Patton Janssen Resume

Education: Hotchkiss —> UCLA DMA + Art History (Grad. 2024)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patton-janssen/

Design portfolio: https://www.pattonjanssen.com/

Bio: Patton Janssen is a designer and business strategist based in California who bridges thoughtful design with human-centered innovation to inspire better living. He received a BA in Design and Media Arts with a minor in Art History from UCLA (2024).

Passionate about elevating everyday experiences through exceptional design, Patton's journey has taken him from luxury brands like Balenciaga to venture capital and innovation platforms, always seeking to understand how well-made, well-designed objects can create meaningful impact. Driven by a deep care for conserving craftsmanship while shepherding innovation, he approaches creativity with both artistic vision and strategic thinking that enhances how people live, work, and connect with the world around them.

Core competencies: Market research, business strategy, graphic and presentation design, client relationship management, sales, marketing, event planning, knowledge base management, investing

Software toolkit: Notion, Airtable (CRM), Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign), Affinity (CRM), Mixmax (sales engagement), Google Workspace, Excel, PowerPoint, Harmonic (startup sourcing), AI tools (Claude, Perplexity, ChatGPT)

Work experiences:

[2024-2025] Plug and Play Ventures LA: Supported corporate partnerships team at Plug and Play, the largest global innovation platform and one of the most active global VC investors with 500+ corporate partners across 60+ cities, building an LA innovation hub in Retail, Brand, and Media sectors. Tripled partnership pipeline, generating 450+ new corporate contacts and 8 ongoing proposal collaborations for new accelerator programs. Facilitated onboarding of new Shopline accelerator program partnership (Asia's leading e-commerce platform) and co-executed Japanese Filmmakers program with JETRO (Japanese External Trade Organization), delivering two events with 300+ attendees each, featured in Variety. Represented Plug and Play at industry conferences and collaborated with stakeholders at Red Bull, Richemont, Yeti, and Under Armour on technology sourcing for integration with new products and workflows.
[2023] Anthos Capital: Sourced and performed due diligence on early-stage venture capital deals for a $3B AUM fund focused on consumer categories, based in Santa Monica, CA. Uncovering and researching upwards of 100 startups weekly for investment potential. Companies sourced for investment include Mudstack ($4M Seed in 2024). Other companies presented for investment (but not invested in) included Graza (Seed in 2022 —> recent $240M valuation), Snif ($4.2M Seed in 2022 —> $7.36M Series A in 2024), Suri ($2M Seed in 2022 —> $6.2M Series A in 2024), Purple Dot ($1.38M Seed in 2020 —> $10M Series A in 2024), Voliro ($2.18M Seed in 2020 —> $12M Series A in 2024), BinSentry ($7.7M Series A in 2020 —> $15M Series B in 2024 —> $50M Series C in 2025), BoldVoice ($2.5M Seed in 2023 —> $8.5M ARR with 8 employees in 2025), and Dirty Labs ($4M Seed in 2022 —> undisclosed raise in 2025).
[2022] Balenciaga: Interned on the Corporate Retail Training team in New York City, creating weekly presentations to elevate the in-store experience and drive KPI growth across all 48 North American stores during a time of rapid expansion. Collaborated with to launch activities such as styling challenges to increase the engagement of in-store teams with new concepts and promote connection between different store locations.
[2021-2024] UCLA Bruin Ventures: Ran marketing operations (new member and client facing) while sourcing and serving on consulting projects with clients such as Oura Ring, Poppi, Culture Pop Soda, RapidSOS, Casa Verde Capital, Hamilton Venture, and LvlUp Ventures. Led efforts to increase exposure to consumer industries for members while building a network within the CPG and tech communities.
[2022] Frisbie Group Real Estate: Contributed to the creation and approval of the South Flagler House luxury residential development in Palm Beach in partnership with Related Companies, along with analyzing other local investment opportunities and implementing value-add strategies to optimize real estate asset performance.