Seven reasons your first design hire won’t get the results of tapping a small agency like Full Nelsen.

We do a lot of business with companies at the precipice of making their first design hire. It’s a sweet spot in a product/company’s life cycle we really enjoy. You're not broke anymore. You're seeing promising traction with customers. And with all the talent on the market right now, if you can afford it, you might be considering making your first in-house design hire.

It’s a mistake.

Here’s why:

1. You need a consistent outsider perspective

Your organization beats any novel thoughts out of a new hire in a month. They fall in line and follow suit. It’s sycophantic survival. And you’ve likely been dealing with the same challenges for months, if not years. You can’t even see them anymore.

We're not tainted by biases, internal processes, or politics. And we’re not afraid to tell you when you’re wrong.

Your people can't and won't be honest with you. It's human nature.

2. You’re not ready for the commitment

The job market is horrendous in tech. So much so, that the designers you might be considering for that full time role you’ve opened up are straight up lying to you about fit, passion, and what they did in their last role.

Don’t get stuck with a shitty full time design lead who negotiated away 3% of your company and a fat salary.?

Tap us, risk-free.

3. We’ve seen it all. They haven’t.

Our team has literally seen, solved, and shipped 4x the amount of solutions of an in-house designer. Over the course of a few years, a single designer with an agency background sees and understands countless more business models and industry categories than product-side designers.

The pattern recognition is off the charts.

Is that ex-Meta designer who worked on one feature for 2.5 years REALLY that good?

Don't fall for it.

4. Your process is slow and they will be too

Somewhere along the way, comfort has been baked into your business. There’s a lack of urgency, or a fire under people’s asses relentlessly proving their worth through the execution of great work.

Agency people don’t get comfortable. They can’t. We’re judged on the success or failure of whatever we did in the last 4-6 months. Nobody is resting on laurels or phoning it in. And that breeds drive. Drive that can only be cultivated at an agency.

If you want fast and consistent results, hire an agency. The smaller the better.

Hire Full Nelsen.

5. We’ve seen (and built more) design systems than them - guaranteed.

Every time a designer works within or creates a new design system, they learn something new. And often, it’s what not to do. That kind of experience is invaluable.

Avoid the costly mistakes your first design hire will make and go with a team that’s been working with and enhancing world class design systems for decades at top-tier places - Chewy, Gamestop, Hopper, Noom, Spotify.

6. We’re all A players

There's no fat on the bone at a small agency. Folks that don’t kick ass at their job don't last long. Agency economics don't leave any room for poor performers. If you’re contracting with a small-to-medium sized agency, you can almost guarantee you’ll be dealing with top talent.

Can you say the same for everyone in your organization?

7. You don’t know how

It takes years of reviewing portfolios and interviewing designers to separate the wheat from the chaff with any success rate. (Plus some IP and interviewing techniques we’ve developed over the years.)

You may be able to hire engineers and product people on your own, but you don't know how to hire designers. I'd put money on it.

We’ve helped build design teams from the top down at Raizlabs, Chewy, Gamestop, and SimpliSafe. And we can do it for you too.

And when it’s time to graduate from us and make that hire, you won’t be in the dark. We’ll help you identify, vet, and secure the perfect fit that won't be rejected like a transplanted kidney with the wrong blood type.