On hatching a business plan in Red Rock Canyon & serendipitously winning a huge client on Day 1, with Polina Brodowski
As a part of our quest to champion purpose-driven entrepreneurs across the world here is the story of Polina Brodowski, the fifth of our Humans of Happy Startups Series.
Polina Brodowski
Co-founder Idea Polis, Berlin
The Happy Startup School team first met Polina when she joined us, and a small group of changemakers at our annual gathering in the mountains — the now legendary Alptitude.
Polina! I’m excited to share your story today. Let’s jump straight in. Tell us what the driving force was behind setting up your own design company, Idea Polis
For the last 10 years I have both worked for large agencies and run my own projects. Though the many deadlines often compelled me to finish my work as quickly as possible, I frequently wished that I could spend more time on less projects, which would allow me to go deeper into the concept and design development stage.
I wanted to work closer with clients to get a better idea of what their core values were before presenting them with the final designs.
Some large agencies felt like design factories that lacked the strategic approaches that some projects clearly needed.
After leaving my position as a creative director of Pico, I was lucky to meet Ideapolis Co-Founder Joseph Oliver, who invited me to work on an innovation lab project that he was Directing at his company We Impact. At that time, I was actually planning to take some time off to travel, but this project seemed to be exactly the kind of thing I’d always wanted to do. We assembled a small team and created a concept and 3D design of an innovation lab for Daimler (Mercedes Benz) in Beijing.
Our client was excited about our pitch which was included with many other services We Impact were providing and we won.
I was made Creative Director for the project and Joe expanded our team to develop the project, and added people who had similar mindsets and confidence in the work we did.
We Impact, Joe and the same team was hired me for several other projects including an office build in Beijing for an AI company and some general design work. We enjoyed working with each other so much that we decided to set up a new agency. That led to the creation of Ideapolis.
Ideapolis stands for place/city of ideas. Polis comes from the ancient Greek for city. Our vision is to allow a lot of flexibility in how we work. We rent small studios and put together teams for the duration of a project. This means that we may spend one month in Berlin and the next one in Beijing. Our work ranges from preparing design concepts to designing innovation labs and events or branding for corporate identities.
You came up with the vision for Idea Polis in the mountains right? Tell us more about that
Early in 2016 I got a call from Joe (my business partner) who was planning to bring the team together in Las Vegas for a working trip at a villa he had been given for three weeks. Six of us from around the world with different backgrounds and skills decided to join to work together to create some new ideas and to see if we could build a new agency together.
We stayed away from the crazy casinos and spent most of our time hiking in the Red Rock Canyon, throwing various questions at other.
We challenged each other on the meaning of our work and purposes in what we do. These questions and our collective answers provided unique inspiration. It led us to realizing that together we could build something amazing.
It was on that trip when we hatched up a plan. Things started rolling after that.
What’s your favourite story (or project) since you started working on Idea Polis?
In May last year, I flew to London to meet with Joe to get the company registered. That same afternoon we headed for a meeting at the University of Arts Alumni. We happened to meet a representative from British Airways, who became our first client and then signed our first contract within a week. It happened so quick and naturally that it really seemed like the right thing to do.
Wow, that’s serendipity. I’m curious to tap more into your design expertise. Are there any core design concepts you use which may help new entrepreneurs with design?
When we begin a new project as a team, we actually all start individually on our own before sharing our thoughts with each other.
I believe this approach allows us to initially consider a more diverse collection of ideas.
From there, we can choose the best ideas to be further developed as a team. This is quite contrary to the practices of most big agencies.
When you start a project, is there a particular mindset you bring to it? For example, do you have core values for the projects you take on? …or is there anything you would never do?
Having confidence in the company or project is a prerequisite and central to our values. We would never agree to work for a company or a project the values of which we find objectionable, even if this means losing out on a big bid.
Sustainability is also a big part of it. Our approach is to address sustainability without compromising functionality or aesthetics.
Finally, I’d love to hear what an average day looks like for you. Is there anything in particular you do that feeds the design work you do?
I’ve always been an early bird. Early mornings are my holy times. I kick off with a warm cup of tea and some morning exercises. After that, I try to complete the most important tasks before the day gets busy with other things. I’m easily distracted, so having a few peaceful and quiet hours in the morning is very helpful. In the afternoons, I like to keep more relaxed — that’s the time I handle less urgent tasks, calls and meetings.
My other big passion apart from design is the outdoors, especially the mountains. I often head out for rock climbing, this is where I tank a lot of inspiration. Rock climbing takes you to many remote and amazingly beautiful places. This has also led to developing a passion for little mountain huts and who knows, maybe soon we get the chance to design some remote and beautiful mountain cabins.
Wow! I hope this year sees it’s first Ideapolis mountain hut creation. Thanks for giving us a window into your projects & life Polina!
At The Happy Startup School we’ve been helping people like Polina escape from business routine to go deep and explore more of their personal and business needs in beautiful parts of the world (like the Alps, and Goa). If you enjoyed this post, please click that little green heart and follow our Humans of Happy Startups publication.
