Desiree Braido

About

The designer and founder behind the work.

Desiree Braido

I'm Desiree. I spent seven years designing interiors, moved into building products, and now I'm building AI for the studios I used to work in.

Product and design leader with more than a decade spanning interior architecture, product design, design leadership and entrepreneurship. I operate at the intersection of design, business and technology: identifying opportunities, defining what should be built, and leading teams toward execution.

I'm building Archen right now: an AI platform for architecture and interior design studios, launching before the end of 2026. As Founder & CEO, I lead product strategy, brand and design. I built the working application using AI-assisted development in under 8 months, then brought on a Head of Engineering to prepare it for production.

I've also taken Lot Pop through a successful acquisition and led product and design systems at Relatus. My interior design background includes work featured in Architectural Digest and LUXE Interiors + Design.

On every team I've been the founding designer and the only product person.

Two master's degrees: Design Management from Pratt Institute and Interior Architecture from FIU. Based in Tampa, FL. Available for fractional product leadership, consulting and speaking.

Work with me →LinkedIn
10+
Years Building Products
1
Successful Exit
<8mo
Zero to Full Product, Archen
2
National Press Features

How I work with teams

I bring a designer's eye and a founder's sense of responsibility to leading products. I connect the experience we want to create with the decisions, constraints, and work required to deliver it.

Make the direction clear

I turn broad ambitions into a concrete problem, a focused product direction, and priorities people can act on. That includes deciding what we aren't building yet.

Build with engineers

I bring engineers into decisions early, work through tradeoffs together, and stay involved as the product takes shape. Prototypes make ideas tangible and give us something specific to challenge.

Make quality concrete

I care about how a product looks, behaves, and explains itself. I use clear flows, shared patterns, and direct feedback to help the team make consistent decisions.

Stay close to the work

I move between strategy and execution. I can set direction, design the experience, and build a prototype to test an assumption or move a decision forward.

Capabilities

Product Vision & Strategy

  • Identifying opportunities
  • Defining product direction
  • Prioritizing what gets built
  • 0-to-1 product development
  • Roadmap & go-to-market
  • Fundraising & investor storytelling

Design Leadership

  • Working across multidisciplinary teams
  • Shaping user experiences
  • Design systems at scale
  • Brand architecture
  • Business objectives into design decisions
  • Design operations
  • Executive stakeholder management

AI & Emerging Technology

  • AI product strategy
  • Applying emerging technology to real user and business problems
  • AI-assisted development
  • AI workflow design
  • Prototyping to test assumptions

Experience

  • Nov 2025 – PresentFounder & CEOArchen AI
  • 2024 – 2025Founder & CEOPerch
  • 2023 – 2024Co-Founder & CPOHairvine
  • Jun 2020 – Sep 2023Design Director & Product Systems LeadRelatus AI
  • 2019 – 2020CEO & Co-FounderLot Pop (Acquired)
Full experience on LinkedIn →

Education

  • MPS, Design Management · Pratt Institute
  • MA, Interior Architecture · Florida International University

Other fun stuff