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Design for Business Impact in SF, NYC and more

Designer Fund
2 min read

We’re excited to bring our “Design for Business Impact” event series on the road to multiple cities across the US with live streaming for anyone who wants tune in remotely. Our first event of this year will be in San Francisco at Dropbox HQ on March 13th, followed by New York City on May 2nd. We’ll be featuring case studies from design leaders including:

REQUEST AN INVITE TO THE SF EVENT & LIVE STREAM HERE

Last year we hosted over 100 design leaders and highlighted case studies from Pinterest, Gusto, and Slack to show how design increased growth, collaboration and sales. We need thousands of case studies like these to help designers and their organizations realize the full potential of design.

We’re at a pivotal moment in our tech industry where more people are aware of the importance of design. Finally, there’s credible research like McKinsey’s Design Index (“MDI”) which tracked 300 publicly listed companies over five years and showed that top design performers increase their revenues and shareholder returns at nearly twice the rate of their industry. Also in a recent survey of over 2,200 designers around the world, InVision found that companies with high design maturity are more likely to see results like cost savings, revenue gains, and market position improvements. A key takeaway from the reports is that the most profitable companies treat design as an executive level issue and assess their design performance with rigor. Despite all this research available, design is still treated as a second-tier function at most companies.

Design issues are often blocked in middle management and when decisions do get bubbled up, executives are reluctant to allocate scarce resources to design without concrete evidence. Surprisingly, less than 5% of companies surveyed by McKinsey report that their leaders could make objective design decisions. We’ve also experienced this recurring pattern through investing in over 30 companies and working with hundreds of design leaders from startups to growth stage companies. Many designers we work with in tech struggle to execute on design’s business value. Our goal is to change that. We believe that designers must take greater responsibility and embrace metrics to actively show how their design work connects to business goals.

By open sourcing more case studies and actionable tactics, we aim to help leaders better understand and demonstrate the business impact of design. Join us in this movement to realize the potential of design as a strategic business partner.

Here’s how to connect with us:

  • To join our San Francisco event at Dropbox HQ and live stream on March 13th, request an invite here.
  • To get notified about our New York City event on May 2nd and additional events throughout the year, join the email list here.
  • If you’re interested in partnering with us or contributing a case study, reach out to us on Twitter @designerfund or email businessimpact@designerfund.com. 

Thank you to our collaborators for making this series possible: