Soleio - The rise of designers who ship

As soon as I finished our original interview, I knew I had to have Soleio on as the first repeat guest. He led early design efforts at Facebook and Dropbox. Now he invests in design-driven startups like Figma, Framer, Vercel, etc.So this week’s episode is all about how designers and startups can succeed in a world where everything is changing. We go deep into:Ideal traits for a founding designerHow startups can strategically attack incumbentsWhy the future belongs to designers who can shipThe backstory behind Soleio’s investment in PerplexityA potential future where one designer can service 5+ startupsWhat you can do to invest in your future founder journey todayHow Soleio approaches the design tooling space as an investorWhy we won’t use smartphones the same way 5 years from nowa lot moreSoleio’s first episodeMeng To’s video editing product (episode coming soon)Granola (Sam and Chris are the founders)Interview with Perplexity’s head of design (Henry Modisett)Pattern Breakers by Mike Maples, JrChapters 0:00 Intro 1:32 Designers who can ship 11:18 Dealing with the velocity of tech as an investor 13:27 The importance of brand for startups 18:00 Why Soleio beleives we won't be using smartphones the same way in 5 years 34:23 Qualities that Soleio looks for in first-time founders 36:58 How to succeed as a founding designer 44:53 Founders living in the future 55:05 How to invest in your future founder journey today