All Manner of Us: Leaving Places Better Than He Found Them

Subtitle: A KCN Business Feature

When Zach McNair talks about design, he’s rarely talking about aesthetics alone. He’s talking about people. Trust. Collaboration. And the quiet, courageous work of becoming who God created him to be.

Zach is the founder of All Manner of Us, a collaborative design studio serving startups and small businesses. But the studio’s heart was forged long before the name existed—through seasons of fear, faith, failure, and ultimately, renewal.

From Fear to Foundation

Zach’s entrepreneurial instincts showed up early; in fact, at eleven years old, he built his first website for a band in Houston. Creativity and business were never separate lanes for him: they were part of his wiring. But years later, after moving from the Bay Area back to Texas in 2016, that clarity blurred.

What felt like a practical move back to Austin was rooted in fear after losing a major contract. By 2017, work was scarce, anxiety was heavy, and Zach found himself launching a design studio—then called McNair Haus—out of necessity more than confidence. The next few years were marked by depression, imposter syndrome, and constant comparison. He questioned whether he’d lost the very gifts God had given him.

“I didn’t know if I was worth hiring,” Zach recalls. “I didn’t know if I even knew what I was doing anymore.”

But a mentor’s words in 2020 marked a turning point: Your dream box is dead. Painful as it was, the invitation was clear; Zach needed to step back, rest, and reinvent. In that space, Zach realized he’d been censoring himself, trying to fit into narrow definitions of design and success.

What emerged from his retreat was a deeper conviction: design should be collaborative, inclusive, and human-centered. He rebranded to All Manner of Us, a name and ethos rooted in his belief that all are welcomed, all ways. In a season of cultural and political division, Zach wanted his business to model a more peaceful, collaborative way forward.

Faith Lived, Not Labeled

Zach does not describe his business as ministry in the traditional sense. Instead, he understands his life itself as ministry, with his business serving as a place where Christlike values are lived out rather than labeled. That conviction has shaped not only how he works, but also the decisions he has been willing to make, even when they came at a cost.

Over the years, Zach has turned down projects that compromised truth, clarity, or ethics, and has learned that saying yes out of fear often carried a far greater cost than trusting God with uncertainty. “If the work I take on is at the expense of someone else, it’s not worth it,” Zach says. “Even if I don’t know where my next paycheck is coming from, that’s okay.”

As emerging technologies like AI and Web3 reshaped the design landscape, Zach continued to wrestle honestly with questions of identity, integrity, and calling. Each pivot, while uncomfortable, became an opportunity to return to who God had created him to be: creative, adaptable, and grounded in humility.

Along the way, he began to recognize what he calls “olive branches,” unexpected opportunities that appeared just as he was willing to try, risk, and sometimes fail. One of those doors led him to re-enter the practice of UX and product design, a step that not only expanded his skill set but ultimately strengthened both his studio and his confidence moving forward.

Finding His People at KCN

By the time Zach joined Kingdom Capital Network, he wasn’t looking for answers as much as he was looking for community. What he found was both.

“It’s been beautiful to walk alongside other small business owners,” Zach shares. “To see them grow, experience tension, and support one another. KCN feels like a true extension of what life and community can look like in business.”

Through mentorship, cohort conversations, and the KCN retreat, Zach felt seen—affirmed in his strengths and gently stretched where growth was needed. The overnight retreat in particular was pivotal. Hearing how other businesses were changing through KCN affirmed that he was exactly where he needed to be.

During a season of major transition, moving beyond just marketing and design into AI and emerging tech, KCN provided a rare space where Zach felt safe to process, share, and be known.

“KCN gave me steady ground,” he says. “Even when I’ve had to put my business on the back burner, I trust the process more. I know when to press in and when to step back.”

Steady Ground, Lasting Impact

Today, Zach is more assured in its identity and direction. The business is rooted in confidence rather than comparison, flexibility rather than fear. And while Zach knows there may be future seasons where family or finances require him to shift focus, he’s deeply present in this one.

His hope is simple but profound: to leave people and places better than he found them. That when team members or clients move on, they do so with more hope, more skill, and more courage than before.

“There’s never been a better time to learn something new,” Zach says. His own journey is proof of that.

Looking back, he’s clear about one thing:

“I wouldn’t be where I am today without KCN. I’m truly, truly grateful.”

And like the business he’s built, Zach continues forward—open-handed, collaborative, and committed to creating work that brings life.

To learn more about business owners like Zach or how you can join or support Kingdom Capital Network, reach us at info@kingdomcapitalnetwork.org.