Sequoia

Design partnerJames Buckhouse · Sequoia Capital

I was part of the inaugural cohort of Sequoia’s Design Venture Fellowship: five designers hand-picked from the Stanford d.school to work alongside the firm’s design partner, James Buckhouse.

As “design founders,” we had room to experiment, take swings, and think the way a founder does, before there’s a product, a team, or a clear answer.

Being picked, and getting that much trust and room to play, is still one of the coolest things I’ve been part of.

Instead of designing inside an existing product, we started from a blank page: taking an early-stage AI idea and figuring out how to make it real enough for founders and investors to see.

Working side by side with James, I got to learn how design shapes a company in its very first days, from visual research and creative direction to the story that makes an idea click.