Ben Blumenfeld's guest appearances

Ben Blumenfeld

Dorm Room Tycoon (DRT)

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

High Resolution

The Jeff Rubin Jeff Rubin Show

Scott Belsky

Christian Reber

Josh Elman

Jason Calacanis

Jon Callaghan

Joel Gascoigne

Andrew Wilkinson

Sam Altman

Kevin Rose

Brian Singerman

Daniel Burka

Alex Tew

Mark Suster

David Tisch

Josh Kopelman

OwlTail

Ben Blumenfeld is the co-director of Designer Fund, where he helps designers build businesses with meaningful impact. Before Designer Fund, Ben was the 5th designer at Facebook.In this episode, he explains how designers can become successful founders, how to best develop a learning mindset, and what makes for an effective pitch to the investors at Designer Fund.FOLLOW USTwitter: http://twitter.com/highrespodcastFacebook: http://facebook.com/highrespodcastiTunes: http://bit.ly/highresitunesGoogle Play: http://bit.ly/highresgoogleGet early access to the next episode: http://highresolution.design/early-accessTHANKS TO OUR PARTNERSSquarespace – Squarespace is a SaaS-based content management system offering a website builder, eCommerce, and domains. We're big fans of Squarespace, they're a must-have for startups, photographers, bloggers or hobbyists looking to put up a beautifully designed digital presence!Get 10% off your first purchase on Squarespace.http://bit.ly/sqspacesponsorlinkInVision – InVision is the world's leading product design platform, powering the future of digital product design through our deep understanding of the dynamics of collaboration. Teams that build digital products are at a serious advantage when they use InVision's suite of prototyping tools. They're a great way of getting everyone on board.Get 3 full months on InVision FREEhttp://bit.ly/invisionpartnerSearle Video – Searle Video is a creative studio based out of Portland, Oregon. They've helped the creative community tell stories for over 10 years. They've done advertisements, behind the scenes stories, and documentaries for companies like Slack, Intel, Adobe, Google and the XOXO festival.http://bit.ly/searlesponsor

Ben Blumenfeld is the co-director of Designer Fund, where he helps designers build businesses with meaningful impact. Before Designer Fund, Ben was the 5th designer at Facebook. In this episode, he explains how designers can become successful founders, how to best develop a learning mindset, and what makes for an effective pitch to the investors at Designer Fund. FOLLOW US Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/highrespodcast" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/highrespodcast</a> Facebook: <a href="http://facebook.com/highrespodcast" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://facebook.com/highrespodcast</a> iTunes: <a href="http://bit.ly/highresitunes" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/highresitunes</a> Google Play: <a href="http://bit.ly/highresgoogle" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/highresgoogle</a> Get early access to the next episode: http://highresolution.design/early-access THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS Squarespace – Squarespace is a SaaS-based content management system offering a website builder, eCommerce, and domains. We're big fans of Squarespace, they're a must-have for startups, photographers, bloggers or hobbyists looking to put up a beautifully designed digital presence! Get 10% off your first purchase on Squarespace. <a href="http://bit.ly/sqspacesponsorlink" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/sqspacesponsorlink</a> InVision – InVision is the world's leading product design platform, powering the future of digital product design through our deep understanding of the dynamics of collaboration. Teams that build digital products are at a serious advantage when they use InVision's suite of prototyping tools. They're a great way of getting everyone on board. Get 3 full months on InVision FREE <a href="http://bit.ly/invisionpartner" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/invisionpartner</a> Searle Video – Searle Video is a creative studio based out of Portland, Oregon. They've helped the creative community tell stories for over 10 years. They've done advertisements, behind the scenes stories, and documentaries for companies like Slack, Intel, Adobe, Google and the XOXO festival. <a href="http://bit.ly/searlesponsor" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/searlesponsor</a>

#21: Designer Fund's Ben Blumenfeld on how designers can become successful founders

Mark Zuckerberg

Ben Blumenfeld is the co-director of Designer Fund, where he helps designers build businesses with meaningful impact. Before Designer Fund, Ben was the 5th designer at Facebook. In this preview he delves into whether he thinks the fund is an experiment and whether they would've invested in Zuck in 2004.Get early access to Ben’s episode here: http://highresolution.design/early-access

Ben Blumenfeld is the co-director of Designer Fund, where he helps designers build businesses with meaningful impact. Before Designer Fund, Ben was the 5th designer at Facebook. In this preview he delves into whether he thinks the fund is an experiment and whether they would've invested in Zuck in 2004. Get early access to Ben’s episode here: http://highresolution.design/early-access

PREVIEW #21: Would Designer Fund have invested in Mark Zuckerberg in 2004? Ben Blumenfeld also shares whether the fund is an experiment

Ben Blumenfeld is the Co-Founder &amp; General Partner @ Designer Fund, they invest in startups co-founded by designers and build and educate design teams through their program, Bridge. Designer Fund's portfolio includes the likes of Gusto, Stripe, Shyp, Operator and many more incredible companies. As for Ben, previously Ben was a design lead at Facebook for over 5 years where he helped build products for nearly a billion people and grow Facebook’s world-class design team. He was also the design director at Varien which he helped build into one of the world’s leading e-commerce firms. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Ben made the move from designer to General Partner @ Designer Fund? 2.) How does Ben's design background inform how he invests in companies and then supports them post-investment? How does he evaluate design opportunities from the design perspective? 3.) Why now has design become such a competitive advantage in tech? What has changed? What are the fundamentals of beautifully designed products today? 4.) How does Ben believe the current crop of VCs view design? What do they not understand? What should they look to understand? Will we see a new class of design-centric VCs? 5.) From seeing the likes of Facebook, Medium and Asana scale deign teams, what have been the takeaways to effectively scaling design teams with the growth of an organisation? What is required for this to be successful? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Ben’s Fave Book: The Power of One Ben's Fave Blog or Newsletter:  Social Snippets, Charles Hudson @ Precursor Ben’s Most Recent Investment: Hustle As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Ben on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.  Intercom is the first to bring messaging products for marketing and customer support together on one integrated platform. With Intercom, businesses can chat directly with prospective customers on their website, engage current users with targeted messages based on their behavior, and provide personal support at scale with an integrated help desk and knowledge base. This is perfect for Businesses that want to help people visiting their website become customers. Marketing and growth teams that want to onboard and retain users by sending the right messages at the right time and Support teams that want to move beyond email to provide personalized, scalable support so simply head over to  Intercom.com/20MVC Cooley are the global law firm built around startups and venture capital.  Since forming the first venture fund in Silicon Valley, Cooley has formed more venture capital funds than any other law firm in the world, with 50+ years working with VCs. They help VCs form and manage funds, make investments and handle the myriad issues that arise through a fund’s lifetime. So to learn more about the #1 most active law firm representing VC-backed companies going public. Head over to cooley.com and also at cooleygo.com.

<a href="https://twitter.com/blumenfeld" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ben Blumenfeld</a> is the Co-Founder &amp; General Partner @ <a href="https://designerfund.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Designer Fund</a>, they invest in startups co-founded by designers and build and educate design teams through their program, Bridge. Designer Fund's portfolio includes the likes of Gusto, Stripe, Shyp, Operator and many more incredible companies. As for Ben, previously Ben was a design lead at Facebook for over 5 years where he helped build products for nearly a billion people and grow Facebook’s world-class design team. He was also the design director at Varien which he helped build into one of the world’s leading e-commerce firms. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Ben made the move from designer to General Partner @ Designer Fund? 2.) How does Ben's design background inform how he invests in companies and then supports them post-investment? How does he evaluate design opportunities from the design perspective? 3.) Why now has design become such a competitive advantage in tech? What has changed? What are the fundamentals of beautifully designed products today? 4.) How does Ben believe the current crop of VCs view design? What do they not understand? What should they look to understand? Will we see a new class of design-centric VCs? 5.) From seeing the likes of Facebook, Medium and Asana scale deign teams, what have been the takeaways to effectively scaling design teams with the growth of an organisation? What is required for this to be successful? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Ben’s Fave Book: <a href="http://amzn.to/2lXQdy1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Power of One</a> Ben's Fave Blog or Newsletter: <a href="http://socialcapital.us10.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=d7f0f45160075006b25756cd0&amp;id=159d546edd" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Social Snippets</a>, <a href="https://www.getrevue.co/profile/chudson" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Charles Hudson @ Precursor</a> Ben’s Most Recent Investment: <a href="http://hustle.life/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Hustle</a> As always you can follow <a href="https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Harry</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/twentyminutevc" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Twenty Minute VC</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/blumenfeld" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ben</a> on Twitter here! <a href="https://www.snapchat.com/add/hstebbings" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.</a> <a href="https://www.intercom.com/20MVC?utm_medium=sponsored-content&amp;utm_source=20minuteVC&amp;utm_campaign=20minuteVC-02-17" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Intercom</a> is the first to bring messaging products for marketing and customer support together on one integrated platform. With Intercom, businesses can chat directly with prospective customers on their website, engage current users with targeted messages based on their behavior, and provide personal support at scale with an integrated help desk and knowledge base. This is perfect for Businesses that want to help people visiting their website become customers. Marketing and growth teams that want to onboard and retain users by sending the right messages at the right time and Support teams that want to move beyond email to provide personalized, scalable support so simply head over to <a href="https://www.intercom.com/20MVC?utm_medium=sponsored-content&amp;utm_source=20minuteVC&amp;utm_campaign=20minuteVC-02-17" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Intercom.com/20MVC</a> Cooley are the global law firm built around startups and venture capital.  Since forming the first venture fund in Silicon Valley, Cooley has formed more venture capital funds than any other law firm in the world, with 50+ years working with VCs. They help VCs form and manage funds, make investments and handle the myriad issues that arise through a fund’s lifetime. So to learn more about the #1 most active law firm representing VC-backed companies going public. Head over to <a href="http://cooley.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">cooley.com</a> and also at <a href="http://cooleygo.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">cooleygo.com</a>.

20VC: Why Venture Is A Service Product? Why There Is No Such Thing As Product Market Fit & Why Startups Need To Be More Design Orientated with Ben Blumenfeld, Co-Founder & General Partner @ Designer Fund 

In this interview, Ben Blumenfeld explains the role that design can play in the startup world, and what companies like Airbnb and Path are doing right. He outlines what he learned from working at Facebook and why it's important for designers to solve bigger problems.

Turning Designers into Founders with Ben Blumenfeld, Designer Fund

Ben Blumenfeld talks about what it's like to design something for a billion people.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ben Blumenfeld talks about what it's like to design something for a billion people. See Privacy Policy at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy</a> and California Privacy Notice at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info</a>.