Founder Dev Gupta is coming back to where he grew up. And the region is gaining a UI/UX design studio and early-stage investor along the way.
Having grown his aptly named Not Dev studio mainly in San Francisco for the past seven years, working with clients like Google, Twitter and Toyota, Gupta has moved back to DFW during the pandemic to continue that growth. And with the help of his brother and the Capital Factory network, he sees investment opportunities in the local scene.
“I always wanted to come back to Dallas, and I always had this sort of vision to build this in Dallas,” Gupta told NTX Inno. “San Francisco is great. I love it. It’s obviously one of the leaders when it comes to innovation and tech, but I see Dallas as this green field. There’s a lot of opportunities here.”
Gupta first launched Not Dev in 2007 while after teaching creative advertising at Southern Methodist University. He later moved Not Dev to the San Francisco area while he moved there to “chase a girl.” It worked, and the couple married while Gupta grew out Not Dev, helping build designs for large companies and that region’s numerous startups.
Not Dev incorporates that startup mentality into its work. Ultimately, Gupta said good design intentionally solves a problem while creating a seamless interaction with a touch that surprises and delights the end-users. At Not Dev, Gupta said the team of six knows that typically after a prototype design is unveiled, things change quickly, so the team “starts making as fast as possible,” making changes throughout the process. The company also shares backend work during the process and gives customers a one-week tryout period.
“Everything is hypothetical until you see it, so once you start to see things… we have a sort of shared understanding of the vision, so we can start to have conversations in a more meaningful, impactful way,” Gupta said. “Our approach to work is to get into the work. It’s to skip all of the meetings, skip all of the interviews, skip all the decks and start making stuff as fast as possible.”
So far, Not Dev has grown via word of mouth, but the pandemic – in addition to spurring him to move his family and firm back to the region he was born – has accelerated demand for its services. Gupta said that the pandemic had shown the need for companies to have a digital presence and to be able to interact with customers in the engaging types of ways they have come to expect. That need, along with the number of companies transplanting their headquarters to the region, has made DFW an ideal place for Not Dev to continue to grow, Gupta said. He also noted other common draws to the area, like a talented workforce and business-friendly environment.
“There’s this quote: ‘Software is eating the world, and every company is now a software company.’ I firmly believe that,” Gupta said. “Also, what I think is interesting, is you can’t get away with bad tech anymore… if your app isn’t as good as an iPhone or as good as an Android app, then customers are going to be turned away. So it feels like it’s a perfect storm for us to occupy that space here in Dallas.”
As the firm looks to do that, Gupta said it is looking to add to its headcount. However, he said there is no set number it is looking to hire, as he likes to keep the team lean, and it will also depend on the amount of business Not Dev receives. And though the company is not planning on setting up a show in a physical location, the new hires will come from the local area.
Not Dev likes to say it has “been remote before it was cool.” Part of that comes from a desire not to step foot in offices on the part of Gupta. He said he likes to give his team the environment they need to do their best work. While some companies are still trying to figure out how to make remote and hybrid work models work, Gupta said having a team that works remote but lives in the same region is critical, allowing for collaborative in-person meetings when needed as the ability to meet for social events.
“I believe that a flexible, remote culture allows people to be the best versions of themselves. It allows them to be in control of their schedule, allows them to be in control of what they wear when they eat.”
In addition to DFW being a region of opportunity for Not Dev, Gupta also sees it as a region ready for new investments. He has made investments in a few of Capital Factory’s funds and works with the organization occasionally as a mentor. He also has a small office with his brother that makes early-stage, seed-level investments. He said at that level of investing, his focus is on the passion and talents of the company rather than the tech. In North Texas, he said cutting a check is sometimes a little simpler than it is in the Bay Area, as many startups in the region are working to address measurable gaps in the markets for industries in their focus.
“What I tell my team is we’re opportunistic about everything. We don’t need new clients, but we want new clients. We don’t need to hire anyone, but we want to hire people. So, on both fronts, what we’re trying to do is look for opportunities we feel like are a good fit and then lean into them.”
