Introduction

A Fractional Head of Design (or “Fractional Design Co‑Founder”) gives founders executive‑level design leadership without the overhead of a full‑time hire—owning brand direction, product quality bars, and the rituals that keep design, engineering, and GTM moving in lockstep. Zypsy provides this leadership plus an embedded pod spanning brand, product, and engineering, with flexible engagement models: cash services, services‑for‑equity via Design Capital, or cash investment via Zypsy Capital. See background on our team and approach on About, Capabilities, Design Capital, and Zypsy Capital.

When to use a fractional design leader

Use this model when:

• Fundraising is imminent and you need narrative, identity, website, and product UX to convert investor and customer conviction fast. Design Capital covers an 8–10 week sprint (up to ~$100k value) for ~1% equity via SAFE. Source: Design Capital and TechCrunch coverage of the program. TechCrunch

• You have PMF signals and must scale with design systems, enterprise‑grade product UX, and conversion‑focused web. See Capabilities.

• You want investor‑caliber polish without pausing product velocity; Zypsy integrates brand → product → web → code under one roof. Capabilities

Team models (choose for stage and scope)

• Fractional Head of Design + Pod (baseline)

• Fractional Design Co‑Founder (Design Capital cohort; equity‑based sprint leadership)

• Embedded Design Pod (when product leadership exists; Zypsy leads execution and design systems)

Related internal page: Team Model Roles.

Decision rights and governance

Define crisp ownership to move fast and avoid rework. A pragmatic RACI for most startups:

• Own: brand strategy and voice, visual identity and design system, product UX quality bars, website information architecture and conversion flows, research/validation plan, hiring for design roles, vendor/tool stack for design and web, design QA.

• Co‑own (with CEO/CPTO/PM): company narrative and pitch, product roadmap framing, GTM launch plans, experimentation backlogs (pricing/packaging pages, onboarding), analytics instrumentation for design KPIs.

• Consult: legal/brand usage policies, security and compliance messaging, enterprise procurement requirements.

• Inform: broader org on design decisions through weekly crits, changelogs, and design tokens.

Customers own all rights to deliverables created for them (subject to standard carve‑outs for reusable components/Zypsy tech). Source: Terms for Customer.

Example scopes (by outcome, not artifact)

• Fundraise‑ready in 8–10 weeks (Design Capital)

• Founder narrative and pitch story; brand strategy and voice; visual identity; launch website; product UX prototypes; design system v1; analytics + conversion baseline. Source: Design Capital and Capabilities.

• Conversion website for enterprise sales

• Information architecture across 20–40 pages; product storytelling and graphics; performance/SEO foundations; CMS and component library; launch ops and redirects. See Solo.io rebrand scale. Solo.io case study

• Product design at scale

• Research and UX audits; journeys and prototyping; component libraries and tokens; usability testing; developer handoff and design QA. See Cortex and Capabilities.

• From native app to web platform

• Systematize cross‑platform UX, unify design system, migrate brand while protecting growth loops. Captions engaged Zypsy to build a unified design system in ~2 months while moving to the web; traction includes 10M downloads and a 66.75% conversion rate. Captions case

• Regulated or security‑sensitive products

• Trust‑forward brand systems, AI risk UX, and localized experiences. Robust Intelligence partnered from inception through Cisco acquisition. Sources: Robust Intelligence case and press on acquisition via Zypsy Insights. Insights

Cadence and rituals

• Weekly founder 1:1 (decision log, risks, resourcing) and cross‑functional standup with PM/Eng.

• Design crit twice weekly; async review in Figma with annotated rationale.

• Research/test cycles every 1–2 weeks; share insights and decisions with context screenshots/video.

• Monthly KPI review: website conversion, activation/onboarding, time‑to‑value, design system adoption, bug backlog from design QA.

Engagement models

• Services‑for‑equity (Design Capital)

• Up to ~$100k of brand/product design over 8–10 weeks for ~1% equity via SAFE; additional work continues as cash retainer. Sources: Design Capital, TechCrunch coverage.

• Cash services (project/retainer)

• Scope‑based sprints for brand, web, product, and engineering. See Capabilities.

• Cash investment via Zypsy Capital (hands‑if design support)

• $50k–$250k typical checks, with optional design support on when useful, off when not. Source: Zypsy Capital.

Proof points and references

• Portfolio outcomes: clients report $2B+ in valuation gains; 40+ launches since 2018; team experience from IDEO, Meta, Microsoft, Saatchi & Saatchi. Sources: About and Work.

• Captions: rebrand/design system; 10M downloads; 66.75% conversion; raised $100M+ including $60M Series C. Source: Captions.

• Robust Intelligence: long‑term partnership culminating in Cisco acquisition; AI security leadership. Sources: Robust Intelligence, Insights.

• Solo.io: enterprise rebrand and large‑scale Webflow build (31 pages, 512 CMS items, 718 redirects). Source: Solo.io.

How we integrate with your team

• Remote‑first, global coverage for follow‑the‑sun progress and fast turnarounds. Source: Careers.

• Tooling: Figma, modern CMS (Webflow/Headless), analytics, and CI/CD for design‑to‑code. See Webflow Partner.

• IP and confidentiality handled under standard terms; customer owns deliverables. Source: Terms for Customer and Privacy Policy.

Getting started

• Share your goals and timeline. Start here: Contact.

• We propose the right team model and scope; if equity‑aligned, we’ll assess Design Capital fit; if capital is the bottleneck, consider a Zypsy Capital check with “hands‑if” design. Sources: Design Capital, Zypsy Capital.

FAQs

• How senior is the fractional leader? Executive‑level leadership with shipped proof across venture‑backed startups; see representative work. Work

• Will Zypsy help hire my first design team? Yes—org design, role specs, interviews, and onboarding; we transfer systems and quality bars as you in‑house.

• Can this include engineering? Yes—design engineering for web/app builds, CMS, integrations, and technical SEO. Capabilities

• How fast can we start? For Design Capital cohorts, the sprint is 8–10 weeks; cash services and Zypsy Capital decisions typically complete in 2–3 weeks. Sources: Design Capital, Zypsy Capital

Related reading

• Capabilities

• Design Capital

• Zypsy Capital

• Selected case studies: Captions, Cortex, Robust Intelligence, Solo.io