Eight years inside startups that were still a bet
I am Miguel BA, a Founding Product Designer in Barranquilla, Colombia. I join early-stage teams when the product is still a question and help turn it into something people use.
Currently at Counter HealthWhere I have worked
Counter Health, via HowdyCurrent
Product Designer on the Counter Health account, a prescription savings and healthcare navigation platform in the U.S. Howdy hired me, and I work inside the Counter Health team on how members find and use their benefits. Under a non-disclosure policy I do not show screens or numbers from this work. What I can show are my own experiments that practice the same kind of decisions.
Sell2RentProduct builder
From September 2025 to May 2026 I was the only product designer in a 35-person proptech startup. I sat in marketing and in development meetings from day one and shipped across both: conversion tests, a HubSpot migration, a Figma plugin for marketing assets, and AI agents for content.
JoonikTwo projects, two lessons
Product Designer at a staff augmentation company in Barranquilla. I rescued a stalled iBuyer platform for Keller Williams that never shipped as designed, and I was the only designer on Customela, a legal contract SaaS that is now a standalone product. Both taught me to talk to developers before opening Figma.
Realismo Mágico + FreelanceOwn project
I wrote and published two award-winning books, then built the cultural brand around them: four versions of the website, one marketplace that failed. In parallel I took UI work for Many Roofs, a U.S. leasing startup, and finished an MBA.
Mentive, then Villa ToolboxStartup closed
My first job in UI and UX, in a Berkeley startup that went through the NFX Guild accelerator. I started as a graphic designer and became the only product designer. My brother co-founded it and trusted me before I trusted myself. The company closed in August 2017. It left me a startup mindset I still use.
Three habits that survived every company
- 01 · MentiveMake something people want
The YC line I learned beside an accelerator. Hypothesis, experiment, data, next experiment. No vanity metrics.
- 02 · Keller and CustomelaTalk to dev before Figma
A perfect file nobody can build is a failure that happened earlier. I now stop for a week before I design.
- 03 · Sell2RentBe in every room
Marketing, product and development decide the same things from different angles. I sit in all three.
Education and languages
Selected- Graphic Design, Universidad del Norte2013
- MBA, Universidad Simón Bolívar2020
- UI/UX Design Specialization, CalArts2020
- Project Management, Google2024
- English, EF certificateC1
- HubSpot Digital Marketing and Marketing HubCertified
- Design Thinking and Global Startup, KAISTCourse
- Running Product Design Sprints, U. of VirginiaCourse
Trusted by other startups
Teams I have worked with
What people say
From LinkedIn recommendations“He finds the logic inside the chaos, figures out how to make it connect in the interface, and delivers something that’s 10x what I started with.”
“A highly focused and practical professional who consistently finds efficient solutions to complex challenges.”