What every founder should know about designers

LOL!!

This is the type of advice you get when you have marketers writing articles about how to hire "top" designers.

Most of the successful guys I know are WAY too busy to worry about having a gorgeous website. Some of the best designers I know use a Tumblr blog. One busy friend of mine hasn't even bothered to change his default wordpress theme.

There are many amazing designers that get their work purely through word of mouth. Websites are only really useful if you need work.

A client-services model isn't a good fit for a startup, due to the iterative nature of a product in search of a business model. The entire article implies a waterfall approach where a designer goes into a cave, does some work and presents it for "review".

Instead, a good "startup designer" will be an empathetic generalist (UI/IA/Front-end) with good market sense. It's important that they're comfortable skipping a lot of "design process" and rapidly iterating with engineering (their "familiarity with flat design" notwithstanding).

Also, many great designers don't have portfolios. That's because they're busy doing real work. Ask to see real work.

Despite the linked article, if you're early stage you should go unicorn hunting. It's critical to hire from the A-list for the inaugural team.

Startups should hire a Product Designer. A generalist who can execute on product vision, interactions, and aesthetics. Someone who can hold the whole picture in their head and help mould it into something great.