# Cory Etzkorn

![Cory Etzkorn](https://coryetzkorn.com/cory-etzkorn-2026.png)

Hi, I’m Cory. I’m a designer and software engineer in New York City with 15+ years of experience building products and brands. I was one of [Notion](https://www.notion.com)’s first 20 employees and helped shape its brand and marketing in the early years. Before that, I worked on design systems at [The Wall Street Journal](https://www.wsj.com) and led front-end engineering at [Fuzzco](https://www.fuzzco.com).

Today I run two companies. At [small talk labs](https://www.smalltalklabs.com), I’m building [Soulmate](https://www.joinsoulmate.app), a dating app where you talk with an AI matchmaker instead of swiping. At [Mythical Creature](https://www.mythicalcreature.nyc), my app studio, I design and build apps for other teams.

[Work with me](https://www.mythicalcreature.nyc)

## Writing

- [Building Soulmate with AI](https://coryetzkorn.com/writing/building-soulmate-with-ai.md): From idea to app
- [Software should feel like magic](https://coryetzkorn.com/writing/software-should-feel-like-magic.md): Software that adapts to you
- [You might not need a design system](https://coryetzkorn.com/writing/you-might-not-need-a-design-system.md): Focus on building a good product
- [Hiring well](https://coryetzkorn.com/writing/hiring-well.md): Build a better team by asking better questions
- [Moving to NYC](https://coryetzkorn.com/writing/moving-to-nyc.md): The origin story
- [Migrating Notion’s marketing site to Next.js](https://coryetzkorn.com/writing/migrating-notions-marketing-site-to-nextjs.md): Sharing Notion’s migration journey at Next.js Conf 2021
- [Scaling marketing design at Notion](https://coryetzkorn.com/writing/scaling-marketing-design-at-notion.md): A YouTube interview with Charli Marie
- [Semi-online](https://coryetzkorn.com/writing/semi-online.md): Should humans be always-online?
- [Beautiful](https://coryetzkorn.com/writing/beautiful.md): Beauty is enough
- [Digital expectations, physical limitations](https://coryetzkorn.com/writing/digital-expectations-physical-limitations.md): Can the physical world keep up?
- [Tools that work](https://coryetzkorn.com/writing/tools-that-work.md): A tool is just a tool
- [Learning to build](https://coryetzkorn.com/writing/learning-to-build.md): When you build something great, build something better

## Contact

- [cory@mythicalcreature.nyc](mailto:cory@mythicalcreature.nyc)
- [X](https://x.com/coryetzkorn)
- [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/coryetzkorn/)
- [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/coryetzkorn)