In Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman described two modes of thought. System 1 is quick, intuitive and heavily shaped by past experience. System 2 is slower and more deliberate: stop, examine the problem, consider the evidence, then decide.
We’ve all been in the meeting where an influential stakeholder says something in a confident tone, everyone around the table nods, and within minutes the idea has hardened into fact. Designers are often the ones who hesitate.
As a start-up founder, your first focus is usually getting some sort of Minimum Viable (or Minimum Lovable) Product out the door. Something that solves a meaningful customer problem which at least some of your potential customers—your early adopters—would be willing to try, however basic.
Getting media coverage for your startup is like dating. If you come on too strong, you’ll scare them away. If you make it all about you, they’ll lose interest. And if you slide into their inbox with a generic pitch, well… let’s just say ghosting is the most likely outcome.
In order to hire a top end Designer—or for that matter a Product Manager, Marketer or Engineer—you need to know what “good” looks like. Otherwise you may end up hiring somebody who looks good on paper, but is actually a bit of a dud. The best way to know what good looks like is to have worked alongside amazing designers in the past. That way you’ll already have a model in your mind of what you’re looking for. However if you’re not from a tech background, or have been unlucky enough to work alongside less talented designers, it’s hard to pick the wheat from the chaff.
A few months ago, I had the pleasure of attending a small gathering of design leaders in San Francisco to discuss how AI is reshaping the design industry. Dubbed the Design Futures Assembly, it brought together maybe 50 or 60 people who are deeply immersed in this world: folks from the major design tool companies, heads of design from the big AI labs, senior people from well-known tech companies and consultancies, along with a few people who have been thinking about design for a very long time.