Design Thinking
for Startups
Amir Khella
@amirkhella

What is Design?
It’s the process by which an artifact is
brought into existence.
“Design is art that people use”
- Ellen Lupton

What is design
thinking?
It’s a mindset of combining creative and
analytical thinking and applying it toward
solving a specific problem.

Bad definition.
"Unlike analytical thinking, design thinking
is a creative process based around the
‘building up’ of ideas."
- Wikipedia

Good definition.
“A process of creative and critical thinking
that allows information and ideas to be
organized, decisions to be made, situations to
be improved, and knowledge to be gained.”
- Charles Burnette

Design thinking combines
CREATIVE and ANALYTICAL
thinking.

It’s both abductive
and deductive.

Being deductive means
using past knowledge to
solve current problems.

Being abductive means
imagining and
visualizing a future
that should yet exist.

Yesterday Today Tomorrow
Experiences Imagination
Patterns Possibilities
Stories Stories
Observations Uncertainty

Then, what’s
innovation?

It’s a byproduct of
design thinking.

It’s being comfortable
going forward in a
state of uncertainty

It’s believing that the
best solution is yet to
be found.

It’s the willingness to
fail early and fail
often.

Unfortunately, that’s
not what we learn in
school.

School Life Real Life
Mistakes are learning
Mistakes are punished.
experiences.
Failure is not tolerated. Failure breeds success.
Given the questions; find Ask great questions; find the
the right answers. best answers.
Intuition and imagination
Knowledge and certainty
create potential for using
foster confidence. knowledge.

What makes a good
design thinker?

An observing eye and a constant
sense of wonder.

An empathetic attitude toward
people’s behavior and habits.

A questioning mindset that goes
beyond the obvious.

Patience to remain in problem
space until the right questions are
identified.

A holistic approach to problem
solving.

The willingness to experiment and
build.

A passion for collaboration.

So, how does a
startup integrate
design thinking into
its process?

1. Understand that design
thinking is not just the
designer’s role; it’s
everyone’s role.

Design is not about products;
it’s about people.
Think beyond tasks;
Their lives. Their challenges. Their dreams.
The user’s journey starts long before they click that button.

2. Understand and define the
problem you’re trying to
solve.
Take the time to ask a lot of annoying WHY questions.
And don’t move to the solution space too soon.

Create a story.
Our brains are hardwired for stories. If
we like them, we remember them
forever.
Like a good movie,
design should tell a
good story.

Communicate your story, and
ask people to tell you what they
heard and what they think.
* Don’t be afraid that someone will steal your story; it’s very likely
that many people had that idea before you, and did nothing about it.

Sketch you ideas.
You don’t need to know how to draw in order to sketch.
As long as your sketches capture your ideas, it doesn’t matter
if they “don’t look good”.

Create quick and crude prototypes
Prototypes create conversations. They are ALIVE!
The sooner they work, the sooner you realize what your product needs to be.

3. Refine your prototype until it
becomes like a movie trailer for
your product.
It will always remind you of your story.
And don’t worry about it being too functional or
good looking.

Create a design-friendly
environment

Remove walls between people.
And encourage frequent conversations.

Create design walls.
Imprint designs in the back of everyone’s mind
Photo courtesy of ewhitworth.com

4. Run a weekly or monthly
brainstorming meeting to
encourage wild ideas.
The best way to get good ideas is to get lots of ideas. And the best
time to get good ideas may be when you don’t need them.

5. Encourage your team to think
visually.
Ask them to carry sketchbooks and to freely express their ideas on
whiteboards.

Visit a design agency for a day
Design agencies typically create great design environments.

6. Become your own best
competition.
Don’t get too comfortable with success.
A design is NEVER done. It’s never good enough.
Solve harder problems than your competition does.

Define and embrace constraints
as part of the creative process.
The main difference between a rocket and a bomb is that the former
is a controlled explosion.

Create a character for your
product
What will your product be if it were a car? a phone? a shoe?
Who will your product be if it were a movie star? a political figure?
Describe your products in human-like adjectives.

7. Hire T-shaped individuals.
They tend to be professional in one area, but
are skilled in many other areas.
They are highly intuitive.
And they work as bridges between disciplines.

Discourage rigid roles.
Leave these roles to enterprises.
Everyone should be a product caretaker.

Encourage cross-training.
Give your designers business training and your
developers design training.
Invite outsiders to come and talk about what they do,
even if it’s nothing related to what your team is working on.

If possible, elect a CDO role
(Chief Design Officer)
Let people in your company understand that
design is as valuable as technology and
business.

Anyone can be a designer
Anyone can be a good design thinker

The most inspiring quote from a founder I’ve
worked with.
“This looks exciting and
scary. Let’s do it!”

Where to go from here?
•Follow me on Twitter: @amirkhella
I tweet links, quick insights and advice about
Design Thinking for Startups
•Visit my blog: www.amirkhella.com
I write short posts about design, business and life
•Sign up for an upcoming webinar
Get one-on-one design advice about your product and
business
Amir Khella
User Experience Guru
amir@fictiv.com