VP of Product & Design
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The right “VP of Product & Design” doesn’t need this job description, and won’t wake up in the morning with the thought “I am the VP of Product & Design at Invisible,” but with the thought: “Have we taken over the world yet?” The right person already called me, and told me these words:
Francis, without me, you’re fucked. But with me, you’re going to become a trillionaire. There’s a simple reason for this. The product challenge you are facing is immense. How many designers are there that can think in systems, and not just in interfaces? Who can compute the experiential, economic, operational and technological factors of every design decision, intuitively, in their head? This requires an abstraction, versatility and agility so uncommon as to be the miracle of individuality standing in front of you.
Roadmap. I’ll play Jony Ive to your Steve Jobs, listen to all your crazy ideas, carry them to logical extremes that even you can’t see, and then actually implement them — putting the seeds into motion immediately, because things that don’t happen now never happen. Everything has its beginning now, and so the only product visionary capable of absorbing the full span of your creativity is the one who can build a framework for innovation robust enough to advance on all fronts.
Vision. But this is a lie, because every millennial designer smart enough to brainstorm with you is going to appeal in this basic way: how many people understand the potential of this idea at all? So you will be tempted to hire the first designer halfway conversant in your language.
Essence. You don’t want to be alone in the tao of Invisible. You need someone who can not only interpret your ideas into design, but who can have your ideas.
Focus. The danger is that you get lost in impractical creative possibilities. This idea is many ideas, all of which are so big that they will crush you. Any other designer is going to get distracted, and is going to despair at sequencing and prioritizing — and will never be able to find the critical path through the labyrinth.
Strategy. You need me, because I’m the only person who is serious enough, skilled enough, and talented enough to actually implement this in a systematic way. I won’t fetishize the distant vision, and I won’t be a slave to the immediate problem. I will be cold, almost ruthless, in solving for the limiting factor to scale. Meanwhile, I will always be laying the foundation for the ultimate culture of relentless innovation.
Alignment. We need each other more desperately than any lovers — without me, you’re fucked, without you, i’m fucked. Because there’s no other opportunity I’d rather pursue. The solution to solutions is the Coasian singularity. And a black hole we could easily die in.
Experience. Design is not about the way things look. It is about the way things work. Every aspect of the Client experience, the Agent experience, the Partner experience and the Investor experience is under my portfolio. Design must come first.
Leadership. Everyone in this organization must become a designer! Who is the head of design at Invisible? YOU! I will teach you the principles whereby I conquer. You will learn them. You will apply them. You will ask questions. You will show me results.
Interfaces. Tomorrow morning you and Keenahn will have initial designs for the client dashboard and the agent dashboard, with implementation notes for the engineers.
Brand. By the end of the month, you’ll have a new brand, a new website, new blogs, new everything. I will design something so powerful, so archetypal, so ancient and futuristic — that it will be as if we have unleashed a primal force, hidden since the foundation of the world.
