Skills for startup designers.

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SKILLS FOR STARTUP DESIGNERS Uncubed LA Jan 23, 2014

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HI, I’M SASH CPO & Cofounder of Tradesy @thesash

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Why Design?

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2000 2014 5M+ HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, ETC PAY AS YOU GO, OPEN SOURCE, ETC.

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$140M ACQUISITION SHUT DOWN 2010 PIVOTED TO API 15% LAYOFFS IN 2012 $778M IPO, NOW $5B+ $100B IPO SOLD FOR $30M IN 2011

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Startups with designer founders are increasingly common in the $B club

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THE WORLD HAS CHANGED

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OLD Go off into the wilderness, design pixel perfect mockups Throw designs over cubicle wall at some developer guy

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NEW Sketch. Lo-ﬁ mockup. Prototype!

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DESIGN IN THE BROWSER

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SKILL 1 Learn to code.

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BUILDING STUFF IS EASY Solving problems is still really, really, hard.

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Startups fail by building products that nobody uses

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USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN

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Why will people use your product?

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SKILL 2 Get out of the building.

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STARTUPS ARE BUSINESSES

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Great products are supported by great business models.

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SKILL 3 Understand the business.

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STARTUPS ARE SCIENCE

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Build. Measure. Learn.

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SKILL 4 Learn to love data.

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DESIGN IS COMMUNICATION

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Communicate with users, communicate with your team

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SKILL 5 Learn to write.

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KEY SKILLS FOR STARTUP DESIGNERS 1. Learn to code. 2. Get out of the building 3. Understand the business. 4. Learn to love data. 5. Learn to write.