Kleiner Perkins Design Fellowship Challenge
Last year (2024), I applied to the Kleiner Perkins fellowship. If you’re unfamiliar with Kleiner Perkins (KP), they’re a venture capital (VC) firm, which means they invest in startups and help them succeed. Their portfolio include Figma, DoorDash, Stripe, and many more.
A lot of VCs, like KP, run student fellowships to encourage early-career exploration in entrepreneurship—whether that means joining a startup or starting your own. These programs give students a chance to learn, connect with real founders, and get support along the way. If you’re a student, I highly recommend applying to one! Some of the popular ones include KP and Thrive Capital. Again really great way to explore your interests, and maybe even land a role at an early-stage startup (they match you with portfolio companies for summer internships).
Anyways, as part of the application process for the design track, I submitted a case study based on one of their portfolio companies. I chose Houzz because I was already pretty familiar with it from personal experience and friends/family. Below is a short blog post I wrote that goes into detail about my process—product thinking, UI/UX approach, research, and more.
If you’re curious, definitely check it out. I had a lot of fun working on this case study. It was my first time doing something like this, and it really expanded my interest in product design. I even ended up being a finalist. I’m grateful for the process, the experience, and everyone who took the time to review my submission. To any students reading this, feel free to use any of the materials for inspiration (no restrictions) or reach out if you have any questions. Enjoy!