David Shen asks, “Why aren’t there more graphic designer venture captialists?” His answer: fewer designers relative to other disciplines, lower chance of designers receiving a large cash windfall to get started, general fear of higher-risk investing among non-investors combined with lack of venturing know-how and adequate time horizons, and atypical skillsets vs. standard VCs with business and management backgrounds.

Shen’s post was written at the end of 2009 and cites Method and Fuseproject as counterexamples, design firms that have worked for part-equity stakes (rather than service fees) in the past, and commenters rightly include 37signals and Coudal Partners as well. However, many of the obstacles Shen mentions are already in flux: there are more design grads, more designers owning their own small businesses, more designers seeding other designers’ startup projects, etc. In short, I think we’re on track to see more and more designer VCs in the years ahead, and Shen agrees. Here’s hoping.