"We need more design founders". But they aren’t coming.

Y Combinator is the biggest and most successful startup accelerator in the world, with ~500 companies per year, with alumni like Airbnb, Stripe, Dropbox, DoorDash, Instacart, etc.

In May 2025, YC published a memo calling for more design founders. I looked into the data and checked if it helped them get more designers (and hopefully encouraged more designers to start companies).

I analysed 15 YC batches between 2020 and 2025 and how many of the participating founders are designers.

First of all, the call for more design founders hasn’t led to an increase (but to be fair, there was only one batch since the call).

In addition, across all metrics between 2020 and 2025, the design participation is down:

1. Fewer companies have designer founders (both in absolute and relative numbers).

2. The total number of designer founders is trending down (despite a larger overall designer pool than in 2020).

3. In 2025, only 1.6% of founders at YC were designers. Assuming designers are more than 1.6% of the tech workforce (which they likely are), they are underrepresented.

You may think that YC is just one accelerator, and it’s not representative. You might be correct. But if the biggest and most successful startup accelerator in the world can’t get more design founders, who can?

Designers are often frustrated with how design is perceived and how organisations function. According to Noam Segal’s analysis, designers are the most burned-out role (which strongly correlates with quitting intentions).

So why don't more designers take the opportunity to make it their way, start their own company and finally show how it should be done?

I have my speculations, but before I publish them, I’d like to hear yours.