Start up is the buzzword in the market today and there has been a marked change in attitude towards Entrepreneurship as a means of living. This is because, in recent years, Entrepreneurship has been claimed as a major driver of economic growth. The Entrepreneurs, in addition to creating wealth from their business ventures, also create jobs. New and improved offerings & products or technologies from Startups lead to new markets being developed and add to the national income. Moreover, people exposed to entrepreneurship frequently express that they have higher self-esteem, more opportunity to exercise creative freedom, and an overall greater sense of control over their own lives. Fulfilling its mission of Empowering Individuals, the Arch Academy of Design is giving a boost to Entrepreneurship based on the current scenario, bringing for its students new courses related to Business & Entrepreneurship. These include Fashion Design & Business, Interior Design & Business, Jewellery Design & Business and Craft Product Design & Business. Along with that Arch is coming up with Entrepreneurship Courses in Fashion, Jewellery & Interior Design.
Designers want to design. They are passionate about and driven by their craft. They obsess over pixels and details. This is how they rise up in the world of design.
At other companies especially startups designers are often the lone designer for years. Sometimes that’s because startups have limited resources and can’t afford more designers; other times it’s because they can outsource or feel that others can pick up slack on the design side of things.
Most entrepreneurs, in contrast, are actually not amazing at any one thing. People may see them that way, especially given the media narrative of how we depict entrepreneurs and startups, but founders are typically just good enough at a slew of things: fundraising, product, partnerships, etc.
Good enough to get things rolling and faking it until they make it that is, can hire people that are better than them in most areas. But if you think about it, this characteristic is true of designers too. A great designer excels at iterating and problem solving. At walking a delicate balance between the needs of their audiences, colleagues, and funders. Design is not just a service industry, but a cross-functional way of thinking that is invaluable in starting innovative companies.
It’s not enough to just love to design. It’s about loving the process so much that you want to design your company from the ground up. You’re excited to apply the design mindset to rethinking organizational structure, go-to- market strategy, and the many other challenges that inevitably get thrown your way. Pushing entrepreneurship on people that live only for designing interfaces, products, or logos is therefore not a good use our time. If someone just loves to design for design’s sake, or is focusing on just that when designing a product, then maybe he or she shouldn’t start a company. I’d say the same for people who just love to code or just love to sell. But if what they really love is the process around designing around solving problems they are passionate about then they are well-suited for entrepreneurship!