Episode #45: Empathy-Led Product Design Under Startup Constraints with Ayelet Paz Akler

A short timeline does not remove the need to understand users. It makes that understanding more important. In Episode #45, Ayelet Paz Akler explains how empathy, accessible research methods, and design leadership help her keep user needs visible while working through the speed and change of a startup.

What you'll learn

• How Ayelet connected creative work with a practical design career

• Why listening and empathy are working skills, not abstract values

• How internal experts, customers, design partners, and analytics support testing

• What it takes to introduce design practices as the first in-house designer

• How sensitivity can strengthen product decisions and team relationships

Connect creative practice to real human needs

Ayelet traces her design career to two interests that once seemed separate. In high school, she enjoyed art and drawing. During her army service in Israel, she supported soldiers with individual, financial, and social needs. She did not plan to continue in social work, but she later recognized a connection between that experience and product design: both require listening to people, understanding their pain points, and helping create a solution.

When choosing what to study, she wanted work that was artistic and practical. A student exhibition led her to a four-year visual communication and graphic design program. UX was not yet a major part of the curriculum, so her route into the field passed through infographics at a newspaper and web design for newspaper sites.

The arrival of the first iPhone gave that path a new direction. Her team was designing its first mobile app, and Ayelet became curious about user interface design. She moved into her first UI role at Check Point, then spent several years in large enterprise companies before choosing startup work. Her career shows that a transition into product design can develop through adjacent work. The consistent thread is attention to how people use what gets designed.

Test with the people and evidence you can reach

At Applitools, Ayelet worked on a visual test automation platform used by developers and QA teams. That audience created a practical research advantage: people matching those roles were available inside the company. Before choosing between designs, she could run usability sessions with front-end developers and QA colleagues.

Internal participants are one source, not the whole answer. For features already in the product, Ayelet could join meetings between customer success and customers, hear direct reactions, and ask how people experienced the feature. She had also worked with design partners in other organizations, involving customers in the design process before release. Analytics added another view by showing movement and behavior in the live product.

The useful lesson is not to select one universal testing method. It is to combine available evidence at the right stage. Colleagues can expose workflow problems early. Design partners can respond before release. Customers can explain their experience with shipped features. Behavioral data can reveal what people actually do. Together, these inputs reduce the risk of treating a design decision as validated simply because the team prefers it.

Build design influence while protecting priorities

Ayelet was the first in-house designer at Applitools. She did more than produce screens. She introduced processes, helped colleagues learn design thinking and workshops, and established ways of working with design systems. Starting from scratch was challenging, but it also gave her access to strategic conversations and a chance to influence important product decisions.

That influence came with startup constraints. She describes constant change, strict timelines, and more work than the available people can complete. Her response is to keep user needs at the top of the priority list and bring them into design decisions even when time is short. This is a concrete form of advocacy: not pretending constraints disappear, but refusing to let the user disappear from the trade-off.

She also treats learning as ongoing work. Reading, podcasts, conferences, and meetups help her stay current. Teaching, mentoring, volunteering, and organizing designer meetups reinforce that learning by requiring her to share it. She pairs professional development with attention to the work environment through brainstorms, off-site workshops, outdoor activities, and celebrating accomplishments.

Ayelet's sensitivity ties these practices together. Although emotion can be framed as a business weakness, she sees sensitivity as a source of awareness. It helps her notice colleagues, users, and customers, empathize with their pain points, and design responses around what they need.

Listen to Episode #45

This conversation offers a grounded view of product design as both craft and organizational work. Listen to Episode #45 to hear Ayelet describe her route from visual communication to product leadership, the research channels she uses, and how she turns sensitivity into a practical strength when teams face real limits.