Helping startups to scale 🦄 ✦ Driving Halo Lab 7 → 8-figures ARR & having fun ✦ Founder with Design in ❤️

I run Design & Tech Agency helping brands become TOP 1%.

✦ $530 M raised + 9-figure exits by client startups 
✦ 500+ projects delivered
✦ 99+ international awards
✦ 4.9 / 5.0 average rating on Clutch from 80+ verified reviews

This is a real impact in numbers.

—

Over the past 15 yrs I’ve been shaping digital products and brands for category‑defining companies — from NOKIA and OPERA to high‑growth SaaS and Web3 start‑ups.

My core focus is design leadership at scale: I enter as a strategic partner, craft a vision, and lead multidisciplinary teams all the way from concept to launch.

—

I specialize in:

⤷  B2B SaaS Product Design | Guiding startups and enterprise spin‑ups from 0 to 1 — turning complex tech into intuitive, emotionally resonant experiences.

⤷  High‑Performance Digital Presence | Building conversion‑focused brand websites that turn first impressions into lasting growth.

—

Have BIG idea in mind?
Contact me directly: inquiry@halo-lab.com

Artem Borysenko

But bad UX silently kills revenue, retention, user trust.

How does it look in your product:

❌ Focus on action, not on the result for the user.
❌ Complex password requirements.
❌ Two fields for the email address.
❌ Unclear question & option. 
❌ Annoying captcha.

Why does this matter for founders?
Bad UX = friction.
Friction = drop-offs.
Drop-offs = lost revenue.

Investing in clarity, consistency, and simplicity is a growth lever.

✦ Before spending more on ads, check:

→ Can users complete your core flows in seconds without thinking?
→ Are you showing users what happens next at each step?
→ Is every element earning its place, or just adding noise?

At Halo Lab — Your Digital Partner, we’ve seen micro UX cleanups increase demo bookings, reduce support tickets, and boost LTV.
Because great products don’t just work, they feel effortless.

✦

Want a quick UX audit on your product?
Drop your URL below or DM me.
We’ll send you one actionable UX fix that could move your metrics this quarter.

♻️ Share this to help others build better products.
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Founder @ Halo Lab ✦ Design & Tech Agency Helping Brands Become TOP 1%

Bad UX examples

But bad UX silently kills revenue, retention, user trust.

How does it look in your product:

❌ Inconsistent UX writing.
❌Too much content, perceived as overload.
❌Linear progress bars aren’t mobile-friendly.
❌Overloaded layout that pulls attention away.
❌ Key details are hard to spot, and the offerings feel like a maze.

Why does this matter for founders?
Bad UX = friction.
Friction = drop-offs.
Drop-offs = lost revenue.

Investing in clarity, consistency, and simplicity is a growth lever.

✦ Before spending more on ads, check:

→ Can users complete your core flows in seconds without thinking?
→ Are you showing users what happens next at each step?
→ Is every element earning its place, or just adding noise?

At Halo Lab — Your Digital Partner, we’ve seen micro UX cleanups increase demo bookings, reduce support tickets, and boost LTV.
Because great products don’t just work, they feel effortless.

✦

Want a quick UX audit on your product?
Drop your URL below or DM me.
We’ll send you one actionable UX fix that could move your metrics this quarter.

♻️ Share this to help others build better products.
🔔 Follow Artem Borysenko for more updates!

Most companies still treat a design system as a visual asset.

In reality, it behaves more like infrastructure.

It's a one-time capital investment that reduces operating costs across every product, every release, and every team.

Here’s where the real financial return shows up:

1. Reduction of duplicated efforts across teams.

When teams reinvent or create their own designs for elements like spacing, colors, states, or micro-interactions, they incur the following new costs: a new desig, codebase, QA.

With a standardized token system, there is no longer any need for this cycle to occur. 

2. Component scalability across product portfolios.

A system built for a suite compounds value:
Build once → reuse for every new feature → reuse for every new product.
This is how product orgs cut delivery time by 20–40% without adding headcount.

3. Patterns decrease cognitive load and time spent deciding.

Standardizing onboarding, dashboards, permissions, navigation, or error states will eliminate debate about core design principles among teams. Instead, team members will spend more time identifying the activities that will result in increased KPIs.

4. The cost of change decreases dramatically.

With no design system: A rebrand, accessibility update, or micro-interaction change triggers weeks of redesign and recoding..

With a design system: Update the source → every product updates automatically.

✦

A strong design system improves:

- Time to market.
- Cross-platform trust.
- Developer throughput.
- Conversion and activation.

✦

Build your design system for the next three products you launch. 
You will begin seeing returns on your investment in the early years.

🔔 Follow Artem Borysenko for more updates!

Therapy of the future: how we helped ensure a better patient experience by updating the design of the myReha digital platform.

myReha, created by nyra health, is a digital neurotherapy platform that helps stroke survivors and patients with neurological conditions continue recovery.

When the nyra health team, led by Mario Zusag, reached out, they had a clear goal: make the platform more consistent, intuitive, and scalable without disrupting what patients already loved.

The challenge?
Functionality was not consistent across devices, resulting in multiple users experiencing friction accessing the platform and seeking simplicity and reassurance.

So, we focused on what truly matters in healthcare design: clarity, confidence, and care.

1. We unified card designs for consistency.
2. Clarified CTAs for premium upgrades.
3. Improved streak and progress screens.
4. Optimized dashboards and navigation for clinicians and patients alike.

The Halo Lab — Your Digital Partner team fine-tuned the system to ensure it could scale fast and support nyra health’s insurance readiness and market expansion while staying deeply patient-centered.

Huge thanks to the nyra health team for trusting us with such meaningful work.

✦

If you’re building a product that redefines how patients heal, we’d love to help bring your vision to life.

🔔 Follow Artem Borysenko for more updates!

Case Study

That’s the moment most brands lose people.

In that split second when something just feels off.

You’ve felt it too.
Website that looks polished but somehow doesn’t feel real.
The words are there.
The design is fine.
But it doesn’t connect.

That’s a trust gap.
In those first few seconds, visitors are quietly asking:
→ “Is this for people like me?”
→ “Do they actually understand my problem?”
→ “Can I explore without being sold to?”

If your homepage doesn’t answer those fast, even a great product starts to feel risky.

The fix isn’t louder headlines or flashier visuals.

It’s smaller, more human details:
1. Clear language that sounds like something you’d actually say.
2. Honest proof that real people built this, not a faceless company.
3. Calm, confident design that gives users room to breathe.

Trust doesn’t start with “we’re the best.”
It starts with “we get you.”

♻️ Share this to help others build trust with customers.
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Homepage Psychology

You can hire a designer.

Or you can hire a design brain.

One gives you beautiful screens.
The other gives you a product that thinks.

When you hire a single designer, you get skills.
When you hire a team that works as one brain, you get experience that compounds.

At Halo Lab — Your Digital Partner, our teams don’t work in silos.
The UX researcher sees what frustrates users.
The product designer connects it to business goals.
The UI designer turns it into clarity and trust.
The developer translates it into something fast and functional.

Each person covers a blind spot the others can’t.
And together, they don’t just design, they solve.

That’s the difference between design as a task and design as a system.
Between a pretty interface and a product that scales, converts, and feels effortless to use.

When founders realize this, everything changes:

1. They stop hiring portfolios.
2. They start hiring thinking systems - teams that anticipate problems before they appear, align design with ROI, and build products that last.

If you’re scaling your product, don’t just hire a designer.
Hire a brain that’s trained to think like your users and build like your business depends on it.

🔔 Follow Artem Borysenko for more updates!

I audit real websites. I show what’s broken.

I explain why it doesn’t work.
And I give fixes you can apply today.

These are to help YOU avoid the same mistakes.
Every carousel = free consulting.
If you take the time to apply the lessons, your site will convert better.
Guaranteed.

In each post, you'll find:
✅ Conversion blockers you might not see.
✅ Layout tweaks that improve clarity.
✅ Real examples of what not to do.
✅ UX advice backed by data and practice.

✦

New audit just dropped.
Go through the carousel.
Steal what works.
Fix what doesn’t.

And if you want your site reviewed next:
Comment “ROAST ME” below.

Let’s build stuff that sells. Not just looks good.

♻️ Share this to help others design better webpages.
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Website roasting

Helping people move better shouldn’t feel complicated. 

That’s what makes Rytmo such a powerful idea.

When the Rytmo team first shared their vision, it was inspiring.

They were building 

- A way for people recovering from injury or training with a specialist to feel guided, not overwhelmed.

- A way for coaches and physiotherapists to finally track movement in a way that feels intuitive.

- A way for patients to feel progress, not pressure.

Our role at Halo Lab — Your Digital Partner was simple in intention but meaningful in impact:

1. Turn complex motion-tracking technology into a visual language anyone can understand.

2. Design an interface that supports both ends (the patient and the specialist ) without friction.

3. Create a unified UX that reinforces trust, motivation, and confidence with every action.

We redesigned flows so users never feel lost.
We shaped progress screens that celebrate even small wins.
We built a design system flexible enough to scale as Rytmo grows without ever losing its gentle, supportive core.

Huge thanks to the entire Rytmo team for trusting us with something this important.

Your commitment to building a better experience for patients and specialists is real, rare, and deeply needed in the industry.

✦

If you're building something meaningful in healthtech - a product that helps people feel safer, stronger, healthier - we’d love to collaborate.
Let’s create the next story together.

♻️ Share this to inspire others.
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Most founders think onboarding is just a checklist.

A few tooltips, a welcome email, maybe a product tour.

Big mistake.

First 7 days don't only determine retention, they forecast lifetime value.

The best products don't "teach" features. They create habits.

Here is what distinguishes your high-LTV onboarding from the rest.

1. Show value quickly.
Don't explain — show. 
Get your users to the "aha" moment in minutes, not days. 

2. Guide behavior, not swipes. 
Organize onboarding around your user's journey, not your feature tree. 
Day 1: Solve a problem. 
Day 2: Build context. 
Day 3+: Reinforce success and add proof.

3. Make it personal. 
A marketer ≠ an engineer ≠ a founder. 
Ask one smart question, customize the flow, and you can expect 25-50% higher activation.

4. Build habit loops. 
Cue → Simple action → Instant reward. 
“Don’t lose your progress” is always better than “Complete your profile.”

4. Measure what matters. 
Forget “onboarding completed.” 
Measure: 
• Time to first value.
• % of users hitting core action Day 1.
• Retention at Day 3 and 7.

Onboarding is not your tutorial. 
It’s behavioral design. 
And as soon as you start to treat it that way, your retention will improve, as will your revenue.

♻️ Share this if it resonates.
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Good interfaces are built for humans with roles, moods, habits.

And most “design rules” don’t cover that part.

Here are the non-obvious principles we now swear by:

1. Design for roles.

An operator, manager, and analyst can see “the same tool” but they are living three different narratives.

2. Tell a story.

Good UI behaves like a scene in a movie: each frame indicates, “Here’s what happens next.”

3. Simplicity isn’t minimalism.

It’s knowing what to conceal. A complex system should feel simple, even if it is not.

4. One action per screen.

Every screen should answer one question. The moment users have to pause, you’ve lost the moment.

5. Adapt, don’t copy.

There is no “best practice” for everybody.
A healthtech dashboard and a crypto wallet shouldn’t look/feel the same, and that’s a feature not a flaw.

6. Accessibility is a growth strategy.

It’s how you earn trust and give access to the people your competitors are forgetting.

The best interfaces don’t impress. They disappear.
You’re not noticing them because they are busy making you feel capable.

What was the last interface you loved using is, and why?

♻️ Share if you agree.
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I have looked through hundreds of product interfaces.

And most trust issues come from invisible details that are saying, "We did not care enough."

1. Text locked in images.
It seems nice... until you realize:
Google can't read it.
Screen readers aren't being able to get through it.
It is going to break on mobile.

✅ Fix: Always use proper, responsive HTML text overlaid on visuals. That communicates quality and care.

2. Stock photos with zero context.
If your visuals could go on any website, they shouldn't be on yours. 
People simply don't connect with "perfect smiles" and "handshakes in glass offices."
User's even notice when an image doesn't match what they are viewing.

✅ Fix: Use visuals with your product, actual people or even simple, authentic brand illustrations. Authenticity scales better than aesthetics.

3. Inconsistent spacing.
Uneven padding. A headline that is floating. Tight corners next to wide gaps. Users may never name the issue, but they feel it.
That feeling? Uncertainty. And uncertainty is lethal when it comes to conversion.

✅ Fix: Use a modular grid and consistent spacing system. Regular rhythm = subconscious trust.

What’s the smallest design detail that instantly makes you lose trust in a product?

🔔 Follow Artem Borysenkofor more updates!

Guess which of our projects gained more views?

Drop A, B, C, or D in the comments.

But don’t just guess. Consider:

🔹 What details stand out? 
🔹 Which design feels more refined? 
🔹 What makes one stronger than the other?

This isn’t just a fun test.
It’s how you train your creative judgment.
The more you analyze, the faster you recognize what works.

A, B, С, or D? Drop your guess below! Let’s level up together.

The best design

Most founders struggle to explain their product in 10 sec.

And that’s usually why people forget it.

Founders jump into features, tech, or long backstories.
But the products that stick are the ones described with immediate clarity.

After helping dozens of teams simplify their pitch and homepage messaging, here are 3 frameworks that consistently work:

1️⃣ The “Movie Trailer” Line.
Hit emotion + problem + solution in one shot.

Structure:
“We help [audience] solve [problem] through [unique solution].”

Example:
 “We help remote teams brainstorm faster with an AI whiteboard that auto-organizes ideas.”

This gives people the whole story instantly.

2️⃣ The “Six-Second Test”. If you can answer these in one tight sentence, you’re done:
• Who it’s for.
• What it does.
• Why it’s different.
• What problem it solves.
• What outcome it creates.

Example:
 “For busy parents, our app plans healthy meals automatically — saving hours and reducing food waste.”

3️⃣ The “Anchor to the Familiar.”
When something is new, you need a shortcut.

Structure:
 “It’s like [familiar thing], but for [your context].”

Example:
 “It’s like Airbnb, but for campers.”
It reduces cognitive load and accelerates understanding.

If someone can’t repeat your product back to you after 10 seconds, you don’t have a messaging problem, you have a clarity problem.

What’s your 10-second product explanation?

♻️ Share if this helped.
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What founders actually need from a design partner.

Across many startup projects, one pattern is clear:

Founders don’t need resources.
They need a partner with a product mindset.
That team will give you clarity, speed, and traction.
Let’s look at the difference.

1. Designers make wireframes.
Product thinkers define outcomes.

2. Designers ship features.
Product thinkers shape systems.

3. Designers follow tasks.
Product thinkers challenge assumptions.

4. Designers deliver visuals.
Product thinkers deliver clarity.

5. Designers optimize screens.
Product thinkers optimize revenue.

A design partner shouldn’t just make your product look good.
They should make your business stronger.
Because the right partner doesn’t just design interfaces,
they help you think, operate, and grow like a product company.

✦

If you’re scaling and you need a dedicated team that thinks like your co-founder, not your vendor, let’s talk.

♻️ Share if it resonates.
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Last week, I tried to book a demo of a new tool.

Those 20 seconds told me everything.

Product UX failed here.
I scrolled twice. 
Clicked the wrong button. 
Didn’t find clues.
And gave up.

Review your product like a first-time user.

And try to fix UX issues.

1. Watch the heatmaps.
When a user pauses, backtracks, or clicks twice, that’s a red flag.
Confusion shows up in body language before it shows in analytics.

2. Check forms first.
Long fields. Missing confirmations. Mobile layouts that break.
Forms kill more conversions than bad marketing ever will.

3. Scan for “dead weight.”
Buttons nobody clicks. Copy nobody reads. Features nobody touches.
If it doesn’t guide the user forward, it’s friction.

4. Run 10-minute heuristic checks.
Navigation, readability, error states, consistency.

These basics sound boring, but they fix 80% of user frustration.
You don’t need a 3-month research sprint to uncover UX flaws.
You need sharp eyes, real users in mind, and the discipline to ask:
“Where does this experience break trust?”

♻️ Share this to help others avoid UX issues.
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 How to find UX problems

“$5K for a full app” should set off alarm bells.

I’ve seen founders get burned by quotes that sound too good to be true.

And here’s the reality: they usually are.

A credible app budget runs anywhere from $50K–$250K+, depending on scope and complexity. 

At $5K, what you’re really buying is a prototype, a landing MVP, or a template, not a production-grade product.

The hidden costs show up later:

✦ No discovery → scope creep and endless change requests.
✦ No QA → your users become the testers.
✦ No maintenance plan → apps break as OS versions and APIs update.
✦ No IP clarity → some “cheap shops” keep the repo keys, locking you in.
✦ No security → exposing you to compliance fines or breaches (the average costs $4.9M globally).

So what does a serious proposal include?

1. Discovery: user flows, integrations, edge cases.
2. Delivery plan: milestones, QA, release strategy.
3. Security & compliance baked in.
4. Ongoing ops & maintenance plan.

🚩 If a vendor quotes $5K for the whole thing, don’t think “deal.” 
Think “demo.”
The real bill will come later, in rewrites, downtime, or lost trust.

The smarter play: if budget is tight, scope a small, clear MVP with defined limits and a real path to production. 

That way, your “cheap” start doesn’t become an expensive rewrite.

♻️ Share it resonates
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The plan is clear, the prototype is exciting.

But there’s a quiet signal that something is wrong.

Because the MVP shape is wrong.
Too frequently, MVPs wind up created as demos.
They’re polished enough to show, broad enough to dazzle users, and thin enough that they can’t generate persistent, repeatable value.

Here’s the shift that will actually move the meter: An MVP is not the smallest version of your product. It is the smallest engine of recurring value.

That distinction forces you to ask:

1. What is the one capability users must succeed at?
2. What must be there so the system works without us holding it together manually?
3. What closes the feedback loop, not just opens it?

When you design an MVP from that perspective, you start developing outcomes:

✔ Clarity on measurable value.
✔ One solution for users with or without you.
✔ One core workflow that gains repetitive usage.
✔ Just enough automation to avoid operational drag.
✔ One feedback loop where you learn every time - how to scale.

This is how products gain traction early.
Build the smallest version of your value engine.
That’s the MVP you actually need.

♻️ Share this to help others create MVPs.
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The MVP You Actually Need

“How much does a website cost?”

Everyone loves the safe answer: “It depends.”

But that doesn’t help when you’re budgeting, forecasting, or explaining ROI to your board.

So here’s a straightforward breakdown.

1️⃣ Landing Page.
$1,000–$5,000
A single, conversion-driven page. Perfect for launches or campaigns.
Simple structure but every word, interaction, and visual must earn its place.

2️⃣ Small Business Website.
$5,000–$15,000
Usually 4–6 pages: Home, Services, About, Contact, and maybe a Blog.
You get custom branding, clean UI, and a structure that builds trust fast.

3️⃣ eCommerce Website.
$25,000–$100,000
Product listings, filters, navigation logic, checkout systems, mobile optimization.
At this tier, UX becomes critical because every friction point = abandoned carts.

4️⃣ SaaS Marketing Website.
$75,000–$300,000
Your website becomes part of the product experience.
It must tell your story, guide users to demos, handle content, and match your product’s design language.

5️⃣ Enterprise Website.
$20,000–$100,000+
Think of it as a digital ecosystem:
Dozens of templates, multilingual support, role-based navigation, integrations, governance rules.

The real question isn’t the price.
A website is your 24/7 sales team.
If it doesn’t convert, educate, or build trust, the real cost is the revenue you’re not capturing.

So instead of asking: “How much does a website cost?”
Ask: “How much is a weak website costing me every month?”

♻️ Share if this helps someone price smarter.
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The hardest thing about building an AI product is getting people to trust what it does.

You can create a great model all you want, but as soon as users feel the slightest bit of uncertainty, they are going to ponder, hesitate, and leave.

When founders build trust into the product experience, three things happen fast.

1. Users stop second-guessing and start exploring. First session activation goes up because they understand the what and whys.

2. Every click of trust compounds itself into usage, retention, and upsell. Without trust, the best AI feature will remain unused.

3. You do not have to wait for product market fit to learn how users actually feel. Trust patterns can save you weeks of guessing, and reduce the launch chaos.

4. Transparent UX with design-based trust cuts confusion before it even reaches support. No more "I am left wondering why it said that?" tickets or bad reviews for hallucinations.

Most AI products are built for power. 
The real winners are built for confidence.

✦

At Halo Lab — Your Digital Partner, we help founders design AI products users trust enough to actually use and pay for.
If that’s the stage you’re at, let’s chat.

♻️ Share this to help others build AI products.
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Design Patterns For AI Interfaces

Every product fosters feelings.

Slack develops curiosity (you check threads). 
LinkedIn develops affirmation (you observe reactions). 
Airbnb develops trust (you reside within somebody else's space). 
Uber develops control (you follow the car, the route, the pricing).

The emotional loop your product supports, becomes the habit that makes users return - or leave.

And here is where many teams miss.
Your design doesn't just support feelings. It influences them.

✦

For every engagement, a micro-feeling is triggered - frustration, relief, pride, fear. 
These micro-feelings accumulate into a memory. 
Then memory drives retention.

Behavioral design studies confirmed that:

✦ Positive feelings (clarity, control, competence) are proven to increase engagement by 30-40%.

✦ Unresolved frustration (human error, waiting, loss of context) is the leading cause of churn within SaaS and consumer apps.

So when your UX creates anxiety (loading uncertainty, unclear steps, overwhelming dashboards) - the user has accomplished their task, but subconsciously will avoid returning.

Ways to audit emotional design in your product.

1. Avatar: the emotion you want your users to feel. (Do you want them caring, empowered, energized, etc.?) 

2. Map the emotion to each interaction. For every step: "What is this moment teaching?" 

3. Test the users' reactions, not just the usability. Record facial expressions or tone, or even keywords in a survey, after each interaction. 

4. Design feedback loop(s)- use motion, microcopy, timing, etc. to bake in positive emotions in the experience.

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Elis Wilkins Consulting & Coaching

Career Coaching:
• Guiding mid-career professionals through transitions and fast-tracking their growth.
• Helping individuals find purpose, align career goals with values, and build actionable roadmaps.

Speaking & Workshops:
• Delivering engaging sessions on mindset mastery, habits for success, and consulting toolkits.
• Talks and workshops designed for organisations, universities, and conferences.

Career Change Coach | Speaker

I partner with organisations across sectors to solve strategic challenges, drive innovation, and deliver measurable impact through tailored consulting engagements.

Example of recent projects:
1/ Market and Competitive Analysis:
• In-depth market assessments to identify growth opportunities and new business models.
• Delivering commercial due diligence and benchmarking studies.

2/ Innovation Strategy and Ecosystems:
• Supporting organisations in defining vision, mission, and impact frameworks

3/ Life Sciences and Pharmaceuticals:
• Developing performance dashboards and data-driven clinical trial enrollment models to optimise trial outcomes.

Independent Strategy Consultant

Off the path

Build a life you don’t need to escape from.
For professionals rethinking what comes next.

Writer

Sigma Labs

Education B-corp producing high-performance technology consultants

- Responsible for coaching and managing the  performance and development of 35 Junior Consultants
- Developed systems and processes ready for scale  
- Developed an automated KPI dashboard to enable data-driven decision-making

Lead: Performance and Strategy Coaching

Arthur D. Little

Experienced Strategy Consultant, responsible for managing international project teams, with experience in Strategy, Operations and Innovation Management.

Primary focus on science, technology, and innovation working across life sciences, public sector, food and beverage, chemicals and transportation.

I worked with major blue chip corporations, research institutes, innovation districts, and Government agencies across Europe, Africa, North America, the Middle East and Asia.

Winner of the ADL Global Star Case Award - Clinical Trial Transformation - Supported a Fortune 500 client with the rescue and end-to-end management of a clinical trial, saving over $1.5bn in sunk and opportunity costs using a data-driven approach

Strategy Consultant

Arup

Chartered Engineer (MICE) with experience in multi disciplinary projects across the UK and beyond. Particular focus on commercial development projects in London, UK e.g.  8 Bishopsgate (Resident Engineer), 10 Bank Street, 1 Triton Square and 25 North Colonnade.

Structural Engineer

Most high-achievers don’t need more hustle. They need direction.

You’ve followed the script, climbed the ladder, earned the respect, built a strong career.
But somewhere along the way, it stopped feeling like yours.

You’re successful on paper… but restless, burnt out, or stuck.
You know something needs to change. You’re just not sure what, or how to make it happen without blowing up everything you’ve built.

I help high-performing professionals:

1. Get real clarity on what they actually want - reconnecting with their values, energy, and lifestyle goals
2. Make a strategic shift - whether that’s changing role, pivoting industry, or redesigning how work fits into life

The result? Direction, alignment, and momentum instead of endless overthinking or drifting from one role to the next.



My approach:

This isn’t about quitting your job and chasing a vague passion.
It’s about being intentional. Designing a career that supports the life you actually want to live.

Some clients come to rethink everything.
Others know exactly what they want but need help getting there.
Either way, we’ll get you moving with clarity, strategy, and confidence.


Why me

I’ve been through this journey more than once. From engineering to consulting, to startups, to now building a portfolio career on my own terms.

Each pivot forced me to get clearer, go deeper, and make bold decisions.
Now I help others do the same  with structure, insight, and empathy.


Let’s talk

If you’re tired of drifting, burned out from the wrong kind of “success,” or ready to finally make a move
DM me “CHANGE” and let’s talk.

Elis Wilkins

Switching teams won't fix it.

Here's why the same problems keep following you.

You transfer internally.
New team. New manager. Fresh start.
Feels promising at first.

Then 6 months in, the same feelings creep back.

Sunday night dread.
Heavy effort despite success.
Good at the work, but it doesn't matter.

"What's wrong with me?"

Nothing.

You're just running incompatible software.

The framework:

Your company is the operating system.
Your role, team, manager? Those are apps.

If the OS is incompatible with who you are, no app will run smoothly.

You can install new apps all day.
But if the operating system is wrong, they'll all eventually crash.

Internal moves work when the OS is good but the app was wrong.
They don't work when the entire operating system is incompatible.

The problem isn't the wrong team.
The problem is the wrong ecosystem.

Before your next move, identify: OS problem or app problem?

That's the diagnostic.

Have you ever switched roles only to find the same patterns emerging?

♻️ Repost for someone stuck in the cycle.
➕ Follow Elis Wilkins for more career transitions.

I help experienced professionals change career

You hire experts for everything except the decision that affects 40+ hours of your week.

Financial advisor for wealth strategy.
Consultant for business problems.
Personal trainer for fitness goals.
Therapist for mental health.

But career strategy?

"I should be able to figure this out myself."
So you spend 2 years thinking in circles.

Reading every book.
Taking every assessment.
Journaling endlessly.

Making zero progress.

Meanwhile:

Another year in the wrong role.
Another £80k earned doing work that drains you.
Another round of "maybe next year."

The paradox:

Successful people build teams of advisors across every domain.
Except career strategy.

The question isn't: "Am I weak for needing help?"
The question is: "What's the cost of NOT getting help?"

The math:

→ Cost of coaching: £300-£3000
→ Cost of another year in wrong role: 2,000 hours + opportunity cost + compounding frustration

Which is actually expensive?

Getting help isn't weakness.
Refusing to get help when you need it is.

The best professionals don't have all the answers.
They know when to bring in expertise.

That's not failure.
That's strategy.

♻️ Repost to help someone who needs to hear this.
➕ Follow Elis Wilkins for more on career transitions.

Most people optimize for the wrong layer.

Then wonder why the "perfect job" feels wrong.

The 5 Layers of Career Fit:

Layer 1: Lifestyle
Hours. Location. Flexibility. Travel.
Work-life integration expectations.

Layer 2: Autonomy
Decision-making freedom. Oversight needs.
Ability to shape your own work.

Layer 3: Work Style
Collaborative vs independent.
Structured vs unstructured.
Fast-paced vs steady.

Layer 4: Who You Serve
Client type. Stakeholder dynamics.
Team composition. Industry.

Layer 5: Mission/Purpose
Values alignment. Impact type.
Meaning derivation.

The trap:
Most people optimize for Layer 5 (mission) or surface factors (brand, title, salary).

They ignore Layers 1-4.

The result is a "perfect mission" job that structurally doesn't fit how they work best.

Before your next job change...
Audit which layers are actually misaligned.

Not "I hate my job."
But "Layer 2 and Layer 3 are fundamentally incompatible with my needs."

Specificity creates clarity.
Clarity enables better decisions.

♻️ Repost if this reframed something for you.
➕ Follow Elis Wilkins for more on career transitions.

Unpopular Opinion: Don't Give Your Manager Feedback


Unless:
✔️ They've consistently demonstrated openness to feedback from others
✔️ Your relationship is strong enough to handle difficult truths
✔️ It will serve your goals, not just make you feel better

Many managers fail all three tests.

If your manager passes? Here's how to do it right:
Focus on impact, not blame.
Use frameworks like SBI or NVC.
Make it about outcomes: "When X happens, it impacts Y. Could we try Z?"
Keep it specific. Keep it collaborative.

If your manager doesn't pass:
Here's how to navigate:

1. Don't waste political capital
Save your energy for battles that matter.
Focus on your own growth. They're unlikely to help.

2. Minimize friction
Keep the relationship smooth.
Don't create unnecessary tension.

3. Consider skip-level conversations carefully
Going above your manager can work.
But only if:
→ You have documented evidence of impact
→ The org culture supports it
→ You're prepared for potential fallout

Skip meetings aren't about tattling.
They're about protecting your interests when direct feedback won't work.

4. Build lateral alliances
Peer support and cross-functional relationships often create more leverage than managing up.

5. Spot the opportunities
Ineffective managers leave gaps.
Be the one to fill them.

When none of this works:
If giving feedback is consistently risky?
That's not a feedback problem. It's a culture problem.

You're not obligated to fix broken systems.

The company won't hesitate to act in its interests.
You shouldn't hesitate to act in yours.

Plan your exit.

This isn't about staying silent while bad management spreads.
It's about protecting your own interests.

Most people aren't as open to feedback as they claim.
Especially when there's a power dynamic.

The goal isn't silence.
It's strategic wisdom about where your voice creates change.

Not every workplace deserves your loyalty.

Some people can't just quit tomorrow.
But you can start building an exit strategy today.

Operate in the world as it is, not as you wish it were.

What's your experience with giving feedback to a manager?
Drop your thoughts below 👇

♻️ Repost to help others navigate tricky workplace dynamics.
➕ Follow Elis Wilkins for actionable career insights.

Most people are living lives they didn't choose.

Are you?

You followed what they said was smart.
You copied what they said was safe.
You chased what looked good from the outside.

Now you're stuck inside someone else's story.
Burnt out by work you don't care about.
Surrounded by noise that drowns out your voice.
Trying to win at a game you never wanted to play.

You weren't born to follow the rules.
You weren't made to climb someone else's ladder.
You don't need more advice.
You don't need more validation.

You need to stop scrolling.
Stop comparing.
Stop outsourcing your decisions.
Start listening.

To your gut.
To your creativity.
To the voice that doesn't shout but never goes quiet.

That's the only voice that's actually yours.

You'll never find your voice if you only listen to the crowd.

♻️ Repost if you're done living someone else's life.
➕ Follow Elis Wilkins for more on career transitions.

"What got you here won't get you there."

You've heard this before. But here's where it really applies:

Career transitions.

The skills that made you successful in corporate are the same ones keeping you stuck.

Let me explain:

What made you successful:
→ Following the playbook
→ Hitting targets others set
→ Optimizing for performance reviews
→ Playing the political game
→ Delaying gratification

What you need now:
→ Writing your own playbook
→ Defining your own targets
→ Optimizing for fulfillment
→ Ignoring what others think
→ Prioritizing what matters

Completely different skill set.
This is why high-achievers struggle with transitions.

You're trying to apply the same operating system to a fundamentally different challenge.

You can't "high-perform" your way to clarity.
You can't "optimize" your way to purpose.
You can't "execute" your way to meaning.

The muscles you built to climb the ladder won't help you choose which ladder to climb.

That requires different work.

Introspection over execution.
Exploration over optimization.
Questions over answers.

You're not failing at career transition.
You're just using the wrong toolkit.

Time to build new muscles.

♻️ Repost if this clicks.
➕ Follow Elis Wilkins for more on career transitions.

What got you here won't get you there

Often the misalignment isn't about the job.

It's about what's happening in your head.

The culprits:

1️⃣ Outdated beliefs about what success looks like.
↳Still chasing the definition you absorbed at 22.

2️⃣ Identity attached to roles that no longer fit.
↳ "I'm a consultant" vs "I use consulting skills."

3️⃣ Fear of disappointing others.
↳ Parents. Partner. Former version of yourself.

4️⃣Sunk cost fallacy.
↳ "I've invested so much here. I can't leave now."

5️⃣ Lack of permission to want something different.
↳ Who said you had to want this forever?


You change jobs to escape these feelings.
New job provides temporary relief.
But the beliefs travel with you.

6 months later, same thoughts. Different office.

Mindset work uncovers this.
Job changes don't.

Debug the beliefs driving your choices.
Separate your identity from your role.
Give yourself permission to change your mind.
Test assumptions before making expensive moves.

Then job change becomes a tool.
Not a painkiller.

Your next job won't fix this.
But clarity work might.

♻️ Repost if this landed.
➕ Follow Elis Wilkins for more on career transitions.

Mindset and job change

Everyone's talking about what AI can do.

Most people are still waiting for permission.

AI collapsed the barrier between "employed" and "entrepreneur."
And the gap now isn't knowledge.

It's permission.

What used to require dev teams now takes one afternoon.
What used to cost £10k/month now costs £10/month.
What used to need credentials now just needs curiosity.

Kids are building million-dollar businesses from their bedrooms.
Solo operators are replacing entire departments.

The gap isn't technical knowledge.
It's permission to start.

High-achievers spent years in environments that taught one lesson:
"Wait for approval before moving."

Consulting firms. Law firms. Corporate hierarchies.
Places where credentials unlock doors.
Those lessons were useful there.

They become handcuffs when you're building something new.

Here's what my clients discover:
↳ They don't need more credentials.
↳ They don't need a dev team.
↳ They don't need years of preparation.
↳ They need permission to start messy.

Permission to test before perfecting.
Permission to build while employed.

The barrier collapsed.
But most people are still waiting at the gate.

What would you build if you stopped waiting for permission?

♻️ Repost if this shifted something.
➕ Follow Elis Wilkins for more on career transitions.

The "obvious" career move is usually wrong.

Here's why.

Sales and marketing seem like logical pivots for technical leaders.
Transferable skills. Clear path. Makes sense on paper.

But here's the problem:

You're running AWAY from something.
Not moving TOWARD anything.

Let me explain:

When you hate your current role, your brain does this:
"What other roles could I theoretically do?"

Sales uses relationships and communication. ✓
Marketing needs analytical thinking. ✓

Looks good on paper.

But you haven't asked:

"What do I actually want?"
"What energizes me?"
"What values need to be present in my work?"

You've just found the nearest exit.

That's not strategy.
That's panic dressed up as planning.

I've seen this pattern dozens of times:

Technical leader burnt out → considers sales/marketing → gets 6 months in → realizes it's still wrong fit.

Because the "obvious next move" wasn't based on clarity.
It was based on escape.

Before you pivot to the logical option, ask:
Is this what I want?
Or just what seems possible?

Big difference.

♻️ Repost if this hits home.
➕ Follow Elis Wilkins for more on career transitions.

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The Battle

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