

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

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?
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alain94040
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.

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

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whiteisblack
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.

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taylorling
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.

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AJAr
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.

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taylorling
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.

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evolve2k
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](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwvzF6Umvjk)

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gabrtv
Ello, the popular social network, was founded by designers:
[https://ello.co/wtf/post/founders](https://ello.co/wtf/post/founders)

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mazsa
[https://prezi.com/about/](https://prezi.com/about/)

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ingenieros
[http://designerfund.com/](http://designerfund.com/)

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

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mazeway
Airbnb

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geldedus
nope, he had a technical cofounder, Nathan Blecharczyk

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

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jklein11
Apple

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vassvdm
Sunrise Calendar

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ffwacom
Teespring

