Ben Blumenfeld, co-founder of Designer Fund, discusses how outdated traditional design education is failing to equip students with startup-ready skills.
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“We actually, even the design and tech report was saying that about 86% of design students say they acquire their skills outside of the coursework”
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Product-market fit is a continuous spectrum, not a binary state
“This idea of like product market fit as a thing that you either have or don't have, it's not really true. That's not really the way it works. You can get closer to product market fit and product market fit is this thing you should be continuously striving to a…”
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Powerful AI technology is insufficient without user research and product design
“I think just having a great AI is not going to be enough. You need to actually like also marry that with great research, great product design, make it useful.”
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Insight
Startups abandon design principles without a designer co-founder
“What he found was when he would return to those companies three, six, nine months after he'd do these design sprints with them, is that they would no longer practice these great design principles unless they had a designer on the founding team.”
Ben BlumenfeldFeb 22, 2017▶ 4:3820VC: Why Venture Is A Service Product? Why There Is No Such Thing As Product Market Fit & Why Startups Need To Be More Design Orientated with Ben Blumenfeld, Co-Founder & General Partner @ Designer Fund
AssertionNot checkable as stated
VCs passed on Airbnb because they ignored design as a differentiator
“So like Airbnb is a great example, like a ton of investors passed on them because they didn't understand design as a differentiation for them.”
Ben BlumenfeldFeb 22, 2017▶ 5:4520VC: Why Venture Is A Service Product? Why There Is No Such Thing As Product Market Fit & Why Startups Need To Be More Design Orientated with Ben Blumenfeld, Co-Founder & General Partner @ Designer Fund
AssertionNot checkable as stated
Most venture capitalists still treat design as an aesthetic afterthought
“At the same time, I think there is still a vast majority of investors who view design as this thing that you kind of add on after the fact, or that is, you know, kind of a visual layer that is not necessarily available. A necessity in building a company”
Ben BlumenfeldFeb 22, 2017▶ 11:1420VC: Why Venture Is A Service Product? Why There Is No Such Thing As Product Market Fit & Why Startups Need To Be More Design Orientated with Ben Blumenfeld, Co-Founder & General Partner @ Designer Fund
AssertionSupported
Designer Fund's Bridge program has a lower acceptance rate than Stanford
“We have about 90 designers that have gone through that program, 4500 designers have applied for it, so it kind of has a tougher acceptance, right, than Stanford or Harvard.”
Ben BlumenfeldFeb 22, 2017▶ 9:4120VC: Why Venture Is A Service Product? Why There Is No Such Thing As Product Market Fit & Why Startups Need To Be More Design Orientated with Ben Blumenfeld, Co-Founder & General Partner @ Designer Fund
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