I coach product and design teams at early and growth stage startups. I coach PMs, designers, and marketers on customer development and bringing new products to market: running customer interviews, and designing and testing prototypes. Additionally, I specialize in coaching founders and heads of product on hiring their first PM/designer, building product teams, and building product-led companies.
Need another perspective on your product strategy and roadmapping process? Schedule a product strategy session. I'd love to learn more about your goals and how I can help. Common topics people hire me for: defining MVP, expanding PMF to adjacent customer segment, creating product roadmaps, defining product growth metrics, hiring first PM or designer, scaling and growing product teams.
Need feedback on a critical user experience? Schedule a design review. I'd love to learn more about your goals and how I can help. Popular experiences people hire me for feedback on: landing page (positioning: copy and creative), onboarding/first time user experience, a specific product feature.
For product managers/designers/marketers looking to level up on customer development or founders looking to level up on product leadership, I offer consulting engagements on retainer. Most engagements include a weekly 1:1 strategy session with a key member of your team (typically the head of product or design), centered around key topics we outline at the start of the consulting engagement based on your goals. Before, between and after sessions, I contribute as your head of product/design's superpower by creating custom templates and resources to help them strategize, execute, and learn from customers better and faster.
Select clients include:
- Brightflow (Product Strategy & Roadmapping, Design Sprints, Product & Design Hiring, Customer Development Coaching, Product Leadership Coaching)
- New America: Public Interest Technology (Design Research, Policy Research, Research Team Management)
- Higher Ground Labs (Design Sprints, Design Research Coaching, Product Leadership Coaching)
- My Health Ed: Real Talk (Design Sprints, Design Research Coaching)
- Rise (Marketing Strategy, Brand Design)
Learn more about my work and schedule a complimentary introduction call to learn more about how I can help your team.
"Effective human-centered design is fundamentally about listening to, understanding, and solving problems for someone in need. Crystal's ability and initiative to implement human-centered design in a fast growing organization of 100+ people across multiple departments demonstrates that she can not only help organizations build more meaningful products, but also change organizational cultures and processes to value human-centered approaches." - Momo Ong, Product Manager at Facebook
"Crystal assisted our team as the UX design lead to develop our company’s flagship product, Real Talk. As an early stage technology company, Crystal’s experience and skills were invaluable for turning our prototypes into a reality. It was clear she did extensive research and carefully thought through design decisions, which meant she asked all the right questions and consistently aligned her designs to our priorities, needs, and goals. In addition to her talent, Crystal’s enthusiasm made it a delight to tackle our design challenges." - Cristina Leos, President and Cofounder of MyHealthEd