Meet Lauren Porter, Head of Design at Thumbtack

A Q&A with PJ Linarducci, Chief Product Officer at Thumbtack

Lauren Porter (“Porter”) is Head of Design at Thumbtack where she leads a team of product designers, content designers, and researchers. In her role, Porter empowers her team to create end-to-end experiences for homeowners and pros, making it as easy as possible for homeowners to care for their homes and for pros to book more jobs and grow their businesses. She has spent six years at Thumbtack, originally joining as a product designer before growing into her role as Thumbtack’s Head of Design.

I chatted with Porter about what led her to a career in design, how she found her footing as an introverted leader and what excites her most about the future of Thumbtack.

PJ: You’ve had an interesting career path. Tell us, how did you get into the design world?

Porter: I had an unconventional path to design. I got my BA in Art History at a small school in Italy. Then, after I graduated, I was a ski bum in Tahoe for a few years. Around 2008, I moved to San Francisco without much of a plan. Since the economy was in the tank, I waited tables to make ends meet. One day, a friend suggested design because I had been a painter and have always been the creative type — I immediately started taking graphic design classes at San Francisco City College. While waiting tables, I took classes on typography, layout, color theory, and more. After about three years of design classes, I found a junior designer job at a tiny startup and made the leap.

Within the first few years of my design career, I was mostly focused on not screwing things up. I was working with people younger than me with more experience, and I always felt one step behind. I had no idea what I was doing; I didn’t even know what a startup was. On the weekends, I read articles and took online courses on UX and interaction design. When my manager asked if I could design the company’s iOS app, I of course agreed and then went home and Googled “iOS.” At the time, I didn’t even have a smartphone. I worked extremely hard to overcome a significant learning curve. As my skill set grew over the years, I eventually moved into leadership roles. My career journey is really a story of building my confidence both as a designer and leader, which ultimately led me to where I am today.

PJ: You are a self-described introvert. How did you translate the strengths that come with being introverted into some of your best leadership qualities?

Porter: The short answer is, I stopped trying to change my personality and leaned into my quiet strengths. I definitely consider myself a natural listener. As an observer, I’m able to pick up on dynamics and conversation that are below the surface and often missed by others. As a leader, subtext is incredibly important and being attuned to what is not directly communicated can result in more effective leadership and communication.

I’ve also learned to appreciate how slow and careful information processing can lead to more effective problem-solving. It’s okay if I don’t have an immediate response to a new concept or question that’s presented in a meeting. I’ve learned to step into my power as an introverted leader by saying, “Good question. Let me think about it and I’ll circle back with my thoughts.” While sometimes you don’t have the liberty to do that (especially in Board meetings or at a company All Hands), when you can, taking the time to process and develop your point of view before responding can be empowering.

The key is, I don’t try to be someone that I’m not. It’s important that I am unapologetically genuine — I don’t try to be the loudest voice in the room or force myself to be more outgoing or bubbly. I have my own challenges as an introvert, but I don’t shy away from them because I recognize that vulnerability is incredibly important.

Having said all of that, I’ve admittedly developed a handful of extroverted traits these days, particularly in social situations. I experienced quite a bit of burnout after so much alone time during COVID, so don’t be surprised if I’m the loudest person at the happy hour at our next Thumbtack outing.

PJ: It is always interesting to see how people’s personalities come through outside of the workplace. In meetings you’re a strong, thoughtful, often more reserved leader, so I remember being surprised at our last Thumbtack outing, when you were the first person on stage for karaoke!

Speaking of your position at Thumbtack, how would you describe your role as Head of Design as well as how your team supports the company?

Porter: As Head of Design, I lead our three Design functions — Product Design, Content Design, and Research. My role comes with a wide range of responsibilities, but simply put, I work to empower my team and the broader company to deliver the best possible experience for our homeowners and pros, while simultaneously driving business impact.

Ultimately, Design at Thumbtack is responsible for delivering a customer experience that’s valuable, easy to use, delightful, and leads to positive outcomes for the business; but, achieving this isn’t just a matter of creating good designs. Delivering a high-quality experience is an up-hill-battle if there isn’t a company-wide understanding and appreciation of the audience we’re serving, so a big part of Design’s role is advocating for our customers. We help the entire Thumbtack organization better understand our homeowners, pros, and their needs, which sets us up to consistently make customer-centric decisions as a company.

Design is also responsible for envisioning and articulating the future of the Thumbtack experience, which informs our product decisions and company strategy. My team does a wide range of visioning work, such as reimagining how pros onboard onto Thumbtack, or defining a three-year vision for the end-to-end homeowner experience. Design helps the company rally around a north star for the product and experience, so we’re all pointed in the same direction.

PJ: Looking ahead, what excites you most about the future of Thumbtack?

Porter: So many things. I originally joined Thumbtack because I was excited about our mission to empower small businesses to grow. Six years later, my excitement about all the ways Thumbtack helps pros and drives local economies hasn’t wavered, but I’ve developed a deep passion for the homeowner problem space as well. Especially after recently becoming a homeowner myself and seeing everything that goes into owning and maintaining a home.

We’ve seen that a large percentage of homeowners feel overwhelmed, confused, or stressed about maintaining their homes. To solve this, we’re creating an experience that empowers homeowners to proactively care for their home — from moving in to moving out, and all of the moments in between. Being a part of creating this experience is really exciting because it’s solving for a very real problem that hasn’t been cracked yet, and it presents fascinating design challenges and endless opportunities to innovate.

PJ: Outside of work, where do you get design inspiration (books, movies, coffee shops, podcasts, locations, activities, etc.)?

Porter: I’m innately curious about people; their stories, motivations, and how they got to be how they are. Philosophy, psychology, and understanding consciousness have always been incredibly interesting to me. I think it’s because I’m always working to push my thinking and understanding of myself and the world around me. I love debating meaty topics, like the meaning of consciousness, free will, or morality, for hours on end.

I also get inspiration from art, in all its forms and mediums. Both appreciating the work of great artists, and doing personal projects that fall in the “art” realm are outlets for me. Art feels like design without rules, and I find it therapeutic to create something that doesn’t need to be functional; something that can just exist.

PJ: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to an aspiring designer?

Porter: Share your work early and often and don’t let perfectionism hold you back. Early in my career I was afraid to let people see my early-stage designs, so I’d work in a silo trying to get the work to a certain quality bar before sharing. Throughout my career, I’ve seen other designers do the same thing, and it really holds people back.

Getting frequent feedback on work-in-progress designs helps you move faster and arrive at stronger solutions. At Thumbtack, we cultivate a design culture of openness and constant dialogue. If bringing work to a design critique feels intimidating, people will be reluctant to do it, so we’ve worked hard to create a safe space for feedback; however, it’s still on the individual designer, writer, or researcher to proactively solicit that feedback. Over the years, I’ve consistently seen the highest quality design solutions from those who solicit feedback frequently.

Whether you’re embarking on a career in design or simply want to step outside of your comfort zone, another piece of advice that’s more broadly applicable is to embrace the things that make you unique. Discovering that what I thought were my weaknesses were actually strengths was such an unlock for me and my career. It took me a long time to realize that being introverted or not having a formal design education gave me a valuable perspective that was different from many of my peers. If I can play any role in helping others “unlock” their unique perspective, I’m all in.

Learn more about Thumbtack at www.thumbtack.com/careers.