Get the Design Leader Your Startup Actually Needs
(Without the $200K+ Hiring Mistake)
“Companies fail to choose the candidate with the right talent for the job 82% of the time.” – Gallup
Get the right fit for the right time for the right outcome.
One Problem, Two Sides
Founders
Design Leaders
“We keep talking about “user experience,” but I need someone who connects design work to revenue, retention, and product-market fit.“
“We’re expected to “move the needle,” but no one can explain what needle we’re trying to move. Where’s the target?“
“I want design to contribute strategically, but our team is constantly stuck in roadmap reaction mode“
“I thought hiring a Head of Design would drive alignment around customer value. Instead, I’m still the one tying everything back to OKRs.”
“We’re shipping features faster, but without a clear connection to customer pain or business outcomes. That’s not real impact.”
“I expected design to be strategic, but I don’t see how the work ladders up to what actually moves the business.“
“I can help the company differentiate but only if we treat design like a strategic partner, not just a service org.”
“We’re making big product bets and design isn’t showing up early enough to shape them, just to skin them.“
“Design can unlock value, but we need space to ask better questions, not just make what’s already decided look better.“
“If we’re investing in design, it has to help us differentiate not just improve usability.”
Fix your Design team and multiply their impact.
We’re not just here to coach or critique, we’re here to transform how your Design team delivers value.
We embed alongside your product and engineering partners to rebuild trust, speed, and strategic clarity, using AI to help your existing team do more with less.
From sprints to structure, all of our solutions on outcomes, not rituals. While we’re coaching and correcting, we’re also shipping, fast.
We work in the real product.
This isn’t a strategy deck or a Figma graveyard. We pick a meaningful slice of product work and coach your team while building it, live, together.
We fix the org through the work.
While your team ships, we realign the way design, product, and engineering operate,clarifying ownership, speeding up decisions, and creating a protocol that sticks.
We collapse timelines with AI
AI isn’t a sidekick, it’s built into how we collapse timelines, increase signal, and reduce rework. The result? A leaner, faster, more strategic design team.
🚀
“We needed a third party to get us unstuck. We could have never fixed this within our existing org dynamics.”
Founder/CEO
Unicorn Cap Table Management Startup
Who we’re for?
For Founders
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What it is:
A 2–4 week engagement to assess your current design team, product culture, and readiness for scale. Includes interviews, process audits, and a founder debrief with clear recommendations.
Who it’s for:
Startups with an underperforming design function, or founders wondering if they’ve hired the right design leader.
Deliverables:
Org and leadership health check
Design team assessment (skills, trust, execution)
Product org alignment analysis
Tactical plan: keep, change, or rebuild
Pricing: $12,000–$18,000 flat fee (based on team size and urgency)
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What it is:
I help you define the right design role, vet candidates, and even join your hiring panel to ensure you don’t make the mistake of hiring for polish over performance.
Who it’s for:
Startups making their first Head/VP of Design hire—or trying to course-correct after a misfire.
Deliverables:
Role definition & level calibration
Interview rubric + candidate evaluation
Offer consultation and onboarding plan
Optional: shortlisting or review of final candidates
Pricing: $6,500–$9,000 flat fee
(Add-on support for onboarding or post-hire coaching available)
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What it is:
Hands-on, high-trust design leadership without the full-time cost. I join your exec team part-time to stabilize, coach, hire, and scale your design function.
Who it’s for:
Founders who need senior product/design leadership but aren’t ready (or able) to hire a full-time VP.
Scope:
1–2 days/week commitment (on retainer)
Includes team 1:1s, roadmap participation, hiring guidance
Strategic partner to Product, CEO, or CTO
Optional: interim leadership coverage during VP search
Pricing: $8,500–$12,000/month (3-month minimum) text goes here
For The Whole Team
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You, Executive Stakeholders, Product, Engineering, Customers, and of course, Design
The sprint is designed to do two things at once with an exponentially beneficial outcome, to model how the functions can work together to produce an a uniquely successful product solution in a rapid amount of time
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What You Get
A customer-validated prototype ready for roadmap or funding pitch
A redefined design operating model for your org (roles, rituals, review)
Clear design metrics that align with business outcomes
A documented collaboration framework between PM, Design, and Eng
Live coaching and facilitation from a design leader who’s seen it all
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Duration: 6 Weeks
Focus: One real product initiative, shaped and shipped
Team: Product, Design, Engineering + executive stakeholders
Tooling: AI-assisted prototyping, feedback synthesis, and decision support
Led by: Me and my team — live coaching, strategic modeling, hands-on collaboration
For Design Leaders
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What it is:
One-on-one coaching for VPs, Heads of Design, or Staff Designers navigating org friction, unclear expectations, or personal burnout.
Who it’s for:
Design leaders in high-pressure roles who need a sounding board and a strategic reset.
Includes:
Weekly 60-min sessions
Crisis navigation, influence coaching, and role clarity mapping
Slack async support between sessions
Pricing: $3,000/month or $850/session (sliding scale for individual pay)
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You’re not just being interviewed. You’re interviewing them.
Before you accept that shiny VP title or Head of Design offer, ask the questions that reveal whether this company is actually ready for design — or just hopes you’ll fix everything they won’t confront.
We’ll give you the exact questions to ask — in your interviews with founders, product, and eng — to assess:
Whether design is a strategic partner or a service desk
How decisions actually get made (vs. how they say they do)
If you’ll have the support, authority, and context to lead — or just decorate someone else’s roadmap
Whether the org knows how to use design to go faster, especially in an AI-enabled product org
Because the worst design job isn’t the one without a seat.
It’s the one where you’re given a seat — and no influence.
[Download the checklist] or
[Talk to us before you sign]
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Let me help you find the company that will leverage your skills and experience and avoid the companies that will squeeze you into a corner and drain the life out of you
I’ve seen some things
Brett Marlin
Founder, No Seat Required
Why I Built This
Founders want design to move the business forward, not slow it down. I get that. I’ve been the design leader hired to do exactly that, only to find vague goals, broken systems, and unspoken expectations. I’ve felt the tension: trying to lead without a mandate, trying to contribute strategically while being treated like a service layer.
I started No Seat Required because I’ve seen what’s possible when everything clicks, when product, design, and engineering are aligned around a clear goal and empowered to move fast. That perspective was shaped by my time at Pivotal Labs in 2015.
Today, I help founders and design leaders fix the dynamics that hold teams back, with a focus on modern workflows, AI-driven velocity, and shared clarity. Whether you’re hiring for the first time or recalibrating a team, I bring a clear-eyed view of both sides, and help you build the structure, rhythm, and trust that turns design into a force for acceleration.
Not sure yet? Ask yourself:
Is our product’s design a competitive advantage yet?
Can we see how our Design team contributes to our product’s adoption, engagement and retention?
Are we still mocking things up in Figma just to hand them off like blueprints?
Are we still writing PRDs like it’s 2014, long lists of requirements no one reads?
Are we doing UX research the same way we did before AI and expecting faster answers?
Are teams moving 10x faster, or are we still arguing over who owns what?
Are we working in one shared artifact, or passing docs around and calling it collaboration?
If any of that sounds familiar, you’re not alone, but you’re also not stuck.
We help product teams shift into a new rhythm, one where decisions happen faster, tools do more of the lifting, and everyone builds with clarity.
Let’s talk about what’s possible