Building a startup

Four years ago I walked away from a successful career working with global brands like Google, Disney, Montblanc, and NFL to build a startup in an unproven market.

Four years and three pivots in, I'm reflecting on my journey as a design founder.

Here is my honest take, and key takeaways from this journey.

If you're considering making the leap from designer to founder, here are ten things I wish I knew before taking that step.

Warning: it's not for everyone.

1. Your mission is everything. Finding your "why" early on is critical. On the dark days—and there will be dark days—you can look back at your mission and remember why you you started in the first place.

2. Startups can only be built around a few main categories: health, wealth, time, status, connection, education, or escape. Does your product address health issues (mental or physical), solve financial problems (gaining or retaining money), give back or save time, increase status (social media or sociological), make connections (romantic or social), educate (provide specific knowledge), or offer entertainment (create an escape)? Examine the problem you're solving carefully—does it align with one or more of these categories?

3. Maintaining your mental and physical health is hard, but critical if you want to thrive in a startup environment. Mental resilience is a new skillset that you need to build as a founder. You can only do this if you stay mentally and physically healthy. Your mental health will get tested during periods of high stress.

4. Building the right team is everything. Finding key team members who can weather quick pivots, double down during uncertainty, support each other through high stress, and quickly adapt when needed is crucial. This combination is rare, but once you find this team, you can build anything given enough time and runway.

5. There is no single "right way" to build a startup. Every successful founder will tell you how they built theirs, but that doesn't mean their method will work for you. The reality is that the process is messy. You won't always know what you're doing—you just need to have faith and build through the fog.

6. Take time to deeply understand the humans you're building for. I say "humans" because I don't like the term "user." You must humanize the people you're building for—deeply understanding their needs, wants, and desires—if you want your startup to succeed. Does the problem you're solving spark an emotional response that will make them gladly hand over money to you? Dive deep on this.

7. Don't start with technology. We all need technology to build, and it's tempting to chase whatever tech is the flavor of the month with VCs—but this is a surefire way to fail. Chase the problem, and solve it with whatever technology is best suited for the job, not the other way around.

8. Launch before you're ready. I can't stress this one enough. As a design founder, this was the hardest concept for me to embrace, coming from client service where everything must be perfect before launch. Launch bare bones, launch broken, launch messy—just launch fast. This is the only way to discover if you're solving the right problem for your customer. If you're addressing a genuine need, your customers won't mind imperfections. The early version gives them something tangible, and they'll guide what you should prioritize next.

9. You must have an unrelenting, almost delusional belief in yourself and your idea. The reality is that the odds are stacked against you. 90% of startups fail, but you have to truly believe that you're in the 10% that will succeed. Reviewing your "why" every single day is the only way to maintain momentum when you're riding the startup rollercoaster.

10. All things considered, building a startup is one of the most rewarding experiences you can choose to pursue. Having a core team united around solving a real problem is truly enlightening. There's no feeling quite like it. I've experienced the full emotional spectrum—from fear, anger, and sadness to surprise and joy—all within a single week. As I mentioned earlier, it's definitely not for everyone.

I've been quiet about what we're building at Creative Layer lately, but we're getting ready to raise the curtain soon. As anyone who's building knows, I'm hesitant to give a launch date—but I will say that we are solving a major problem for a great group of humans, using technology that's finally ready to solve this problem.