Bridge

During Bridge you work fulltime with your startup. Depending on what you want, you may decide to work with your startup short or long term (as a contractor or employee). The Bridge Fall programming, including workshops and talks, runs approximately three months from late September to through December. Based on your needs, we’re flexible with when you want to start working with your startup. Some designers have joined their company early before Bridge starts and some designers apply for one session but don’t start until a later session.

 

The mission of Designer Fund is to invest in designers creating businesses with meaningful impact. One way to do this is by helping designers create new businesses. Another way is to help designers succeed through existing startups. Bridge furthers our mission by helping designer founders and startups that truly value design build their design teams.

Another reason we’re creating Bridge is because there’s simply not enough great designers and we think current design schools can only go so far in preparing designers with the skills needed by startups. We’re interested in the future of applied and postgraduate design education. Thanks to our partner startups, designers are paid to learn by doing, instead of paying expensive tuitions and loans, to keep the program sustainable.

Bridge is an educational service by Designer Fund. Members from our community will participate in Bridge through weekly talks and workshops.

Experienced designers from visual/UI, interaction/UX and front end engineering backgrounds are encouraged to apply. Bridge is for designers who are able to make an immediate impact with a top startup in the San Francisco Bay Area.

We’re looking for designers who are intrinsically generous. They’re the kind of people who ‘pay it forward’ and help their peers without asking for something in return, and they are often the first to lend a hand.

We’re looking for designers who are leaders. If you can’t inspire others, navigate ambiguity, or collaborate with teams, Bridge probably isn’t for you. But if you can be self-guided, can get things done without being micro-managed, and can figure things out without always asking for permission, you may be the perfect fit.

Finally, we’re looking for designers who are deeply curious and friendly people to be around: someone who can be inspired by everything around them and can share insights with others to make their designs better. Also, someone you’d want to hang out with on the weekend…

Designers-in-Residence (“DIRs”) work “in house” somewhere for a short period of time while being exposed to a breadth of opportunities. Over the past few years, designers have worked in-residence with venture capital firms (“VCs”) to provide design-related advice to their portfolio of startups, (see more about DIRs on Quora.) The role, Designer-in-Residence, has been used by VCs who have a tradition of Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (see more about EIRs on Quora.) Examples of Designers-in-Residence at venture capital firms include Jason Putorti, Enrique Allen, Irene Au, and Garry Tan. Bridge differs from the Designer-in-Residence model with VCs. Bridge designers learn from a breadth of design challenges with a community of exceptional designers once a week at Designer Fund while working fulltime with a top startup to ship product.

Bridge is a designer-in-residence program that connects experienced designers with top startups in the San Francisco Bay Area. Designers work on meaningful design challenges at their startup and once a week participate in workshops and talks with an exceptional community of designers.

We’d love for experienced designers from visual/UI, interaction/UX and engineering backgrounds to apply. Selected designers may choose to join, short or long term, our partner startups including Airbnb, Asana, Change.org, Dropbox, Flipboard, Pinterest, Healthtap, Rdio, and Path. Once matched, Bridge designers may be reimbursed up to $10,000 for their relocation costs in addition to receiving equipment, a competitive salary, and health benefits (or a reasonable reimbursement for health insurance coverage) by their startup.

During Bridge, designers work fulltime at their startup and once a week come together “in residence” to teach each other skills and learn from inspirational guest speakers. Our goal help designers experience what it takes to run successful companies and ship great products.

After Bridge, designers may continue working at their startup long-term and participate in future Bridge sessions as alumni. We’re confident that designers who participate in Bridge are going to leave with many more great opportunities than they had before.

For a closer look at our program, check out Inside Bridge Spring.

Note: The specific terms, including, but not limited to, short or long term employment, salary and benefits, may vary and are agreed upon between each Designer-in-Residence and their matched startup.

It’s up to the company to decide how many designers-in-residence they bring onto their team. There is at least 1 spot for each company.

During Bridge you work fulltime with your startup. Depending on what you want, you may decide to work with your startup short or long term (as a contractor or employee). After Bridge, you may choose to stay with your startup or you’re free to join any company that makes you an offer.

• Applications for the Fall 2013 Bridge program will begin in June
• Matchmaking will be finalized by September
• Bridge will kickoff in late September
• Bridge will end in December

Apply as early as possible, so we have more time to understand your visa situation. Depending on how long it takes to acquire your visa, you may be considered for the following Bridge session (early 2014). Many of our partner startups are open to working with international designers and we know some of the best designers in the world are not in San Francisco.

Yes, Bridge startups and the Designer Fund are located in the San Francisco Bay Area. Startups will provide Bridge Designers-in-Residence up to $10,000 in relocation expenses. Actual reimbursement limits and terms are subject to each startup’s policy. In the future, we’ll consider expanding to other cities

Yes, if both you and the startup prefer long-term employment from the beginning you may discuss this option. Some designers want more flexibility and prefer a short term commitment. Other designers may prefer a longer term engagement. Our intention is to do what’s best for the designer.

While applying, designers can indicate the startups they’re interested in working with. Similarly, partner startups can indicate designers they’d like to work with. We’ll help facilitate online and in-person opportunities for designers and startups to make sure there’s a right fit. We recommend both a call and an in-person meeting if possible before designers and companies commit to working with each other. In some cases, a design challenge will be asked of the designer. Designers and companies must both choose to work together, but ultimately it’s up to the designer to decide. Partner startups are not required to choose a Bridge resident if they don’t find one that meets their bar.

Once a week, all the Bridge designers come together to teach each other skills and learn from inspirational guest speakers. Our goal is for everyone to become even better designers, problem solvers and leaders. At the end of their three-month residence, designers are expected to write one blog post and make a short presentation about their Bridge experience.

Designers are paid to participate in Bridge thanks to our partner startups. Designers are responsible for covering their food, lodging, and personal expenses outside of the program

We’ll host private lunches and dinners with Designers-in-Residence with special guests. We’ll also organize informal gatherings like creative movie screenings, hiking, bar and art crawls, sports games, tours, shows and other activities that are fun and build a strong community off our computer screens.

For a closer look at our program, check out Inside Bridge Spring.

Not really because designers are expected to dedicate their fulltime attention to their startups during Bridge, but exceptions can be made. Note that Designers-in-Residence will likely be required to sign an intellectual property agreement with their startup, and if designers wish to exclude any specific project, they should discuss this request in advance with their startup.

Our curriculum will be self-organizing and driven by the needs and goals of the Designers-in-Residence. Our belief is that you’ll learn the most by doing and making with the your individual startup. Designers-in-Residence are welcome to teach classes to each other. If there are specific topics Designers-in-Residence want to learn about, we can partner with education providers and tutors.

Once a week, all the Bridge designers will come together to teach each other skills and learn from inspirational guest speakers. We want everyone to become even better designers, problem solvers and leaders. Mentors from the Designer Fund and special guest speakers may also attend.

For a closer look at our program, check out Inside Bridge Spring.

• Featured startup design team and designer profile pages
• Branding and exposure with designers including top design schools, publications and events
• Access to Designer-in-Residence applicants for each Bridge program
• Studio space in San Francisco
• Participation in educational and social events with our community of designers

We’re looking for startups that:

• Truly value design through the founding team and culture
• Have a great design, engineering, and product team that the Designer-in-Residence can work with
• Create meaningful impact in the world through their product
• Have a constrained project or multiple projects that the Designer-in-Residence can work on in 3 months
• Are at a unique stage growth stage and well funded
• If you know a startup who may be a fit for future Bridge programs, please contact us, bridge@designerfund.com