Dive Club 🤿

I’ve interviewed a lot of staff designers to figure out what it takes to have real influence at companies like Shopify, Github, Airbnb, etc.One thing is clear… if you want to make strategic impact as a designer then you have to get to a place of altitude that allows you to see the bigger picture.This episode is designed to help you do just that.Catt Small (Staff Product Designer at Dropbox)Mia Blume (Early design leader at Square, Pinterest + more)Soren Iverson (Founder of Iverson)Kathy Zheng (Head of Design at Optimism)

How do the best staff designers influence and lead as individual contributors?I interviewed Catt Small to answer that question and it turned into one of the most practical episodes yet. She pulls from her 14+ years of experience designing products like Etsy, Asana, and Soundcloud to share techniques you can use to level up your influence and scale your impact as an IC.Some highlights:Ways to get out of the execution trapThe key to having “executive presence”Catt’s advice for better time managementHow designers can encourage people to think biggerHow Catt has evolved the way she does async videosUnderstanding the different archetypes of staff designersBehind-the-scenes of the massive “Goals” project at Asanaa lot moreCheck out Catt’s course Staff Designer: Influence & Lead as an Individual Contributor (Dive Club listeners get $100 off)Catt mentions the books Radical Candor & 15 Commitments of Conscious LeadershipMicah Bennett was the designer she learned so much from

What are the best teams looking for in design candidates?That’s become one of my favorite questions to ask so this episode shines a light on some of those traits and what you can do to stand out.It includes insights from:Diego Zaks (VP of Design at Ramp)Soleio (2nd designer at Facebook)Pranathi Peri (designing v0 at Vercel)Maheen Sohail (Gen AI at Meta)Mariana Castilho (Designer at Poolside)

This week’s episode is with Tyler Angert who was the first design hire at Replit. So we get a behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like designing for a hyper growth startup. However in early 2024, Tyler left to pursue a startup of his own, so a good chunk of this discussion focuses on his vision for Patina and the future of “spontaneous software”.Some highlights:Why the camera roll is pivotal for AITyler’s advice to his 23 year old selfTactics for learning to code with ClaudeWhat it takes to design complex systemsThe skills that will be most valuable in 2025The biggest design challenges for AI productsStrategies for learning more technical skillsetsHow to succeed as a young designer at a startupTyler’s Freezeframe app with Jason YuanGenesis physics announcementGranola meeting recordingsDaylight computer