Think of a product you love. Not one you use because you have to, but one you’d genuinely miss if it disappeared tomorrow. Now ask yourself why you love it. I’m pretty sure the answer isn’t on its feature list.
That question is where I’ll start on November 4th at Stanford GSB, where the Stanford Entrepreneurship Club invited me for a conversation with Stepan Kivshyk. We’re calling it Different by Design. For me it’s also a return to where it all started: at 17, I moved to Palo Alto, a few minutes from campus, to build my first company.
For most of the history of software, building was the hard part. You needed engineers, months and money before anyone could use what you had in mind, so it made sense that design often came last. Today anyone can build a working product in an afternoon, and I love that. It also means that soon a lot of products will look and feel the same, and when everything works, working stops being a reason to choose you.
Nobody falls in love with something 10% better. People fall in love with different. And in my experience, different almost never happens by accident. It comes from a series of decisions made on purpose: what you believe that others don’t yet, the one feeling you want people to have, what happens in the first 30 seconds, the moments people remember long after they’ve closed the app, and who in the company holds the taste. That’s what Different by Design means to me, and it’s what Stepan and I will dig into, with plenty of time for your questions.
It’s for founders, future founders and anyone who wants to build something people love. You don’t need a design background.
Different by Design: Lessons from Building Lovable
Wednesday, November 4, 11 AM to 12 PM PT
In person at Stanford Graduate School of Business
655 Knight Way, Stanford
Seats are limited, and the hosts confirm every request.
Building has never been easier. That’s exactly why the products we’ll remember are the ones someone cared enough to make different.
If you’re around, come say hi. See you at Stanford.