innovation Institute Podcasts + more

Signature Talks

  • Death to the MVP — Why 9/10 ventures fail and how smaller, faster bets change the odds
  • “We Use AI” ≠ Business Model — AI collapsed creation; traction is now the scarcest signal
  • Traction First™ — The operating system for market traction in weeks, not quarters
  • Custom — Tailored keynotes and workshops built around your team’s specific challenge
Book Josh to Speak →
🧭
5–10 engagements per year

Executive Coaching

I take on a small number of select engagements each year. This is for founders, CEOs, and innovation leaders who want a hands-on thinking partner — not a consultant who disappears after a slide deck.

What it looks like:

  • Traction engine design & diagnostics
  • Go-to-market strategy & clarity
  • Navigating AI shifts & productization
  • Leadership through uncertainty
  • Traction system architecture
  • Strategic accountability & rhythm

If you're serious about building a traction engine and want someone in the trenches with you — let's talk.

Inquire About Availability
“Josh doesn’t just talk about traction — he builds it. His frameworks changed how our team thinks about growth entirely.”
— Corporate Innovation Leader, Fortune 500
Newsletter

Traction Declassified

Redacted field notes from real traction work. What we’re learning helping companies enter new markets, launch new products, and get traction. No theory — just patterns from the work itself.

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Let's talk traction.

Whether you want a keynote, coaching, or to explore working together — start here.

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