Justin Lokitz

Founding Member

2024

Chief Executive Officer

2023

Co-founded with other badasses that I've been dreaming about working with for a long time, Makee is the first-of-its-kind mobile app that uses generative AI and a conversational interface to enable users to create funny images, GIFs, and memes to share with their friends, while also incorporating an entirely new way to generate revenue from virtual product placement. We’re building Giphy for the genAI generation!

Chief Executive Officer

2020

Developed to help you outperform everyone, every day. At Plantfully Systems we formulate plant-based supplements to enable you to elevate your game no matter what you want to achieve. We use natural ingredients and formulas that are scientifically proven to enhance your body’s ability to run faster, jump higher, think quickly, sleep deeply, and just work better.

Professor & Chair of the MBA in Design Strategy Program

2020

At California College of the Arts, I teach a graduate-level (MBA) course called Business Models & Stakeholders. This course focuses on design-led innovation from a business (and business model) perspective. I am also the Acting Chair of the DMBA program.

Strategic Advisor

2023

Hatchet Ventures is a community-led advisory network dedicated to helping underestimated founders secure resources and exposure. As a startup advisor, I work with founders who are generally left out of the equation in Silicon Valley, helping them design sustainable businesses.

Board Member

2020

At SGL, we help nonprofits and mission-driven startups launch and grow. Our mission is to leverage technology, nonprofit expertise, and digital strategies to help others make the world a better place. We offer fiscal sponsorship and strategic support to people and projects that align with our mission.

Advisory Board Member

2019

The world needs Catalysts who create bold and powerful change in the world. We’re devoted to educating, coaching, and connecting Catalysts, so they can create their dream impact.

Advisor

2018

As a SkyAdvisor at SkyDeck, UC Berkeley's largest accelerator, I help startups with their value propositions, business models, and strategies.

Author: Design a Better Business: New Tools, Skills, and Mindset for Strategy and Innovation

2016

My book, Design a Better Business: New Tools, Skills, and Mindset for Strategy and Innovation, stitches together a complete design journey from beginning to end in a way that you’ve likely never seen before, guiding readers (you) step-by-step in a practical way from the initial spark of an idea all the way to scaling it into a better business. Design a Better Business includes a comprehensive set of tools (over 20 total!) and skills that will help you harness opportunity from uncertainty by building the right team(s) and balancing your point of view against new findings from the outside world. http://designabetterbusiness.com

Strategic Advisor and Board Member

2018 - 2023

At Vansmith, we provide people who seek adventure and the freedom of the open road, with the tools, services, products, and knowledge to do so. As a strategic advisor and board member, I help to design the future of Vansmith with the amazing core team. Next stop...the world.