How’s things? I hope you’ve had an awesome week 😃
I’ve spent a lot of time this week reflecting on my startup life… and what I’ve learnt.
30 years ago I co-founded my first startup when I was 18… and I’ve co-founded over 20 startups and social enterprises since.
Some of them have been whole businesses, and others are products or extensions of Dynamic4. Some didn’t make it past the exploration and research stage, others went for years, and some are successful and still going.
In parallel, I’ve just clocked up 31 years working in financial services… and still going strong. This part of my life kicked off 24 May 1993 when I was 17. I shared that journey a few years ago in Ben Pecotich, Reflecting on 25 Years. Part 1: The Westpac Years (1993-1998), and last year in Ben Pecotich, Reflecting on 30 Years – The Pivot.
I feel lucky to have navigated the fun of 31 years of bringing together strategy, design, and tech to lead, design, and deliver strategic change in financial services in Australia, NZ, the UK, and Europe – and now 30 years founding startups/social enterprises.
These years have been full of learning, failing, iterating, and adapting. And still are.
A massive thanks to the co-founders I’ve been on this adventure with. I’m grateful I’ve had the chance to work with and learn from so many awesome people… in both my startup and corporate lives.
Read my full post and come on a tour as I reminisce on the 22 startups/social enterprises I’ve founded and co-founded… and I reflect on some key things I’ve learnt on the adventure.
In addition to my own direct experience, I’ve had the privilege of coaching hundreds of founders with our Jetpack incubator program, coaching clients and being a virtual CTO/CPO, university and high school programs with students, and the many startup programs I’m a mentor with.
I also captured a lot of this experience in my book Solve Problems That Matter, which is a playbook guiding people to take a human-centred approach to design, build, and launch their idea.
Let’s Collaborate
At Dynamic4, we specialise in coaching, training, and working alongside leaders to solve problems that matter.
A key way we do this is by designing and delivering action learning experiences with masterclasses, workshops, innovation sprints, and leadership, design thinking & innovation programs. These sessions build personal, team, and organisational capability to solve problems that matter with more:
❤️ Clarity on your purpose, goals, and approach to navigate complexity and make progress
🎯 Momentum to achieve your goals by building the workflows, rhythms, and habits for success
🌿 Confidence to move forward with more certainty and less risk while increasing your wellbeing
I also work alongside you and your design, product, and digital transformation teams to do strategic design with a focus on business, experience, and solution architecture. Delivering work while helping build internal capability.
Ready to have fun collaborating to solve problems that matter? Book a free 15-minute discovery call.
What impact is digital transformation and emerging tech having on your work?
Which of these statements do you agree with? I’d love to hear your thoughts…
- I’m directly involved in leading or working on it and feel very good about how it’s going and what happens next
- I’m directly involved in leading or working on it and feel it could go either way right now
- I’m directly involved in leading or working on it and feel anxious about how it’s going and what happens next
- I’m aware and ready for what happens next
- I’m aware and anxious about what happens next
- I don’t think about it
- Digital transformation and emerging tech won’t impact my work
I’m doing some research with leaders who navigate complexity to lead, design, and deliver change. I’ll present the findings from my research in a report. It might even evolve into my next book.
I’m curious to learn more about how you’re adapting to meet the rapidly shifting expectations of your teams, customers, investors, and regulators.
Get involved!
Join the waitlist for the report now. You’ll be the first to get it and I’ll also share insights that are emerging during the process.
When you join the waitlist, you’re also invited to complete the survey that takes ~5 minutes, and you can express interest in being interviewed.
Ideas
A blog post and a couple of events for you…
Perseverance & Giving Up
Continuing the startup theme, here are the startup lessons I took from the film Breathtaking K2: The World’s Most Dangerous Mountain. An accurate metaphor for the startup/social enterprise journey. What is often a journey of many years working on a startup idea compressed into a 46-minute film.
I also included this in my book Solve Problems That Matter.
SydDT #100: Delivering Inclusive Experiences in Public Services
At SydDT #100 on Thursday, 13 June, we’re lucky to have Therese Konwerski and Keith Diamond sharing some of their stories of designing inclusive digital products and services in public services.
Come join us for some fun conversations with interesting people keen on design thinking. Grab your ticket now!
We’ll also be celebrating a couple of milestones. Our 9th birthday… and 100th meetup! There might even be cake 😃
Design Outlook 24: High Fidelity
I’m looking forward to being back in Melbourne in three weeks for Design Outlook 24: High Fidelity. DO24 will celebrate design at its best, while acknowledging the beauty in our imperfections.
There are a few tickets left, so it’s not too late to join us. Hit me up for a promo code.
I’ll be in Melbourne 17-21 June and I’ve got some gaps in my calendar if you’re around and keen to catch up.
Keen for some help solving problems that matter and to have some fun collaborating? Book a free 15-minute discovery call…
Have fun!
Ben
