Oct 1, 2024 · 21m · y-combinator
Stripe Head of Design Katie Dill Reviews Startup Websites · Y Combinator
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this episode of Design Review, Y Combinator Group Partner Aaron Epstein and Stripe Head of Design Katie Dill evaluate user-submitted startup websites to provide actionable advice on visual hierarchy, brand messaging, and conversion optimization.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. How this is scored →
The partners as informed peer 4.0 Guest teaching 2.8 Guest disagreement 0.0 The partners pushing back 0.0
speaking balance: gold is the partners, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 7:50 Katie playfully questions developer copy
In a completely collaborative episode devoid of genuine friction, Katie playfully mocks the website copy line 'Built for developers, crafted by humans.'
Hardest push from the partners ▶ 14:09 Aaron clarifies the optical alignment reason behind the logoAaron gently offers a technical clarification that the logo is mathematically centered even though its stand creates an optical imbalance.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 9:36 Katie broadens conversion analysis to the entire funnelKatie broadens Aaron's focus on landing page copy by educating on how landing page performance depends fundamentally on the pre-click user journey and referral context.
The partners hold their own ▶ 12:05 Aaron explains how customer interviews should dictate headlinesAaron demonstrates his own product design acumen by explaining how founders should source their primary value proposition headlines directly from customer interviews.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | The partners as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | The partners pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Website Review 1 - Mito Health | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Aaron and Katie collaborate amicably while evaluating Mito Health. Aaron identifies practical UX issues like scroll hijacking, while Katie explains broader principles around user attention spans and information hierarchy. | |
| Website Review 2 - SigNoz | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Both hosts analyze SigNoz's developer tool landing page. Aaron notes readability issues with code screenshots and targeting, while Katie explains the importance of auditing the entire user journey prior to the landing page. | |
| Website Review 3 - TAIV | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | The conversation remains harmonious as they review TAIV. Katie emphasizes detail consistency like title casing and logo optical balance, and Aaron adds insights about deriving headlines directly from customer language. | |
| Website Review 4 - Metriport | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Reviewing Metriport, Aaron asks about decorative blob animations, prompting Katie to explain how visual design must tie directly back to intended brand adjectives and CTA visual hierarchy. | |
| Website Review 5 - Amino Analytica | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Aaron and Katie evaluate Amino Analytica's playful B2B aesthetic. Katie welcomes fun in enterprise software but warns against sacrificing legibility and bolding negative copy during skimming. |
Statements from this episode (11)
Dill: Effective web design assumes visitors want to leave immediately
“So one, when you're looking at like web design, you kind of have to think about it as that they want to leave. Like TikTok is calling, they've got other things to do. And so what your job is, is to like show them why they should be there. And help keeping them…”
Dill: It is a bad sign if a website must explain how to use it
“And then never a good sign. If you have to tell them how to use it.”
Katie Dill: Landing page video thumbnails must deliver value without play
“It's not great when people include a video and it's just like, you know, nothing. It's like no value whatsoever because I might not always click on the video. So am I getting any value out of the thumbnail?”
Epstein: Text-heavy code screenshots compete visually with landing page copy
“I think one of the tricky things is it seems like part of the product here is code and logs, which have a lot of text in them. And when you try to show that in screenshots, it competes with the actual text that you're trying to communicate what's happening.”
Katie Dill: Map full user journeys to find true conversion bottlenecks
“One really great thing for any organization to do is just like map out the user journey, like each point, what is happening and how good is that point? Is it actually working or not? And then just improve it all because sometimes it's misleading. Like this thi…”
Epstein: The best landing page headlines come directly from user descriptions
“I think a great way to figure out what should be your headline is to just ask your users, like, how would you describe our product? Because chances are the way your users think about your product and would describe it is the way that other users potentially wo…”
Dill: Inconsistent grammar and capitalization erode customer trust
“Be super careful about, you know, the details in your grammar and your casing. So give your TV superpowers. I don't know why superpowers is capitalized. It's like a kind of hybrid between title case and sentence case. So sticking to that consistently. So get s…”
Dill: Stripe uses exuberant color to communicate optimism and progress
“We purposely are, you know, about exuberant color because we're about positivity, and we're about progress, and we want to look optimistically at the world, and so that hopefully communicates through what we do”
Dill: B2B software should embrace fun design because users want joy
“Absolutely, you can be fun in a B to B world or, you know, solving these kinds of problems. Like, Why not? We're designing for humans, and humans want to have you know, a little joy in their day.”
Dill: Web users are less likely to click than to scroll
“People are less likely to click something than they are to scroll.”
Dill: Web copy should bold value propositions, not negative problems
“When you skim and people are just looking for the bolded things, they're looking for the headlines, don't bold the negative things, right? Like, so now I'm just skimming and I'm reading trial and error, random mutations, and I don't know if that's what you wan…”