EP #420 - Yves Béhar: Venture Designing, Entrepreneurship & the Human Spirit

Timestamps:

2:35 - How Switzerland fell short in the 90s

15:00 - Suffering and the creative process

23:21 - The challenge of designing an office chair 

31:28 - Design or die  

33:30 - What is a venture designer?

This episode was sponsored by NordPass. Use code “swisspreneur” at checkout to get 30% off Business and Teams plans.

About Yves Béhar:

Yves Béhar is a venture designer, the founder of the fuseproject, co-founder of TELO, August, and Canopy, and Chief Creative Officer at Jawbone, August Home, and TELO. He holds a BSc in Industrial Design from the ArtCenter College of Design (in Pasadena, California) and worked in consulting for many years before starting fuseproject in 1999. 

fuseproject was born out of a wish to create an integral version of design: not just designing something within the boundaries of the industrial design discipline, but actually thinking about branding and about creating an experience as well. 

Yves is a big believer in working tirelessly at your dream even if you don’t show impressive amounts of native talent. He recalls that from his friends at ArtCenter, he was the worst draftsman, but his idea for what he wanted to do with design and his tireless work carried him far regardless. Yves thinks suffering is part of the creative process, and that it is worth pushing through, because pain is temporary, but “suck” is forever.

Out of his wish to work long-term with resource-strained startups came the concept of “venture designing”: instead of charging startups like a consultant, he co-founds their ventures. Throughout the years he’s worked with 90+ startups. He believes this is the most mutually beneficial form of collaboration, since excellent design is usually the product of long term work and coexistence.

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