John Zeratsky
John Zeratsky is a bestselling author, keynote speaker, veteran technology designer and co-creator of the Design Sprint, a unique five-day process for solving tough problems using design, prototyping, and testing ideas with customers. John has spent nearly 15 years in the technology sector, and was a Design Partner at Google Ventures, where he developed the Sprint method and supported many of GV’s most successful investments, including Slack, One Medical Group, Flatiron Health, Blue Bottle Coffee, and Gusto. Prior to that, he was a Design Lead at YouTube, Google Ads, and FeedBurner, which was acquired by Google in 2007. John is the bestselling author of "Make Time" and the New York Times bestseller "Sprint," and has reached millions with articles in The Wall Street Journal, TIME, Harvard Business Review, Wired, Fast Company, and other outlets. Today, John is the Co-Founder and General Partner at Character, a venture capital firm that provides high-integrity seed capital to startups, where he supports technology startups with capital and sprints.
John Zeratsky Professional Experience / Academic History
Professional Experience
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Co-Founder and General Partner
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Design Partner at Google Ventures
Academic History
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B.S., Journalism
EARLY CAREER
At Google, he led the design for AdWords Editor and DoubleClick Search.
He was also GV’s in-house copywriter, editor, and content strategist; he created and edited the GV Library.
At YouTube, he was part of an internal startup team that created the YouTube Channels platform, which launched in early 2012.
He has worked with more than 200 of the world’s most important and innovative organizations, including Google, Harvard University, Slack, IDEO, and Netflix.
He was a Designer and Webmaster at the University of Wisconsin, where he designed and managed websites for the College of Agricultural & Life Sciences.
APPEARANCES & PUBLICATIONS
John has written about design and productivity for Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Wired, and Time.
John has reached millions with his writing about resetting the defaults of busyness and distraction.
He has appeared on stage multiple times, including at Netflix, IDEO, McKinsey, the Code Conference, and The London School of Economics.