Know what to build before you build it.
I'm Brittany Sumarsono, a fractional product leader for small businesses and early-stage startups. Small businesses are building their own tools with the help of AI, often to rely less on pricey subscription software. Startups need product and design leadership before they can afford a full-time hire. I help both decide what to build, through customer research, product strategy and design.
How I help
Client insight sprint
A few weeks of client interviews, ending in a clear "build this, skip that" recommendation.
Ongoing product partner
A few hours a month of design work, plus steady client input and help setting priorities.
Prototype and design
Prototypes and screens you can test with real clients, ready to hand to whoever builds it: a developer, a no-code tool, or you with AI.
Recent work
Client portal research
- The problem. Clients chose the firm for the owner's personal attention, but its portal felt like a generic and somewhat clunky SaaS product. That eroded their trust and got in the way of their relationship with him.
- What the research found. Not every client was as well served as the firm assumed, and there was a chance to earn more per client by offering the right services at the right point in each client's life cycle.
- The recommendation. A focused portal that feels like an extension of the firm. Clients get in, get done what they came for, and leave understanding their taxes a little better, with less anxiety along the way. Automating the routine work frees the owner to spend more time with them.
Ways to work together
A project
A defined piece of work with a price agreed up front, so there are no surprises.
- Typical length
- A few weeks
- Good for
- A clear question, like what to build next or why clients aren't using something
A retainer
A set number of hours each month for design work, client input and priorities, adjusted as your needs change.
- Typical length
- Month to month
- Good for
- Steady product help while you build
A project, then a retainer
Start with a project to learn your business and clients, then continue on a retainer once we both know what the work looks like.
- Typical length
- A few weeks, then ongoing
- Good for
- Getting the direction right first, then help bringing it to life
Any of the services above can be scoped as a project, a retainer, or both. How it starts: you email me with what you're working on, we have a short call, and I send a proposal with scope and price.
About
I spent seven years at Intuit as a product design manager, working on software for small businesses and the people who serve them. In Intuit's Professional Tax Group, I led research and development for a new tax product and served on the extended leadership team, shaping strategy for the future of accounting software. I also spent six months on Intuit's New Business Development team, mentored by founder Scott Cook. Together, those roles showed me how a large company decides what to build, and how small businesses actually work.
Since then I've co-founded Lumono, a research platform for medical trainees. Through all of it, talking to customers has been my favorite part of the work. AI makes software faster to create, but people still learn what matters by talking to each other, and those conversations are what make software feel designed for the humans using it. Now I help owners have those conversations before they commit to what comes next.
Let's talk about what you're building
Tell me a little about your business and what you have in mind.