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Scaling the Craft of Design
Talks about Design, UX and Product Design
RJ
Rick Johanson
Founder of Sock
RJ
Rick Johanson
Founder of Sock
San Francisco, California
Overview
Rick Johanson is a co-founder at Sock Finance and an early stage investor with a focus on sectors like Creator/Passion Economy and Future of Work. He has a strong background in strategic planning and product design, with notable investments in companies like Range.co and Whisper.ai.
With experience as a Strategy & Operations Advisor at Adventr and Managing Partner at In/Visible Ventures, Rick has also held leadership roles at Google and NerdWallet, showcasing a diverse career in tech and startup ecosystems.
Work Experience
Co-Founder
2022 - Current
As founding CEO, successfully raised $2.8+ million in seed venture funding to scale the incredible technical and UX focused team that launched launch Sock Finance in Nov, 2023. Built on Arbitrum, our personal finance app is now accessible in over 70 regions around the world.
Sock’s mission is to help people build wealth in crypto, safely.
Raised $2,800,000.00 from Designer Fund, Olive Capital, Dalpat Prajapati, Mike Lee, Tim Chen, Spacecadet Ventures, Sunflower Fund, Haven Ventures, Albert Lee and Expansion Venture Capital.
Strategy & Operations Advisor / Angel Investor
2020
Adventr believes that the next generation of interactive, connected media should be accessible to everyone. Backed by $8MM in VC seed funding, they are pioneering hyper-personalized video experiences using AI. Adventr was founded by Grammy award winning producer Devo Harris (who founded GOOD Music with Kanye West).
Adventr is a SaaS platform for the creation of voice & touch controlled interactive video and its distribution across any network/player.
Raised $14,014,288.00 from Paladin Capital Group, In/Visible Ventures, Reinventure Capital, John Legend, In/Visible Ventures, Paladin Capital Group, Reinventure Capital, Bryson Bort and Alumni Ventures.
Managing Partner
2019
In/Visible Ventures invests in entrepreneurs and early stage companies of creators and makers who are shaping the world for the better. In/Visible Talks design conference: https://invisibletalks.com/
In/Visible Ventures is a design-led venture, investing in visionaries shaping the world.
UX Strategy and Operations leader
2018 - 2022
Google is a multinational corporation that specializes in Internet-related services and organizes the world’s information.
Raised $26,100,000.00 from Angel Investors LP, Kleiner Perkins, Signatures Capital, Sequoia Capital, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Shaquille O'Neal, Henry Kissinger, Google and Tiger Woods.
Angel Investor 🔮
2014 - 2022
Backing unconventional founders whose missions go beyond a business model. Hipcamp - hipcamp.com Spora Health - sporahealth.com Whisper - Whisper.ai (acquired by Meta) Medium - medium.com Undivided - undivided.io Alto Pharmacy - alto.com Cent - cent.co Kraken - kraken.com Adventr - Adventr.ia Range - range.co Wünder - findwunder.com Arternal - arternal.com Trace Data (acquired by Netskope) Stream Labs (acquired by Logitech) Mister Jius - misterjius.com
Angel Track Fellowship (cohort 9)
2021 - 2022
The Angel Track program by First Round Capital focuses on identifying individuals with strong potential as future leaders in angel investing and venture. Participants join an intimate cohort and become part of a larger alumni community of exceptional angels, gaining access to the best early-stage deal flow in tech.
First Round Angel Track is a community of operators and founders looking to develop their skills and identities as early-stage investors.
Design Strategy and Operations Advisor
2020 - 2021
Alto is a digital pharmacy that makes the prescription experience easier.
Raised $680,030,000.00 from What If Ventures, FJ Labs and Anchor Capital GP.
Operations and Talent Aquisition Leader
2014 - 2018
NerdWallet's objective advice, expert info and helpful tools help you make smart money moves. In 2009, we set out to change all that. And today, it's easier than ever to find and shop the right credit cards and mortgage rates, tap into spending insights, earn extra cash back and so much more. All with NerdWallet.
NerdWallet develops a financial platform to help people find the right credit cards and mortgage rates.
Raised $105,000,000.00 from Raison Wealth, Employee Stock Option Fund and MAK Ventures.
Senior Producer, Central Product
2011 - 2014
Reporting directly to Tim LeTourneau, Zynga’s Chief Creative Officer, spearheading UX and design org initiatives across all Zynga studios. * Manage UX R&D team of three for competitive mobile product analysis. * Responsible for design and feature production for a 24+ cross functional team for an unreleased franchise mobile game. * Additionally, I served as an advisor to the CCO on industry engagement and university presence, and provided strategic guidance for hiring in design, art, and production.
Talent Acquisition and Resource Management Operations
2009 - 2012
Joining in the earliest stages, I led an initiative to evolve Zynga’s development capabilities through hiring traditional game design, production and creative talent. As an result, we successfully onboarded over 200 individuals across product, game design, UX, production, art and other technical roles around the world. This effort increased the percentage of game designers by over 80%.
Zynga is a mobile game developer that creates and operates social games as live services played on the Internet.
Raised $2,318,550,786.00 from Kleiner Perkins, T. Rowe Price, Morgan Stanley and Fidelity.
University Relations Program Manager & Lucasarts Publishing Producer
2007 - 2009
During my tenure at Lucasfilm, I played a pivotal role in establishing the JEDI Academy program, a new initiative designed to attract and train global talent across various divisions, including Industrial Light & Magic, LucasArts, Lucas Animation, and Skywalker Sound. In addition to building JEDI Academy, I collaborated extensively with horizontal creative teams to develop and produce high-quality brand materials and immersive Star Wars environments. These efforts were showcased at large-scale press and corporate events worldwide, enhancing the global visibility and appeal of the Star Wars brand.
Lucasfilm produces original content, postproduction effects, and audio for external clients, licensed products, and the gaming industry.