When you launch your own company, one startup founder advises to take other people’s advice with a grain of salt.
By Reshma Chattaram Chamberlin (CEO & Founder, B/C Designers and Muzio)
At B/C Designers, we are two women who run a digital strategy firm that launched its own product Muzio, which is a storytelling app. We launched our firm because we believed that strategy and great design could go hand in hand; and function and beauty were not mutually exclusive. Here are a few things we learned along the way that helped shape our company and that kept us from straying from what we value most.
On Taking Advice…
Many people will offer you advice as you get started. Just remember that because it worked for them in the past, it may not work for your future. The main reason we started our business is because we wanted to work differently than other firms.
When you are doing something new and different, you sometimes have to pave your own way and not rely solely on other’s past experiences.
On Staying True to Your Values…
When working in a specific industry, you can easily be swept up in the standards of what is expected and doing something because it has always been done that way. We didn’t fit the mold to begin with: Two women in a tech world who wanted a small tight team to solve big digital problems.
We put high-level strategic design at the front and refused to compromise on quality and customer service. You have to always remember why you started your company, who you are trying to serve and what you are trying to accomplish.
On Self Evaluation…
At B/C, we’re always evaluating ourselves and our company. We want to make sure we are serving our mission, evaluating process and even how we can be better as individuals. It is so easy for you to get caught up in the doing, that sometimes it is easy to fall into a routine, even when things are not working as smoothly as they should. As a policy we always review how a project went, how we could improve process and always leave our egos at the door.
