It was a sunny day in San Diego, and I was sitting in a my office in the Adobe video conference room. I was there to pitch my company, Stylebase and our flagship product Brandy, to the leadership at Adobe...

I had been working on Brandy for months, pouring my heart and soul into the product after teaming up with Adam Hayek to take the product to market aggressively. I had a small team of developers and designers who were just as passionate about the platform. We had already self-funded a bit, but we wanted more funding to take the product to the next level.

As I presented our pitch to Adobe team, I could feel the heat of the moment. I knew that this was an important opportunity for us. If we could secure funding and backing from Adobe (top 5 global tech company), it would be a major milestone for our company.

The Adobe investment and product team seemed genuinely interested in Stylebase and our product roadmap. They asked thoughtful questions about the technology behind Brandy and how it could be integrated into Adobe's suite of design tools such as Adobe Express. I did my best to answer their questions :)

Finally, the meeting came to a close and they thanked us for our time. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I felt hopeful that we had made a good impression.

A few days later, I received an email from Adobe. They wanted to us to present at the Adobe Creative Cloud Partner and Developer Kick-off 2023. I was stoked for the opportunity to present our product in front of more leadership at Adobe!

The presentation went super well, and after several more meetings, Adobe agreed to fund Stylebase. It was a major milestone for our company, and it felt like a validation of all the hard work we had put in. With Adobe's backing, we were able to accelerate development of the Brandy platform and bring it to market more quickly than we had anticipated. It's also a stamp of approval from a top global tech company, which is truly an honor. For reference, The Adobe Fund for Design is a $10 million fund investing to support developers, teams, and startups that have creativity in their code.

Looking back on that moment now, I realize how much it meant to me and to the rest of the team. It was a reminder that if you believe in something and work hard enough for it, you can achieve your goals. And it was a testament to the power of partnerships and collaboration in the tech industry. With Adobe's support, we were able to take the company to the next level and make a real impact in the design world. I will be writing more on my vision for the brand management and design system categories in my future posts! And thank you, Adobe, for this wonderful opportunity :)