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Magical master of everything (and our studio manager)

Posted on 2nd February 2012 by Lara Swansbury

Liz is our new studio manager. She is also known as 'magical master of everything'.  

At the heart of Sidekick studio life, Liz keeps a tight reign on all our practical and organisational needs. She's the perfect glue to keep the studio ticking over smoothly. Liz has worked for a startup before, so she's familiar with the pace and chaos, and brings a steady hand and experience to the table. We're describing her as a cross between Ghandi (wise and caring) and Judge Judy (stern and not to be messed with).

Here are her thoughts on joining Sidekick...

"So here I am at Sidekick, essentially enabling the incredibly creative and talented folk here to do what they do best without having to concern themselves with the practical stuff like how the dishwasher works, where pens come from and ensuring they have a supply of caffeine to help keep the creative juices flowing. 

Though I used to work for a start up, I come from a commercial background so it feels  brilliant to be working with a company that actually tries to make the world a better place rather than just make money. 

When I'm not topping up the sweet shop, I love travelling, seeing new places and meeting new people. Had an extraordinary year last year, which culminated in a 2 week stint in an ashram in Tamil Nadu, India. Would recommend this to anyone who's feeling a bit jaded with life, just helps sometimes to re-boot and re-focus the mind on what's important. Ommmmmm shanti..."

 

If Zuckerberg said it...

Posted on 2nd February 2012 by Adil Abrar

"Facebook was not originally created to be a company. It was built to accomplish a social mission — to make the world more open and connected..."

Good startups solve problems that matter. And everything else follows from that. The company, the fame, and yes, the $100bn IPO. 

Coming Soon: An event about designer founders that I don't have a catchier name for yet...

Posted on 31st January 2012 by Nicola Sherry

 

Since we woke up to the fact that 'startups that matter' are what matters to us, we've been doing a bit of thinking, talking and reading around the subject of designers from various disciplines as founders or co-founders of their own tech startups. We came across some great resources in this area. In particular we like how designerfounders.com are compiling a book of high profile interviews to be made freely available to design students far and wide, and how founderly.com are giving tech entrepreneurs a platform to share stories about building products and starting companies. There's more good reading here, with Cameron Koczon championing the importance of designers applying their craft to startups that tackle bigger problems and here where Joshua Porter reminds us that design is about 'much more than making something look pretty'.

My own experience as a designer working alongside startup-centric types at Sidekick has meant my daily vocabulary has expanded to include the words 'sustainable business model' in the same breath as 'pixel width'. As such, I'm very interested in exploring how someone that comes from a design background can help get meaningful businesses off the ground, and what skills they in particular have that may be advantageous or even important for such a venture.

I have lots of questions for designer founders, as well as other designers working in startup. Here are a few of them:

• What compelled them to start up their own thing/join a startup venture? 
• What kind of work were they doing before?
• Do they think their design training has stood them in good stead? How has it guided them?
• Have they identified certain skills they may be lacking in? 
• What were their biggest challenges and failures?
• What type of people have they found it most useful to work alongside? 
• Are they interested in/engaged with wider societal problems?
• Do their startups reflect this? 
• Why do they care, and what thoughts keep them going if things get difficult? 
• Why don't more designers start their own thing? 
• Is there more that design educators could be doing to encourage a startup mentality
  from the get-go?

The last question also challenges us to ask if there is more that we, as startup+design enthusiasts, can do to promote the potential for designers to be founders amongst our peers and industry at large. We therefore want to entice some nice designer folks to come and tell us about their experiences as founders/co-founders of great startups. By hosting an event, we're hoping to open up useful conversations around this subject and create a network of people that care about it. Perhaps we will confirm some of our beliefs about the place of design in startup and maybe dispel some of them at the same time. We haven't decided what format this event might take yet but myself and Nick are working on it. Your ideas/suggestions/comments are more than welcome. At the very least there'll be beer and some interesting people to talk to.

More info to follow!