Harrison Telyan

Yo, so let me tell you about Harrison Telyan. This guy’s the real deal in the startup and design world, and his story is kinda inspiring if you’re into tech hustle.

Harrison’s from that RISD vibe, super artsy, super design-focused. He studied Industrial Design there, then even took some advanced courses at Brown, so he’s got that solid grounding in making things look good and work smoothly. But what’s crazy is how he jumped from just designing stuff to actually building companies.

He’s been around the block, working as a UI/UX designer at Citymaps, then as a founding product designer at Imgur, which is a pretty big deal in the internet space. He’s always been about making interfaces better, more human, more accessible. You can see that in his work for Clara Lending too, where he took the lead on design, making complicated financial stuff easier to understand. Basically, his whole career before NUMI was about making tech more human-friendly.

Then, in W20, he co-founded NUMI, a Y Combinator-backed startup. That’s no joke, YC’s the gold standard for startups. NUMI’s doing something pretty cool: they offer a full-stack design team on a subscription basis for other startups. Think about it, startups that can’t afford their own full-time designers can just tap into NUMI’s crew and get top-tier design work. Harrison’s role? Chief Product Officer. He’s not just about making things look good, he’s all in on building a product that’s killer from the inside out.

What’s dope is how his process shows he’s all about accessibility and quality in design. He’s someone who’s jumped into startups, learned what it takes to build something from scratch, and then turned around to help other founders crush it with better design. He’s also an investor in things like Buoy Pay and ClearMotion, so he’s got that entrepreneurial eye, not just as a designer but as someone who gets what it takes to build and scale.

And he’s into communities too, member of Orange DAO, a big crypto/tech community, which shows he’s all-in on the future of tech and decentralized stuff. He’s based in SF, obviously, the hub for all this innovation.

Bottom line? Harrison’s the guy who started from making interfaces look slick and easy to use, then leveled up to co-founding a YC-backed company that’s changing how startups access top-tier design. His whole vibe is about making high-quality design accessible to everyone and proving that good design isn’t just for the big boys. He’s motivated by pushing the boundaries of what design can do, and his process from RISD to YC shows he’s all about turning creative skills into real-world impact. No Cap, this guy’s a legit connector of ideas, design, and startup hustle.