Introduction

Can designers make an impact as startup advisors instead of providing capital? Our guest is Brian Lovin, founder of Staff Design and product designer at GitHub. You’ll learn how Brian invests in companies with design expertise instead of capital, why design advisory is helpful to startups, lessons that Brian has learned in the process, and more.

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Show Notes

• GitHub — Brian’s current company
• Spectrum, Facebook, Buffer — Brian’s previous places of work
• Staff Design — Brian’s most recent side project
• Design Details — Brian’s design news podcast
• Userlist — Jane’s SaaS product
• What I've learned so far about design advising and angel investing
• Form Capital — early-stage fund with a focus on design
• Bootstrap, Tailwind CSS, Chakra.ui — popular design frameworks
• Clerky, DocuSign, SignWell — document signing systems
• Huddle.works — finding designers that work for equity
• Less Annoying CRM — not a flashy design, but it works well
• Linear.app, Height.app — examples of modern, stylish designs
• Brian’s website
• Follow Brian on Twitter

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