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

9 points by taylorling 11 years ago | 17 comments

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?

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.

taylorling 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.

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.

taylorling 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.

AJAr 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.

taylorling 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.

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

gabrtv 11 years ago |

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

mazsa 11 years ago |

https://prezi.com/about/

ingenieros 11 years ago |

http://designerfund.com/

Nelkins 11 years ago |

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

mazeway 11 years ago |

Airbnb

geldedus 11 years ago | |

nope, he had a technical cofounder, Nathan Blecharczyk

AJAr 11 years ago | | |

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

jklein11 11 years ago |

Apple

vassvdm 11 years ago |

Sunrise Calendar

ffwacom 11 years ago |

Teespring