Hey y’all, and welcome to another conversation on The Early Team, where I speak with Vic de Aranzeta. I’ve known Vic for a while now, and even then, her story had me at the edge of my seat. She is a 2x founding product designer at early stage startups, has a background in cultural anthropology and field archaeology, and began her journey as an illustrator and designer. She’s passionate about environmental and animal justice, and finding the perfect cannoli.

She’s currently in San Francisco and was previously in Portland, Oregon for 8 years.

In our conversation, we talk about:

• The overlap between designing museums and digital products
• What it means to be a founding designer at an early stage company and how she continues to level up
• And how she immerses herself, when entering a new industry that she’s not familiar with

This was a fascinating conversation. Enjoy and let’s jump in.

In this episode, I speak with Neil Eads, a technical quality manager at Figma. Neil has spent roughly the last 15 years at tech startups, and with it, has an abundance of insight into what it’s like to be at various early stage companies.

In our conversation, we talk about:

• What QA is and how it fits into the overall team & company
• How he has been able to navigate across many industries, with success
• What characteristics he looks for when he’s hiring someone to join his team

Enjoy and let’s jump in.

In this episode, I speak with Nihana Porbanderwala, a member of an early stage company, called Drop Party, where she runs Creative Ops. Her background is in film and fashion - her love lies in culture and trend. The perfect party mix! She currently lives in Austin, TX and is originally from South Florida.

In our conversation, we talk about:

• How she navigated her interests, transitioning from the corporate world to a startup
• The habits she had to unlearn that were no longer serving her and the new ones she had to learn
• What its like creating a new approach in an industry that has always done things it in a particular way

Enjoy and let’s jump in.

Welcome to the inaugural episode of The Early Team. In this short episode, I walk through:
- Why this podcast has been created
- What to expected from the upcoming conversations
- Who it is geared for and will benefit from it