Who we are

Beginner Bank is a venture studio on a mission to show companies how product design logic drives new growth.

How we work

From the West Coast to Europe, Beginner Bank works across time zones using tools like Figma, Slack, and Around to work closely from anyhwere in the world.

Erik

Kjell

managing Partner

Seattle

Principal product designer / Strategy, Product-led growth, SaaS metrics / Prev. Co-founder & CPO at Tomorrow (Acq. Ethos), Amazon / Seed investor: Coinbase, Instacart, et al.

Twitter

Personal Site

Joshua

Martens

managing Partner

Barcelona

Principal product designer / Web & Mobile, UX/UI, Animation, Illustration / Prev. Head of Design at Tomorrow (Acq. Ethos) / Hagerty (NYSE: HGTY) Labs and Marketplace.

Twitter

Personal Site

Frequently asked questions

How are you a like bank?

We are not a traditional bank as we do not take deposits. We do, however, act like a business bank strictly in a lending capacity. Beginner Bank is exclusively for founders who want to finance product design. Companies we partner with pay for a portion of service fees in the form of a note or SAFE that converts into their next equity financing round. Unlike a bank, Beginner Bank doesn’t charge interest and doesn’t ask that notes be secured personally or with business assets.

What companies do you invest in?

We invest in business to business (B2B) or direct to consumer (DTC) companies whose products have the potential to make a big impact by solving a real problem or creating a new opportunity. We love making apps for mobile and desktop, using technology to invent, simplify, and make things better.

Why don't you just take equity?

Many incubators take single-digit percentages of equity for the services they offer. We do the math a little differently, since not all companies need the same solution. We show transparent market rates for principal product design and let companies decide how much they want financed, from 25-75%. The financed amount determines the equity percentage we get in the future using a convertible note or SAFE. For example, if you requested 50% financing of $288,000 total, the amount we'd invest would be $144,000. If the SAFE converts into your next equity round at a $7.5 million valuation, it might be worth 1.92%. We invest our revenue because we believe the equity will be worth more one day.

What if I’m a solo founder?

Perfectly fine. Many ideas begin with just one person. On your journey of company building, you’ll have many opportunities to grow your team. You may want us to help you from the very beginning. Or you may want us to help you begin again. Either way, we love helping first-time founders and seasoned entrepreneurs who know how product design can impact growth.

What if I only have an idea?

Even if you just have an idea and don’t have an entity set up yet, we consider privately-held companies at any stage. Before we do any product design work, however, you’ll need to have a company set up. We recommend using Stripe Atlas and setting up a corporation in Delaware. Then set up a Business bank account. We use Mercury and love it.

Do you lead financing rounds?

Since we invest a significant part of our revenue into pre-seed stage companies in the form of a convertible note or SAFE, it’s possible that this amount is the largest among a handful of checks from angel investors. In that sense, we’d be the lead but we would unlikely be the largest investor in an equity seed round.

Do you have investors?

Beginner Bank is self-financed. We do make investor introductions for the companies we work with. In the future, we may offer investors an opportunity to participate in the upside of all our portfolio companies through a Beginner Bank fund of 10 portfolio companies. If you are interested, email erik {at} beginnerbank.com

What don’t you invest in?

We will invest in most companies if we agree with the market opportunity and believe in the company's leadership. If a company is unlikely to grow big, we wouldn’t invest.

Do you do ongoing partnerships?

Yes, after the original scope of work is complete, you may request our flat-fee retainer for ongoing design. This is a great option for new feature work that you want to be cohesive with your foundational design patterns.