Ongoing Advisory

A long-term, flexible partnership for founders and design leaders.

Ongoing Advisory

A long-term, flexible partnership for founders and design leaders.

Behind every well-designed product is a leader making hundreds of decisions that shape how teams work, how products feel, and how people experience the world. Yet in the rush to ship and scale, few have the space or support to pause, reflect, and be intentional about those choices.
This advisory exists to create that space. A space to think deeply, lead confidently, and keep growing without burning out. It’s the evolution of everything I’ve learned from coaching design leaders and operating as a fractional head of design, distilled into a format that’s emerged through experience with the leaders I’ve supported. Over time, this has proven to be the most valuable and sustainable way for them to grow and create long-term leverage.
What makes it work is deep context. I take time to understand your world, the dynamics of your company, the nuances of your team, and what makes you and your product unique. From there, we blend the reflection and growth of coaching with the practical support of design leadership: one part thought partner, one part experienced guide.
What begins as clarity and confidence in you becomes momentum for everyone around you, shaping how teams think, how products evolve, and how your company shows up in the world.

How We’ll Work Together

How We’ll Work Together

How We’ll Work Together

I’ve crafted this offering to address the three pain points I most consistently hear from founders and design leaders looking for expert advisory: depth, momentum and access.

Each month you'll get

A 90-minute Live Session

Crafted together, in advance, and oriented toward your top priorities, we’ll get into the details in a fast-paced working session. Whether that’s zooming out to make sense of a big picture challenge, or getting into the design details, this is our time to go deep, shaping direction and driving decisions together.

All meeting transcripts, future agendas and async artefacts live in a shared, private Notion space for easy reference and collaboration.

Async Action

Typically one per month, these are small, high-leverage tasks that I take on to boost momentum on your top priorities. They are often oriented around our live sessions—either prepping for or accelerating progress afterward—not leaving everything on your plate. I’ll often pro-actively suggest ideas, based on the themes in our live sessions, though you can always flag what you’d find most useful.

Examples include: comms checklists for re-org rollouts, a draft interview guide for design hiring, PDP templates for your team.

Ongoing Quick Asks

Need a gut check, second opinion or supportive sounding board? Drop me a WhatsApp message and I’ll get back within 48 hours (usually sooner) so you don’t need to wait until we speak to unblock progress, or feel supported in the challenge you’re facing. You don’t have to do this alone.

Great for sense-checking important messages to the team, making tricky UI decisions or prepping for difficult conversations.

£1,250 / month

For your first quarter, invoiced up front

I’ve opened four spots for new clients from October, at the early partner rate above, while I continue refining the async experience.

👉 Book a short call to see if this could be a fit.

£1,000 / month

Invoiced quarterly, up front

I’ve opened four spots for new clients from October, at the early partner rate above, while I continue refining the async experience.

👉 Book a short call to see if this could be a fit.

What Others Have Said

What Others Have Said

What Others Have Said

I’ve been fortunate to work with leaders from Monzo, BuzzFeed, Babylon Health, and a range of fast-growing, VC-backed startups. Here’s what a few have said about the impact of our work together.

“

Partnering with Tom has been instrumental in my growth as a leader. He’s a great listener who asks the right questions to get to the heart of challenges, and his human-first but commercially-savvy approach has given me clarity through everything from team coaching to company restructures. With his guidance I’ve been able to unlock the potential in my team and create an environment where people can do their best work. He provides a safe, judgement-free space and genuinely cares about your growth and success.

— Chris Underdown, Head of Product Design at Motorway

“

Partnering with Tom has been instrumental in my growth as a leader. He’s a great listener who asks the right questions to get to the heart of challenges, and his human-first but commercially-savvy approach has given me clarity through everything from team coaching to company restructures. With his guidance I’ve been able to unlock the potential in my team and create an environment where people can do their best work. He provides a safe, judgement-free space and genuinely cares about your growth and success.

— Chris Underdown, Head of Product Design at Motorway

“

Partnering with Tom has been instrumental in my growth as a leader. He’s a great listener who asks the right questions to get to the heart of challenges, and his human-first but commercially-savvy approach has given me clarity through everything from team coaching to company restructures. With his guidance I’ve been able to unlock the potential in my team and create an environment where people can do their best work. He provides a safe, judgement-free space and genuinely cares about your growth and success.

— Chris Underdown, Head of Product Design at Motorway

“

Tom has been invaluable as we’ve scaled our team and product. He helped us shape a clear, lightweight hiring process for our first Product Manager and coached me through every step, leading to a brilliant hire. He built out our customer research practice, levelled up the design of our reports, and raised the quality and confidence of everything we ship.

— Adam Rogers, CTO & Co-founder at Martello

“

Tom has been invaluable as we’ve scaled our team and product. He helped us shape a clear, lightweight hiring process for our first Product Manager and coached me through every step, leading to a brilliant hire. He built out our customer research practice, levelled up the design of our reports, and raised the quality and confidence of everything we ship.

— Adam Rogers, CTO & Co-founder at Martello

“

Tom has been invaluable as we’ve scaled our team and product. He helped us shape a clear, lightweight hiring process for our first Product Manager and coached me through every step, leading to a brilliant hire. He built out our customer research practice, levelled up the design of our reports, and raised the quality and confidence of everything we ship.

— Adam Rogers, CTO & Co-founder at Martello

“

Tom helped me find focus and confidence as the only designer on the team. His guidance gave me tools to navigate disagreement, set boundaries, and communicate design’s value with real business impact. His first-hand experience has been incredibly helpful and I’m excited to continue getting his input on the design work itself.

— Anonymous, Lead Product Designer at Seed-Stage Startup

“

Tom helped me find focus and confidence as the only designer on the team. His guidance gave me tools to navigate disagreement, set boundaries, and communicate design’s value with real business impact. His first-hand experience has been incredibly helpful and I’m excited to continue getting his input on the design work itself.

— Anonymous, Lead Product Designer at Seed-Stage Startup

“

Tom helped me find focus and confidence as the only designer on the team. His guidance gave me tools to navigate disagreement, set boundaries, and communicate design’s value with real business impact. His first-hand experience has been incredibly helpful and I’m excited to continue getting his input on the design work itself.

— Anonymous, Lead Product Designer at Seed-Stage Startup

Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Value & Fit

1. Who is this best suited for?

1. Who is this best suited for?

1. Who is this best suited for?

2. How did you decide pricing?

2. How did you decide pricing?

2. How did you decide pricing?

Once the pilot is complete, I expect pricing to move to £1,000 per month. The typical salary range for leaders in these roles (in London) is between £90k and £150k, and around ten percent of that midpoint feels like a fair reflection of the leverage I’m able to add. And like any true Lenny’s Podcast fan, I also ran a Van Westendorp price study with existing clients based on this proposition, and the sweet spot came out around £800–1,200 per month, which reinforced that the price is balanced and realistic.

3. What’s the business case for this?

3. What’s the business case for this?

3. What’s the business case for this?

Adding ~10% to what you already invest in design leadership gives you the benefit of an experienced partner supporting that leader, sharpening decisions, strengthening design outcomes, and building confidence across the team. For most growing startups, this is far more practical than hiring a full-time exec-level leader, while still giving you access to that level of perspective and support. It reduces risk, accelerates clarity, and helps you get the best out of the leadership you already have.

4. Why shouldn’t I just work with a coach or consultant?

4. Why shouldn’t I just work with a coach or consultant?

4. Why shouldn’t I just work with a coach or consultant?

5. How is this different from fractional design leadership?

5. How is this different from fractional design leadership?

5. How is this different from fractional design leadership?

How It Works

6. How does each engagement start?

6. How does each engagement start?

6. How does each engagement start?

7. What if I want more or less time together?

7. What if I want more or less time together?

7. What if I want more or less time together?

8. What’s included in async support?

8. What’s included in async support?

8. What’s included in async support?

9. What are some examples of async requests?

9. What are some examples of async requests?

9. What are some examples of async requests?

10. Do you just work 1:1, or can I bring others?

10. Do you just work 1:1, or can I bring others?

10. Do you just work 1:1, or can I bring others?

Practicalities

11. How flexible is the commitment?

11. How flexible is the commitment?

11. How flexible is the commitment?

12. How confidential is our work together?

12. How confidential is our work together?

12. How confidential is our work together?

13. How do you measure success?

13. How do you measure success?

13. How do you measure success?

Intentional Partners is Tom Harman
A fractional design leader and advisor based in London, working globally
hi@intentional.partners