Alexis Collado is the co-founder and Chief Design Officer of Swarm, a professional network for expert fractional tech folk in AI, design, and software engineering.

Swarm just raised a $1.1M pre-seed for their freelance network of tech builders. 

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👋🏼 How would you explain your job to someone outside tech?

We help software engineers, designers, and AI experts build their fractional careers. How? By creating a high-trust platform where warm referrals to founders and clients happen. 

I own the customer journey for our builders and founders—and create impact through the lens of product, marketing, growth, and product design.

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🧐 What's something about you or your job that would surprise us?

There are not a lot of Chief Design Officers out there. Designers typically fight tooth and nail for influence, or a seat at the table. 

That's understandable because most designers do a lot of navel-gazing with buttons and things that don't really impact the business.

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🏆 What has been the biggest highlight of your career so far?

Being a design co-founder raising a $1.1M pre-seed during VC winter. 

There aren't a lot of designers who transition to becoming company founders, and I want to prove that it's possible and serve as an inspiration to my friends and peers.

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🔍 What's a startup trend or space you're watching this year?‍

The time when AI actually becomes useful in more product design use cases. Most of the things that come out for designers just aren't there yet in terms of usefulness and effectiveness.

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💼 What advice would you give someone starting out in your industry? 

Expose yourself to new mental models and achieve success by meeting smarter people, creating value for the community, and pursuing exceptional craft.

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🗣 What's one thing you can keep talking about for hours? 

Optimizing careers for early-stage designers!

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🎥 What's your favorite movie/TV show? 

Tough one! Either Death Note or Code Geass.

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🍨 What's your go-to ice cream flavor?‍

Double Dutch—super good.

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FYI. We've edited this interview for clarity.