Attracting a designer to a startup requires having a strong team and a clear vision, especially if the startup is consumer-focused, which may necessitate a co-founder with design expertise.

Having a co-founder with complementary skills is important. For instance, if you're great at sales, ideally, your co-founder should excel at product development and coding, allowing you to divide and conquer tasks effectively.

Founders should prioritize hiring talented designers early on to enhance their company's design capabilities.

When evaluating co-founders, it's essential to have a diverse range of strengths, including at least one technical founder and someone dedicated to the business side, like fundraising.

It's essential for founders to engage deeply with design candidates, especially if they have spent significant time solving related problems themselves.

Encouraging more designers to become founders is essential, as developing a design mindset will be crucial for building the next generation of companies.

The first major decision you'll make as a founder is who to choose as your co-founder; it's crucial to have someone who shares your vision and optimism.

Founders must be hands-on, embodying roles such as product designer and ethnographer, to effectively communicate and demonstrate their solutions to potential clients.

Your co-founders should be essential to the founding team, representing the smallest number of people needed to build a minimum viable product (MVP), and be generous with equity to motivate co-founders and ensure essential team members remain engaged.