Five or eight designers can all look qualified on LinkedIn. So how does a founder pick the one who will actually help make better product decisions?
In this video I share how a founder really found me (it was not my content), what actually won the project, and the simple test I would use if I were hiring a product designer today.
A profile or portfolio helps you screen for relevance. It cannot show you how someone thinks. Before we started working together, I did a product audit: problems, recommendations, the reasoning in a document, and a walkthrough explaining how I got there. That audit is what the founder pointed to when I asked him why he chose me.
So if you are a founder comparing designers, give them a small, real problem from your product. Watch which questions they ask first, whether they can separate an important problem from a cosmetic one, and whether they give you a clear recommendation or ten options. After you read their work, are you clearer about your product, or more confused?
