Eli Wong

• Age: 32
• Location: Singapore, Tiong Bahru
• Occupation: Lead Product Designer at Factorial (B2B AI analytics for clinics)
• Income: SGD 110k (after taxes)
• Education: Bachelor's in Visual Communications (LASALLE College of the Arts)
• Company size: 28 (tech startup, Series B)
• Years in role: 2.5 years (hired as second designer)

“‘The most dangerous tool in early-stage startups isn’t bad UI—it’s designers who think they’re designers, not problem solvers.’”

Eli Wong’s career began at a boutique design agency where they quickly realized billable hours didn’t correlate with product impact. Their move to Factorial was strategic—joining a Series B startup where design could shape product Northwestern, they leverage their ‘founder whisperer’ reputation by crafting interfaces that don’t just look good but actually get used. Their days are a balancing act between defending design rigor and pushing for ‘good enough’ to ship. Eli’s kitchen walls are pasted with sticky notes from former founders’ pricing debates, a habit born from their fascination with how early-stage companies value (or undervalue) design. Their skepticism of design trends comes from seeing too many @2020 gradients thrown at problems that needed better onboarding. Despite their love for AI tools, they’re cautious about ‘automated creativity’ and maintains a private Slack channel with designers to share ‘AI-generated messes’. Financially, they’re disciplined but indulges in ‘design tools’ as ‘investments’ (the same way others justify gym memberships). Their most recent life experiment is a 3-month ‘no-meeting Mondays’ trial, though they’m mocked by teammates for still being ‘available’ via status updates. Eli’s idea of success isn’t becoming a ‘design leader’ but creating products that make founders say ‘Our designers actually helped close sales.’

Background & daily life

A day in their life

5:00am: Gym (deadlifts + cleans) while listening to AI design podcasts. 7:30am: Iced coffee at Tiong Bahru bakery, scanning LinkedIn for ‘designer-hiring’ posts. 9:00am: Factorial standup where Eli mentally categorizes edges cases as ‘needs documentation’ vs ‘fix in v2’. 11:00am: Side project—drafting a pricing strategy doc for a medical founder they met last month. 1:00pm: Lunch salad with coworker who complains about ‘founder micromanagement’. 3:00pm: Figma workshop where Eli realizes they’ve been using the same plugin shortcut for 3 years. 7:00pm: Grocery run, then kitchen hacks a ‘no-recipe’ protein bowl. 9:00pm: YouTube deep dive into CSS Grid animations. 11:00pm: Tweets a half-joking thread about ‘design debt’ that gets 47 replies.

Lifestyle

Eli lives in a minimalist condo with one wall taken over by a modular pinboard tracking startup pitches they’ve seen. Their morning routine starts with a 5am gym session (weights, no cardio) and ends with around 11pm drafting email templates for founders they’ve never met. Social life revolves around indie game meetups and a small group of startup designers who convene for ‘No B.S. Salary Talks’ over beers. Health-wise, they’re particular about protein intake but views doctors as last-resort magicians. Money is tightly managed—loyal to a no-fee investment app but still manually audits every bank statement. Their most indulgent purchase was a high-end mechanical keyboard (‘It’s a tool, not a luxury!’).

Work life

As Factorial’s lead designer, Eli’s days cycle between solving ‘placeholder problem’ debates (their pet peeve) and breaking down product flows for doctors who ‘still use CTRL+C for everything’. Their desk is littered with sticky note equations comparing SaaS pricing tiers. The team’s flexible, but Eli schedules focused sprints on Tuesdays/Wednesdays to avoid last-minute design requests. They secretly admire the engineers’ ability to commit code without endless iterations. Pressure points include board meetings where ‘design’ gets reduced to colors and deadlines where founders expect ‘magic’ to fix onboarding rates. Lately, they’ve been experimenting with AI-generated wireframe variants to speed up early-stage feedback cycles.

Relationships

Eli’s tightest bond is with an artsy fellow designer they met at a fintech hackathon. Their family in Penang sends constant WeChat messages about ‘settling down’ despite knowing their stance on marriage. Their local community circles include startup designers who bond over ‘design debt’ in Slack channels and the occasional ‘this founder didn’t pay’ war story. Eli’s most trusted mentor is a seasoned designer at Grab who warns about ‘founder fatigue’ in every 1:1. Secretly, they’d love to acquire enough status to host a ‘designers-only’ retreat where they can critique portfolios over gin.

How they decide

Deliberate researcher with a shortlist mentality. For tools or information, they’ll collect 5-6 options, then narrow based on ‘quickest time-to-value’. Avoids hype-driven decisions but will default to ‘referenceable’ options when time-constrained. Skeptical of ‘innovative’ solutions that lack practical adoption proof. Trades efficiency for security in financial choices, but not in creative opinions.

How they sound

Speaks in measured, almost analytical cadence with occasional dry humor. Uses deliberate pauses before key points. Avoids jargon-heavy phrasing with non-designers. Slang rarely, but will drop a ‘Lost keystroke’ or ‘That’s a hot mess’ when frustrated. Their texts are emoji-light but reply within 12 minutes. When considering ideas, often says ‘Let me sit with that.’ Dislikes vague phrasing like ‘just make it pop’ or ‘let’s do a brainstorm’ without context.