From CS Engineer to Lead Product Designer: Building B2B Products in the AI Era with Nipurn Doshi
Welcome to the latest episode of Silicon & Spice, where tech leaders share life's unique flavors! Today I sat down with Nipurn Doshi, Lead Product Designer at Sigma, a Series D business analytics company that's revolutionizing data with spreadsheet-like interfaces.
What was your path into design?
I started my journey as an undergrad in computer science. After graduating, I worked as a front-end engineer for three years. But I kept asking questions more around the why of things rather than the how of things. I kept asking, why are users struggling here? Or why does this flow feel clunky? And that's where I got pulled into this world of UX.
I pursued my master's in information science, focused in human computer interaction from Indiana University. While there, I also dabbled into a few open source projects with Apache. I also got this opportunity to intern at NASA as a UX researcher.
What does a typical day look like in B2B design vs B2C?
I think B2C itself has its own flavor of chaos and nuances with very passionate stakeholders. The big difference is that B2B users prefer more speed and clarity. They want all the tools they're working with as more like an extension of what they're thinking rather than just some flashy micro-interactions.
The magic that happens in B2B is when we can shave off even 30 seconds of somebody's workflow or there are some smart defaults which anticipate user needs. We've been doing this at Sigma for quite a while and it's working well for us. We just touched 100 million dollars in ARR and our name just came up in Gartner's Magic Quadrant.
My day-to-day blends in and out of situations a lot. I work collaboratively with my PMs and engineers, even other designers, where I align on priorities and shape strategies. At the end of the day, we try to see if all the work we're doing is tying into real user problems. I also protect my time to do some deep design thinking, whether it be jamming on my Figma files or reviewing work. Sometimes it's existential debates on should tooltips exist here or not.
How do enterprise clients influence your design decisions?
Sometimes big customers ask for something, then we go back and see the bigger picture. Do we really want to do this even if this customer is asking for it? We decide based on a lot of parameters. Sometimes we do have to say no to a customer when something doesn't align with our long-term vision.
What's your experience with AI in design?
I am totally down the AI wormhole and I have completely stopped looking for exit. I don't even start designing something before I've had a brainstorming session with my AI. AI is sort of like my hyperactive creative partner which helps me ideate faster. It helps me come up with solutions that I would not have even thought of. Sometimes they're hilarious, but other times I'm quite impressed.
It has helped me with copywriting, tone explorations, and it even helps me with naming things. Naming things in design is still the hardest part to this day. When we were thinking of this new document type in Sigma, it took us months to even come down to a simple name called "workbook."
I like AI because I can just kickstart whatever you're thinking about. Wherever you're stuck, you can just ask it a question. It can give you a few answers to start with and then you can decide what you want to do with it.
What AI tools do you use most?
When I start on a new project and I've nailed down what the problem is, I use Figma Make a lot. I gave it very simple prompts about improving our date picker, and it came up with very impressive results that jump-started my process. It's helping us get out of this empty canvas panic.
I also use ChatGPT a lot to make sure the copy I'm using, even before I take it to my copywriters, actually makes sense. The first polish is already done before I push it out to stakeholders or engineers. I even compare - I'll go to Google Gemini and ChatGPT and give them the same question to see what different types of ideas each gives me.
What advice do you have for people wanting to switch into design?
First, welcome! I would define design as a craft that's at the intersection of systems thinking, visual communication, and psychology. We have to study a lot about behaviors. It's not just about making things look good - it's about how to make something work beautifully.
Don't worry about "Will AI take my job?" Start redesigning something you've seen. Take an app you've used a lot and try redesigning it. Everything has scope for improvement. Think through your process. Share your ideas, however messy they are, and learn to love feedback. Great designs don't come out of isolation - they come out of conversation.
Don't think of AI as a threat. Take AI as your friend. Whenever you're stuck, use AI to your advantage. It's like how our parents used to say they walked 10 kilometers to work - we used to complete our undergrad without AI!
Do you worry AI will replace designers?
If AI ever replaces me, I think I deserve it. In all seriousness, AI is not here to take our jobs. They're here to get rid of repetitive tasks without us having to think about them over and over again.
AI is fast - you ask a question, you immediately get four solutions. But it's also weirdly confident. On the other hand, AI has no gut instinct. It's not human. Design is all about context and taste. It doesn't have taste, it doesn't have emotion. Both AI and designers have to go hand in hand to succeed.
Us asking "can AI replace designers?" is almost like saying "will spreadsheets replace vision?" Spreadsheets contain data, but there needs to be somebody who creates decisions out of that data and sees the bigger picture. There are powerful tools out there - it's just up to us how we use them.
Can you show us how Sigma works internally?
We dog food our product for various use cases. When a feature is released, I do usage tracking where I want to see how a feature is doing, what people are clicking. I don't have to depend on our data team. I just load up the data model and explore all the things I need.
Our entire design team has created an application right within Sigma where everybody has their tasks and projects. We don't use another third tool - we just use Sigma to create that app. One of our user researchers created a form where people can request new user research. She looks at a table where all the data is collected and decides which project to take up.
You can use it for analysis, task management, creating any application - all happening within Sigma. We've stopped using other things. It saves time and money because there's no context switching or app switching.
What's your favorite clothing brand?
I don't have a favorite, but I have comfort brands. If I need something for office wear, I go to Johnston and Murphy. For casual, J.Crew or Zara. If I need something quick, I'll go to these brands. If I have time to go around the mall, I'll go to all of them and see whichever fits.
What's your go-to AI tool?
At the moment, I'd pick ChatGPT and Figma Make. I'm using Figma Make a lot because they're in beta right now, so I can go to town and do whatever. Both are doing a great job providing impressive solutions that are concise and in context to what I'm thinking.
I can copy paste one of my frames into Figma Make and tell them the problem. "This is the card I'm working on and people aren't able to read it nicely. Can you make it more legible?" It does some magic and produces variations where I can pick and choose what I like from each card and continue talking to Figma Make about it.