The Accidental Founder

This talk was given at beyond tellerrand 2012 in Düsseldorf.

Description:
What happens when a passion evolves into a business? And unexpectedly, you're required to figure out how to manage staff, pay the bills, and compete with others — all while trying to keep the passion alive?

Throughout his 13-year career, Cameron has been passionate about many things: user experience design, HTML/CSS, typography, app design, writing, advertising, team collaboration, remote working, charitable giving, and so forth. Eventually, this passion led to an unexpected yet profitable business (more than one, actually).

Cameron will share the mistakes and successes he's encountered as a passionate creator, unexpected business owner, and accidental founder.

More info about beyond tellerrand:
http://beyondtellerrand.com
http://twitter.com/btconf

Transcript

1. HI.
   

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3. placeki en.com
   

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4. THE ACCIDENTAL
   FOUNDER
   @CAMERONMOLL
   

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5. youtube.com/watch?v=q-RLqLx1iYI
   

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11. Credit: joshuabudich.com
    

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12. I don’t think this music thing is going to
    work out for you, Cameron.
    PERCUSSION TEACHER, CANDIDLY
    

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14. THINGS I’VE DONE WRONG.
    THINGS I’VE DONE RIGHT.
    

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16. MISTAKE #1
    ASSUMPTIVELY
    DEFINING THE USER
    

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19. MISTAKE #2
    OVERASSESSING
    THE VALUE OF
    TECHNICAL SKILLS
    

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20. TECHNICAL
    SKILLS
    SOFT
    SKILLS
    CREATIVE
    THINKING
    TEAM
    FIT
    

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22. Skills can be taught, but working with a
    jerk is no fun for anyone.
    NOAH STOKES
    C0-founder, Bold
    

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23. MISTAKE #3
    FAILING TO DEFINE
    THE PROBLEM
    

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24. Anton Fokker
    1890-1939
    

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25. Once the problem was stated, its
    solution came to me in a flash.
    ANTON FOKKER
    

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26. Design is as much a matter of finding
    problems as it is solving them.
    BRYAN LAWSON
    How Designers Think
    

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28. TRIUMPH #1
    PUSHING MYSELF TO
    DO THINGS I’M TOTALLY
    NOT QUALIFIED FOR
    

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30. c =∑
    n
    h=1
    {hg
    ׃ }
    (s,o)
    

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31. Credit: @hellogeri
    

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32. TYPE CITY
    veer.com/ideas/typecity
    

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39. TRIUMPH #2
    AN OBSESSION WITH
    QUALITY, AUTHENTICITY,
    AND DETAILS
    

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41. LIBRO DI
    M. GIOVAMBATTISTA
    PALATINO
    archive.org/stream/librodimgiovamba00pala
    

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51. The details are not details,
    they make the product.
    CHARLES EAMES
    

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57. MISTAKE #4
    AN OBSESSION WITH
    QUALITY, AUTHENTICITY,
    AND DETAILS
    

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60. The imagination of the good artist or
    thinker produces continuously good,
    mediocre, or bad things, but his
    judgment, trained and sharpened to a
    fine point, rejects, selects, connects.
    FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
    

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63. TRIUMPH #3
    PASSIONATELY
    PASSIONATE ABOUT
    PASSION
    

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64. WRITE
    

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65. WRITE
    + PASSION.
    

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66. TRIUMPH #4
    COMMITMENT TO
    GIVING BACK & MAKING
    A DIFFERENCE
    

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72. PHOTO: MARK AVINO
    

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