What can I say, the event was just spectacular. Each presenter had their own memorable and interesting points however to me the overall underlying theme was taking control of your business. Carlos Segura persuaded us to take control by setting precedence up-front with our clients. He suggested that we as designers inform our clients about how we function, and give them a take-it-or-leave-it mentality. Jason Fried gave us ten tips of starting a business and how having a small business can be more productive. He also stressed simplicity in everything we do, from our business models, to the products we develop. Finally, Jim Coudal presented the idea that a short attention span can be a good thing, leading you to new and interesting ideas. He also urged everyone to take greater control of our own crafts or means of production to create new business opportunities.
My insanely quick summary leads me into some quotes that resonated with me.
Carlos Segura Quotes:
“Communication that doesn’t take a chance doesn’t stand a chance.”
“Nobody ever means do whatever you want, money is no object.”
“Record everything the client asks, through email, video, or audio.”
“It’s easy to be cool, its better to be smart.”
“Common sense isn’t really common anymore.”
“Brand is like personal hygiene for your company.”
Jason Fried Quotes:
“Just wing it”
“The longer it takes to develop something, the less likely it is going to launch.”
“Decisions are progress, and progress is great for morale.”
“When you make tiny decisions, you can’t make huge mistakes.”
“See your opportunities as they arise.”
“The worst time to get investors is when you are starting a company because you have no leverage.”
Jim Coudal Quotes:
“We would rather people hire us for the way we think, not for what we have done [in the past.]”
“We should be looking to fail all the time, running to the next big idea.”
“Paying attention to your short attention span, can lead to a bunch of great things if you are willing to fail.”
“Ideas that don’t turn into anything are still valuable.”
Each of these quotes stuck with me from the moment I left the IIT Campus. Each speaker gave an amazing presentation, which of course must be seen in person to get the full effect of the message. Each of these men are truly experts, entrepreneurs, and trend setters in their fields, hearing them talk encourages you to take control of your business, and fulfill your goals. If you have found this article interesting, I would suggest that you visit the seed conference homepage and visit the link in the lower left corner to request another date.
Update: It looks like they have heard your requests, there will be a third installment complete with added speakers. for the details visit the link located just above.
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January 22nd, 2008 at 4:28 pm
i traveled from Mexico for this conference and i was more than pleased with the 3 speakers…
my favorite was Carlos, i actually was amazed how much does he stands up for his work and that is something i can learn from!
there were some technical dificulties that i wish had been solved sooner as i was recording audio…
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:03 pm
I agree that Carlos was my favorite presenter as well. We have started to refer to him as the design bad ass around the office because of how he deals with clients. I completely envy the level of respect that he gets from his clients… Plus having Duran Duran as a client is just bad ass.