Modern Product Design for Fast-Moving Startups
IDEO Alternative
Looking for a faster, more agile IDEO alternative? Parallel delivers embedded design squads that ship real software—not just presentations. While traditional design consultancies excel at strategy and workshops, startups need teams that build, iterate, and launch. That's where Parallel comes in.
Why Startups Choose Parallel as Their IDEO Alternative
When you're building a product, every week matters. Parallel provides dedicated design squads that integrate directly with your team, working in your tools, on your timeline, and focused on one goal: shipping production-ready software.
Unlike traditional consultancies, we don't hand off decks and disappear. Our designers embed with your engineering team, participate in standups, and push code to production. You get the expertise of a world-class design partner with the speed and accountability of an in-house team.
Embedded squads that work as an extension of your team, not external consultants
Focus on shipping software, not just strategy documents and presentations
Agile collaboration that matches startup velocity, with weekly sprints and continuous delivery
End-to-end execution from concept to deployed features in your production environment
Fast, Embedded Teams vs. Traditional Consulting
The consulting model was built for enterprise timelines and budgets. Parallel was built for startups that need to move fast.
Speed that matches your pace
Our design squads start contributing in days, not months. No lengthy discovery phases or bureaucratic approval processes. We jump into your existing workflows, learn your product, and begin shipping improvements immediately.
True collaboration
Your Parallel squad uses your Figma, commits to your GitHub, and joins your Slack channels. We're not generating reports from the outside - we're building alongside your team, sharing context in real-time, and adapting as priorities shift.
Outcome-focused partnership
Traditional consultancies bill for workshops and deliverables. We measure success by what ships to users. Our incentives align with yours: real features, real feedback, real progress.
How Parallel Works: Design Squads That Ship
Parallel matches you with a dedicated design squad tailored to your product needs. Each squad includes product designers, developers, and design engineers who have shipped products at companies like Google, Stripe, and Airbnb.
Your squad onboards on your codebase, reviews your product roadmap, and identifies quick wins. We ship our first improvements to production.
Full sprint velocity. Your squad designs new features, builds prototypes, conducts user research, and deploys polished experiences to your users - all in parallel with your existing team.
Continuous delivery. As your product evolves, your Parallel squad scales with you, taking on everything from core feature development to design system expansion.
Built for Startup
Velocity
Startups don't have time for the traditional consulting playbook. Parallel is designed around how modern product teams actually work.
We use sprints, incremental shipping, and real user feedback to iterate.
Our design engineers implement production-ready components directly in your codebase.
Daily Slack updates, designs in Figma, and code on GitHub provide full visibility.
Our designers guide smart tradeoffs to prioritize results over perfection.
“Parallel's design sprints allowed us to involve and engage all stakeholders in the project - even those with no product or design background, which was a big plus for us”
“Parallel made it a point to understand the product and the impact they have or should have. They worked patiently with our in-house teams of Product, Design and Engineering, without the slightest hint of friction.”
“Parallel was excellent in helping us bring our vision to life. The quick iterations done in parallel with user testing let us try a lot of things in order to get to our beta. We're so grateful for their team.”
“Finding designers who have the talent and drive to match a founder’s vision is rare, consider this a PSA! If you’re building B2B SaaS, you want them on your shortlist.”
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