The repeatable design of industry disruption
With Modsy’s Founder and CEO Shanna Tellerman and Director of Style Alessandra Wood
Today, most entrepreneurs and tech leaders are evaluating how can they disrupt traditional industries and re-invent legacy enterprise teams and technology. Where are the greatest areas of opportunity? How can they apply proven frameworks to build scalable systems?
Below, two entrepreneurial pioneers share the methodology for innovation that’s propelled them to reimagine an established industry and build a gem in the Google Ventures’ and Norwest Venture Partners’ portfolios.
Start with frustrating personal experiences
When Shanna Tellerman — then a partner on the investing team at Google Ventures — moved into a San Francisco apartment several years ago, she and her husband couldn’t wait to design it.
But weeks passed, and frustration grew. “We even fought about the furniture decisions,” Shanna explains. “Because we couldn’t visualize what the furniture would look like, we weren’t confident to make decisions.
One day, Shanna had an aha. “This is what I want,” she thought as she perused a catalog. “The experience of shopping from a catalog of my house.”
Shanna’s next thought sprang from her background at the intersection of 3D technology and design: “I know how to do that.” The idea for Modsy was born: create a platform that enables you to visualize interior design options for your place of work and home. Business Insider would call it one of the most disruptive women-founded startups in 2017.
Deeply unpack the problem technology needs to solve
Shanna spent the next 18 months unpacking the problems of modern interior design. From previous experience, she knew couldn’t effectively apply technology until she thoroughly understood the challenges she wanted to solve. (Autodesk had acquired her prior company, Sim Ops, which democratized 3D game development.)
Shanna kept thinking about the visualizations.
“How will we simulate customer rooms and create rendering models? How do people actually make styling decisions about what they put in their spaces?”
— Shanna Tellerman
Only business leaders who empathize with the nuances of customer challenges can solve them.
Strategically select a team with transferable skills
Next, Shanna set out to locate a design visionary with technology expertise. She recognized that individual in design as Alessandra Wood, a historian with experience in tech.
Shanna was thrilled in particular by the curatorial and critical thinking skills that Alessandra had honed as a researcher, lifestyle writer and university-level professor. Alessandra also had experience working in a startup and collaborating directly with engineers.
Shanna knew what every innovator knows: reshaping the future requires pioneers to apply rock-solid skills in completely new ways.
Cultivate “diversity of thought”
After Alessandra joined as Modsy’s first full-time hire, she and Shanna designed a team with equally transferrable skills and intentionally varied backgrounds.
“We hire in every different discipline for a blend of technology and design understanding.”
— Shanna Tellerman
Of Modsy’s designers, engineers, marketers, and computer scientists, Shanna says: “Many are stronger on one side than the other, but there’s always a blend.”
In an idea economy, transformation-minded leaders hire for quality and variety of ideas
Create stellar customer experiences by harnessing critical trends
In a world where consumers instantly order car rides and book rooms for the night, Shanna and Alessandra knew the business had to leverage current trends and easily adapt to unique user preferences.
First, they designed an artificially intelligent quiz that assesses someone’s style, so Modsy could quickly deliver five-star level personalization. The mobile-friendly platform also lets customers easily submit smartphone pictures of spaces in need of design.
“The question is how can technology fade into the background? The best user experience feels personal and simple.”
— Shanna Tellerman
Intelligent professionals design business and operating models that exceed consumer expectations and structure artificial intelligence to handle virtually everything but creativity.
Design environments for happiness and productivity
While today’s workforce thinks a lot about health, it pays less attention to designing space — even though both are important.
Alessandra and Shanna learned this particularly valuable lesson after a week of missed opportunities and especially tense team communication. When they applied their own technology, the dynamic improved the following week.
“We learned the way we orient people actually facilitates micro-interactions that immediately augment team productivity.”
— Alessandra Wood
Today’s executives can also open the floodgates for innovation when they follow a sequential process:
Consider communication, collaboration and team function
Identify how you want people to feel when entering a space, and ask questions to empathize with what your user feels:
- Who has to communicate on a daily basis?
- Who really works together?
- What teams need to interact the most?
- Who are leaders on these teams?
- Which people will talk to other teams?
For example, Modsy’s 3D team pairs newcomers with team leads to facilitate the transfer of time-tested knowledge and information. Other team leaders sit on the ends of pods and horseshoes. Their accessibility facilitates face-to-face, inter-team communication.
Understand the full definition of interior design
While most know interior design refers to furniture and accessories, fewer remember equally important environmental factors like lighting, windows and air quality, and floor finishes and rugs. Especially on hardwood floors, area rugs define zones and absorb the echo of potentially-distracting sounds. They’re also easy to replace and maintain.
Be practical
Start with little touches, such as moving desks or rearranging pods. Determine budget and available space. Set a timeline for completion, and consider how long the design function needs to serve. Will the workspace change in three months, or does it need to remain as-is for years?
Avoid common myths about workspace design
- Myth: “A disorganized space can be beautiful.” Not many understand how integral cleanliness is to design. Disorganization spreads like wildfire, so place drawers under desks and provide space to hide clutter.
- Myth: “Wall-to-walling carpeting is the best flooring option.” While wall-to-wall carpeting absorbs sound, it can be tricky to handle spills and stains. Alessandra suggests less permanent options, like floor carpet tiles.
- Myth: “All good furniture is expensive.” Alessandra persisted until she found Modsy’s Herman Miller Eames tables for less than some of Ikea’s cheapest options.
Create a rotating office
Modsy constantly reorganizes its space as projects shift.
Visionary technology leaders design workspaces to inspire exponential levels of focus and targeted accomplishments. They champion digital transformation by combining personal experience, critical trends and artificial intelligence.
“We facilitate adaptability to change by changing seats when new people arrive or projects form. It keeps people on their toes and their minds from getting too comfortable.”
— Shanna Tellerman
The blueprint for intelligent business design
- Industry disruption starts with understanding what your user feels. Technology can dissolve user frustration when pragmatically designed around empathy.
- Your team delivers innovation with transferrable skills. Hire for diversity of thought and experience.
- Workspace deeply impacts productivity. Messy, cluttered spaces and wall-to-wall carpeting are the most common design fumbles that enterprises make.
About Shanna Tellerman
Shanna Tellerman began her career at the intersection of technology and design when she founded Sim Ops Studios (Wild Pockets) while at Carnegie Mellon University to democratize 3D game development. As CEO, Shanna was named a best young entrepreneur by BusinessWeek before Autodesk acquired the company. Shanna then became a partner on the investing team at Google Ventures before founding Modsy. She was featured in “Creating Innovators” by Harvard expert Tony Wagner and named a Woman of Influence by Silicon Valley Business Journal in 2014.
About Alessandra Wood
Alessandra Wood, Modsy’s Director of Style, is a design historian and university professor passionate about technology and design. She was previously at YCombinator company Tastemaker. She holds a Ph.D. in Design History from The University of Delaware, an M.A. in History
