Today we’d like to introduce you to Karine Hsu. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Karine founded Slope in 2019 with her partner Jeffrey as the agency they wished they had as startup founders. Slope is an end-to-end creative agency that works exclusively with high-growth startups. Some notable clients include Forbes, Clover Health, Daily Harvest, and Eco – helping with everything from designing brand identities, marketing to providing capital.
She brings years of experience as a founder and brand building. Her previous venture was a Y-Combinator backed company in the e-commerce space and previously led marketing at companies like Affirm and Verishop. Growing up in Palo Alto, she was always surrounded by tech and startups. Inspired by the startup ecosystem, she dove into starting her own companies post-college.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Starting and running a company is never a straightforward path! There are many ups and downs. One notable challenge that we recently navigated was building a remote-first culture. Since Slope started scaling around when the COVID lockdown happened, we knew we were going to build a remote-friendly company. We hired team members all across the US in LA, NY, Canada, SF, and etc. We attempted to bring our team together many times for a retreat to create that important face-to-face connection, but we were met with three canceled retreat plans…as more outbreaks kept happening! We eventually brought our team of 15 together in Joshua Tree, CA in July 2022. Since then, we’ve seen a noticeable impact on employee happiness and productivity.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Slope is the first strategic creative agency focused on working exclusively with startups. We are former venture-backed founders with deep expertise across design and marketing.
We have partnered with hundreds of startups backed by top-tier venture firms like Y Combinator, Accel, Sequoia, Bain Capital, and Lightspeed.
Notable clients include Eco, Point Card, Cinder, Replo, Forbes, and more. We are industry-agnostic, and stage-specific. We specialize in helping companies grow from seed to growth stages.
Our Services –
Brand: Brand Strategy + Positioning, Brand Visual Identity, Collateral (Decks, One-Pagers)
Digital: Website Design, Website Development, UI/UX
Marketing: Paid Media, Campaign Work, Ad Creatives
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I used to be a competitive badminton player and was ranked nationally #1 in Women’s Singles and doubles. I played on the US World Junior’s Team in 2010.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.slope.agency/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/karine_hsu
