Ben Stukenborg

Ben Stukenborg

Product Design in New York

About

  • Product design founder at TipTop, Parsley Health, and Latch

  • 0->1/PMF expert: Helped 7 early stage ventures get clarity on what people want and envision their first products

  • System architect: Led the redesign of 3 massive systems: CalAmp's telematics management platform, Latch's access management system, and Parsley Health's membership/billing model

  • Customer whisperer: Conducted 100s of customer interviews, distilling and crystallizing causal forces (jobs-to-be-done)

  • Building Architect turned Information Architect after cofounding 3 emerging market startups (mobile money billing in Kenya, smart meter in Haiti, earthen houses in Haiti)

Work Experience

2018 — Now
Product & UX Research Consultant at Freelance
New York

Helped founders crystallize what people want and create their first products: Croissant, Supernow, Affect Therapeutics, Atomic Returns, Cove/Feelmore Labs, Vowel, Goldman Sachs Marcus

2022 — 2023
New York / Los Angeles

Designed TipTop from the ground up, including TipTop Cash (iOS app to 'cash out' your used devices with courier pickup and instant payment) and TipTop Pay (Shopify app for buying items with a buyback guarantee).

2021 — 2021
Associate Design Director [Contract] at Frog Design

Led redesign of CalAmp's telematics device management system, introducing "Profiles" so that customers could manage multiple devices at once.

2018 — 2019
Product Design Lead at Parsley Health
New York

First product design hire. Designed internal billing system and re-architected membership model to address foundational fissures causing churn and patients to slip through cracks.

2017 — 2018
New York

First product designer. Led 9-month redesign of access system so that building managers could many accesses at once, via a "Key" (the fundamental concept we architected).

2016 — 2017
Product Designer [Contract] at Meta
Menlo Park
  • Business Integrity team: Redesigned Ads Policy site, resulting in 3.9% increase in ad re-creation amongst advertisers who violated a policy

  • Targeting team: Designed Value-based Lookalikes beta so that marketers could ascribe LTV to lists of customers they used to seed Lookalikes

2015 — 2015
Mountain View
  • Designed research data management prototype for PIs to securely publish publicly

  • Designed digital version of NASA TLX, which won NASA Software of the Year, 1st Runner Up

2013 — 2014
Cofounder at RemoteCycle

Designed and developed subscription billing system for mobile money markets, launching pilot in Nairobi, Kenya with SmartLife (IDEO-incubated).

2011 — 2013
Cofounder & Product Manager at Local Energy Technologies
Rochester Institue of Technology

Managed development of cellular, pay-as-you-go smart meter, piloting 10 alpha units in Port-au-Prince.

2010 — 2011
Cofounder & Architect at Arxterra

Designed and built 2 earth prototypes in post-earthquake Haiti, cutting housing costs by 1/2 using local materials.

Projects

2023

Radically simplified the existing Croissant app, condensing the information architecture.

2023

Designed iOS app to 'cash out' your used devices with courier pickup and instant payment.

2021
Calendar for learning adventures at Supernow

6-week project where we designed and shipped a new 'explore' and 'scheduling' experience. And another follow-on project to create a free trial and subscription experience.

2021
Telematics device "Profiles" at frog/CalAmp

Brought on engagement with CalAmp as a principal designer to solve significant issues with how AEs and customers used their telematics device management platform. Everyone was asking for better search and bulk actions and groups, but the underlying issue was a foundational one we solved with "Profiles", creating a single point of management for multiple devices.

2020

Designed companion app for vibration-based neurostimulation headset.

2018
Building access "Keys" at Latch

Outcomes: Manage multiple accesses in one 'Key', Manage entire portfolio on mobile, Saved our big customers and unlocked big sales

Education

2016 — 2016
Master of Human-Computer Interaction (Dropout) at Carnegie Mellon University

Dropped out to stay at Facebook

2006 — 2011
Bachelor of Architecture at Oklahoma State University

Awarded Caudill Fellowship based on most outstanding graduate portfolio

Contact