We work on difficult problems worth the effort.
Malpaux is a boutique operator firm. We embed with founders and leadership teams when the product, technology, and organisation need to change at the same time, and when the normal answers (hire, consult, outsource) aren't fast or thorough enough to work.
We take on two to three engagements at a time.
Every engagement is direct. You work with the same senior people throughout.
Interim & fractional leadership.
For organisations that need senior product, design, or technology leadership embedded in the team to own decisions and ship outcomes, not parachuted in to advise and leave.
We step in as Fractional CTO, Interim VP Engineering, Creative Director, or product transformation lead. We own decisions, drive outcomes, and operate as part of the leadership team, not as advisors to it. Typical engagements run three to six months. Some become longer-term fractional partnerships where the need is ongoing but not full-time.
Our interim and fractional work includes serving simultaneously as Interim CTO and Interim Creative Director at Floy through their 2024 engineering restructure, rebuilding the product infrastructure, migrating to a squad-based organisation, and redesigning the brand while 200+ radiology offices continued scanning patients daily. At Immunkarte, we held co-founder ownership across product, technology, and design from day one, scaling the system to over 100,000 cards issued per day with an eight-person team. We continue as Fractional CTO at Floy through their current growth phase.
This is right for you if: you have been carrying a technical, product, or design leadership gap longer than you should have – or if you've realised the person in that seat isn't who you need for what's coming next. The right time to call is before the gap becomes a crisis, but we've also come in after.
What's in scope: Technical restructuring. Product strategy. Organisational transformation. Founder advisory. Engineering team rebuild. Rebranding. Design leadership.
Transformation engagements.
For organisations where the problem isn't a missing leader, it's that the whole system needs redesigning. How product, design, technology, and the organisation work together.
This typically unfolds in two phases. The first is a deep diagnostic: understanding the actual state of the system, where the leverage points are, and what a realistic path forward looks like. The second is implementation, embedded, sustained, and led by the same people who did the diagnosis.
The contexts we’ve done this work in vary: a live medical imaging AI company, a pre-seed carbon removal startup, a state government institution. The common thread is complexity that doesn't yield to straightforward solutions.
This is right for you if: the system worked well enough to get here, but won't get you to the next stage and you can feel that, even if you can't fully name it yet. This is also the engagement for teams that have tried to fix it internally, hired advisors, and still haven't moved.
What's in scope: Systems assessment. Stakeholder analysis. Operational and technical mapping. Product and branding strategy. Transformation roadmap. Strategic implementation.
Design & creative.
For organisations that need identity, product experience, or a full launch system, built to the standard of the product itself, not treated as a downstream output.
We do identity from the ground up, rebrands at inflexion points, product experience design, and full venture launch packages. The work is grounded in positioning strategy, not aesthetics for their own sake.
We don't separate brand from product. The Immunkarte visual identity was designed alongside the distribution system that scaled to over 10,000 pharmacies and earned a Special Mention at the German Design Award. Floy's rebrand was part of the same engagement as the engineering restructure.Cula's brand was built before the product had revenue, because in a credibility-deficient market, trust has to be designed before traction can demonstrate it. The website won Site of the Day on Awwwards.
This is right for you if: your external identity has stopped matching what you've actually built — or if you're about to raise, launch, or enter a new market and the way you present the company needs to do more work than it currently does. Not right for you if the creative direction is already decided and you need execution.
What's in scope: Naming. Brand identity. Visual systems. UX strategy. Product flows. Interface and design systems. Launch assets. Pitch decks. Website.
Strategic product &
technology development.
For organisations that need end-to-end product and technology creation, from strategy and architecture to a working system, on complex problems where the answer isn't known yet.
The work tends to be intensive and time-bounded. A twelve-week build engagement, for example, produces a working prototype, an MVP, a rearchitected core system.
This is not staff augmentation or spec execution. We don't take tickets. We engage when the problem is hard enough that integrated product, design, and technology leadership is the only thing that will produce the right result.
This engagement is for open R&D problems. The kind where the right architecture isn't obvious, where building the wrong thing would be expensive to undo, and where the people making the technical decisions need to be the same people who understand the product and the user. We work on and beyond the edge of what's been done before: from web UX driven by custom volumetric rendering engines (published at Web3D '21), through next-generation radiology reporting environments delivered in two weeks (RöKo 2026), to building a technical core and delivery system that scales from 0 to 100k customised vaccination certificate cards a day with minimal staff.
This is right for you if: you have a technically ambitious problem and no clear spec, you've tried to solve it through conventional means and hit a ceiling, or you need to prove a direction quickly before committing to a full build.
What's in scope: Product strategy. Technical architecture. UX and interface design. Design systems. Engineering leadership. Delivery coordination. Rapid prototyping.
Advisory: Workshops & sessions.
For founders and leadership teams who need a thinking partner with operator-level depth, for a specific decision, a recurring challenge, or an ongoing strategic relationship.
We bring judgment across product, technology, organisation, and market. We facilitate workshops, support stakeholder alignment, advise on technical and product decisions, and provide a fresh perspective.
This is right for you if: you're not ready for a full engagement but have a specific decision in front of you, a build vs. buy call, an org restructure, a product direction, where an outside perspective with operator depth would move things faster than more internal discussion will.
What's in scope: Strategy workshops. Technical due diligence. Founder advisory. Stakeholder alignment. Quarterly strategy sessions. Ongoing advisory retainers.
Venture & innovation partnerships.
For founding teams at the earliest stage, where Malpaux invests alongside the operational and design work. We take equity, reduce or even eliminate our cash rate, and work as a genuine founding partner: technical architecture, product strategy, identity, go-to-market, and fundraising support.
We only take these on once or twice a year, when we believe deeply in the mission and the founders. Cula and TwinEdge are examples of what this looks like in practice.
This is right for you if: you're at the earliest stage, the mission is the reason you're building, and what you need most isn't a cheque but someone who will treat the company as if they co-founded it. We only take these when we'd want to do the work regardless of the return.
If you think there might be a fit, the best first step is a conversation.
What we don’t do.
We don't take on ticket-taking or spec execution work. We're not a staff augmentation resource, a dev shop, or a delivery partner for a roadmap someone else has defined. If the problem is well-specified and the main challenge is execution bandwidth, we're probably not the right fit — and we'll say so.
The engagements that work are ones where the problem is genuinely hard, the stakes extend beyond the company, and there's trust on both sides to do the work properly.
Apply for collaboration.
If you're working on something difficult and want to understand whether there's a fit, the best starting point is a short conversation.