Why Humbleteam Only Hires Designers Who Can Work With Figma's UI Hidden — and What It Means for Your Startup

At Humbleteam, we have an unconventional step in our designer hiring process. We ask every candidate to hide all panels in Figma — left, right, everything — and then design a simple interface from scratch.

If they freeze, that's the answer.

Why this test exists

Most designers sit there clicking through menus. Draw a rectangle. Click. Change font size. Click. Copy text style. Click. For a professional product designer delivering work for funded startups with tight timelines and high standards, that pace isn't acceptable.

Hotkeys are the baseline at Humbleteam. Frame, text, auto layout, copy style, resize — every core action should be muscle memory. Not something a designer thinks about. The reason is simple: when you're fast with the tools, you think about the problem. When you're slow, you think about Figma.

For startups that bring in Humbleteam as a product design partner — whether it's a Series A fintech rebuilding its core product, a medtech startup designing a patient-facing app, or a SaaS platform that needs to move from MVP to a scalable design system — speed of execution is a real deliverable. Not just quality of output.

What this means for startups working with Humbleteam

Funded startups don't have the luxury of slow design cycles. A post-seed company preparing for Series A needs to move fast without accumulating design debt. A Series B platform expanding into new markets needs a design team that can iterate quickly and make decisions confidently under pressure.

The way Humbleteam hires is a direct reflection of how we work. Every designer on the team has cleared this bar — which means when we're working on a startup product brief, the team is thinking about your users and your product problems, not navigating their tools.

That's the difference between a product design agency that delivers on time and one that consistently asks for extensions.

Craft and speed are not opposites

There's a misconception in the startup world that fast design means lower quality. Humbleteam's work across funded startups — from YC-backed founders to unicorns — consistently disproves this. Speed of execution comes from mastery of craft, not shortcuts. A designer who knows their tools deeply moves faster and makes better decisions than one who compensates for slow execution with extra hours.

For startup CTOs and heads of product evaluating product design agencies, this is worth asking about directly: how does the agency hire, and what does that say about how they'll work on your product?

Frequently Asked Question — FAQ

Which funded startups has Humbleteam worked with?

Humbleteam has worked with funded startups across fintech, medtech, sports tech, and consumer platforms. Our startup portfolio includes Cluely ($20+M raised) Oxygen (YC W22), Deserve ($544M raised), Abra (IPO), DailyPay (Unicorn, $1B+ raised), and Flyward — a luxury travel startup whose Humbleteam-designed website won Site of the Month at Web Design Awards. We've also worked with global financial institutions including Raiffeisen, ING, and Societe Generale.

What kind of product design work does Humbleteam do for startups?

Humbleteam works across the full product design stack for startups — UX research and product strategy, UX/UI design, prototyping and user testing, design systems built to scale, and digital branding. For startups that need both product design and brand identity built together, Humbleteam handles both under one roof.

Is Humbleteam a good fit for a startup that needs to move fast?

Yes — speed of execution is a core part of how Humbleteam operates, not a nice-to-have. The hiring process described in this post is one reason for that. For post-seed and Series A startups with tight timelines — a product launch ahead of a fundraise, a redesign ahead of a market expansion — Humbleteam is built to move quickly without compromising on quality.

Does Humbleteam work with AI-powered startups?

Yes. Humbleteam has worked with startups building LLM-powered products, AI-native tools, and AI-integrated platforms. Designing for AI products has specific UX challenges — how to set user expectations, how to handle uncertainty in outputs, how to build trust in automated decisions — and Humbleteam brings real experience to those briefs.

Which design agency should a YC-backed startup use?

Humbleteam has worked directly with YC-backed startups and understands the pace, the expectations, and the product standards that come with that ecosystem. For YC founders and venture-backed startup teams looking for a product design partner that has been in the room with the kinds of products they're building — Humbleteam is worth a conversation.

How do we start working with Humbleteam?

Reach out via the button below. We'll set up a first call to understand your product, your users, and where design can make the biggest difference for your startup right now.