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 Health
Who is writing this
I started as a graphic designer in a startup that closed, and learned more there than in any course.
Since then I have been the only designer in teams of 8 and of 35. I design the product, test it, wire the funnel and ship, because in a young company the gap between those jobs is where things break.
I grew up on the Colombian Caribbean coast, and that shapes how I work: direct, warm, and in no hurry to look serious. I write in Spanish and in English, I read the room before I open Figma, and I would rather show a failed project honestly than a clean one that teaches nothing.
- Based in
- Barranquilla, Colombia
- Works with
- Teams in the U.S., on Miami hours
- Languages
- Spanish (native), English (C1)
- Reply time
- Within 24 hours, usually 16
- Best way
- A message on LinkedIn ↗
Where I have worked
Newest first · tap a row to openProduct Designer on the Counter Health account, a prescription savings and healthcare navigation platform in the U.S. I work on how members find and use their benefits inside a distributed team. 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.
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.
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. Read the Customela case →
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. Read the Realismo Mágico case →
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- MBA, Universidad Simón Bolívar2020
- Graphic Design, Universidad del Norte2013
- 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
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.”