Karla Uribe is joining Hello Divorce as its first Chief Product Officer, assuming the leadership role on February 1. She maintains the belief that technology and data offer significant potential to achieve superior outcomes for separating couples and their children.
Ms. Uribe’s primary mission is to oversee the product’s transformation, shifting the platform from one offering technology-enabled services to a product-first software experience. This new focus aims to deliver expert assistance only when strictly necessary, ensuring the service remains financially accessible to a wider audience.
Regarding her objectives, Ms. Uribe stated, “The goal for me is to make sure that it is the best experience that could be created for somebody who is going through that process. It is not just the form-filling part. It is also how we use technology for things like helping couples come to an agreement, what are the ways in which we can use data, how can we use connections to FinTech.”
She arrives at the California-based startup—a platform facilitating low-cost do-it-yourself and attorney-assisted divorces—as the company begins a nationwide expansion. This growth is supported by a $2 million seed investment secured in July. Erin Levine, the divorce attorney and founder who serves as CEO of Hello Divorce, expressed confidence in Ms. Uribe’s ability to spearhead this corporate initiative. Ms. Levine noted, “Our vision is to make the entire divorce process friendlier, easier and a lot more affordable.”
Professional Background and Market Parallels
Ms. Uribe brings thirteen years of product management experience from Intuit, where she most recently held the position of Director of Product Management, overseeing core products including TurboTax Self-Employed.
She identifies distinct parallels between the tax and divorce markets. Both markets are heavily regulated, involve significant emotional consequences for the participants, and are highly data-driven concerning the information required to complete essential forms.
Ms. Uribe views her new role as an ideal opportunity to apply her expertise in technology-driven problem-solving to this new sector. She believes that the divorce market shares sufficient similarities with the tax world, allowing her to draw upon best practices to assist individuals undergoing this life transition.
A Product-First Vision
Ms. Uribe suggests that the Hello Divorce product is currently in the initial stages of a development journey that will significantly expand its capacity to assist divorcing couples. This progression involves moving beyond mere assistance with filling out mandatory forms, leveraging data and artificial intelligence to facilitate improved decision-making regarding the terms of a divorce and the ongoing care of children.
Defining the concept of “product first,” Ms. Uribe elaborated on its implications for development: “Being product first means thinking about things like where can we use data to make this process easier? Where can we pull information on behalf of a customer? Where can we use predictive technology to help advise on what is a common path that people might take? How do we scale to a point where there are no delays, there are no concerns about technology not doing what it is supposed to be doing? Where can we be innovative in the types of solutions that we are creating that do not exist in the market right now? That is what I mean by product first.”
Consistent with this vision, Hello Divorce intends to expand its offerings in 2022 to include national cooperative divorce mediation and develop new tools. These tools are designed to simplify collaboration between spouses on divorce-related matters, such as asset division and the creation of co-parenting arrangements that foster the well-being of their children.
Cultural and Linguistic Advantage
Born in the United States and raised in Mexico from infancy, Ms. Uribe is fluent in Spanish. She believes this background provides valuable cultural and linguistic skills that will inform the development of the Hello Divorce platform.
From a linguistic perspective, she intends to enable the platform to support multiple languages, a capability she previously implemented at Intuit. Beyond language, she suggests that her cultural connection may aid in developing a more empathetic and understanding platform experience.
“Ultimately, it’s about providing that confidence and that empathy to a very highly emotional process,” she affirmed.
While excited by the mission of Hello Divorce, Ms. Uribe emphasized that the existing team was the decisive factor in her choice to join the company. “You can have this really awesome idea, but it’s the people that have to bring it to life that really matter. I am just so impressed with this team that I couldn’t say no. It was the lead reason for me to leave my Intuit job and say I really want to come over here.”
