Who it's for
- Series A-C companies, 50-500 people
- Building or scaling a design team
- Founder-led, with a Head of Design or first senior IC already in place
- Growing past the point where the founder can hold the design opinion personally
How it works
The first engagement is always a structured discovery: customer development interviews, design org capability map, four-layer audit. Output is a three-month plan with named owners at each layer.
From there, the cadence settles into weekly strategic sessions, monthly executive review, and quarterly Brand Strength + Experience Health Cards measurement. Decisions get documented; handoffs get named; nothing slips through the seams.
The exit is part of the contract from day one. By the time the engagement ends, the in-house team owns the operating model. Capability stays behind, not dependency.
Frequently asked
- What does 1-2 days a week actually look like?
- Typically a half-day on-site or video each week with the founder + design lead, plus 4-8 hours of strategic work between sessions (research synthesis, frameworks, hiring panels, stakeholder alignment). Cadence flexes to whatever the engagement needs.
- How do you work with an existing Head of Design?
- Strategically, not operationally. The Head of Design owns the team and delivery. Flowdonia operates one level up - bringing commercial orientation, customer development methodology, and the four-layer operating model. The arrangement is partner, not replacement.
- What if we don't have a design team yet?
- Then the first engagement is usually a Design Org Evaluation - capability assessment, structural recommendation, then either a hiring panel for the first senior hire or an Operating Model Install if the team can stay small.
- How do you measure outcomes?
- Closed-loop measurement is built into the methodology. Brand Strength KPIs (relevance, differentiation, engagement, consistency, authenticity) at the brand layer; NPS / CLTV / acquisition at the touchpoint layer; Experience Health Cards as the diagnostic that connects them. Quarterly review built into every engagement.
- When is this NOT the right fit?
- Three cases. (1) Pure execution need - you know what to build, just need hands. That's a contractor, not a fractional CDO. (2) Design org < 3 people - usually the first senior designer hire is a higher-leverage move. (3) Pre-product-market-fit - design strategy lands better when there's product traction to optimise around.