Jeff White

Improving Medtech software ➤ Advancing UX careers with storytelling @ uxstorytelling.io/course ➤ UX Consultant ➤ UX Designer & Educator

In 20+ years as a UX/UI designer I've shipped hundreds of apps, websites, and features for big tech companies like Amazon and Motorola all the way down to tiny startups being run from a garage. 

5 years into my career I co-published an article about Agile UX work a colleague and I were doing at a broadcast retail company.

That led to several speaking engagements, and 1.5 years later I was in Seattle presenting the design for Kindle for iPhone 1.0 to Jeff Bezos.

I worked at Amazon for 6 years where I:

→ Designed and shipped dozens of Kindle reading apps used by millions
→ Got promoted 3 times
→ Managed and lead teams
→ Worked on highly visible "special projects"
→ Presented to Jeff Bezos and other execs more times than I can remember
 
And then I got burned out. 

So to recover I co-founded a tech startup. This is not a joke. This is also probably not advice I would give to anyone. 

The startup fizzled out quickly but it was my first exposure to entrepreneurship and I was hooked.

I didn't know what to do, I just knew I wanted to continue being out on my own.

With the help of others I started contracting. Over time that grew into a 7 figure design firm called Stepladder. 

Things about Stepladder that I'm proud of:

→ Short but impressive list of long time clients. We form partnerships.
→ 100% referral based
→ 97% of clients become return customers
→ Experienced designers come here to have more freedom in their life
→ Younger designers come here to get started and learn

I never dreamed that I would speak at conferences, work at a big tech name, or start companies. Yet here I am 20 years later incredibly fortunate, full of gratitude, sometimes a bit tired, and having learned:

→ You can't do it alone
→ Helping people is the best part of this job

I share what I've learned over the years here on LinkedIn and work with clients at www.stepladderUX.com.

Thanks for reading.

Founder and Head of Design

Founder, Startup Advisor, Impact Investor — On a mission to accelerate conscious design.

I bring Silicon Valley PMF & growth expertise to founders solving our planet's biggest challenges. I've spent a decade driving growth at Y Combinator, Zendesk, and Webflow—achieving results like 200% acquisition increases.

My investment portfolio, valued at $3.6B+, is co-invested with Lowercarbon Capital, Planet A Ventures, and leading climate VCs: 

→ Industrial Decarbonization: Advanced materials replacing steel and traditional manufacturing (Strong by Form, New Iridium)
→ Circular Economy/Bio-materials: Mushroom biotechnology and waste-to-value innovations (Really Clever, Novobiom)
→ Clean Energy: Hydrogen infrastructure and grid technologies (CrossTown H2R)

As Founder of Conscious Tech Ventures, I provide strategic guidance to climate startups scaling breakthrough solutions. UC Berkeley-educated speaker at Ikea, Uber, universities, and tech conferences worldwide. I help Founders leverage PMF & PLG. 

Mission: Accelerate conscious tech that makes today's broken systems obsolete— we can't solve today's climate problems with the same thinking that created them.

Working with a highly selective group of climate founders ready to scale.

Sera Tajima

A new fund focused on preventing extinction? 

Music to my ears.

🇺🇸 Superorganism closes $25.9M Fund I for biodiversity startups

This San Francisco VC closed its first fund from Cisco Foundation, AMB Holdings, Builders Vision, a16z partner Jeff Jordan, and others. 

Managing Directors Tom Quigley & Kevin Webb are backing startups working on extinction prevention and conservation technology —a thesis that's been underinvested despite the urgency.

The firm writes checks of $250k - $500k for pre-seed and seed companies and donate, with portfolio including Spoor (computer vision for bird tracking around wind farms) 

+ 

They commit 10% of profits to future conservationist efforts. 

Biodiversity isn't just environmental—it's infrastructure for planetary resilience.

Learn about the moves shaping deep tech in this week's Conscious Tech intel linked below. 

Congrats to the team! 👏

_____

Hi, I'm Sera Tajima, angel investing alongside EQT Foundation & Hoxton Ventures. 🤙

Angel investor helping climate deeptech founders scale breakthrough technologies

Trump is at it again with the executive orders. 🙄

Someone take the pen away from that man. 

The US is giving up global climate leadership. 🌍
 
He just withdrew from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The world's second largest emitter is out. ❌

Not the Paris Agreement. The entire 1992 framework.

This is the FOUNDATION of global climate cooperation. The US helped write it.

This means:
→ US loses seat at the table for international climate finance
→ China fills the vacuum (already deployed $625B domestic + $80B overseas in 2025)
→ EU becomes de facto rule-setter for climate standards
→ American cleantech companies lose diplomatic support in foreign markets

The rest of the world is moving on without the US. 

Get weekly Conscious Tech intel.

What do you think the greater impacts will be?

Taaleri Energia reached final close at $736M for renewable energy. 🇫🇮

SolarWind III targets utility-scale wind, solar, and battery storage. This is their 6th renewables fund.

Backed by:
Erste Group 
EBRD VC (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development)
EIF (European Investment Fund)
Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Company
KBC Bank & Verzekering 
SmartCap  
Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company
VBV Pensionskasse
+ European institutional investors

Main target markets are the Nordics, the Baltics, Poland, Southeast Europe and Spain, with selective investments in Texas. 

The interesting part? 
European institutional investors are betting on US renewable infrastructure while American policy creates uncertainty.

Congrats to the Taaleri team! 👏 Happy to see continued investment here. 

Are European funds filling the gap in US renewables? Comment your thoughts.

Here’s what it means when you have no idea what will happen next. Let go of control, the path in front of you becomes wide open.

#consciousness #healing #nervoussystem

Lux Capital closed $1.5 billion for Fund IX, bringing total AUM to $7B. 

The 25-year-old firm backs frontier science across aerospace, biotech, defense, AI, and energy infrastructure with investments in Anduril ($30.5B valuation), Applied Intuition ($15B), and Unconventional AI ($475M seed round for energy-efficient AI chips). 

Focus is frontier tech.

#venturecapital #deeptech #energy #nuclear #startups

Japan is investing €33B in the EU. Here's why. 

#deeptech #japan #venturecapital

3 ag deals in one week. 🌾

All UK-based. 

All addressing different parts of the food security stack.

1. Biographica (UK): $10M seed for ML-driven crop genetics
2. Bloemteknik (Wales): £2.5M seed for horticultural lighting
3. Black Bull Biochar (UK): $3M seed for agriculture carbon removal

The solutions signal AgTech 2.0. ✨

The pattern?
→ Gene editing for climate-resilient crops
→ Controlled-environment production 
→ Carbon removal embedded in farming operations

Climate adaptation is coming to agriculture.  

This isn’t AgTech 1.0 (sensors and drones).

This is programmable agriculture. 🧬

Investors are saying food security = national security. 

Are you seeing this shift?

____

Hi, I’m Sera Tajima, angel investor alongside EQT Foundation and Climate Insiders in early stage climate deep tech.

A fifth fund for systemic social challenges and environmental startups? 

Let's goooo! 🎉 Their largest first close ever. 

🇩🇪 Munich's Ananda Impact Ventures secured a €73M first close for fifth core impact fund. 

Backed by EIF, NRW Bank, Investcorp-Tages, Mercator Foundation, and 40+ European family offices.

Founded in 2009, Ananda manages €270 million across five funds, investing €500K - €10M in early-stage European startups addressing systemic challenges with frontier tech to reshape global systems. 

Portfolio includes:
— NatureMetrics (biodiversity monitoring)
— OroraTech  (wildfire detection from space)
— ieso UK (mental health)

Co-founder Johannes Weber said, "We went out with the thesis that we should reflect the values of our founders, anti-consensus, anti-groupthink."

Impact investing isn't just about returns — it's about backing visionary founders who dare to challenge today's limits. 

Congrats to the team! 👏

See all the funds that raised in this week's Conscious Tech intel linked below.

______

Hi, I'm Sera Tajima, angel investing alongside EQT Foundation, Lowercarbon Capital & more. 🤙

taplio

The Battle

Jeff White

Sera Tajima

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreSera Tajima's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Jeff White

Sera Tajima

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Sera Tajima's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreSera Tajima's LinkedIn Performance