When Rahmi Halaby set out to build a more thoughtful digital design process, he didn’t start with a pitch deck – he started by listening. After interviewing more than 1,000 designers he founded Ideate, a tech company that provides operational automation and intelligence to design organizations.
How has your entrepreneurial journey led you to becoming a tech founder?
I'm a new software founder, but I'm not a new founder. My entrepreneurial journey started in college, where I launched a clothing brand called Only Positives Co. through my school's fellowship program. From there I worked in sales, did freelance design on the side, eventually became a Design Director, and then launched my own design agency, Linden Ave. Studio.
Running that agency is what opened my eyes to how deeply technology shapes creative workflows — and that curiosity is ultimately what led me to Ideate.
What problem were you seeing that others weren’t talking about?
At Linden Ave. Studio, my team constantly felt rushed through our creative process. We were spending too much time building decks, managing client feedback, and not enough time actually doing the creative work. I assumed it was a leadership issue on my end.
So I started interviewing other designers. After talking to over 1,000 of them, I realized we all had the exact same problem. That's the moment I had a choice: sit with that information, or do something about it. I chose to build Ideate.
How has Ideate evolved since you made that decision?
Last year I started taking our prototype to VCs and shifted focus to getting the product in front of people. Through my existing relationship with Bronze Valley, I joined gBETA Delaware and their Investment Accelerator, which led to our first investment and helped us bring on angel investors. This spring, we're working toward closing our first pre-seed round.
On the recognition side, our CTO, Waskar Paulino was named a RealLIST Innovator by Technical.ly in Philadelphia, and we’ve been previously nominated for Product of the Year. We were recently named a 2026 Philadelphia RealLIST Startup by Technical.ly as well — which means a lot to the team.
What are you focused on right now, and what does the road ahead look like?
We just launched our agency pilot program, which is a major milestone. Getting to work with larger creative teams and seeing how the product performs in a real-world collaborative environment is exactly where we want to be.
We've also moved into the university space — we just secured a partnership with Moore, The College of Art & Design, which is exciting. The goal from here is to deepen those partnerships, complete the full product build, and scale. We're building something that addresses a real, widespread pain point for designers.
What do you wish someone had told you early on as an entrepreneur?
Plan before you announce. Someone once told me you shouldn't start fundraising until you can close the round in two weeks — and that's stuck with me. A lot of founders make the bold declaration that they're fundraising when all they really have is an idea. Be methodical. Tie your fundraise announcement to actual product or company milestones.
Second: be persistent, even when the conversation has gone cold. I recently received a check from an angel investor I had emailed eight times. I just kept checking in with updates. That check came through.
And third — and this is maybe the most important one — you need a genuinely good, vetted, investable idea. Some people get into founder mode because they want a career in tech or want to build something big. That's a fine aspiration. But wanting to build and having something worth building are two different things. Know the difference before you raise.
Thank you, Rahmi for sharing your journey and perspective on what it takes to build. We’ll be rooting for Ideate as the year unfolds.
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