We were extremely saddened to learn today about the passing of Enrique Allen, co-founder of the Designer Fund.
Enrique’s co-founder Ben Blumenrose wrote this moving tribute to his friend and colleague.
We were fortunate to interview Enrique a few months ago (though we were unaware he was battling an illness at the time). We’ve re-published the audio here on Substack, free of ads, and below are the original show notes.
If you’re looking to help Enrique’s family, you can donate to a 529 for his son's education.
Until Designer Fund was founded by Enrique Allen and Ben Blumenrose, venture capital investments rarely considered design strategy when investing. Companies like Stripe, Notion, Gusto, and Omada Health—all in Designer Fund portfolio companies—see design as a competitive advantage and a tool for acquiring and retaining customers. Enrique Allen told us all about the tremendous value design is creating in these and many other companies.
We spoke with Enrique about how they chose design as an investment lens, the changing role of design from when they started until now, why venture capital might not always be the best way to fund a startup business, and how they think about finding good partners and co-founders.
Bio
Enrique Allen was the co-founder and managing partner at Design Fund. Previously, Enrique was a designer at venture capital firms, including 500 Startups, Facebook’s fbFund, and Venrock, where he helped invest in companies like Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT), Wildfire (acquired by Google) and Behance (acquired by Adobe). He was a Stanford University alum, former Division 1 soccer player and senior lecturer at the Stanford d.school.
