A Chat with Anton Borzov: Innovative Product Designer; Investor; Partner at StratMinds; Founder of Sunflower Fund; past Head of Design at Neeva; accomplished tenure in product design at WhatsApp

This week, Stephen Ibaraki has an exclusive interview with Anton Borzov.

Anton Borzov is a product designer turned investor, born in Ukraine and currently residing in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is a Partner at StratMinds, an SF-based VC firm doubling down on applied AI with new funds focused on unlocking user experience innovations.

With a strong background in technology and design, Anton served as the Head of Design at Neeva, an AI-powered, ad-free, private and personal search engine. His most notable accomplishment includes a decade-long tenure at WhatsApp, where he played an integral role in growing the user base from zero to over a billion users. Anton started as the first designer at the company, creating the iconic logo and double checkmarks, eventually building and supporting a global design team.

Anton is also the founder of Sunflower Fund, a fund dedicated to providing protective and medical equipment to Ukraine during wartime.

A Zen student, Anton has practiced with both the Jikoji Zen Center and the Santa Barbara Zen Center, and recently joined the board of directors at the SBZC. He is passionate about integrating life into products and design, and has been studying at buildingbeauty.org, a program based on the works of Christopher Alexander. Anton actively supports the Ukrainian startup and design ecosystems, offering angel investments, networking opportunities, and advising. He enjoys connecting designers with businesses and publishing books about design and unfolding life.