Toms Varpins

Hi, I'm Toms!

I’ve designed products for 13 years across startups, product companies and consultancies.

My background in IT systems and business analysis means I usually know what engineering can build and what the business needs before I open Figma.

These days I also build my own tools with an AI workflow I designed.

I like messy problems with more questions than answers. I dig in, pull the right people in, and turn what we find into something a team can actually build.

Get in touch

Resume
GitHub
LinkedIn

Get in touch

Resume
GitHub
LinkedIn

Things I've built

+9%

New stores three months after launch, after a six-month 18% slide.

E-commerce, Printify

AI

I’m building TabbyTab, an app that turns songs into guitar tabs you can play along to. Recognizable, not note-perfect.

Audio processing, TabbyTab

AI

I’m building TabbyTab, an app that turns songs into guitar tabs you can play along to. Recognizable, not note-perfect.

Audio processing, TabbyTab

1B

Transactions in the first month of N26’s SEPA payment system. I turned the German central bank’s spec into its requirements.

FinTech, N26

-62%

Median time to first deployment, from 8 minutes to 3, after I removed the paywall and rebuilt the flow.

Developer tools, Kinsta

-62%

Median time to first deployment, from 8 minutes to 3, after I removed the paywall and rebuilt the flow.

Developer tools, Kinsta

82%

Of first business registrations in Latvia were rejected. I designed the system that catches those errors before submission.

Government, Register of Enterprises

10 months

Building an agent-assisted support service that became the company’s main profit driver.

Live Chat, tawk.to

Words from colleagues

He brings a rare mix of strategic thinking, technical competency and leadership.

Krists Tauriņš

/

Product Manager, Printify

His exceptional UX skills and ability to grasp the bigger picture consistently stood out.

Lorant Toth

/

Design System Designer, Kinsta

His contributions were essential in securing pilot projects for our startup.

Boris Lunoff

/

VP of Operations

How I work

Curiosity

At 12, I deleted system files from a friend’s computer..

..to make room for paint drawings and flash games. Very important! Fixing it got me hooked on how things work under the surface. I still approach products that way: ask questions and keep pulling the thread until I understand what’s really going on.

Systems

The screen I’m designing is rarely the whole problem.

At Printify, store creation was losing merchants partly because of a modal another team owned. I get close to the technical details and dependencies first, because sometimes the fix lives next to the thing I was asked to change.

Collaboration

The people closest to a problem usually know things I don’t..

..so I bring them in early. At the Register of Enterprises, every department knew its own step but nobody had mapped the whole process. A few workshops and one huge diagram later, everyone was working from the same picture.

Judgment

I rarely have all the information before I need to decide.

So I make the call, then check it with prototypes, user feedback, data and what happens after launch. And if the problem sits outside my job description, I still take responsibility for fixing it.

Outside work

Listens to a lot of music

I care a little too much about sound and love collecting music for different moods.

I also love going to rock and experimental jazz concerts to watch musicians shred and wonder how their fingers work.

Naturally, I picked up playing guitar and started making my own sounds.

Walks a lot

I like long walks with good music and nowhere to be. I’ll happily walk across town for dinner or end up on top of a mountain just because I can.

It’s how I think and clear my head.

Keeps learning

I like learning how things work, whether I’m at my desk or nowhere near one.

I’ll happily disappear down a rabbit hole about almost any topic that catches my attention.

Toms Varpins

How I work

Curiosity

My curiosity has always led me to adventures.

When I was 12, I deleted system files from a friend's computer trying to make room for paint drawings and Flash games and broke the operating system.

Figuring out how to fix it sparked a lifelong interest in understanding how things work beneath the surface.

That’s how I approach product problems. I ask questions, dig into the details, and keep pulling at the thread until I understand what’s really going on.

Systems

The thing I’m designing is rarely the whole problem.

I like to zoom out and understand how the different parts affect one another before deciding what to change.

That means getting close to the technical details, understanding constraints and dependencies, and thinking through edge cases and what happens downstream.

Sometimes the best design decision isn’t to change the thing in front of me, but to fix what’s connected to it.

Collaboration

I don't believe design happens in isolation.

The people closest to a problem often know things I don't, so I try to get them involved early. I work closely with engineers, product people, and subject-matter experts throughout the process.

We share what we know, challenge assumptions and build a shared understanding of the problem which shapes what we can realistically build.

Good collaboration isn't about getting everyone to agree. It's about bringing the right perspectives together to make a better decision.

Judgment

Good design isn't about having the answer immediately.

It's about knowing how to make a good decision when you don't have all the information, then testing those assumptions in the real world.

I use prototypes, user feedback, data, and what happens after we ship to see what works and what doesn't. The goal is to make a thoughtful call, learn from it, and improve.

I take responsibility for making the thing better, even when the problem isn't neatly inside my job description.

Curiosity

At 12, I deleted system files from a friend’s computer..

..to make room for paint drawings and flash games. Fixing it got me hooked on how things work under the surface. I still approach products that way: ask questions and keep pulling the thread until I understand what’s really going on.

Systems

The screen I’m designing is rarely the whole problem.

At Printify, store creation was losing merchants partly because of a modal another team owned. I get close to the technical details and dependencies first, because sometimes the fix lives next to the thing I was asked to change.

Collaboration

The people closest to a problem usually know things I don’t..

..so I bring them in early. At the Register of Enterprises, every department knew its own step but nobody had mapped the whole process. A few workshops and one huge diagram later, everyone was working from the same picture.

Judgment

I rarely get all the information before I need to decide.

So I make the call, then check it with prototypes, user feedback, data and what happens after launch. And if the problem sits outside my job description, I still take responsibility for fixing it.

Toms Varpins

Site
Work
AI workflow
About
Links
GitHub
Resume
LinkedIn

Toms Varpins

Site
Work
AI workflow
About
Links
GitHub
Resume
LinkedIn

Toms Varpins

Site
Work
AI workflow
About
Links
GitHub
Resume
LinkedIn