Startups that ignore design are like chefs who ignore taste. You might serve something up, but no one’s coming back for seconds.
I’ve seen time and time again that the most successful startups don’t have products that are just usable – they’re desirable. They feel intuitive, frictionless, and even joyful. That’s design at play.
In a recent conversation with Y Combinator, Raphael Schaad, designer and founder of Cron (now Notion Calendar), said something that stuck with me:
“Design is not just how it looks. It’s how it works. And even more than that, it’s how it’s built.”
That’s the truth. Design isn’t decoration. It’s not what you slap on at the end to make things “look nice.” It’s what makes a product feel right from the very first interaction.
Here’s what I learned from watching bad designs quietly kill good ideas.
1. Great design solves real problems
A lot of first-time founders start with what they want to build. Not what users need.
That’s how you end up with over-engineered products that feel like Swiss Army knives but never get used.
Good design prevents that. It forces you to start with the user. In startups, you’re juggling:
- Desirability: Do people actually want this?
- Feasibility: Can we build it?
- Viability: Can we turn this into a business?
Engineering tends to dominate early conversations because feasibility feels urgent. But design lives in that first circle: desirability. And if you don’t get that right, nothing else matters.
Design is the practice of asking, what do people really want? Not just what features they request, but what problems they live with every day.
That means observing, listening, prototyping, and iterating until you’ve nailed the invisible details – the ones people don’t notice when they work but definitely notice when they don’t.
2. Everything is designed – so are you doing it with intention?
My dad was an artist and graphic designer, and that lens has never left me – even if I never mastered the paintbrush myself.
It’s the reason I care so deeply about how something works, whether it’s a website, a workshop, or a welcome email.
Because everything is designed. The question is whether that design was deliberate or accidental.
A lot of startups suffer from accidental design. A homepage that overwhelms new users. An onboarding flow that assumes people already know what to do. A mobile experience that looks great in Figma but feels clunky on an actual phone.
You always have a choice about how your product works. And when you’re facing fierce competition, that can be the difference between conversion and churn.
3. Design is how you respond to users
One of the biggest mindset shifts I see in great founders is when they realise: design is customer empathy in action.
It’s how users interact with your product. How errors are handled. How fast something loads. These are all influencing the way your users experience your product.
So why does this matter? Well, here’s a dirty secret: most users won’t give you a second chance. If your product feels clunky or confusing on first touch, they’re gone. No feedback. No warning. Just a closed tab.
That’s why design matters so much. It’s your survival. Thoughtful design says, we care about you. And users feel that. Even if they can’t articulate it.
The words, layout, motion, and behaviour of your product all whisper something to your user. The question is what are you whispering?
Are you saying, this product is rushed and doesn’t respect your time? Or are you saying, we thought about this, and we built it for people like you?
Startups win when users feel cared for. And design is a tool to help do that.
4. Design taste can be learned
It’s so common to hear founders say, “I just don’t have an eye for design.” That’s okay. But it’s not an excuse.
Taste is a skill. Like storytelling or leadership, it can be developed with intention.
Raphael Schaad suggests a simple way to begin developing design taste that I agree with:
“Surround yourself with well-designed things.”
Not just expensive things, but well-designed things. Pay attention to the tools you use daily. Why does one app feel delightful and another feels exhausting?
There’s so much beauty in a door that tells you whether you push or pull by it’s design, rather than via signage.
I think this is one of the most under-appreciated practices in life: training your taste. It’s something I work on constantly as a communicator. I keep swipe files of great ads, lists of great films, documents of theatre shows.
You should seek out design. And stories. Both good and bad. Being able to discern between them is how you grow.
Your taste becomes the compass for your product. And the more refined it is, the better your instinct becomes for knowing when something is off, even before users tell you.
Final thoughts
Design isn’t optional. It’s not a finishing touch or a nice-to-have. It’s the invisible force shaping how people feel when they first meet your product, and whether they ever come back.
Ignore it, and you risk building something clever that no one wants to use. But if you can embrace, you can tap into something far more powerful: trust, connection, and delight.
Design is how you show your users you care. It’s how you turn a good idea into a great experience. So don’t treat it as decoration. Treat it as direction.
