About Us

We help game studios and venture-backed companies accelerate their time to market, create prototypes that win additional investment, and increase design and development productivity.

100%
Remora Free

REMORA - rem·o·ra /ˈremərə/

(Noun) “helpful” fish that attaches itself to a shark and never leaves.

“We're not remoras; we're Lassie, a trusted partner who helps only when you need.”

- Dalia Hierro, Founder

At Dalia Consulting...

... we understand that every software development studio has a unique culture. That's why we approach each project with a fresh perspective. We learn your company's specific culture and build on what makes your team special and happy.

First, we pinpoint improvement areas and highlight your strengths.

Then, we create a customized plan that takes your company to the next level. Lastly, we help you deliver on it.

One of the most popular "dog stars" of midcentury America, Lassie was an intelligent and brave collie famous for her loyalty, compassion, and love toward humans and fellow animals.

Our Principals

Committed to Helping You Level Up Your Game

Dalia Hierro

CEO & Managing Partner

100+ products shipped across mobile, desktop and console platforms

Ran Amazon’s digital comics product operation including SaaS product development for Marvel & DC Comics

Studio Head for LEGO’s mobile and online games studio including Star Wars and Ninjago licenses

VP Product for NBCUniversal’s DailyCandy, partnering with brands like American Express and Bravo TV

VP Games for Lifetime Television (part of A+E Networks) overseeing 50+ games including content development for properties like Project Runway and brands like Samsung

CEO of indie game studio Simple Machine

Improved Sony Online Entertainment’s (now SIE) on time product delivery rate from 25% to 85%

Jeffrey Steefel

Advisor

Studio Leader & developer for 25+ games including Lord of the Rings Online, Magic the Gathering: Arena, & DC Comics Infinite Crisis

As SVP, led creation of Wizards of the Coast’s digital gaming studio, developing, launching and building LiveOps for MTG: Arena, the multiplatform digital arm of $1B+ Magic: The Gathering Franchise.

Led team that created, launched and ran one of the largest MMORPG franchises in history, The Lord of the Rings Online™, currently in the 17th year of operation.

Led WB Games team that developed the DC Comics Infinite Crisis™, working closely with DC leadership to bring the Brand to a AAA MOBA.

LA Studio VP for Sony Online Entertainment that built and grew The Station@Sony.com launching cross-media, cross-platform online games for Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, and Trivial Pursuit.

Led Development for 7th Level Studios, producing over 15 award-winning games around original IP and Brands like Disney, Pokémon, and Microsoft.

Shane Whitfield

Principal Engineering Leadership

Executional Leadership across 6 game studios & 3 FAANGs (Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft). Partnered & engaged with 100+ game developers including Riot, Blizzard, Bethesda, EA & 2K

15+ years principal leadership and hands-on management of teams as large as 450 delivering proprietary engine & tools development, developer ecosystems, & game developer services

Formed & managed dozens of engineering, program, and product teams

Reduced Amazon’s Twitch Prime execution costs & timelines by 66%

Doubled Meta’s Horizon Worlds team’s ability to fast-track priority-zero development projects

Created Microsoft’s app & developer ecosystem that accelerated collaboration between their HoloLens teams & Samsung

Developed & launched 7 mobile games within 10 months as Studio Head for NC2 Media

Ariel Churi

Principal UX Designer

Creative technologist leading digital innovation at the intersection of design, technology, and human experience. Currently, a Professor at Parsons School of Design while driving cutting-edge projects in AI, AR/VR, and interactive experiences for IBM, Bridgestone, Razorfish, Sotheby's, and Amazon.

Led 10+ teams of UX designers & art directors to deliver service design, digital–physical customer experiences, stakeholder research, asset governance, & C-suite engagement. Projects spanned luxury eCommerce to ML-powered administrative interfaces. Clients included Bridgestone, Samsung, Morgan Stanley, & Sotheby’s.
Led UX for Amazon's digital comics operation across web, mobile, tablet on iOS & Android.
For IBM, created multiple spatial/hardware experiences with 3D modeling, mechanical design, PCB design, sourcing & fabrication including Augmented Reality (AR).
Created interactive exhibit controls for New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
For Calvin Klein, created life-size, touch-screen experiences for their flagship stores.
Invented, sourced, & manufactured educational electronics kits used in institutions such as Arizona State University, University of California, Berkeley, & school districts throughout New York City and New Jersey.
Credits include:
- 2nd Art and Science International Exhibition & Symposium, Beijing, China
- Gwan Ju Design Biennale, Gwan Ju, Korea
- Ubiquitous Computing Conference, Seattle, WA
- New Product Showcase, Compact Impact, New York, NY
- Writer for Make Magazine
- Various NYC solo shows

Crystal Larsh

Principal Coach

20+ product teams trained, coached & mentored, 25+ products shipped

Established a Product Operations team for Riot Games

Created a PMO for EA Games

Created a PMO and ran the RMO for Kabam Games

Ran Global Operations for Xsolla

Ran Operations for indie studio Rainbow Unicorn Games

Credentials "Alphabet Soup" includes Certified New Product Development Professional (NPDP), Certified Scrum Master (CSM), SAFe Program Consultant (SPC), MBA - eCommerce, Master of Project Management (MPM) - Software Development

Craig Telfer