Strategy and craft, working together.

I'm Matt Silva, a creative technologist and fractional product leader who asks hard questions, builds alongside you, and stays engaged until you achieve your goals.

Get in touch

Built for the long arc.

After a decade working in high-growth startups, reaching Head of Product and Director levels, I started Northlight Studios to work with more intention and build alongside mission-driven founders.

Northlight is steady and diffused; the kind of light that reveals things clearly without distorting them. That's the quality behind this work: patient inquiry, careful making, and genuine investment in what you're building. Meaningful change happens through iteration, across many hands, often in ways you don't expect. That's the kind of work that matters.

Health and wellness is my strongest domain. But what I really care about is the problem. Products that change how people live, work, or think.

How we work together.

i.

You get my full attention

I take on one or two engagements at a time. That means you're not competing for bandwidth. I'm genuinely in the work, on the calls, in the details with you.

ii.

We build for the long haul

Meaningful products take time to get right. I work in extended engagements, long enough to build real trust and ship something that lasts, short enough that we both stay honest about why we're here.

iii.

We think and make together

I think through the problem and help build the solution. Thinking and making stay connected, so strategy stays grounded in reality.

iv.

We work across borders

Remote and timezone-flexible. I work with teams in the US and Europe, overlapping mornings or evenings with wherever you are.

Sounds like a fit? Get in touch

A few recent projects.

More detail available on request.

Health

Health Tech Startup

A French health startup developing an app that measures blood pressure using a smartphone camera. Prototyped the full mobile experience — helping them communicate the vision to investors before a line of production code was written.

Civic

Nonprofit Think Tank

Helped a think tank establish its first public web presence — identifying core audiences, translating those insights into design direction, and shipping a site that speaks to the right people.

Security

Physical Security Startup

Embedded as fractional Head of Product. Reduced policy volume by 70% and evidence burden by 50% while navigating SOC 2 compliance — letting a small team punch above its weight.

Health

Zero Longevity Science

Led product as we evolved from a fasting tracker into a holistic health platform. Launched Zero Plus, taking the company from pre-revenue to $6M ARR. Backed by True Ventures.

Health

Fitbit · SmartTrack

Led product development of the first automatic exercise detection feature of its kind — beating Apple to market. Working across R&D, firmware, software, and beta, it expanded Fitbit's surface beyond step tracking and unlocked exercise engagement across the lineup.

Words from the work.

Matt was good at pulling us out of the detail and asking why. And then helping with well-thought-out frameworks to tackle the problem at hand.

Tara Louise Reddy · Chief Product Officer, ROLI

Matt's product leadership has been a cornerstone of our collaboration — ensuring we are building the right things for the right audience at the right time. His ability to balance vision with practical execution makes him a standout.

Brian Milner · Principal Product Designer, Haven

If you're doing work that matters, I'd like to hear about it.

I take on one or two new engagements a year. If you'd like to explore working together, tell me about what you're building.