David Hoang

David Hoang is based in San Francisco, California. He is VP of Design, Rovo & AI and Ecosystem at Atlassian. His Atlassian bio says he leads applied AI design work across products including Rovo, Confluence, Jira, Loom and Trello. A conference profile also lists DevAI in his remit.

Before Atlassian he was VP of Marketing and Design at Replit. His own site says he led rebranding, launched developer events and pushed AI-native product work there. A conference bio says that role covered Brand, DevRel, Product Design and Research. He was the first Head of Design at Webflow, where Atlassian's bio says he spent four years during its scaling phase. Before that he led product design at One Medical through its IPO. Earlier roles include Black Pixel and HTC, and he ran his own product consultancy.

Hoang writes a weekly newsletter called Proof of Concept about software, design and entrepreneurship. He has also taught design, including at General Assembly. Crunchbase lists no companies founded by him.

Crunchbase lists 5 investments across 4 portfolio companies for David Hoang. It shows 0 lead investments and 1 exit. His own site says he has invested in over 30 early-stage companies, so the Crunchbase count likely covers only part of his activity.

In a post titled "Design's Seat at the (Cap) Table", he writes that he started angel investing by putting money into a syndicate led by Paige Finn Doherty. He describes himself there as a designer who came to angel investing relatively late and wants more designers to invest individually. On his site he says he invests in and advises early-stage startups.

NFX Signal lists him as an angel with an investment range of $5K to $25K and a sweet spot of $15K. This comes from a third-party profile, not from a statement by Hoang.

His GitHub profile lists AI/ML, visual programming languages and authoring tools as areas of interest. Galileo AI, an AI design tool, is the clearest AI exit. His site marks Galileo as acquired. Tracxn records a Galileo AI seed round of $4.4M on Feb 6, 2024, with Khosla Ventures among the co-investors.

Tracxn also records a seed round in Paper on Feb 25, 2025, in which he took part. Crunchbase lists him as an investor in Paper's seed and Series A rounds. Other companies he names on his own site are Sunflower, Daydream, OZU and Flint. His site does not say which of these use AI as a core product.

Hoang describes his focus as early-stage startups, especially creative tools that help people express themselves on the internet. His GitHub profile adds AI/ML, visual programming languages and authoring tools. Crunchbase shows pre-seed, seed and Series A participation, and he has no recorded lead rounds. His investments appear to be mostly US-based, according to Tracxn.

The only public check size information is the NFX Signal range of $5K to $25K. He has not published a stated check size or thesis on his own site. His day job and angel work overlap on developer tools, design tools and AI products. A founder in those areas has the most obvious fit.

He also runs a small advisory practice for Heads of Design at growth-stage startups. That is separate from his investing.

• Galileo AI: AI-powered design tool. Seed round in February 2024 per Tracxn. His site lists it as acquired.
• Paper: Design tool. Participated in the seed round (Feb 2025 per Tracxn) and the Series A per Crunchbase.
• Daydream: Named on his site. Crunchbase lists daydream Labs as a pre-seed investment.
• Cycle App: Crunchbase lists a seed round investment.
• Pallet: Crunchbase lists a pre-seed investment.
• Sunflower, OZU and Flint: Named on his site as investments. Dates are not public.

• crunchbase.com/person/david-hoang-2
• davidhoang.com/about
• davidhoang.com/writing/designs-seat-at-the-cap-table-part-i
• davidhoang.com/advising
• davidhoang.com/subscribe
• signal.nfx.com/investors/david-hoang
• tracxn.com/d/people/david-hoang/__bBuZE3kR4JtkOZCO3f86HPoPKZZFHoOSEzds
• atlassian.com/webinars/enterprise-strategy-and-planning/the-hidden-ai-