tomrich.us

What It Is

Tom Rich is not a traditional design tool or SaaS platform, but a top-tier independent design consultant and creative leader with more than a decade of experience. He previously led GoDaddy’s creative transformation and, as Design Director, helped guide the AI platform Team.ai to a $30 million acquisition. His core business is providing high-level creative strategy and execution services for companies, centered on the idea of “designing what matters.”

Core Service Dimensions

• Tool/Service Type: High-end design consulting and creative leadership services.
• Core Functions: Covers three main areas — fractional CDO services (providing creative vision and product strategy), design system development (building scalable, unified design systems that connect brand and product), and AI-driven design (offering cutting-edge AI design strategy, advanced prototypes, and implementation plans). On-demand startup branding and UX design services are also available.
• Collaboration Capabilities: Uses flexible engagement models such as monthly leadership support or on-demand projects, deeply integrating with company teams and advancing projects as a strategic partner.
• Resource Library Size & Export Compatibility: As a pure consulting service, it does not involve template libraries or file export compatibility. Deliverables are customized strategies, prototypes, and system solutions.

Pricing and Business Model

Positioned at the very high end of the market. Fractional CDO services start at $15,000/month; design system projects start at $25,000/project with a 3–6 month timeline; innovation consulting starts at $30,000/project. This is a typical high-ticket B2B custom service model, effectively filtering out clients with limited budgets.

Pros and Cons

Pros: Deep credentials, with hands-on experience leading multi-million-dollar AI projects and design systems at major companies; combines strategic vision with execution capability; stays close to the cutting edge of AI and can provide forward-looking AI design solutions.
Cons: Extremely high price threshold, making it inaccessible to many small and midsize businesses; operates as an individual studio, so the number of parallel projects is limited and capacity may become a bottleneck; lacks standardized SaaS tool support, meaning everything needs to be discussed and customized from scratch.

Target Users and Access from China

Best suited for large enterprises with ample budgets that urgently need top-level creative strategy guidance, or mature startups seeking brand breakthroughs and practical AI design implementation. The personal website is generally directly accessible from China, but cross-border communication and time zone differences may be potential challenges.