Presented at Leading Design New York on June 19, 2019. Do you dream of starting your own company? Are you curious about moving from design to driving product decisions? If you’re hungry to take your creativity to a broader team to influence business and strategy – but not sure where or how to start – this is for you. Han will take you through her recent career journey from designer to CEO, complete with the headwinds of being a woman in tech, an immigrant, and all the turbulence that a career change comes with – especially in the volatile sector of consumer entertainment tech! With some special highs and serious lows, this is a brand new talk that’s straight from the heart for designers who want to make a move into business. Expect candid stories and practical tips!

1. Hannah Donovan
Leading Design, 19/06/2019 Brooklyn
E A R N I N G A S E A T A T T H E T A B L E
HOW A CEO
DESIGNS

2. Who is a leader?

3. Who wants to lead (more)?

4. Design like a CEO
*Whether you’re leading a design team, managing products, running
part of or all of a company, or founding your own business…
This is how you become a better
design* leader in business.

6. Calendar looks like Tetris
New gnarly product problem
What is this expense for !?
Prioritizing bug fixes at lunch
Drowning in emails
Working on the plane, again.
Someone wants a raise
Office WiFi broke
Weekend? What weekend…

7. Me around senior year, 2003
In case you forgot this time, Nelly
was charting with ‘Hot In Herre’
Three years later I was the first
designer at last.fm, and then I was
leading and scaling the design team.

8. Lukewarm reaction to concept
Styleguide whack-a-mole
Engineering totally
misinterpreted it!
PM got more recognition
11th hour project…again
No copywriter budget, it me!
How do I teach my CEO why
design matters?

9. Everyone should be a
leader of themselves.
Focus on what matters.
What has impact.

10. If I was CEO, what would
I be doing right now?

11. 1. DESIGNER TO FOUNDER
2. WHAT I HAD TO OVERCOME
3. HOW TO DESIGN LIKE A CEO
WHAT’S ON TAP TODAY:

12. DESIGNER TO FOUNDER

13. Like all things,
it all started
with a dream.
2014, LONDON

14. LATE 2014, NEW YORK CITY
I was lucky to
have help, then
the adventure
truly began…

15. 2015 BEGINS…

16. Challenge after challenge.
It was relentless.

17. Burning the wick at both ends
to work hard and network
Rapidly adapting to multiple
new workplaces, relationships
Skilling up every night
Endless immigration
paperwork, ~20k in fees
Instability, fear, loneliness,
unfamiliarity, the unknown

18. “The most powerful form of
learning comes when we're
desperate. When we have no
choice but to learn”
– Liz Wiseman

19. Just when it couldn’t have
been worse…
2015 – 2018, New York City / San Francisco
It got worse.

20. Commuting between New York
and San Francisco
Trying to build a network and
friendships in both cities…
Navigating a large org during a
difficult time
Layoffs
Negative press cycles
More immigration…

21. But I got through.
And when I did, I was
different, a new person.

22. I embarked on the last and
most difficult leg of the
journey…
I started a company.

23. Getting comfortable with
calling myself an entreprenur
Learning how to raise money
Being a woman founder, so
much sexism!
Building a type of company
there isn’t a playbook for
Learning to ignore people who
told me to play it “safer”

24. Got into an accelerator.
Raised $2M. Built an AI
product. Got my greencard.
About to launch in beta*
*Want access? DM @thetrashapp on Twitter or IG

28. WHAT I HAD TO OVERCOME

29. Personal Practical

30. Being creative and analytical
are not mutually exclusive
Consider feedback, but trust
myself and my opinions
Career/organization “success”
is not the same as self worth
PERSONAL

31. Care about where the money
comes from, how you deploy it
Every action I take needs to
have ROI (Impact over busyness)
Think long and work quick
PRATICAL

32. DESIGN LIKE A CEO

33. CARE ABOUT WHERE THE MONEY COMES FROM AND HOW TO DEPLOY IT
What’s important to the business?
(Get coffee with your CEO and find out!)
Is this work going to make the business successful?
(If the business was failing a year from now, would I
feel dumb for having worked on this?)
How do I have more positive impact on users?
(Your CEO cares about users, and your job is users)

36. BUSY ≠ IMPACT (EVERYTHING YOU DO SHOULD HAVE ROI)
When the design is finished in Sketch etc., you
are only 10% done
Your job is users. If your work is not impacting
users you’re not doing your job.
Do things that are “outside” of your job. Your job
is not just “design”, the title is misleading :D

37. Plenty to get on with!
Lots to keep me busy!
Do you need help
prioritizing workload?

38. THINK LONG AND EXECUTE FAST
Use common sense. This is not less than creativity
and uniqueness. Common sense is a design skill.
Measure twice, cut once. Become an excellent
planner because execution time is so limited.
Stop worrying about being good. Worry about being
fast, and always be nice – that’s the easiest!

39. GOOD
FAST
NICE

40. NICE

41. What makes a “great”
design leader?

42. POSITIVE.
USER.
IMPACT.

43. We’re hiring a product
design (lead)!
@han, han@trash.app
DM @thetrashapp for Creator
Beta Access!