Ep. 109: Translating Complex Tech Through Design—with Daniel Scrivner of Flow

Design is about much more than just making things look good. Design is valuable because it translates the complexities of technology to us mere mortals. It serves as a way to educate the market and make tech easy for everyday people to use. But what is the design process that gets us to that end?

 

Daniel Scrivner is the CEO & Chief Design Officer at Flow, the project management software used by teams at Apple, Shopify and TED. A leader in the fields of design and investing, he has been invited to speak at some of the world’s most innovative organizations, including Andreesen Horowitz and Designer Fund. Daniel has 15 years of design experience, serving as Head of Design at both Digit and Square and working on teams at Apple, Nike and Disney.

 

On this episode of Boost VC, Daniel joins us to share his take on what makes design valuable, explaining how the design process gets you to an end product the average person can use. He offers insight on what makes most crypto design hostile to everyday people, discussing what we can do to improve the user experience and give crypto mass appeal. Listen in to understand Daniel’s agnostic approach to investing and find out how he applies concepts learned in one discipline to other areas in his skill stack.

 

Topics Covered

 

What Daniel has built that he’s most proud of

• Redesign of Flow over last two years
• Growing investment portfolio

 

Daniel’s agnostic approach to investing

• Qualitative vs. quantitative (early-stage companies)
• Broad interest in investing in entrepreneurs at all stages

 

What inspired Daniel to start his own podcast

• Conversations with people in top 1% across industries
• Decode what they’ve mastered, what propelled to top

 

How Daniel thinks about optimizing his learning

• Learn things and apply in other areas
• Lean into growth curve in all areas

 

Daniel’s take on what makes design valuable

• Interface between complexity of tech and humans
• Fastest way to educate given market

 

Daniel’s insight around the design of crypto

• Hostile to average people
• Incompatible with being ‘future of money’

 

How to improve the crypto user experience

• Simple explanation of terms
• Get input from everyday people

 

What inspired Daniel to invest in Bitcoin

• Bet on things probable to play out
• Invest in multiple ways to win

 

What’s behind the rise of the operator-investor

• Herding creatures
• Lowering barriers to entry in all areas

 

Daniel’s definition of success

• Work in service of others
• Grow into best version of self

 

Connect with Daniel

 

Flow https://www.getflow.com/

Flow on Twitter https://twitter.com/flowapp

Flow on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/FlowApp

Daniel on Twitter https://twitter.com/danielscrivner  

Outliers with Daniel Scrivner https://link.chtbl.com/_Ygn_FIY

 

Resources

 

Good Egg https://www.goodegg.io/

Stripe https://stripe.com/

Gusto https://gusto.com/

Superhuman https://superhuman.com/

Notion https://www.notion.so/

Bison Trails https://bisontrails.co/

Filecoin https://filecoin.io/

Verlyn Klinkenborg on Outliers https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/verlyn-klinkenborg-outliers-show-notes

Several Short Sentences About Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg

Scott Adams https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays

Scott Adams on Talent Stacking https://www.scottadamssays.com/2016/12/27/the-kristina-talent-stack/

Listen Notes https://www.listennotes.com/

Kevin Kelly https://kk.org/

Kevin Kelly on Outliers .css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}