Huumans
A human-first platform for Canadian small business
Fractional product leadership for Huumans, a small business solutions platform that helps Canadian owners find the products, services, and advisors they need to grow.
- Role
- Fractional head of product
- Industry
- Small business solutions, SMB software
- Disciplines
- Product, Design
Challenge
The owner of a small Canadian business is often the CEO, the HR department, and the payroll desk all at once. Huumans set out to build them one trusted place to run and grow the business: vetted advice, the right tools, and finances they can understand at a glance. The founding team had the vision and the engineering muscle. They needed product leadership to define the experience and carry it from concept to launch on a three month runway.
Approach
The work started at the founder's side: listening, pressure testing, and turning his vision into a product the team could build against. As fractional head of product, we own UX and design direction across the product's three pillars: a curated marketplace where every provider is personally vetted, an AI companion that explains an owner's numbers in plain language, and Owner Stories, real videos from other owners on how they run their businesses. We run a weekly cadence with the engineering team from requirements to shipped design, and we built AI into the work itself, using Claude across specs, prototypes, and reviews, pairing product best practices with the speed a three month runway demands.
Results
Huumans went from concept to beta in roughly three months, launching May 4, 2026 with all three pillars live: the vetted marketplace, payroll and working capital in product, an AI companion woven through the experience, and an Owner Stories library filmed with real Canadian business owners.
Impact
Small business owners across Canada now have a product built around how they actually work: human advice first, with AI in a supporting role. The product is in market and growing through invited owners and partner channels, laying the foundation for Huumans' ambition to become Canada's most loved small business brand.
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