---
title: "Designer for YC Startups | Utkarsh Panwar"
description: "A designer for YC startups who has worked with five Y Combinator companies: CodeAnt AI, xPay, FamPay, HelpNow and Entvin, with the result each one produced."
url: https://www.utkarshdesign.com/for/yc-startups
author: Utkarsh Dhairya Panwar
updated: 2026-10-08
---

# Designer for YC startups

Work · Updated 8 Oct 2026

**I've designed for five Y Combinator companies: CodeAnt AI (W24) as founding designer since June 2024, xPay (W24) and FamPay (S19) on their product teams, and HelpNow (W20) and Entvin (S22) as a freelancer. At YC speed, design has to ship in days and move one number.**

## The five companies and what changed

| Company | Batch | My role | Result |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| CodeAnt AI | W24 | Founding designer: product, Framer website, brand, design system | 2× trial-to-paid; $0 to $60M valuation during my time |
| xPay | W24 | Product design intern | Sales walkthroughs 30% shorter; feature delivery 35% faster; 2× indexed pages |
| FamPay | S19 | UX design intern | 80% fewer voucher tickets; 20% less failure-related drop-off |
| HelpNow | W20 | Freelance: designed InstaMed, its B2B door-to-door medicine delivery app | HelpNow and InstaMed have since closed |
| Entvin | S22 | Freelance: SaaS website | Positioning, storytelling and conversion flows, live at entvin.com |

- ![CodeAnt AI - YC W24](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/images/codeant-card-mockup.webp)[CodeAnt AI - YC W24](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/work/codeant-ai): Designed dashboard, website and brand that helped company to scale from $0 to $60M
- ![Fampay - YC S19](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/images/3v4SQHWPQlGJ4IsrLPOcvf2iL0.webp)[Fampay - YC S19](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/work/fampay): Improved voucher UX by making one-time-use rules clear and smoothing Cashback Store experience
- ![Entvin Website](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/images/YcM5MFZ07POipRe6EWEbqMapVTY.webp)[Entvin Website](https://entvin.com/): Designed and shipped SaaS website with clear positioning, product storytelling and conversion-focused flows

## What batch-speed design looks like

YC companies run on weekly goals and a short list of metrics, so design ships in days and a month of exploration doesn't fit. At xPay that meant learning Framer in three days and shipping landing pages, decks and marketing assets alongside product work.

> Quick learner and strong designer. Picked up Framer in just 3 days and shipped landing pages, decks, graphics, and marketing assets end-to-end.
> (Aniket Gupta, Co-Founder, xPay (YC W24))

Speed only helps if it points at the right number. At CodeAnt that number was trial-to-paid, and what doubled it was fixing a permissions problem in setup. A visual refresh wouldn't have touched it. I pick the metric with the founders before opening Figma.

## Before and after Demo Day

- During the batch: a website that explains the product to investors and early customers in one screen, built in Framer so you can edit it the night before.
- Right after: the onboarding path, because new users arrive faster than founders can onboard them by hand.
- After the round: a small design system, so new engineers don't each invent a button.

[What YC startup websites are built with](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/guides/yc-startup-websites-study): My study of the Summer 2026 batch: which site builders and hosts 231 YC companies use, checked one by one.

## Questions people ask

### Do you only work with YC companies?

No. Five of the 15+ brands I've worked with are YC companies. The way of working suits any early team that ships weekly.

### Can you design our website during the batch?

Yes, as a Framer website project. A 5 to 10 page site typically takes 3 to 6 weeks, so it helps to start early in the batch.

## Start a project

Tell me what you're building and where it's stuck: [book a 30-minute call](https://cal.com/utkarsh-design/30min), email [work@utkarshdesign.com](mailto:work@utkarshdesign.com) or [send a brief](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/contact).

## Related

- [Hire a product designer: freelance, contract or full-time](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/hire)
- [What a founding designer is, and how to hire one](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/guides/hiring-your-founding-designer)
- [Framer developer and designer for hire, based in India](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/services/framer-developer)
- [Product and website design for startups, by stage](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/for/startups)

---

Utkarsh Dhairya Panwar, Founding Product Designer and Design Engineer (IIT Roorkee; Founding Designer at CodeAnt AI, YC W24). Email: work@utkarshdesign.com · Book a call: https://cal.com/utkarsh-design/30min · Hire: https://www.utkarshdesign.com/hire · About: https://www.utkarshdesign.com/llms.txt