Changing Shapes – Episode 5
“Finding meaning in the mess of product design.”
In this episode of Changing Shapes, I sit down with Hiba Ganta, a Berlin-based product builder and writer whose career spans startups, community, no-code, and design, to talk about what it means to work fast, embrace chaos, and still create products with soul.
Hiba shares how a startup incubator in Montreal set her on a path of “professional mess cleaning,” why she’s drawn to intense environments, and how experimenting with AI prototyping tools like Lovable and Replit changed the way she builds.
Our conversation explores:
Why friction is essential to good work, even in an age obsessed with efficiency
What AI can accelerate, and where only human creativity adds the magic
How the definition of MVP is shifting when anyone can “vibe code” a prototype
Why craftsmanship and intentionality will always have a market, online or off
How unexpected people becoming “designers” could refresh the whole field
It’s a conversation about chaos and systems, speed and standards, and the cultural value of products that still carry a human touch.
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Hiba’s brilliant Substack is The Needful 👇 The number one takeaway from this podcast should be you go subscribe to that.
The Needful is Hiba’s newsletter on cultural intelligence for sharper, human-led product decisions. It is for indie founders and small teams who want clarity without the AI hype. Expect pragmatic, experience-grounded strategy, mental models, and cultural research that lift your team’s thinking. Hiba has led product, designs hands-on, and works on engagement and internal culture, so she reads features, stories, and signals in one go. Subscribe if you care about shipping with craft, protecting user trust, and keeping real judgment in the loop.
Highlights:
Hiba on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hibaganta/
🧠 Subscribe for more conversations at the intersection of culture, values, and technology.
🔗 Past episodes and articles available at tomhorak.substack.com.
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