10 Designers Who Co-Founded Successful Tech Companies

The number of designers has grown significantly over recent years. While many designers stick to their original career paths, some have chosen a different direction and ventured into entrepreneurship.

With dedication, effort, and commitment, designers can reach new heights and start impactful businesses. Indeed, several designer-turned-entrepreneurs have co-founded thriving tech companies.

Below are 10 designers who transitioned to co-founders of some of today’s leading tech companies.

1. Stewart Butterfield (Flickr)

With a series of remarkable achievements, Stewart Butterfield is widely known as the co-founder of Flickr.

Early in his career, Stewart spent time designing and working in gaming, a field that nurtured his passion and flexibility, ultimately leading to the development of Flickr with his then-wife, Caterina Fake.

This early success drew attention from Yahoo, a multinational internet corporation, which went on to acquire Flickr in 2005. By that time, Flickr had already reached over 80 million users.

2. Evan Sharp (Pinterest)

Coming from an architecture background, Evan Sharp once worked at Facebook, where he honed his skills as a thoughtful and practical designer.

While he achieved success as both a designer and entrepreneur, the founding of Pinterest with his friends has overshadowed his prior accomplishments. Since its launch in 2010, Pinterest has grown rapidly and now has over 70 million users.

3. Christina Brodbeck (YouTube)

Christina Brodbeck was part of the original YouTube team as its first User Interface designer. Today, however, she takes pride in her role as co-founder of theicebreak.com and PickV.

Theicebreak is a social network designed to help couples strengthen their relationship in meaningful ways. She is also an angel investor in startups like Viddy, Vayable, GameCrunch, and Vufind.

4. David Karp (Tumblr)

Tumblr is the creation of web developer David Karp, who made headlines across the tech world when Yahoo acquired Tumblr for $1.1 billion in May 2013.

Karp, a technology enthusiast, dropped out of school at the age of 14 to follow his dreams and has since dedicated much of his career to Tumblr.

5. Dave Morin (Path)

Dave Morin, a former designer at Facebook, contributed to notable features like the Facebook Timeline and Facebook Connect.

Beyond Facebook, Dave’s accomplishments include co-founding Path, a social networking app focused on helping users connect with close friends and family. Path has seen steady growth, reaching 20 million users as of September 2013.

6. Chad Hurley (YouTube)

Most people know YouTube, but fewer know about Chad Hurley, one of its co-founders. Chad, who has a design background, notably designed the original PayPal logo.

After his time at eBay, Chad took his career further by co-founding YouTube with two PayPal colleagues. In 2006, Google acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion.

7. Daniel Burka (Milk)

Before co-founding Milk, Daniel Burka worked as a creative designer for brands like Digg, Tiny Speck, Silverorange, and Mozilla alongside Kevin Rose and Jeff Hodsdon.

He also co-founded Pownce, a social networking and microblogging site that was later acquired and closed by Six Apart. In December 2012, the “Milk Crew” decided to join Google.

8. Charles Adler (Kickstarter)

Charles Adler, a graphic designer with a background in architecture, is widely recognized as a co-founder of Kickstarter, along with Perry Chen and Yancey Strickler.

Kickstarter has become a major platform for launching creative projects and has experienced substantial growth since its founding.

9. Jack Dorsey (Twitter)

Jack Dorsey, a web developer, is best known as a co-founder of Twitter. Over the years, he held roles including CEO, chairman of the board, and executive chairman.

In addition to Twitter, Jack also co-founded Square with Jim McKelvey, a digital payment platform that allows users to accept credit cards globally.

In 2008, Jack was recognized as one of the top 35 innovators under 35 by MIT’s Technology Review magazine.

10. Scott Belsky (Behance)

In his book, Making Ideas Happen, Scott Belsky explores ways to turn ideas into achievable goals.

Scott, a former designer, is also a co-founder of Behance, a popular platform for designers. He was included on Fast Company’s list of the 100 most creative business people.