Even as a developer, my advice is try and get some, even basic working knowledge, of design. Knowing how typography works (kerning, leading, tracking, hierarchy, layouts and grids) is such a major advantage. If you can team up with a designer to handle the code you’ll end up building great sites rather than undesigned, cluttered or overworked sites that 90% of the developer landscape are making. Once you have that knowledge you’ll be more attractive to other agencies who are the people in contact with all the accelerators. I know this because I have done this personally. VCs don’t want to take risks these days, so they hire people with track records who come by recommendation.

We work with people all over the world, and we find them through the work they do. Designers don’t just want someone who can code, they want someone who can build what they’ve designed, exactly as it should be. If a site looks great and there’s a made by XYZ tag at the bottom you can trace back who designed/developed it. We let the devs quote the cost and then see how that works within our budget or speak to the clients seek more budget. Some devs are cheaper than others but they are all people with solid portfolios for startups and big brands.

I run a UK based design agency and I can say, without doubt, that the hardest type of developer to find is one who can do tasteful, pixel perfect replication of our designs, using Xd or Figma. No layout, colour, functionality or typographic errors. I pay on average £20-25k p/site to a freelancer who can do this, sometimes stretching into £50k p/site. Sites take roughly 1-2 months to make so that hits your target. No.1 thing to do to be swamped with work, is show good designer teams you can pay attention to all the small details and you’ll earn £100-200k p/year.

I run a branding agency and can say, with over a decade of making startups millions, that both work.

Take an average or even pre existing idea and execute it better than the competition or work a new angle and you’ll win.

Or, focus on making something truly unique that holds its place and you’ll still need to execute well otherwise someone will see your work, adapt it and own that space.

Take your pick, option 1 is by far the easiest option. Just get a great team and don’t expect to change the world. Sometimes a smaller slice of a better pie is worth it.