Awesome People - Ep 118
design & marketing, meet the dynamic duo
Hi, founders and fellow VC friends!
When the inspiration strikes, we deliver awesome people to your inbox. These are the people you need to know —the marketers, sales gurus, engineers, and ops wizzes — who give your startup superpowers 🚀. The best part is, everyone is hireable.
Please meet Jeffrey Chan and Ashley Chang of Happy Sundae, your design and marketing Shop 🖌
I’ve enjoyed working with this dynamic duo for a few years. They’ve always done A+ work. They recently launched the Hippocratic AI brand design, positioning, pitch deck, and website, announcing the company’s Series A round and partnership with NVIDIA.
Happy Sundae is trusted by startups like Levels, Bubble, and Shift, big companies like Google, Via Transportation, Amazon, and serial entrepreneurs and investors like Munjal Shah (of Like.com, Andale, Health IQ).
One little-known fact about Jeff and Ashley is that they’ve turned their love for food, reading, and drawing into The ABC Digest, a children’s book collection that brings more diversity to bookshelves!
Hire Happy Sundae because things turn out better (and faster!) when design and marketing work in harmony. They specialize in:
Pitch Deck Narrative and Design
Design Foundations (including brand guidelines)
Web Design
Marketing and Positioning Consulting
Want an intro to Jeff and Ashley? Respond to this email, and I’ll connect you!
They were gracious enough to share 3 pro tips with us here ✨
Design should *amplify* your storytelling, not detract.
Magic happens when design, marketing, and storytelling work hand in hand. Whether it’s a key point in a pitch deck or the main hero on your website, ask yourself:
Are your visuals detracting, emphasizing, or enhancing your main point? (hint: they should enhance!)
Is what you’re seeing and what you’re reading working together?
Is there a better, more compelling way to visualize a point?
Here are 3 tips and examples of how design can help visualize a message and double down on selling your story.
1) Don’t forget the human
Even if technology is at the heart of your product(s), don’t forget the most important sell: its impact on people. When working with Shift, we used real photography (vs. UI mocks) to underscore the team's mission: advancing the careers of military members, past and present. People connect best with people and emotions.
2. Embrace what makes you different
Are there any visual mediums or styles that can show—not just tell—what your team stands for? For example, we launched the website for Hippocratic AI, the first safety-focused LLM for healthcare, entirely with AI-generated images! Uses visuals to show what makes you different.
3. Connect with your audience with informative visuals
Call on visuals to explain technical or difficult concepts. Often, teams have one hard-working piece of material (like a deck or one-pager) shared with multiple audiences. For example, with a pitch deck, some VCs may be more technical than others. Use visuals to break things down and communicate your point. Strong visuals increase comprehension. When creating assets for Spring Discovery, robust AI tools for scientists, we used custom iconography to help break down complex processes and lesser-known industry terms. Sample below!
No matter how and where you’re telling your story, we’re on standby to help—with design and marketing hand in hand 👋 .
Just say hello@happysundae.com or ask Julia for an intro!
As always, please let me know if you have any questions or want an intro to Jeff and Ashley!
Stay awesome,
Founder of Awesome People Ventures and steward of Founder Library.
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Awesome People Continued 🤩
Recent Features
Lauren, Your Customer Experience Consultant — was the US Head of Customer Success at Too Good To Go (global B2B2C climate tech), where she grew and led a 25-person team to cut churn by 50% and 2x-ed B2B engagement. She has worked to retain, engage, and increase customer accounts at hyper-growth companies like Compass and early-stage health tech, prop tech, and ed-tech startups.
Brian, the CEO of Reforge and creator of Artifacts — is one of the most operationally excellent CEOs I know (truly next level) and a well-respected growth leader I’ve admired since pre-Awesome People. Artifacts are real work products created by top experts across product, growth, marketing, and more — think actual GTM strategies and roadmaps.
Ben, Your Founder Coach and Consultant — is the co-founder of Verto, a company I invested in and where I currently serve on the board. After leaving Verto, he’s been consulting as a hands-on founder coach. He now uses his experience to help other founders bring their ideas to market. Ben is a strong, hands-on generalist who can help with GTM, operations, and people operations.
Want an intro to Jeff and Ashley, Lauren, Brian, or Ben? Respond to this email, and I’ll connect you!