DESIGNER
ERIK VAN DER PLUIJM
Erik is is the owner of Pitchlab and Tech Perform Lead at Growth Tribe Academy. He is passionate about visual thinking and making complex things simple. He mixes design, code and strategy, using his experience fromartificial intelligence, computer games, and the startup scene.
ERIK’S FAVORITE DESIGN A BETTER BUSINESS TOPICS
POINT OF VIEW
Having a strong, informed point of view is the hallmark of a good designer and the key to a successful design journey.
PROTOTYPE
I like prototyping as it takes you from the world of ideas into reality. There are no more excuses when you test a prototype.
VALIDATE
It never stops to amaze me how much you can learn from validating your ideas with real people. Validate early and often!
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INTERVIEW WITH ERIK
Q: What was the reason you wanted to write Design A Better Business?
Erik: I am passionate about the process of creation: creating something from nothing. Going from an idea that only exists in your mind to something that is real, that other people can relate to. As a designer, I think that with the right mindset, anything can be designed. And it always strikes me when I see how ‘accidental’ many of the processes that are used to create a new (or better) business still are for most people. Bringing a clear thought process and a design mindset to the design of business was something I wanted to do for a long time, and based on the experiences we have had in the past years, bringing more and more design tools to the business world, I knew we had a shot of doing just that. With this book, I hope we bring access to the best tools that are currently out there to design your business to everyone that needs them all over the world, and I hope that will mean that many more people are able to successfully start or grow a business.
Q: What was the most fun/most difficult moment in making the book?
Erik: What surprised me most is how easy it was to create the book, using the same Double Loop process. Using all of our own tools meant that the process was free-floating, and we did not need to rely on tons of meetings. We could design and write the book at the same time, and see how everything turned out on the page on a daily basis. We had all of the pages in the book printed on a huge wall so we could walk over and see where we stood every day, which definitely gave a sense of progress and kept us literally on the same page. Another thing that I enjoyed was the structuring and writing of the material, seeing the book grow super-fast. And finally I loved the moments where our proof-readers showed us our assumptions were completely wrong, sending us back to square one in some cases, because that meant we were learning and we were able to create a much better book because of that.
RECENT BLOGPOSTS
Using the Design Criteria Canvas as a Scorecard to evaluate Business Model options
Once you generate hundreds of different ideas for your business, how do you choose which ones to work on first? How can you make an informed choice? What are the tools you can use to help you? The design criteria canvas can be used as a score card with which to evaluate potential new business […]
Linking the Customer Journey to your Business Model Canvas
Sometimes it can be difficult to specify the channels and customer relationships building blocks of the business model canvas. When you get stuck there, it can help to look at the customer journey for new ideas and clarity. There is a link between the business model canvas and the customer journey.
Welcome to the War Room
Designers have worked in a visual way for ages, using the walls in their workspaces to put up designs, diagrams, and references. This made it easy for them and often for their team to grasp the project they were working on and keep overview, allowing for new connections and perspectives. you can work like that […]
