Product design phase for funded startups

A 30-minute call to agree what the phase covers. We reply within one working day.

DiscoveryProblem, users, business context and the technical landscape.
ShapingSolution, scope, flows, designs, technical architecture and a first feature breakdown.
Validation and refinementThe prototype in front of stakeholders, assumptions resolved, estimates firm up.Loops back into shaping when feedback changes the direction
Wrap-up and handoffDeliverables assembled, handoff to the build team and a final presentation.

Our clients

Teams that have built with us across 220 projects and 15 years

From funded startups to global enterprises. Our client NPS for H1 2026 is 91.

Clarity first

When building gets cheap, direction gets expensive

AI coding tools have made building and iterating fast, so the hard part has moved to knowing what to build. Teams still change direction as they learn, and they should. A design phase settles the direction first, so those changes become course corrections rather than rebuilds. Your developers, and the AI tools they work with, start from a validated prototype, a prioritised backlog and an estimate everyone has agreed to, which keeps every iteration and every token pointed at the right product.

What you walk away with

A scope you can budget, staff and build

Everything below is handed over at the end of the phase, together with the Figma files.

Requirements and audiences

Consolidated high-level requirements and a prioritised view of who the first release is for.

Journeys and product structure

The journeys that matter most, mapped end to end, and the information architecture behind them.

Story map and breakdown

A user story map and a feature breakdown, estimated in ranges by a technical lead.

Design system and visuals

Typography, colour and component foundations, plus visual designs for the priority experience.

A clickable prototype

The primary journeys as a clickable Figma prototype. Where the riskiest part needs proving, it can also come as prototype code or a working proof of concept.

Architecture and estimate

A high-level technical architecture and an indicative investment range your board can act on.

Proof

From a spreadsheet to a platform ready to build

A digital-asset operations company ran its payments on a spreadsheet and on-chain transactions executed by hand. In one product design phase we mapped its flows end to end and designed a core-banking-style platform with automated execution, security checks, analytics and AI-assisted approvals, validated through a prototype. Development has since started on that scope.

How it runs

Four phases that overlap by design

Discovery and shaping run side by side. Validation sends designs back into shaping whenever feedback changes the direction, and wrap-up turns everything into a handoff that your board and your build team can both use. The length of the phase depends on its scope, which we agree with you in the scoping call.

Who runs it

Four roles, in the room from day one

A product manager, a UX designer and a software development lead work as one unit with your decision-maker. They settle trade-offs between themselves and bring you a recommendation with the reasoning behind it.

Product manager: scope, priorities and the plan

Owns the user story map, the feature breakdown, the release plan and the summary your budget holders will read. Decides with you which journeys get depth now and which move to the roadmap.

UX designer: the experience and the prototype

Owns information architecture, user flows, visual direction and the clickable prototype, built on design system foundations so your developers can use it.

Software development lead: feasibility and the estimate

Defines the technical architecture, checks uncertain integrations while the flows are still being drawn and estimates the feature breakdown. Because the lead is involved from the first session, the estimate rests on tested assumptions.

Decision-maker: priorities, investment and direction

The person on the client side with final say on scope and budget. Business priorities, investment, scope confirmation and product direction stay with them, and the other three roles prepare each of those decisions with options and trade-offs.

Before you book

What it costs and what it needs from you

A fixed price, agreed before kick-off, so the number does not move during the phase. Most design phases land between $20k and $40k, a fraction of the MVP build they scope, which typically runs $150k to $300k. Your exact quote follows the scoping call. The phase also depends on four things from your side.

A decision-maker who attends

The person with final say on scope and budget takes part in the sessions as well as the final presentation.

Experts with time blocked

Domain experts and technical stakeholders keep the first weeks free, when sessions are most frequent.

Technical context on day one

Existing systems, integrations, constraints and any earlier research, handed over at kick-off.

A shared definition of complete

Which journeys get depth and which go on the roadmap, agreed and written down as named deliverables.

FAQ

Product design phase: common questions

Still deciding whether a design phase is the right first step? Start with the questions that usually come up before one begins.

How long does a product design phase take?

Typically three to five weeks. The length depends on how much discovery has already been done, how many stakeholders need to align and how complex the main journeys are. We agree the scope and length with you in the scoping call and revisit them openly if feedback rounds change the plan.

What do we get at the end?

Consolidated requirements, prioritised audiences, priority user journeys, information architecture, a user story map, a feature breakdown, design system foundations, visual designs for the priority experience, a clickable prototype, a high-level technical architecture and an indicative development investment range. The Figma files are handed over too. Where the riskiest part of the product needs proving, the prototype can also come as code or a working proof of concept.

Who from our side needs to take part?

Three groups. The decision-maker holds authority over scope, priorities and budget. Domain experts know the processes and users. Technical stakeholders know the existing systems. Access to real end users, beyond internal stakeholders, makes priorities considerably more reliable.

Do we need a product design phase if we have already done discovery?

Previous discovery shortens the phase rather than replacing it. Research findings still need to become a feature breakdown, a release plan, a technical architecture and an estimate, so the phase spends less time in discovery and more in shaping and validation.

Can AI replace a product design phase?

AI already does much of the production inside one: research synthesis, first drafts of the story map and feature breakdown, functional prototypes and quick technical spikes. It cannot make the decisions the phase exists to settle, or put a technical lead's judgement behind the estimate.

What happens after the phase?

You decide on the scope and the investment range, we close anything still open and development can start from the prototype, the feature breakdown and the technical architecture. If a different team builds the product, a handoff session walks them through the design decisions, the architecture and the known risks.

Get in touch

Scope your design phase

A 30-minute call to agree what the phase covers, who needs to be involved and how long it should take. We reply within one working day.

Know what you're building before you budget for it