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I’m a Senior Product Designer and Product Lead with 15+ years’ experience designing complex SaaS products across web, mobile, onboarding, customer workflows, and platform redesigns. My strength is understanding what customers actually need, turning messy requirements into clear product flows, and designing practical software that teams can build and users can understand. I bring founder-level SaaS experience across product strategy, customer discovery, pricing, onboarding, retention, developer collaboration, and product delivery. I’m especially interested in fast-moving teams using AI to improve how products are designed, prototyped, tested, and built. I use tools like Claude, ChatGPT, Figma, Vue.js, and Supabase to move faster from customer problem to product logic, prototype, and buildable software.…I’m a Senior Product Designer and Product Lead with 15+ years’ experience designing complex SaaS products across web, mobile, onboarding, customer workflows, and platform redesigns. My strength is understanding what customers actually need, turning messy requirements into clear product flows, and designing practical software that teams can build and users can understand. I bring founder-level SaaS experience across product strategy, customer discovery, pricing, onboarding, retention, developer collaboration, and product delivery. I’m especially interested in fast-moving teams using AI to improve how products are designed, prototyped, tested, and built. I use tools like Claude, ChatGPT, Figma, Vue.js, and Supabase to move faster from customer problem to product logic, prototype, and buildable software.

Karl Friend

Product Designer, Designer, UX Designer, +5

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I’m a Senior Product Designer and Product Lead with 15+ years’ experience designing complex SaaS products across web, mobile, onboarding, customer workflows, and platform redesigns. My strength is understanding what customers actually need, turning messy requirements into clear product flows, and designing practical software that teams can build and users can understand. I bring founder-level SaaS experience across product strategy, customer discovery, pricing, onboarding, retention, developer collaboration, and product delivery. I’m especially interested in fast-moving teams using AI to improve how products are designed, prototyped, tested, and built. I use tools like Claude, ChatGPT, Figma, Vue.js, and Supabase to move faster from customer problem to product logic, prototype, and buildable software.…I’m a Senior Product Designer and Product Lead with 15+ years’ experience designing complex SaaS products across web, mobile, onboarding, customer workflows, and platform redesigns. My strength is understanding what customers actually need, turning messy requirements into clear product flows, and designing practical software that teams can build and users can understand. I bring founder-level SaaS experience across product strategy, customer discovery, pricing, onboarding, retention, developer collaboration, and product delivery. I’m especially interested in fast-moving teams using AI to improve how products are designed, prototyped, tested, and built. I use tools like Claude, ChatGPT, Figma, Vue.js, and Supabase to move faster from customer problem to product logic, prototype, and buildable software.

Available to hire

I’m a Senior Product Designer and Product Lead with 15+ years’ experience designing complex SaaS products across web, mobile, onboarding, customer workflows, and platform redesigns.

My strength is understanding what customers actually need, turning messy requirements into clear product flows, and designing practical software that teams can build and users can understand. I bring founder-level SaaS experience across product strategy, customer discovery, pricing, onboarding, retention, developer collaboration, and product delivery.

I’m especially interested in fast-moving teams using AI to improve how products are designed, prototyped, tested, and built. I use tools like Claude, ChatGPT, Figma, Vue.js, and Supabase to move faster from customer problem to product logic, prototype, and buildable software.

Skills

Experience Level

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Intermediate

Intermediate

Intermediate

Intermediate

Intermediate

Beginner

Beginner

Beginner

Language

English

Fluent

Work Experience

Founder / AI-assisted Product Designer / SaaS Builder at K B Media (context: listed as 'K Bmedia' in resume as a founder role)

January 1, 2026 - Present

Founded, designed, and built a multi-tenant SaaS product for dog trainers and behaviourists, centered on scheduling, registrations, client management, financials, notes, Google Calendar integration, Xero integration, Stripe payments integration, and daily business workflows. Used AI to accelerate product architecture, UX flows, feature planning, technical problem solving, interface iteration, and delivery. Designed and built registrations, client management, financial workflows, Google Calendar integration, drag-and-drop scheduling, onboarding, and trainer admin workflows. Translated real customer pain points from a dog training business into practical SaaS functionality and early go-to-market positioning.

Friendly Manager | Product Manager / Senior Product Designer at Friendly Manager

September 1, 2024 - Present

Leads product design and product direction across major areas of a SaaS platform for sports clubs, associations, and community organizations, including registrations, communications, member management, websites, events, mobile experiences, and customer onboarding. Redesigns and rebuilds complex club management workflows by reviewing existing platforms and designing improved screens, flows, and touchpoints. Uses Claude, ChatGPT, Figma, and AI-assisted workflows to accelerate product thinking, edge-case exploration, prototyping, and product specification. Works closely with developers, leadership, product stakeholders, and customers to translate complex requirements into clear, buildable product experiences. Key projects include a from-scratch drag-and-drop website builder (UX, components, editor structure, page controls, integration points, responsive behavior, and developer specifications) and leading the mobile app design and prototypes, gathering customer feedback and supporting deve

Head of Product / Principal Product Designer at Friendly Manager

September 1, 2024 - Present

Own end-to-end product strategy and decisions across the platform; unify multiple platform initiatives into a single, coherent product vision; lead a fully remote, cross-functional team; write detailed product specifications for engineering delivery; own UI/UX from discovery through high-fidelity execution; balance speed and long-term maintainability with engineering; serve as central product authority aligning business goals, technical constraints, and user needs.

Senior Product Designer (Remote Contract) at Foodle

September 1, 2023 - September 1, 2024

Worked on the customer onboarding journey from website entry through first use of a non-profit/church/community payments SaaS platform. Redesigned key onboarding flows to reduce friction and make it easier for new customers to understand and start using the product. Proposed broader UI and UX improvements focused on simplifying complex admin workflows. Worked remotely with stakeholders to understand customer needs, product goals, and implementation constraints.

Key Youth Leader at Golden Sands Baptist Church

March 1, 2023 - November 1, 2023

Grew the youth group from 10 members to over 100; built and scaled a leadership team; established weekly and yearly plans; delivered age-appropriate teaching and activities; maintained strong relationships with young people and their families; coordinated with church leadership and external partners to align programs with community goals; created media to support communication and outreach.

Founder at KBM edia

October 1, 2022 - Present

Designed and built mobile-first, responsive websites using Webflow and Concrete5; led end-to-end product and design delivery for not-for-profit and client websites; redesigned a government site with strong accessibility and usability standards; created design systems and onboarding flows for SaaS platforms; produced strategic product recommendations and used AI tools to accelerate ideation and content creation.

Senior Product Designer / Web Designer / Founder at K B Media

September 1, 2022 - Present

Designs and builds responsive, mobile-first websites using Figma, Webflow, WordPress, and custom front-end approaches. Creates wireframes, high-fidelity designs, interactive prototypes, and developer handoff processes for web and SaaS projects. Uses Claude, ChatGPT, and AI tools to support design, content, prototyping, and delivery. Designed onboarding and UX improvements for SaaS and non-profit clients, including Foodle. Leads design and project management for a government website redesign focused on accessibility, usability, and clearer information architecture.

Founder / CEO / Product Owner / Senior Product Designer at Friendly Ltd (Friendly Manager)

June 1, 2014 - October 1, 2021

Founded and grew Friendly Manager from a web and custom software business into a SaaS platform serving clubs, sports organizations, and community groups across New Zealand. Set product vision, market direction, pricing strategy, customer communication, and product priorities. Worked directly with customers to identify problems, improve product direction, support onboarding, and reduce churn. Managed cross-functional teams across development, customer success, design, and operations, growing the team to up to 15 staff members. Worked with governance teams, investors, and senior leadership, helping raise over $2m in equity funding. Supported sales demos, customer onboarding, product training, migration, and long-term customer success.

Founder / Product Designer / Web Designer at Friendly Shops (Friendly Web)

January 1, 2009 - January 1, 2014

Founded and built early web, eCommerce, and digital product businesses. Designed websites, eCommerce platforms, branding, CMS-based digital experiences, and customer-facing digital tools for local businesses.

Senior Product Owner & Designer at Friendly Ltd

October 1, 2007 - January 31, 2022

Owned product discovery, strategy, roadmapping, and delivery; facilitated customer and internal discovery workshops; managed backlogs via Jira and ClickUp; led cross-functional teams across product, design, engineering, and customer success; translated user stories into production-ready designs in Figma; built interactive prototypes; transitioned the business from a services agency to a focused SaaS platform; raised equity funding; led a team of 17 with zero staff turnover for five years; maintained a 0.001% churn rate; led customer migrations and platform transitions; hired and handed over control to a new CEO.