Your Climate Startup's First UX Hire

​Hiring your first UX designer or researcher can feel unclear: Do you need one yet? Which role comes first? How do they fit into a small team?

​Our talk will give you straightforward answers, and if you have a case study you want us to take a glance at, we’ll give our thoughts live!

​We’ll cover what UX actually looks like in early-stage climate companies, how to avoid common mistakes, and how to get the most value from your first design hire. You’ll learn how UX supports faster iteration, better decisions, and stronger customer relationships.

​Overview:

• ​How to know when you’re ready for your first UX hire

• ​Common misconceptions about when and how much to invest in UX

• ​Research vs. design (and why you usually need both)

• ​How UX saves time, money, and headaches

• ​Common mistakes early teams make without UX

• ​How to work with and support your first designer or researcher

​Why Attend:
If you’re building climate tech, you’re juggling a thousand priorities: product, funding, hiring, growth. UX probably isn’t at the top of your list yet. This talk will show you why it should be.

​Bios:
Janet Gonzales is a UX designer with an entrepreneurial mindset who specializes in turning early-stage ideas into products people love. She likes to say she’s a fractional employee #1, wearing many hats in user experience, strategy, operations and business, to help teams get moving fast and set them up for long-term success. 

​Rebecca Hathaway is a UX designer, researcher, and workshop facilitator with over a decade of experience designing for highly technical audiences in industries ranging from climate tech, sustainability, architecture, industrial design, and financial services. She turns chaos into actionable user insights and products that make sense.

​Sponsored by The Key, a strategic PR and communications agency.