Founders: Design, Code, Hustle

I came across a bit of a storm recently epitomised by Design is Horseshit and The Designer Fund. I have been thinking a bit about the ‘value’ of design in a start-up context lately. For a long time, the ‘Standard Model’ of a web startup has been to have a technical co-founder and a business co-founder. You needed someone who could implement your idea, and someone who could ‘sell’ your idea. But more recently, the web startup space has become more crowded and good design has become a feature of many. I tend to agree with @yongfook:

Design is merely the barrier to entry to your product not getting lost in the primordial soup of startups. It is simply your ticket to a seat at the table of possible contenders.

There is no doubt in my mind that this ‘design barrier to entry’ has increased over the last few years as the number of web startups has exploded. So the real question is as what point does design become such a strategic and core aspect of the start-up that you need someone to live and breath is as much as a technical co-founder lives and breathes the ‘functionality’, and the ‘business co-founder’ lives and breathes the promotion of the site.