Your startup design partner
Your startup design partner
Your startup design partner
Working with Seed → Series B SaaS founders to solve design challenges — so you grow with confidence.
Working with Seed → Series B SaaS founders to solve design challenges — so you grow with confidence.
Trusted by teams and founders at ↓
Trusted by founders at ↓
Trusted by teams and founders at ↓
More than a designer.
More than
a designer.
A strategic partner for your product.
A strategic
partner for
your product.
I work side-by-side with founders, PMs, and engineers to align product, design, and business goals.
You get the clarity, systems, and leadership-level expertise to make design a true driver of growth — without the commitment of hiring full-time.
More than a designer.
A strategic partner for your product.
I work side-by-side with founders, PMs, and engineers to align product, design, and business goals.
You get the clarity, systems, and leadership-level expertise to make design a true driver of growth — without the commitment of hiring full-time.
Why founders
bring me in
You vibe-coded your MVP. You tested countless prototypes. You raised your first, maybe second, round, and now your product needs to evolve.
This is where things get messy — what used to work starts to break:
→ Product inconsistency hinders trust with users (and investors).
→ Design debt starts to grow, slowing delivery.
→ Roadmap planning is a struggle to balance user needs, and business goals.
→ It gets harder to learn and scale fast enough.
That’s where
I come in.
I work with you to bring order to the messy middle: aligning product vision with user needs and business strategy, laying solid foundations, strengthening investor confidence, and proving product–market fit.
Why founders
bring me in
You vibe-coded your MVP. You tested countless prototypes. You raised your first, maybe second, round, and now your product needs to evolve.
This is where things get messy — what used to work starts to break:
→ Product inconsistency hinders trust with users (and investors).
→ Design debt starts to grow, slowing delivery.
→ Roadmap planning is a struggle to balance user needs, and business goals.
→ It gets harder to learn and scale fast enough.
That’s where
I come in.
I work with you to bring order to the messy middle: aligning product vision with user needs and business strategy, laying solid foundations, strengthening investor confidence, and proving product–market fit.
Fractional
Design Leadership
Design
Leadership
I bring design leadership into your startup at the stage you need it most — stepping in as your Head of Design until you’re ready to hire full-time.
You’ll get hands-on design leadership, unlimited requests, strategic workshops and weekly touchpoints.
Fast and focused
What it's like working together
Business Onboarding
We’ll get a deeper understanding of your business, product, and team — and align on the next steps that will create the most impact.
We’ll get a deeper understanding of your business, product, and team — and align on the next steps that will create the most impact.
1 - 2 weeks
Design & Strategy
We clarify your product and business goals, align stakeholders expectations, and set priorities — so we know exactly what to design first.
We clarify your product and business goals, align stakeholders expectations, and set priorities — so we know exactly what to design first.
3 - 4 weeks
Ongoing Requests
Continuous design and leadership on demand: requests, iterations, mentorship, and strategic input as your product evolves.
Continuous design and leadership on demand: requests, iterations, mentorship, and strategic input as your product evolves.
Private Notion Tracking Board
Fractional
Design Leadership
I bring design leadership into your startup at the stage you need it most — stepping in as your Head of Design until you’re ready to hire full-time.
You’ll get hands-on design leadership, unlimited requests, strategic workshops and weekly touchpoints.
Fast and focused
What it's like working together
Business Onboarding
We’ll get a deeper understanding of your business, product, and team — and align on the next steps that will create the most impact.
1 - 2 weeks
Design & Strategy
We clarify your product and business goals, align stakeholders expectations, and set priorities — so we know exactly what to design first.
3 - 4 weeks
Ongoing Requests
Continuous design and leadership on demand: requests, iterations, mentorship, and strategic input as your product evolves.
Private Notion Tracking Board
What people say
What people say
"Carol's structured approach helped us assess pains and gains at each step of the journey, which was instrumental in shaping our shared understanding of where the product stands and where it needs to go.
Her process gave us the tools to communicate more clearly about how we currently use our product, where it falls short for users, and how it should evolve. What we gained wasn’t just a visual artifact, but a foundational alignment across teams. "
Dorian Schlede
Lead Solution Engineer at BeamAI
"Carolina is an exceptional leader, collaborator and innovator.
Carolina helped the Coaching Lab team connect the dots between product and customer needs through her strong facilitation skills and impactful workshops.
It’s rare to work with someone who can truly work in a co-creative way and maintain the speed and delivery needed for a fast-growing, technology company."
Rosie Evans-Krimme
Director Innovation Lab & Behavioural Science
"Carolina is one of the most remarkable creative minds and thought leaders in design and UX leadership.
Her deep understanding of business challenges and her ability to seamlessly navigate between strategy and execution is truly impressive and sets her apart."
Svenja Haus
Managing Partner at crispycoaching
"Every digital artifact Carolina touches becomes beautiful and easy to grasp at a first glance. She succeeds in making complicated information easy to understand for everyone.
Carolina is an expert facilitator who deeply cares that every participant knows clearly what is expected and feels safe. And with her hands-on mentality she is always able to deliver fast results when needed."
Christoph Poyault
Strategy & Leadership Team Coach
"I highly recommend Carol as a UX Designer. She is not only a highly skilled designer but also a pleasure to work with.
She approaches every project with a high level of expertise and attention to detail. Her ability to manage and oversee projects is exceptional."
Juljan May
Director of Engineering
"I had the chance to work with Carolina, and it was a great experience.
I really appreciated her calm approach and her ability to think outside the box. She created a supportive, collaborative environment that made it easy to do our best work."
Cristina Ilenescu
Service Designer at Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)
"Carol's structured approach helped us assess pains and gains at each step of the journey, which was instrumental in shaping our shared understanding of where the product stands and where it needs to go.
Her process gave us the tools to communicate more clearly about how we currently use our product, where it falls short for users, and how it should evolve. What we gained wasn’t just a visual artifact, but a foundational alignment across teams. "
Dorian Schlede
Lead Solution Engineer at BeamAI
"Carolina is an exceptional leader, collaborator and innovator.
Carolina helped the Coaching Lab team connect the dots between product and customer needs through her strong facilitation skills and impactful workshops.
It’s rare to work with someone who can truly work in a co-creative way and maintain the speed and delivery needed for a fast-growing, technology company."
Rosie Evans-Krimme
Director Innovation Lab & Behavioural Science
"Carolina is one of the most remarkable creative minds and thought leaders in design and UX leadership.
Her deep understanding of business challenges and her ability to seamlessly navigate between strategy and execution is truly impressive and sets her apart."
Svenja Haus
Managing Partner at crispycoaching
"Every digital artifact Carolina touches becomes beautiful and easy to grasp at a first glance. She succeeds in making complicated information easy to understand for everyone.
Carolina is an expert facilitator who deeply cares that every participant knows clearly what is expected and feels safe. And with her hands-on mentality she is always able to deliver fast results when needed."
Christoph Poyault
Strategy & Leadership Team Coach
"I highly recommend Carol as a UX Designer. She is not only a highly skilled designer but also a pleasure to work with.
She approaches every project with a high level of expertise and attention to detail. Her ability to manage and oversee projects is exceptional."
Juljan May
Director of Engineering
"I had the chance to work with Carolina, and it was a great experience.
I really appreciated her calm approach and her ability to think outside the box. She created a supportive, collaborative environment that made it easy to do our best work."
Cristina Ilenescu
Service Designer at Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)
"Carol's structured approach helped us assess pains and gains at each step of the journey, which was instrumental in shaping our shared understanding of where the product stands and where it needs to go.
Her process gave us the tools to communicate more clearly about how we currently use our product, where it falls short for users, and how it should evolve. What we gained wasn’t just a visual artifact, but a foundational alignment across teams. "
Dorian Schlede
Lead Solution Engineer at BeamAI
"Carolina is an exceptional leader, collaborator and innovator.
Carolina helped the Coaching Lab team connect the dots between product and customer needs through her strong facilitation skills and impactful workshops.
It’s rare to work with someone who can truly work in a co-creative way and maintain the speed and delivery needed for a fast-growing, technology company."
Rosie Evans-Krimme
Director Innovation Lab & Behavioural Science
"Carolina is one of the most remarkable creative minds and thought leaders in design and UX leadership.
Her deep understanding of business challenges and her ability to seamlessly navigate between strategy and execution is truly impressive and sets her apart."
Svenja Haus
Managing Partner at crispycoaching
"Every digital artifact Carolina touches becomes beautiful and easy to grasp at a first glance. She succeeds in making complicated information easy to understand for everyone.
Carolina is an expert facilitator who deeply cares that every participant knows clearly what is expected and feels safe. And with her hands-on mentality she is always able to deliver fast results when needed."
Christoph Poyault
Strategy & Leadership Team Coach
"I highly recommend Carol as a UX Designer. She is not only a highly skilled designer but also a pleasure to work with.
She approaches every project with a high level of expertise and attention to detail. Her ability to manage and oversee projects is exceptional."
Juljan May
Director of Engineering
"I had the chance to work with Carolina, and it was a great experience.
I really appreciated her calm approach and her ability to think outside the box. She created a supportive, collaborative environment that made it easy to do our best work."
Cristina Ilenescu
Service Designer at Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)
Hey, I'm
Carolina
One of my most important lessons came during a Design Sprint years ago. I walked into the room with what I thought was a hard challenge to solve, but by the end of the week, we had prototyped a thoughtful solution — one that taught us more with users in a few days than months of assumptions ever could. That experience showed me that design isn’t about having the answer, but about creating the space for the right answers to emerge.
One of my most important lessons came during a Design Sprint years ago. I walked into the room with what I thought was a hard challenge to solve, but by the end of the week, we had prototyped a thoughtful solution — one that taught us more with users in a few days than months of assumptions ever could. That experience showed me that design isn’t about having the answer, but about creating the space for the right answers to emerge.
I’ve been in design for 17 years, and for the past 8 I’ve led design in startups like CoachHub, Heartbeat, and MODIFI — helping teams grow from scrappy MVPs to global products. What I’ve learned is that my strength isn’t just in designing interfaces, but in facilitating clarity: aligning founders, product leaders, and teams so they can move faster and more confidently.
I’ve been in design for 17 years, and for the past 8 I’ve led design in startups like CoachHub, Heartbeat, and MODIFI — helping teams grow from scrappy MVPs to global products. What I’ve learned is that my strength isn’t just in designing interfaces, but in facilitating clarity: aligning founders, product leaders, and teams so they can move faster and more confidently.
Here’s what I’ve seen along the way:
→ You don’t just need a beautiful interface — you need clarity on what to build and why.
→ You don’t just need design work shipped — you need alignment across founders, PMs, and engineers.
→ And you don’t need a big team — you need a partner who can move fast, adapt, and genuinely care about your success.
→ You don’t just need a beautiful interface — you need clarity on what to build and why.
→ You don’t just need design work shipped — you need alignment across founders, PMs, and engineers.
→ And you don’t need a big team — you need a partner who can move fast, adapt, and genuinely care about your success.
That’s why I now partner with founders and product leaders across Europe as a Fractional Head of Design — bringing both design expertise and a facilitation-first approach to every project.
That’s why I now partner with founders and product leaders across Europe as a Fractional Head of Design — bringing both design expertise and a facilitation-first approach to every project.
Subscribe to my newsletter
Hey, I'm
Carolina
One of my most important lessons came during a Design Sprint years ago. I walked into the room with what I thought was a hard challenge to solve, but by the end of the week, we had prototyped a thoughtful solution — one that taught us more with users in a few days than months of assumptions ever could. That experience showed me that design isn’t about having the answer, but about creating the space for the right answers to emerge.
I’ve been in design for 17 years, and for the past 8 I’ve led design in startups like CoachHub, Heartbeat, and MODIFI — helping teams grow from scrappy MVPs to global products. What I’ve learned is that my strength isn’t just in designing interfaces, but in facilitating clarity: aligning founders, product leaders, and teams so they can move faster and more confidently.
Here’s what I’ve seen along the way:
→ You don’t just need a beautiful interface — you need clarity on what to build and why.
→ You don’t just need design work shipped — you need alignment across founders, PMs, and engineers.
→ And you don’t need a big team — you need a partner who can move fast, adapt, and genuinely care about your success.
That’s why I now partner with founders and product leaders across Europe as a Fractional Head of Design — bringing both design expertise and a facilitation-first approach to every project.
Subscribe to my newsletter
Trusted by teams and founders at ↓
Trusted by founders at ↓
Trusted by teams and founders at ↓
Let’s solve your design challenges!
Let’s solve your design challenges!
