Speaking

Andy is a regular speaker at international conferences like SXSW, Web Summit, Smashing Conf, Fronteers, Turing Fest, Awwwards and The Next Web.

Watch some of the most popular talks from Andy's back catalogue, explore what new topics he's working on, find out where you can see him speak, or invite him to speak at your next event.

Conference Speaking

Andy loves sharing his knowledge and experience of design at industry conferences and events.

Workshop facilitation

Andy enjoys running workshops on topics like design leadership, design thinking and product innovation.

Event Curation

Andy is an experienced event curator and host, and can help you make your next event a huge success.

On most objective measures, the design industry is thriving. Our skills are in high demand, our salaries are rising, and companies can’t fill roles fast enough. Design leadership has come of age, we’re seeing companies invest in team development, and more and more designers are earning that hallowed “seat at the table”. So why, when I talk to designers, do so many of them feel burnt out and despondent; like all their hard work and effort has been for nothing. It’s as though the design industry is going through some sort of mid-life crisis.

Upcoming Talks

Designs Midlife Crisis

The Business Value of Design

The 5 Dysfunctions of a Design Team

Book Andy for your event

Classic Talks

The Accidental (Design) Leader

In a quest to understand what makes a great leader, and help his friends in newly minted leadership positions, Andy started the Leading Design conference and Slack community last year. Over the past 18 months, Andy has interviewed dozens of prominent leaders and listened in on hundreds of Slack conversations about the art and craft of leadership.

In this session, Andy recounts his journey into leadership, shares his successes and failures, and the important lessons he’s learned on the way. The result is a talk packed full of design leadership heuristics suitable for anybody who is a leader, wants to be a leader, or has a leader.

Building a World Class Design Team

With technology becoming a commodity, the last time Andy spoke at The Next Web, he explained how user experience was the next competitive battleground. Jump forward a couple of years and every start-up worth their series B has been investing in design; whether that’s hiring superstar designers, commissioning world-leading consultancies, or buying entire design studios. But how do you find the best talent and – more importantly – how do you keep them? In this masterclass session, Andy outlines the nine things you need to do to foster a healthy design culture, find the right talent, and build a world-class design team.

I For One Welcome Our New Robot Overlords

The world of Artificial Intellegence and Robotics is set to change the technological landscape over the coming years. In this talk Andy takes the audience through the rich history of robotics and A.I. from early automata to the latest cutting-edge research. Using past industrial revolutions and the world of science fiction as a lens, Andy looks at some of the moral, ethical, and societal challenges that face us and explores how we can create a more human-centered vision of the future.

Design as a Competitive Advantage

Design is rapidly becoming the hot new business trend, as companies large and small realise the benefits design can bring to their bottom line. However it’s not quite as simple as hiring a bunch of designers and expecting them to thrive. Bringing design into your organisation requires understanding, effort, and a commitment to change. In this talk Andy explains how you can take full advantage of the opportunities design has to offer before your competitors do the same.

Andy has spoken at conferences around the world, including:

Creative Leadership

Design Fiction

Product Innovation

Startup Success

Andy’s speaker bio & images

Andy is a Design Leader turned investor, advisor and coach. He's a Venture Partner at Seedcamp, one of the top ranked seed funds in Europe. His new book "The Growth Equation" aims to help startups land their first million in revenue and reach Product Market Fit.

A product person at heart, Andy previously founded Clearleft (the first UX agency in the UK), Leading Design and UX London. He's a founding member of the Adobe Design Circle and has appeared on both the Wired 100 and BIMA 100 lists. Andy once worked as a shark diver and recently qualified as a pilot.

Andy Budd is a Designer turned Investor, Advisor and Coach. Andy recently became a Venture Partner at Seedcamp—one of the most successful and best known early stage venture funds in Europe. As well as helping source and review new investments, Andy uses his knowledge of sales, marketing and product led growth to help portfolio companies prepare for Series A and beyond. Andy has summariesed this experience in his new book "The Growth Equation." In it he aimes to help founders find their early customers, land their first $1m ARR, and reach Product Market Fit.

Prior to joinig Seedcamp Andy founded and sold Clearleft, an award winning design consultancy which pioneered the field of Web Standards and User Experience Design. During this time he helped clients like Just Eat, FarFetch, Rapha Cycling, Funding Circle, Mozilla, Virgin Atlantic, Penguin Books and Burberry make the most of their digital experience. While at Clearleft Andy also helped found the Leading Design and UX London conferences, a community of 2,000 Heads Directors and VPs of Design, and a city-wide arts and culture festival in Brighton.

On top of working for Seedcamp, Andy advises a small number of founders on the concepts found in his book, as well as coaching high potential design and product leaders. In his spare time Andy—a former dive instructor and “shark wrangler”—loves exploring underground cave systems and tropical atolls. As a recently qualified pilot, when he’s not under the water he can be found soaring over the Sussex countryside in a rented Cessna 172.

Andy Budd is a design and product leader turned investor, advisor and coach. Andy currently works as a Venture Partner at Seedcamp—one of the most successful and best known early stage venture funds in Europe. As well as helping source and review new investments, Andy uses his knowledge of sales, marketing and product led growth to help portfolio companies prepare for Series A and beyond. Andy has summariesed this experience in his new book "The Growth Equation." In it he aims to help founders find their early customers, land their first $1m ARR, and reach Product Market Fit.

Prior to this Andy ran (and sold) Clearleft, an award winning design consultancy which pioneered the field of User Experience Design in the UK. During this time he helped companies like Just Eat, FarFetch, Rapha Cycling, Funding Circle, Mozilla, Virgin Atlantic, Penguin Books and Burberry make the most of their digital experience. Andy also helped popularise the field of Web Standards (HTML/CSS/JS) through his blog (one of the highest trafficked in the UK at the time), his conference talks and the publication of his best-selling book; CSS Mastery.

Andy is a huge fan of conferences and loves sharing his design and product knowledge at events like SXSW, Awwwards and The Next Web. This led Andy to found several of his own events including dConstruct (the first digital design conference in the UK), UX London (the first UX conference in the UK) and Leading Design (the first design leadership conference of it's kind). He also co-founded the Brighton Digital Festival, a citywide celebration of digital culture attracting 40,000 visitors and over 190 events. Andy currently runs an online community of over 2,500 Heads, Directors and VPs of Design, and is a founding member of Adobe's Design Circle. These are just some of the reasons why he's appeared on both the Wired 100 and BIMA 100 lists.

As well as working for Seedcamp, Andy advises a small number of founders on the concepts found in his book. He also runs a syndicate of design and product angels who love nothing more than supporting design and product led founders. When he's not supporting founders, he also coaches top performing design and product leaders. In his spare time Andy—a former dive instructor and “shark wrangler”—loves exploring underground cave systems and tropical atolls. As a recently qualified pilot, when he’s not under the water he can be found soaring over the Sussex countryside in a rented Cessna 172.