My expertise lies in UX+UI design. By relentlessly pursuing excellence in both form and function, my know-how expanded into product management. Because I worked in adtech and agencies for a long time, I also happen to know a thing or two about marketing and growth. 20 years of practice, a few dozens of projects, and several leadership roles later, I can operate product development from idea to market to scrapyard.
Scale-up environments taught me how to deal with growing pains, however, my forte are startups and 0-1 innovation projects. Typically, I report to executive stakeholders whom I help drive vision, strategy, and value proposition. With my day to day firmly grounded in managing interdisciplinary development teams through long-term roadmap execution.
Making an app that runs fast, looks good, and people know how to use straight away is the easy part of the job. Determining what it needs to do, shouldn’t do, why it needs to be that particular way and not another to win users against formidable competitors… that’s the tricky part. And the value I bring to the table.
In practice, that means:
- Uncovering insights with market and qualitative user research
- Removing usability friction by making the interaction simpler, even if it means changing business logic
- Solving numerous technical challenges that often require pushing the boundaries to get an optimal solution
- Collaborating with business development stakeholders on commercials, marketing, and support
- Interrogating quantitative and qualitative data about how the product is being used in the wild to diagnose improvements, or whether something is better retired
The way I see it, product design is part art, part science method to the madness that requires a fair amount of sageness to know when to build what, which corners you can cut to still deliver on time and budget without sacrificing quality, and how to navigate the murky waters of emotions and politics.
I believe good design comes from deeply immersing yourself in the problem and the world of people you’re designing for to see the solution from their perspective.
My style is to lead by example — of staying on top of my game as a hands-on IC who can walk the boardroom talk. The work I produce might, or might not, win you awards, but it has a track record of significantly improving KPIs and and causing market ripples on more than one occasion.
Working with me
Not afraid of big ideas
It’s unlikely you’re asking for the impossible, so it’s unlikely you’ll ever hear that being said.
First-hand experience building ventures
You’re getting battle-proof know-how acquired by walking in your shoes; not theory and opinions.
Mercenary meets missionary
Outsource versus in-house — you won’t feel the difference.
Interdisciplinary collaboration
Magic happens in a zone where one own’s genius stops, someone else’s begins, and 1+1=11.
Zero BS
Expect a relationship based on honesty, respect, and clarity — from pricing and contract to communication and billing.
Not a yes-man
Sometimes making the right decision takes pushing back or having the courage to say the unpleasant truth.
Impressive results on moderate budgets
Using creativity and resourcefulness to do more with less is what some of us have built a career on.
No chasing and no handholding
Once we agree on something, consider it done.
Straight from the horse’s mouth
"Natan is without question one of the best design and product specialists in the space. Plenty of out of the box thinking, beautifully executed. A full 360-degree lens and understanding to ensure all advisory and deliverables fit with the current activities and direction of the business. I would recommend Natan in a heartbeat and look forward to working with him again in the future."
— Jozef Wallis, Entrepreneur, speaker, investor
"Natan has worked for us on several projects during 2021. His reliability and trustworthiness is exemplary and he always made sure the deliverables were ready on time. I particularly liked his analytical and problem solving skills, which were always approached from a user perspective. Even though the projects Natan has worked on had a high complexity and were industry-specific, he was able to create a clear and easy to understand user interface. Furthermore his mockups were pixel perfect, so could be implemented by the front-end development team easily. I definitely recommend hiring Natan on a project basis for any kind of user facing digital products."
— Andreas van de Ven, Head of Product Demand-Side at Outbrain
"The mind of a scientist, the passion of a jazz player, the sensibility of an architect. The one to do an urban plan, not the facades. A superb craftsman of the Mies's school. A well rounded design thinker who reliably delivers. A persistent learner with unbelievable focus and rare stamina. A romantic who still believes design can change the world."
— Matevz Klanjsek, CPO at Celtra