Steph Golik

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Cohort 4

Cohort 1

Cohort 3

This is my personal guide for how to pitch your startup and raise capital as a designer founder. It's powered by my insights of raising over $3.5M with no natural network. As part of my course "<a href="https://maven.com/dive/from-designer-to-founder" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Go from Designer to Founder</a>," I'll be advising other designers on how to take the leap to start their own company and raise capital. We'll go into more detail during the course, but you can use this guide to get started.

Raise your first round of funding

Startup founders building new businesses, from MVP to scale.

Considering taking the leap? Learn how to de-risk the move, leverage your skills beyond design and craft a pitch that gets your idea funded.

Founder at Huddle

Go from Designer to Founder

Founder & Product Designer 

Senior Brand Designer

Product Designer

PM / Design

Head of Design Systems 

👋 Steph here – I'm a design leader and former Product Design Manager at Cruise. I founded Huddle in 2021 and have since raised over $3.5m. I believe designers are uniquely positioned to build the next wave of big, impactful companies. I'm often asked by fellow designers about how to go about starting a company, what it's like to be a founder, and how to raise money. I've collected my insights into this 3-week sprint/course. Beyond my teaching, this course is an opportunity to meet other designers that also have the entrepreneurial itch. We'll learn together and support each other's endeavors during this course and after. If you've been thinking about starting a company on the side or are actively making moves, you're in the right place.

Designer founders start here.

Course syllabus

Each module is taught live, leaving time for group Q&amp;A.

Live Modules with Q&A

The magic of a live cohort. To close out the course, put everything you've learned into action. We'll get together as a group and talk about where you landed and next steps.

Founder Roundtables (optional)
 

The first 5 people to sign up receive a complimentary 30-min coaching session.

1:1 Coaching Session (for early signup)
 

You'll be given weekly prompts to apply the learnings from each module to yourself and your idea. These entries will help reflect, put the lessons into actions, and be a resource to you beyond this course.

Weekly Journaling
 

Course schedule

Ambitious designers that are exploring starting their own company.

Side-hustle designers ready to pursue an idea full-time.

Design leaders looking to be more entrepreneurial in their current role.

Who is this course for

What you’ll get out of this course

Explore the routes you can take, whether part-time or full-time, venture-backed or bootstrapped.

Find the founder path that's right for you.

Decide on the right funding route and create a pitch that takes your startup to the next level.

Craft a pitch that gets you funded.


Discover how your own creative strengths and passions make you a powerhouse startup builder.

Lean into your design superpowers.

Learn about how to tackle the parts of company-building outside of product and design.

Step beyond design.

Each module is taught live by Steph, a product designer and now VC-backed startup founder.

Learn directly from Steph Golik

Steph Golik

Courses

Go from Designer to Founder

Resources

Raise your first round of funding