Ask HN: Any successful startups that is founded by a designer?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9523501

by taylorling • 11 years ago

9 17 11 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I am curious to ask this because looking at most of the startups, the founders are usually with very strong technical background, so I am wondering as a non-technical person (designer) like me, is it just a dream that I can create and manage a successful startup?

mazeway• 11 years ago

Airbnb

geldedus• 11 years ago

nope, he had a technical cofounder, Nathan Blecharczyk

AJAr2• 11 years ago

Are you sure it was such a clear-cut separation of responsibility?

vassvdm• 11 years ago

Sunrise Calendar

ingenieros• 11 years ago

http://designerfund.com/

AJAr2• 11 years ago

Don't let yourself fall victim to the false dichotomy of designer XOR developer; especially these days, there's no reason why you can't grind for a while and learn enough to make probably whatever you'd hope to make.

Plenty of great resources, and I can lend a hand if you need some help along the way. Just let me know.

taylorling3• 11 years ago

Thanks for the offer! Appreciate that :)

Indeed, with the resources available online, it's totally possible to learn new skills if I spend some time on them.

mazsa• 11 years ago

https://prezi.com/about/

Nelkins• 11 years ago

Not sure if she was only a designer, but the founder of Poptip had a design background.

jklein11• 11 years ago

Apple

whiteisblack• 11 years ago

To be frank, in order to maintain a business, you can't just do all the things alone. So it's really common to have more than one person as the founders of a company. The idea is, it's better to have at least one partner who is growing the same direction as yours. So a technical person would be the best candidate, i would say.

taylorling3• 11 years ago

That's what I thought too - that's why I am just curious if there is any great example that founded only by one designer founder, though I totally understand the importance of having a co-founder with strong technical background.

evolve2k• 11 years ago

Envato.com is highly successful and was founded by a designer.

Here's a clip of the founder discussing his founding story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwvzF6Umvjk

alain94040• 11 years ago

Let's answer the real question, which is about you. Yes, you can build a successful startup as a designer. Someone else will be coding of course. But the CEO is really the person with 1) the vision and 2) the drive to make things happen. Do you have both? Then you can start your startup.

taylorling3• 11 years ago

Yeah, I know what you mean - deep inside I truly believe I have both, but yeah, haven't been tested so far.

gabrtv• 11 years ago

Ello, the popular social network, was founded by designers: https://ello.co/wtf/post/founders

ffwacom• 11 years ago

Teespring

Ask HN: Any successful startups that is founded by a designer?

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