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

9 points by taylorling ↗ HN
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?

18 comments

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mazeway
Airbnb
geldedus
nope, he had a technical cofounder, Nathan Blecharczyk
AJAr
Are you sure it was such a clear-cut separation of responsibility?
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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.

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.

Nelkins
Not sure if she was only a designer, but the founder of Poptip had a design background.
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.
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.
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.
taylorling
Yeah, I know what you mean - deep inside I truly believe I have both, but yeah, haven't been tested so far.