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Steve Vassallo
Foundation Capital

Steve is a general partner at Foundation Capital, where he invests at the intersection of design, technology and business. As a former IDEO product designer and entrepreneur, he believes in the power of design to confront big challenges and create new markets. Steve has invested in and guided numerous designer-founded startups, including Pocket, Framer, Nonobject and Post Social. He holds 77 patents and several design awards, including Business Week Design of the Decade, Red Dot Design Award 2009, and IDEA99 Gold Award.

Steve cofounded Product Minds, a series of professional and creative enrichment events for the entrepreneurial design community. And he has been an active advisor to the Designer Fund since its beginning.

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There is no try, only do.

Recommended Books and Resources

  • Designer Fund is the next step in the design revolution
  • What Google Learned from its Quest to Build the Perfect Team
  • Ed Catmull’s on how Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity
  • Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
  • Objectified documentary
  • Design Kit from IDEO.org
  • Adrian James
    Omada

  • Alexandre Roche
    RealTalk

  • Aza Raskin
    Post Social

  • Ben Blumenfeld
    Designer Fund

  • Caleb Elston
    Delighted

  • Chanpory Rith
    Mixmax

  • Charles Adler
    Kickstarter, Lost Arts

  • Chris Kalani
    Wake

  • Dave Morin

  • Enrique Allen
    Designer Fund

  • Evan Sharp
    Pinterest

  • Gabrielle Guthrie
    Moxxly

  • Gentry Underwood
    Mailbox

  • Jesse Genet
    CEO

  • Joe Gebbia
    Airbnb

  • Joey Flynn
    Founder

  • Josh Brewer
    Founder

  • Mark Kawano
    Storehouse

  • Melissa Miranda
    Tiny Post

  • Scott Belsky
    Behance

  • Tiffany Chu
    Remix

  • Willem Van Lancker
    Oyster

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Kate Aronowitz

My first interaction design job, a project manager would write all the specs, and I’d just go build the wireframe. It’s not that way anymore. People are looking to designers to really be leaders.

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Based in San Francisco

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