The market for start-up design talent has never been more competitive. I’ve had half a dozen companies ask me recently, “how do I get a great founding designer?” Folks, if you are not already bosom buddies with great designers, you’re gonna need to put out a beacon that attracts top talent: 1. Tell a compelling, true story about your ‘why.’ Make a page dedicated to this. Make your story come alive as only you can. Anyone with ChatGPT can write a generic sounding req about competitive benefits and rocketship grow opps. Write about a problem and vision that is wildly ambitious yet deeply personal to you. 2. Express that you “get” the importance of design. This is your ‘proof of work’ that you will value the person that you hire, for ex (not limited to): a. Your page / app / website show attention to detail and care for the experience b. Your description of the job shows a deep understanding of what good design means (do your research here). c. You talk about design work that you admire or find aspirational. d. You have design-forward people on your cap table (ie @designerfund, @soleio, @karrisaarinen, @rsg, @tobi, etc) Ofc easier said than done, but the key is to put some effort into standing out as an incredible environment for designers to do their best work.

Don't drop out of college to start or work for a startup. There will be other (and probably better) startup opportunities, but you can't get your college years back.