Launching the Designer Fund Application, reviewed by Mason
Apply for investment from Designer Fund, no warm intro needed. Every application is reviewed by our team alongside Mason, our Designer Fund-trained agent.
Most founders spend weeks trying to get in front of investors. They chase warm introductions, wait on replies that never come, and often never find out why they were passed on.
It’s a frustrating experience, but more than that, it’s not a very well-designed one.
So we built an application for founders who may not have a warm intro, reviewed by our team and our Designer Fund-trained agent, Mason. With AI, we can finally bring a better fundraising experience to every founder who wants to connect with us.
How to apply for funding
Upload your deck, memo, product images, a Notion link, or even just a few notes about what you’re building to apply.designerfund.com.
Who is Mason?
Within a few minutes of submission, Mason—our AI agent trained on a decade of our investment decisions—will email you tailored feedback on your materials. Mason shares what it found compelling, where it sees room for improvement, and how your company stacks up against the same investment framework we’ve refined over more than a decade backing companies like Stripe, Gusto, Notion, Linear, and Framer.
A mason is a craftsperson: someone who works with their hands, lays one stone at a time, and builds things meant to last.
The name Mason reflects the kind of founder we’re drawn to: people who sweat the details, care deeply about how things are made, and build for the long term. It felt fitting that the first thing greeting founders at our front door would share the name.
Every application gets a response. And when Mason finds a company that looks like a strong fit, it surfaces the application to our team right away and we reach out directly.
Why we built this
Warm introductions are valuable—and still the best way to get in touch with Designer Fund—but they’re also an imperfect filter. They tell us who’s already connected to our network, and that means we’ll inevitably miss founders we’d want to meet.
This application opens the door wider without lowering the bar for our team. Every founder gets the same thoughtful read against the same investment framework we’d use ourselves, whether or not we invest.
What we invest in
If you’re considering applying, here’s what we look for:
We invest from Pre-Seed through Series A in companies using design to improve health, sustainability, and prosperity, and we continue supporting founders as they scale.
In particular, we’re looking for founders building products that are:
Mission-driven, with design at the center of how they’ll win
Meaningfully better than the alternatives
Tackling large markets with frustrating user experiences, especially complex or regulated industries that have been overlooked for too long
When we invest, founders also get access to everything we’ve built around the fund: office hours with our team and network of design leaders, hands-on support hiring early design talent, and fundraising support.
More on how we work at designerfund.com/about.
Seeking investment from Designer Fund
If you’re building something where design is central to how you’ll win, we’d love to hear from you. If someone you trust can introduce you to Ben or Jackie, that’s still the best path. If not, that’s exactly why we built Mason.
Head to apply.designerfund.com and upload a deck or a few notes about what you’re building. Nothing is too early.
Mason is new and we’re improving it every week. If the feedback feels off, confusing, or unhelpful, we’d love to hear about it. You can always reach us at hello@designerfund.com.
spotting an Out of Office Network uniform hoodie @Robyn 👀