Self-study research
Throughout the Spring, I had been posting a blog entry about once a week. I had a writing schedule that worked well for me. Then something happened that disrupted my routine – I had a baby. This is my second child, so I had a better idea of what I was getting into. But I […]
Criteria for success (Startup Challenge – Part 2)
Over the past several days, I’ve generated 60+ startup ideas by following my idea generating process I blogged about last week. When I look over my list of ideas I have a lot of “gut feelings” about them. Some of the ideas seem too simple, some seem too complex, some seem dumb, and some seem beyond […]
3 ways to validate your startup idea without building a damn thing
Embrace the “validate first, build later” philosophy and try out these three ways to validate your startup idea without building a damn thing.
The MVE: Minimum Viable Experiment
Entrepreneurs would find a lot more freedom to explore and grow their ideas if they focussed less on MVP, and more on MVE: the minimum viable experiment.
The Startup Pitch
In graduate school, whenever we were getting ready to attend a conference, we would all get together to practice our elevator pitches. In theory, the reason we practiced our pitch was that if by some miracle we found ourselves on an elevator with a philanthropically inclined Bill Gates we’d be ready to win him over with a […]
In an MVP, do looks matter?
The keyword in MVP is “minimum”. But how minimum should the UI be? In an MVP, do looks matter? The TL;DR answer is : It depends. Probably not too much. But you should definitely come back to worrying about aesthetics as soon as possible.
Good startup ideas: Where do they come from?
No such thing as an epiphany. Good startup ideas come from experience, and they can be made better with more and a diversity of experience.
Strong ego required in entrepreneurship and design
What entrepreneurs and designers need are strong egos. You want to cultivate an ego that is sturdy, flexible, and secure. You need an ego that can withstand criticism, incorporate alternative viewpoints, and recognize what is or is not important to pay attention to. People with strong egos can deal with critics, buck stereotypes, and cope with bumps in the road.
Why designers hesitate to take on startup clients
For the past year and a half I was a freelancing UX designer, and all of my clients were startups. I’ve recently decided to put my freelance business on the back burner for awhile to take a full-time position and pursue a few passion projects. This has given me some time to reflect on my experiences with startup clients. I realize that there were some startups that were amazing to work with, and others that had some Issues with a capital ‘I”. And when I’ve talked to other freelancing designers, I found that they encountered many of the same problems with startup clients. So here is a short list of reasons that designers hesitate to take on startup clients.
What I learned about design through writing
All novels start off trite and miserable, but with discipline and hard work you can make them better. Then I realized writing and design are more similar than they are different (and that my brain wasn’t as done with research and design as I thought.) In this post I share three pieces of advice I learned on my brief foray into writing. These are mottos that all writers know, and designers could benefit from.