John Zeratsky is the bestselling author of Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days and Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day.

John’s writing has been published by The Wall Street Journal, TIME, Harvard Business Review, Wired, Fast Company, and many other publications. He has appeared on stage nearly 200 times, including at Netflix, IDEO, McKinsey, the Code Conference, and The London School of Economics.

For nearly 15 years, John was a designer for technology companies. At Google Ventures (GV), he helped develop the design sprint process and worked with close to 200 startups, including Uber, Slack, 23andMe, Flatiron Health, Blue Bottle Coffee, and Nest. He was also GV’s in-house copywriter, editor, and content strategist; he created and edited the GV Library, which has reached millions of readers since 2012. Previously, John was a designer​ at YouTube and Google, and an early employee at FeedBurner, which Google acquired in 2007.

John studied journalism at the University of Wisconsin and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the UW School of Human Ecology, where he’s now an advisor to the Dean and faculty.

Originally from small-town Wisconsin, John and his wife Michelle have lived in Chicago and San Francisco. They spent 18 months traveling in Central America aboard their sailboat Pineapple before moving to Milwaukee in 2019.

Braden Kowitz founded the Google Ventures design team in 2009 and pioneered the role of “design partner” at a venture capital firm. He has advised close to two hundred startups on product design, hiring, and team culture. Before joining Google Ventures, Braden led design for several Google products, including Gmail, Google Enterprise, Google Spreadsheets, and Google Trends.