10 lessons from designing for early stage startups
These are reminders based on my experiences working through the highs and lows at early stage startups as a design team of one.
What worked for me might not work for everyone, so take what's useful and change what doesn't to fit your context.
- You'll do lots of different things - often compromising on quality, timeframe, or scope. It's a balance to consistently deliver incremental improvements as a team.
- Be clear on what you're prioritising - learning, building trust, testing a hypothesis quickly, or staying afloat?
- It's not as stressful as it feels. Write it out, work out, do whatever helps you process. Make time to relax and normalise it.
- Anxiety and excitement are the same emotion in different fonts. One has a view that's focused on what can go wrong - the other is focused on what can go right.
- Focus on what you can control. I read in Corruptible that high stress roles are actually manageable - it's the lack of autonomy that really gets us down. The good news is, we have more control over our autonomy than we think.
- It's not always on you to fix things. Naming the problem can make space for collaborative solutions. If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.
- Pick your battles. Disagreeing and committing to learn can be a great outcome.
- If you're not winning, you're learning. The satisfaction and pride comes from struggling and impressing yourself. No podcast/book/whatever will shortcut failing and experimenting.
- Be brave and name the hard things - chances are, someone else is waiting for the ice to break.
- Make it easy for people to help you by giving them a clear, specific, and kind ask. You'd be surprised at the doors that can open when you say yes to opportunities.
What would you add as a learning from your career so far? Let me know in the comments so we can learn together!