UX consultant for startups who need a second opinion
Service · Updated
I'm a UX consultant for founders who already have someone designing or building and want a senior second opinion on one decision: a flow, a site, a redesign plan or a design hire. You get one working session or a one-week review, and written recommendations.
Who books a consult
Usually a founder working with a junior designer, a developer who designs, or an agency. The team can do the work. They're missing someone who has made this call before and can say which option is wrong and why, in a day rather than a quarter.
If your question is "we need someone to design the product", a consult is the wrong size. You want a project or a fractional designer.
Five questions founders bring, and how I'd answer them
Below is the shape of my advice; on a call it would be about your screens.
- "Our onboarding has seven steps. Which can go?": I'd strike every step the first result doesn't need. Questions that only help you later, like team size or role, move to after first value. A step that needs another person, such as an admin, gets a way to invite them from that screen. At CodeAnt, A/B tests took setup from seven steps to three; the full story is in how we doubled trial-to-paid.
- "The agency's homepage looks good. Will it convert technical buyers?": I'd check whether the first screen says what the product does in the buyer's words, whether it shows the real product, and whether docs, pricing or a free trial sit next to "Book a demo". Developers tend to skip the hero and go looking for integrations and docs.
- "We're redesigning the dashboard. Where do we start without stalling the roadmap?": Start with the view people open most and ask what decision they make there. Ship colour, type and spacing tokens first, since they change everything without touching layouts, then swap components as features touch each area. A big-bang redesign usually loses to the roadmap.
- "Which of these three portfolios shows real product work?": Look for the problem, the constraints, the rejected options and what happened after launch. Polished screens show taste, not judgement. In the interview, ask the designer to walk through one option they threw away and why.
- "The PM and the designer disagree about this flow. Who's right?": Often neither has evidence yet. I'd turn the disagreement into a question users can answer (a five-user test on both versions, or where the funnel drops) and settle who makes the final call before the test runs.
Two formats
| One session | One-week review | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | A single decision or a disagreement | A whole flow, a site or a redesign plan |
| Before the call | You send screens, a link or a Loom, plus the question | Product access, funnel data if any, 30 minutes with the owner |
| What happens | A 90-minute working call, screens shared, decisions made live | I go through the product as your users, then walk you through it |
| What you keep | A written summary of each decision and why | An annotated walkthrough, issues ranked by impact and effort, rough sketches for the top fixes |
| Time | About a week from first email to notes | About one week of my time, spread over two |
The best outcome is your team shipping the changes from my notes without me. If the review starts to look like a full product audit, my UX audit is the better fit.
How to get the most from it
- Bring one question: Write it in a sentence. "Review our product" is too wide for a session; "why do trials stall after signup?" is about right.
- Send context early: Screens, a recording and the numbers you trust. I read them beforehand so the call goes on decisions.
- Invite the person who'll make the change: Your designer or lead engineer. Advice that only the founder hears tends to stay in a doc.
- Decide what happens next: Ship it yourselves, book a review of the result, or turn it into a project. Any of those is fine.
Why ask me, and when not to
I've been the founding designer at CodeAnt AI (YC W24) since June 2024, owning the product, website, brand and design system; the product is now used weekly by 40,000+ developers. Before that I worked on payments UX at FamPay, live-score pages at Sportskeeda and checkout UX at xPay. I'm on the Awwwards Young Jury for 2026 and judged the Cognizance design hackathon.
Consulting is the wrong buy if nobody on your team can act on the advice. You'd get a to-do list when what you need is someone to do the design, as a scoped project or a fractional designer. I also don't run long strategy decks or brand-positioning workshops. I'm most useful with your product or site open on the screen.
To book, email work@utkarshdesign.com with your question and a link.
Questions people ask
What does a UX consultant do for a startup?
Reviews a specific flow, site or plan and tells you what to change and why, so your own team can make the change. You get advice and sketches rather than a full design project.
How much does UX consulting cost?
I quote after reading your question, because a single session and a week-long review are very different amounts of work. The nearest published price is my UX audit, from $900, on the pricing page.
Is a consult different from a UX audit?
Yes. A consult answers one question or reviews one flow. An audit covers the whole product and ends in a ranked fix list for the next two sprints.
Do you work with US and European time zones?
Yes. I'm based in India, I schedule calls in your working hours, and the rest happens async.
Sources
- Why You Only Need to Test with 5 Users, Nielsen Norman Group
- Design Tokens Community Group, W3C Design Tokens Community Group
Start a project
Tell me what you're building and where it's stuck: book a 30-minute call, email work@utkarshdesign.com or send a brief.