Benjamin Stanfield

I'm Ben, Co-founder and Head of Product Design at Wren and Topos (Acq.).

I love basketball, typography, fun cocktails, and espresso. I currently live in Saratoga, California, cozied up against the Santa Cruz mountains.

Previously, I studied at the Iovine & Young Academy at USC, and Y Combinator.

Current interests:

• Climate action & optimism. This has driven my work at Wren for the past 6 years—helping over a million people understand their carbon footprint and funding $20M+ in climate solutions along the way.
• Catalytic philanthropy. In 2023, I formed Wren's non-profit branch to raise grants for critical early-stage climate solutions. Many others are doing great work here, including Giving Green and Terraset.
• AI UX Design. Truthful, intuitive human+AI interaction is a key design challenge of this century. Topos is designing AI tools to help energy developers synthesize vast amounts of government data and make better decisions about deploying green energy.
• Marvels of engineering. I am fascinated by the art of engineering, and the principles of a well designed system. I recommend reading Skunk Works by Ben Rich, or The Art of Doing Science & Engineering by Richard Hamming.
• Reading physical books. After ~10 hours a day on screens, I recommend a physical book. Support local bookstores at Bookshop.org, and check out some great Stripe Press prints, like Boom.