Design drives everything we do.
Founded by designers, Designer Fund’s team and network of advisors bring deep expertise in using design to build enduring companies. If you're a founder who values design, we’re here to help you build with intention from day one.
Our Team
Co-founder, Managing Partner
Ben Blumenrose
Ben Blumenrose is the Co-founder and Managing Partner at Designer Fund, where since 2014 he has backed category-defining companies including Stripe, Gusto, Notion, Commure, Omada Health, and Framer. Prior to founding Designer Fund, Ben spent over five years at Facebook as a design lead and manager, where he helped shape products used by nearly a billion people—such as Facebook Platform and Timeline. He also played a key role in scaling Facebook’s design organization, recruiting top visual designers, filmmakers, and brand storytellers to elevate the company’s creative and communications efforts.
Co-founder
Enrique Allen
Enrique Allen was the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Designer Fund for over a decade, until his passing in 2024. He was a force of nature—radiating joy, generosity, and conviction in the power of design. Enrique believed deeply in people, and if you were lucky enough to be in his orbit, he left an indelible mark. His vision helped shape a generation of designer-founders, and his spirit continues to guide everything we do.
Head of Platform
Robyn Park
As Head of Platform, Robyn leads Designer Fund's brand and network strategy, creating meaningful connections between founders, designers, and investors while providing tactical support to help portfolio companies thrive. Previously, she led content marketing at a YC-backed startup, worked on marketing at IDEO’s social impact arm, and developed digital campaign strategies at the Skoll Foundation.
Principal
Jackie Berardo
Jackie Berardo is an investor at Designer Fund based in New York City. As a designer, researcher, and investor Jackie has led research initiatives for Reality Labs at Meta, helped design Facebook's multi-billion dollar Creator Bonus Program, and supported the launch of Instagram Commerce. Outside of Meta, she co-founded Surge, an e-learning organization for developers and protocols with 30,000 members, and contributes to Forbes on technology topics regularly.
General Counsel
Maya Blumenfeld
Maya is Designer Fund's outside general counsel and the founding attorney at Blumenfeld Legal, where she provides results-oriented legal services as counsel for entrepreneurs, technology companies, venture funds, and investors. She brings deep expertise in venture financings, M&A, and commercial transactions.
Anchor Investor & Fund Advisor
Steve Vassallo
Steve is General Partner at Foundation Capital, where he works at the intersection of business, technology, and design. He has led investments in, and served on the boards of, Sunrun [RUN], Control4 [CTRL], Bolt Threads, Cerebras, Mode, Simple Habit, ForUsAll, Framer, Pocket, and Sentient Energy.
Design Partner, Advisor
Dave Baggeroer
Dave is a designer, engineer, and entrepreneur. He serves as an Adjunct Professor at Stanford and an advisor at Designer Fund. He founded Ozlo, which was acquired by Facebook, and previously held leadership roles shaping product and design teams.
Advisor
Santhi Analytis
Leading Designer Fund Partnership applications and supporting due diligence activities. Previously founding VPE at Gradient, and Co-founder and CTO of Moxxly (acquired by Medela). PhD in Mechanical Engineering. Angel invests in human and planetary health.
Advisor
Alex Diehl
Alexander Diehl is a German-born entrepreneur. He founded KKLD*, a Berlin and NYC based digital and innovation agency, which was acquired by WPP in 2012. Alexander has been a Senior Advisor to BMW iVentures in New York City since its launch in 2011.
Advisor
Alissa Briggs
Alissa is a strategic and energetic design leader with a passion for building top-notch teams. She's scaled design, research, and content organizations from 5 to 75+ and is currently Director of Design at Autodesk.
Advisor
Ben Siscovick
Ben is a Partner and President at Spaxel, a real estate platform focused on developing and operating multifamily housing across the Eastern US. He was previously a founding General Partner at IA Ventures, where he led early-stage investments in over 40 startups, and later served as Head of Strategic Projects at Dayah Capital, a hedge fund on the Millennium platform.
Advisor
Dan Becker
Dan is Head of Design for product-led growth and monetization of Google Workspace, spearheading UX strategies around Gemini integration and scaling user adoption and revenue. He also serves as Managing Partner at Ligature, advising early-stage startups on embedding design into their DNA, and has led product design teams at Instagram, Airbnb, Strava, and others.
Advisor
Dan Bomze
Dan is an entrepreneur, advisor, and occasional investor who thrives on working closely with founding teams at the earliest stages of their journey . He’s the founder of companies including MileIQ (acquired by Microsoft), Double Crown Gaming, and CleanWell, and has held strategic roles at IDEO spanning partnerships, investing, and business development.
Advisor
Daniel Scrivner
Daniel is a designer, entrepreneur, and investor who leads design at ClassDojo and is a co-founder of Ligature. He’s invested in over 100 companies including Stripe, Gusto, Notion, and Superhuman, and is also the founder of Mighty and Mighty Foundation, focused on building enduring companies and reconnecting people with nature.
Advisor
Dantley Davis
Dantley Davis is the Global Vice President of Digital Product Design at Nike. He previously led design and research at Twitter as the first Chief Design Officer, served as Director of Product Design at Facebook working on Stories, News Feed, and Video, and spent seven years shaping Netflix’s TV and mobile user interfaces.
Advisor
Diógenes Brito
Humane interface and systems designer with a focus on ethics, inclusivity, and equity. Diógenes is a design leader and entrepreneur who served as Head of Design at Air and previously managed design teams and led the design of the Workflow Builder at Slack. He is also the founder and CEO of Yerba Buena, based in Brooklyn.
Advisor
Heather Phillips
Heather is a Senior Director of Product Design at Slack, where she leads the Studio Team focused on creating branded, expressive product experiences. Previously, she was Director of Design at Abstract, Design Manager at Designer Fund, and has built a career at the intersection of product design, visual systems, and storytelling.
Advisor
Kat Vellos
Kat Vellos is a senior user experience designer, author, speaker, coach and facilitator. Her passion is helping people connect authentically. She’s researched, designed, and advised on the user experience of countless flows in digital products serving millions of people at companies like Slack and Pandora, and created community for hundreds more as the founder of Bay Area Black Designers.
Advisor
Jared Erondu
Jared is the SVP of Design & Marketing at Lattice, where he oversees both brand and product design efforts . With a rich background that includes founding design roles at Teespring and Copper, he’s also an active investor and advisor, co-creating the design community platform Playbook and the video series High Resolution.
Advisor
Scott Tong
Scott is a startup advisor and most recently Head of Design at Cambly, shaping user experiences and mentoring early-stage teams. Previously, he served as an Entrepreneur in Residence at IMO Ventures, led product design at Pinterest, co-founded IFTTT, and began his career as a designer at IDEO.
Advisor
Willem Van Lancker
Willem invests in software and technology companies via Terrain. He previously led incubation efforts at Thrive Capital, supporting the founding of new businesses and investing in early-stage companies from their earliest phases. He is also the founder of Oyster, the first Netflix-for-books, which he sold to Google.
Advisor
Yi Wei
Yi is a design and product advisor focused on pre-product market fit startups. He was previously the second designer at Dropbox for 9 years and a designer at Google for 4 years.
