Scale Design’s Impact From Day One
Strategic Guidance, Coaching & Advisory for Startups With 1–5 Product Designers

Scale Design’s Impact
From Day One

Strategic Guidance, Coaching & Advisory for Startups With 1–5 Product Designers

Your early designers do more than shape your product—they set the foundation for how design drives impact in your company.

You’ve made great hires—well done! Now, as your startup scales, how do you ensure design keeps up? Growing teams, scaling quality, and influencing strategy require a shift to balance immediate execution with long-term impact. With the right support, you can strengthen hiring, improve retention, and amplify design’s role in building a successful product and business.

That’s where I come in.

Hi, I’m Tom—I’ve spent 20 years in product design, in London and New York, with 10 years in leadership roles including the last 5 as Director of Product Design at Monzo. I’ve worked at startups, scaleups and household names, building the expertise needed at growth-stage inflection points while seeing firsthand the risks of not embedding design as a leadership pillar from the start.

Together, we’ll close that gap—helping design become a strategic advantage, not just an execution function.

How I Can Help

How I Can Help

How I Can Help

I blend coaching, strategic guidance, and async support to help your design team perform at their best. As a trusted partner with deep context on your company, I can coach your designers, shape strategic decisions, and help de-risk product choices. This gives you the benefit of senior design leadership, without over-hiring too soon, so you can build a strong design foundation that drives impact now and in the future.

1

High-Impact Strategy & Coaching Sessions

I’ll meet regularly with your product designers and/or founding team to:

  • De-Risk Major Product, Design, Org & Hiring Decisions. Whether it’s hiring choices, strategy pivots, or leadership decisions, tap into deep experience at critical moments. We can even move or combine sessions to get you help when you need it most.

  • Set the Bar for Design Quality. Clear, actionable feedback on what great design looks like, for you. In product reviews or design critiques, wherever design direction already gets set.

  • Increase Shipping Velocity. Expert guidance on the fly so your team spends less time second-guessing and more time shipping with conviction.

  • Improve Retention While Getting More From Your Designers. Hands-on coaching & guidance helps your designers grow into strategic, high-impact leaders.

  • Leadership-Level Engagement. While I typically work closest with designers, I can also join major leadership reviews to provide perspective and guidance when needed, helping elevate design’s impact as a strategic function.

1

High-Impact Strategy & Coaching Sessions

I’ll meet regularly with your product designers and/or founding team to:

  • De-Risk Major Product, Design, Org & Hiring Decisions. Whether it’s hiring choices, strategy pivots, or leadership decisions, tap into deep experience at critical moments. We can even move or combine sessions to get you help when you need it most.

  • Set the Bar for Design Quality. Clear, actionable feedback on what great design looks like, for you. In product reviews or design critiques, wherever design direction already gets set.

  • Increase Shipping Velocity. Expert guidance on the fly so your team spends less time second-guessing and more time shipping with conviction.

  • Improve Retention While Getting More From Your Designers. Hands-on coaching & guidance helps your designers grow into strategic, high-impact leaders.

  • Leadership-Level Engagement. While I typically work closest with designers, I can also join major leadership reviews to provide perspective and guidance when needed, helping elevate design’s impact as a strategic function.

1

High-Impact Strategy & Coaching Sessions

I’ll meet regularly with your product designers and/or founding team to:

  • De-Risk Major Product, Design, Org & Hiring Decisions. Whether it’s hiring choices, strategy pivots, or leadership decisions, tap into deep experience at critical moments. We can even move or combine sessions to get you help when you need it most.

  • Set the Bar for Design Quality. Clear, actionable feedback on what great design looks like, for you. In product reviews or design critiques, wherever design direction already gets set.

  • Increase Shipping Velocity. Expert guidance on the fly so your team spends less time second-guessing and more time shipping with conviction.

  • Improve Retention While Getting More From Your Designers. Hands-on coaching & guidance helps your designers grow into strategic, high-impact leaders.

  • Leadership-Level Engagement. While I typically work closest with designers, I can also join major leadership reviews to provide perspective and guidance when needed, helping elevate design’s impact as a strategic function.

2

Ongoing async support

  • Timely feedback. Get timely feedback on key decisions, documents or designs between sessions.

  • Session prep. Pre-reads or light workshop prep to get the most value from our sessions together.

2

Ongoing async support

  • Timely feedback. Get timely feedback on key decisions, documents or designs between sessions.

  • Session prep. Pre-reads or light workshop prep to get the most value from our sessions together.

2

Ongoing async support

I provide leadership and strategic advisory tailored to your company’s stage of growth. Whether you’re a Head of Design looking to elevate your team, a product leader building one from scratch, or simply need an experienced partner to tackle key organisational challenges, I’ll help you create and execute a clear path forward. I’ve supported scaling companies in key areas such as:

  • Growing your team. From org design and tailored hiring approaches to onboarding and retaining top talent.

  • Improving quality and pace. Establishing feedback standards, tools, and rituals to define excellence and ship quicker.

  • Strengthening design strategy. Enhancing design’s visibility, fostering a shared vision, and aligning with company goals.

  • Crafting ways of working. Building stronger collaboration within the team and among cross-functional partners.

I work best as a long-term partner on an ongoing retainer, including two hours of weekly video calls with async support in between. Depending on availability, I can also flex to ad hoc needs or scale up to one day per week in an interim fractional leadership capacity.

Roles I can play

While there’s value in each of these roles separately, I operate best at the intersection, maximising the value I’m able to bring to your team as a:

  • Leadership Coach & Advisor

  • Fractional Design Leader

  • Growth-Stage Expert

Roles I can play

While there’s value in each of these roles separately, I operate best at the intersection, maximising the value I’m able to bring to your team as a:

  • Leadership Coach & Advisor

  • Fractional Design Leader

  • Growth-Stage Expert

Roles I can play

While there’s value in each of these roles separately, I operate best at the intersection, maximising the value I’m able to bring to your team as a:

  • Leadership Coach & Advisor

  • Fractional Design Leader

  • Growth-Stage Expert

Costs & Packages

Costs & Packages

Costs & Packages

Many startups invest in hiring great designers, but the true challenge is unlocking their full potential once on board. The cost of hiring goes far beyond salary. Employer taxes, benefits, overheads, equity, and recruitment fees mean a 100K base salary can easily turn into a fully-loaded annual cost to the business of 150K–200K.

By working with me, you get the most from your team, ensuring design plays a strategic leadership role early on, without hiring veteran leaders too soon. I take on a limited number of clients at a time to ensure deep focus, partnering with startups where a strong human-centred mission, team, or ambition is at the core of what they do.

I offer three sizes of engagement:

Essential

→ One hour-long session every other week, plus async support

Elevated

→ One hour-long session every week, plus async support

Best for design teams of 1, where design is a key product differentiator

Embedded

→ Two hour-long sessions every week, plus async support

Best for design teams of 4+ or approaching scale-up stage

While I provide most value as a long-term partner, I understand how funding cycles and runway affect priorities. You can pause or cancel at any time. No pressure.

Let's talk

Let's talk

Let's talk

A photo of Tom Harman stood in front of a colourful wall
A photo of Tom Harman stood in front of a colourful wall

If you want to build a world-class product design team and culture from day one, I’d love to chat.

Book a free initial call

We’ll discuss your challenges and, if there’s strong potential, schedule a free 60-minute session to work through a real design, hiring, growth or strategy challenge together, to see whether there's a fit. I look forward to meeting you.

Intentional Partners is Tom Harman

A design leadership coach and advisor based in London, working globally

LinkedIn Substack hi@intentional.partners

Intentional Partners is Tom Harman

A design leadership coach and advisor

based in London, working globally

LinkedIn Substack hi@intentional.partners