Frank Levinson, Finisar Corporation You Need a Supportive Family Number 5 in Frank Levinson's Top 10 Things You Must Have to Start a Business. When starting a business, says Levinson, it becomes your life. Having a family that supports you and understands that they may not see you often is a great benefit. He talks about his family and the way they adapted.
Frank Levinson, Finisar Corporation Was Finisar a Technology Looking for a Problem, or a Problem Looking for a Technology? Levinson discusses the starting point of Finisar, and why he founded it. He also talks about the initial months of the business and trying to make a profit.
Frank Levinson, Finisar Corporation Sustenance of Growth Rate The rate at which a company grows will vary for each individual venture, says Levinson. Sustaining the growth can be a tricky thing. He explains Finisar's rapid growth and weighs the pros and cons of quick growth and sustainability.
Frank Levinson, Finisar Corporation Importance of Family In Building a Start-up When starting a company, it's important to tell your family that they'll rarely see you, says Levinson, and to tell them how important they are to the whole process. The stress involved with a startup is often mind-boggling, and the support of family can be the saving grace, he adds.
Frank Levinson, Finisar Corporation Changing Finisar Technology and Business Practices As a company grows and develops, it is possible that its methods for design and production change, says Levinson. The company may also look to new avenues of possible innovations. He describes the changes Finisar has seen over the years.
Frank Levinson, Finisar Corporation Why are Ethics Important? It's often more difficult than it sounds, but it's important to be fanatically ethical when building a company, says Levinson. He believes people understand if it's an ethical environment right away. It is something that people gravitate to, he says, so you just have to build it early and never step off of it.
Frank Levinson, Finisar Corporation Startups that Fail: Netek Frank Levinson, founder of Finisar, begins his talk with a story about a failed startup of his, Netek. Netek is an example of company that had all of the components that are commonly considered to be necessary - idea, business plan, VC investment, team and space. But even with all of that, Netek couldn't get off the ground, he says.
Carol Bartz, Autodesk Lateral Moves Within Companies How do you take a task that you already know how to do and do it a whole different way? Bartz talks about lateral moves within companies to improve innovation. She looks forward to future technology that will allow the creation of rich media content.
Carol Bartz, Autodesk Moving Forward and Changing Processes Over the last three years, Autodesk had to change delivery times due to customers' faster delivery demand. Autodesk was able to move forward using software as service, thinking about process, and innovating in an established company.
Carol Bartz, Autodesk Moving Laterally in a Company Bartz argues that you must understand how a company is run. Life is about horizontal and lateral moves. She also talks about the various positions she has held in the past, from analyst to VP of customer service. By the time she became CEO, she had acquired a strong background in various fields.
Carol Bartz, Autodesk Learning From Failure Bartz talks about how people who failed within Buzzsaw, were often given new projects to work on. Failure was valued, she says. Rather than criticizing projects that failed, Bartz notes how people wanted to apply the knowledge they learned from mistakes into new projects.
Carol Bartz, Autodesk Promoting Quality Leaders from Within How do you seek out and promote quality leaders from within a company? Leaders are often self-selected from peers, Bartz says. On way to identify them is to set up a management meeting and tap into the different groups across the company and note who gets picked to represent the individual groups. Usually, these are your leaders. Because they are easy to work with and are creative, they are sought out as leaders at whatever level they are in. No one wants to work with an asshole, however qualified they may be.
Carol Bartz, Autodesk The Concept Behind Buzzsaw.com Bartz discusses Buzzsaw.com, a company created to provide a hosted environment for the construction industry. Because Autodesk had no experience in the construction industry, the company spun out Buzzsaw and then bought it back after a successful fundraising round with VCs.
Carol Bartz, Autodesk Managing a Balanced Life Bartz examines long-term balance and encourages people to catch themselves before they fall too far. Learn how to manage the various activities you are involved in, she says. Juggling is pertinent to career development.
Carol Bartz, Autodesk Autodesk and the Wireless Industry Autodesk's vision is to keep the design data in digital format. Wireless industry is essential in this area. A small team of engineers at Autodesk banded together and built a wireless product on the fly to address an immediate need.
David Kelley, IDEO IDEO Ventures Fund Kelley is pleased with the Ventures Funds he has started: "OnSet" and "IDEO Ventures". He raised these funds in reaction to his observation where designers are not valued as much as lawyers and management consultants. The fund allows IDEO to invest and/or participate in new interesting projects which operate on different business models than IDEO's.
David Kelley, IDEO Prototyping the Mouse Kelley narrates his experience prototyping the Apple and the Microsoft mice.
David Kelley, IDEO Designing Products vs Designing Experiences Kelley believes you start to think about things completely different when you think your job is to design the experience of using the device as opposed to designing the device itself. Kelley feels that to captivate an audience you need to build a context around the technology you are marketing and take into consideration how outside factors will affect how your product is perceived. He uses methods of transportation as an example
David Kelley, IDEO Design is Risk-Taking Kelley further describes his passion and what design means to him. He describes design as a process of having a combination of ideas in the head that need to be organized, while making a leap of faith about how it will be presented. It is a totally enjoyable experience, he says, there's a zen moment where time goes by and you lose track of everything. He presents a few design projects, including Personal Sky, SpyFish and weather-related inventions.
David Kelley, IDEO Medical Device Design & FDA Increased design control and design documentation can be stifling to the creative process. IDEO has learnt to understand and work with the FDA.
David Kelley, IDEO How do you pick clients? Kelley begins by joking that in current times, an individual or business that shows up with the promise of cash is a customer of IDEO. He recounts a previous client categorization schematic IDEO employed to color-code their clients. He also emphasises the importance of taking on balanced projects which pay well, are innovative and of interest to his designers.
David Kelley, IDEO Career Advice Follow your passion, hire great people, and focus on process, says Kelley
David Kelley, IDEO The Process of Design Kelley believes that you need a language, a process and a framework in order to design. He stresses that experience is key success factor: learn from all the projects you've worked on, distil the knowledge and apply it to your future projects. He recommends reading The Art of Innovation for IDEO's concept of a great process.
David Kelley, IDEO Hire Great People IDEO Founder David Kelley suggests avoiding conventional approaches to hiring employees and building teams. In this clip, Kelley offers a few suggestions: 1) Hire individuals or non-confomists to stimulate the organization, 2) Hire a diverse range of experts and generalists from different fields, and 3) Form "hot groups" of 8-12 people for maximum impact. Kelley also encourages building close ties to universities to source potential staff. To Kelley, an ideal hire interacts well with established staff and demonstrates an "attitude of wisdom" that strikes a balance between the ability to promote ideas and the ability to consider feedback.