What we offer
Designer Fund is a design and venture partner investing in early stage tech companies using design to improve health, sustainability, and prosperity for all. We approach our relationship with founders and companies as long-term partnerships, not deals. When we invest in you, we become an extension of your design team and apply the best practices we’ve learned over the past decade investing in multi-billion dollar companies like Stripe, Gusto, Notion, Commure and Netlify.
Through Designer Fund Partnership, founders receive:
- Up to $1M investment with flexible ownership terms
- Guidance on creating a world-class product and brand
- Help hiring and managing exceptional design talent
- Fundraising support to close more investors
- Access to our network of top design leaders across tech
- Intros to angel investors from companies like Figma, Notion, Stripe
How we work with founders
We help you create a world-class product and brand
Meet with our team and network of design experts for on-demand office hours tailored to what you need most. Instead of cookie cutter advice, we provide feedback based on the unique context of your product, team, and company including:
- Product testing and reviews of end-to-end flows
- Guidance on key initiatives like establishing a design system and rebranding
- How to leverage design strategically across your company from product to sales, recruiting, and culture
Designer Fund knows what sets it apart—superlative design acumen—and the team focuses on delivering value to its portfolio companies where it uniquely excels.Jesse Vaughan, Co-founder of Kopperfield
We help you hire and manage exceptional design talent
Bringing on a designer early on will help you move faster, produce higher quality work and identify the right problems to solve. We provide hands-on support throughout your design hiring process, from reviewing your JD to sitting in on interviews, including:
- Referrals for freelancers, studios, and designers actively seeking new opportunities
- Promotion of your design roles via our job board, newsletter, and social channels
- Coaching and mentorship by design leaders who've managed high performing teams from early to growth stages
Designer Fund has a vast network of highly accomplished and skilled designers and advisors. They're a powerful resource if you need help with hiring designers or networking in the industry.Cecilia Uhr, Co-founder of Bezi
We hone your pitch and help you close more investors
We aim to be one of the most valuable investors on your cap table and earn the right to continue investing in your company from Pre-seed stage through Series B. We support your fundraising process by improving your story and developing an outreach plan including:
- Help finding a lead VC and value-add investors through warm intros and shared references
- Curated lists of recommended co-investors including top-tier angels, seed funds, and VC firms
- Pitch feedback sessions and intros to deck designers
Designer Fund has been by our side throughout our fundraising process when others weren't. They helped improve our story, make introductions and be a reference to close new investors.Eugene Johnson, Founder of Revi
We connect you to our network of top design leaders
As part of our investment, we invite you to join Designer Fund Collective, our vibrant community of 300+ successful founders, advisors, and design leaders from top companies like Stripe, Airbnb, Slack, and Instagram. Our in-person and online community includes:
- Private Slack workspace where you can ask questions and make meaningful connections
- Private resource library featuring curated advice on common founder questions
- Member-only events including virtual workshops, AMAs with industry leaders, and in-person meetups
The Designer Fund community has been something that has made our design team feel much larger than it actually is. It feels a lot less lonely to have a wider network to tap into—being a small team of two, you need that sometimes.Kamini Iyer, Design Lead at Lumen Energy
What we look for
Selection criteria
- Early stage startups, Pre-seed to Series A
- Companies working to improve health, climate, or prosperity for all
- Mission-driven founders who value design
- Products that are 10x better compared to alternatives
- Multi-billion dollar addressable markets with poor user experiences
Our focus on health, climate, and prosperity
We believe that design is a powerful tool to address the world’s most pressing challenges, from tackling climate change to improving health and well-being for all people. We invest in teams focused on building businesses that solve these critical issues, using design and technology to accelerate progress toward a healthier, more sustainable, and more equitable future.
How our application works
Apply by October 4, 2024
The final application deadline is October 4, 2024 at 11:59pm PT. However, we encourage you to apply early as we evaluate companies on a rolling basis. Founders who apply earlier typically receive a faster response and have more time to get to know us.
Application process
- Application review — We’ll review the info, deck and materials you shared with us as soon as possible. We typically respond within two weeks on whether or not it makes sense to do an intro call.
- Intro meeting — If there’s a potential fit, we’ll schedule an intro meeting to learn more about your team, market and product.
- Q&A and references — We'll then follow up with questions about key risks and/or setup a second meeting. In addition, we usually speak with a handful of target customers and founder references.
- Finalize investment — Lastly we'll finalize our investment terms depending on stage, valuation, and other factors.
Apply by October 4, 2024
Who we are
Our team has decades of experience helping some of the most iconic companies succeed with design. Ben was the 5th product designer to join Facebook and played a pivotal role in scaling the company from college campuses to billions of users by leading product, brand, and growth teams. Enrique was a designer at top-performing funds like Venrock, Facebook's fbFund, and 500 Global, where he worked with Lyft, Life360, and TalkDesk at the seed stage before they became unicorns.
Robyn previously led marketing at IDEO where she helped scale OpenIDEO's community to over 200K members worldwide and has grown audiences for YC-backed Welcome, Skoll Foundation, and 1776 Ventures. Marissa was a Senior Product Designer at Stripe focusing on $1B+ of carbon removal by 2030 and previously designed features to optimize the Amazon delivery experience and tools for third-party sellers. Santhi was VP of Engineering at Gradient where she built breakthrough heat pump technology. She was previously Co-founder and CTO of Moxxly, a Designer Fund portfolio company that was acquired by Medela.
Get in front of top design angels
In addition to the Designer Fund team, we collaborate with select top angels who have operating experience at companies like Figma, Notion, WhatsApp, Instagram, Snap, and Dropbox. If there's a potential match, we’ll share your application and invite them to invest in your company alongside us or independently, giving you the chance to add more investors who value design to your cap table.
Meet our Design Angels
Adrian James
Omada Health
Board Director, Co-founderAdrian James
Omada Health
Board Director, Co-founderAkshay Kothari
Notion
Co-founderAkshay Kothari
Notion
Co-founderAndy Budd
Seedcamp
Investor, Advisor, CoachAndy Budd
Seedcamp
Investor, Advisor, CoachDan Becker
Google
Design LeadershipDan Becker
Google
Design LeadershipDaniel Scrivner
ClassDojo
Head of DesignDaniel Scrivner
ClassDojo
Head of DesignJared Erondu
Lattice
SVP of Marketing & DesignJared Erondu
Lattice
SVP of Marketing & DesignJenny Wen
Figma
Senior Design ManagerJenny Wen
Figma
Senior Design ManagerKai Gradert
Hero
Co-Founder & DesignerKai Gradert
Hero
Co-Founder & DesignerMihika Kapoor
Figma
Product LeadMihika Kapoor
Figma
Product LeadMike Davidson
Microsoft
Corporate Vice President, Design & User Research, AIMike Davidson
Microsoft
Corporate Vice President, Design & User Research, AINayan Jain
Heartbeat Health
Co-founderNayan Jain
Heartbeat Health
Co-founderRandy Hunt
Notion
Head of DesignRandy Hunt
Notion
Head of DesignSamihah Azim
WhatsApp
Staff Product DesignerSamihah Azim
WhatsApp
Staff Product DesignerSanthi Analytis
Designer Fund
AdvisorSanthi Analytis
Designer Fund
AdvisorStephanie Engle
Snap
Head of Monetization DesignStephanie Engle
Snap
Head of Monetization DesignYi Wei
Navigate AI
DesignerYi Wei
Navigate AI
Designer
FAQ
Designer Fund Partnership is the best design support and investment offer for early-stage startups. We invest up to $1 million in Pre-seed to Series A companies committed to improving health, prosperity, or sustainability for all people. We help you create a world-class product and brand, hire exceptional design talent, and close more investors. We provide on-demand office hours tailored to what you need most and access to our network of top design leaders across tech.
Our investments range from $100K to $1M and we can adjust terms based on your stage, traction, and funding history. We ask for pro rata and information rights because inevitably you'll face increasing design challenges as your company grows that we can help you overcome. It’s important to us that our interests are aligned long-term so we can continue to help scale your design team and org.
These are some of the key traits we look for in an investment:
- Early stage startups, Pre-seed to Series A
- Mission driven founders who have technical, design, and business domain expertise
- Companies aligned with our impact goals of health, prosperity, and sustainability
- Products that are 10x better than existing alternatives
- Multi-billion dollar markets with poor user experiences
- Primarily US-based companies, although we're happy to make exceptions
We’re aiming to invest in companies that are inherently good for the world and align with our desired impact outcomes:
- Health: Increase wellbeing by preventing disease and improving the cost and delivery of care.
- Prosperity: Create pathways, tools, and infrastructure to give more people access to economic growth.
- Sustainability: Replace legacy and harmful products with more efficient and renewable solutions.
We're excited to invest in companies that are looking to use great design to challenge existing health and wellness paradigms. This includes companies building new digital therapeutics, improving key healthcare infrastructure, updating care to be more accessible, preventative, and personalized like Ro. Our companies including August Health (a new operating system for long-term care facilities), Omada Health (building digital therapeutics), and Heartbeat Health ( telemedicine for cardiologists) are all examples of companies improving the cost, delivery, and systems for greater wellbeing.
In addition, we're excited about transferring the best of traditional tech software as a service and applying those lessons to our climate challenges. There are many opportunities for software to increase efficiencies, reduce costs, and accelerate our renewable energy transition like our portfolio company Lumen Energy (helping building owners save money with clean energy). Everything from financial services to carbon accounting to electrifying appliances needs to be easier with products like Kopperfield. In addition, we need new alternatives for nearly every product that's still rooted in petroleum and unsustainable supply chains, from food to building materials. There is also a fundamental shift that we must make towards a circular economy that recognizes we are on a planet with limited natural resources for humans to exploit (example: our portfolio company Zero Acre Farms. Another area that design can have an outsized impact is related to increasing awareness, behavior change, and demand for green products among all consumers and commercial buyers, not just wealthy or niche communities who can afford them.
Also, we're excited to use design to help create new economic opportunities for people of all backgrounds and socioeconomic classes. This includes themes like preparing people to transition to modern forms of knowledge work like Formation. We also expect to see more non-traditional ways for people to generate income by monetizing their creativity on platforms such as Podia. In addition, we're looking for products that help level the playing field for SMBs to compete with big incumbents. For example, our portfolio company Stripe helps anyone easily set up a business and accept money online. Another portfolio company, Gusto, relieves SMBs of their back office overhead with modern payroll, benefits, and HR.
We encourage you to apply early as we evaluate companies on a rolling basis. Founders who apply earlier typically receive a faster response and have more time to get to know us.
If you miss the deadline, we recommend getting a referral from an investor or a member of our community using this form. Please also note your preferred timing in your application if it doesn't align with our process.
No, we welcome traction and signals of product-market fit. We’re happy to co-invest with other investors. As collaborative, value-add specialists, we complement lead investors, seed funds and angels. We have the flexibility to invest before, during or after a round of funding with other investors. We can invest in both priced rounds and SAFE notes.
Apply by October 4, 2024 at 11:59pm PT. We typically respond to companies selected for an intro call within two weeks and make final investment decisions within two months. We're not a startup factory. We take a boutique approach and only invest in 8-10 companies a year so that we can partner closely with founders.
We generally prefer startups with mission-driven founders who have complementary skills across business, engineering, and design. Having a designer on your team is preferred but not required; however, a commitment to design strategically is essential.
No, we offer expert design guidance when you need it instead of a fixed program. We're happy to co-invest with accelerators and incubators. While we prefer to meet in person at least once in the first year, it's not required. Most sessions can be done remotely or in major U.S. cities.
We aim to increase access to funding and design resources by enabling any founder to apply for a partnership with us.
Through Designer Fund Partnership, founders receive:
- Investment of up to $1 million with flexible ownership terms
- Guidance on creating a world-class product and brand
- Help hiring and managing exceptional design talent
- Fundraising support to close more investors
- Access to our network of top design leaders across tech
Both of our General Partners will work directly with your team. We also aim to match you with design experts from our network who will provide additional support and work as an angel investor and/or advisor to your company. We typically meet with founders more frequently in the first year of investment, but you can reach out to us anytime and request support as needed.
- Design angels: In addition to the Designer Fund team, we collaborate with select top angels who have operating experience at companies like Figma, Notion, WhatsApp, Instagram, Snap and Dropbox. If there's a potential match, we’ll share your application and invite them to invest in your company alongside us or independently, giving you the chance to add more investors who value design to your cap table.
- Design advisors: We have a roster of design experts across domains and help match you with them for ad hoc questions, ongoing support, or formal advisory roles.
Unlike consultants, we’re investors and partners with equity in your business, so our interests are aligned long-term. We’re complementary to design freelancers and studios who are often great for specific expertise that may be needed at various stages of the company. We maintain relationships with curated freelancers and studios that we can recommend, and help manage those relationships to effectively get the best work from them.