David Kelley, founder of IDEO

David's firm created Apple's first mouse, the first laptop computer, and the Palm V. IDEO has won more of the BusinessWeek/Industrial Designers Society of America Industrial Design Excellence Awards than any other firm.


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For our most recent interview, we are thrilled to feature David Kelley. David is the founder of the famous design consultancy IDEO, which has won more design awards over the past decade than any other firm.

David has been described as "the most sought-after design engineer this side of Thomas Edison” by the I.D. 40’s list of America’s leading design innovators, and as “the most creative person I’ve ever met–and one of the most caring” by colleague Bob Sutton in an interview with Guy Kawasaki.

David’s most recent endeavor has been the launch of Stanford’s d.school, a design institute seeking to advance multidisciplinary innovation, which as Diego Rodriguez describes, “will train leaders who are able to think and do. And we'll all be better off for it.”

In addition to talking about the Intergalactic Destruction Company, and the failure of Monster Shoes and the Enorme phone, David shares with us key insights about design and innovation:

• On design thinking: “We are in the understanding people business”
• On prototyping: “If a picture is worth a thousand words, a prototype is worth a million words”
• On Silicon Valley “A failure is like a badge of honor… Look how bad this guy failed… I bet he’s really good now!”
• In response to Mark Leslie’s question about how to institutionalize creativity: “I hate reality shows, but they get it right more or less” – find out how, by listening to the podcast!

For more on IDEO and David Kelley, check out this Business Week article

Keep sending in your comments and suggestions. Our next episode will be a recent interview with Mike Ramsay, founder of TiVo. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss it!

- JULIO.

Update: Complete transcript of David Kelley's interview at iinnovate.

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Mark Leslie, founding CEO of Veritas

Mark grew a $6 million investment into the fifth largest software company in the world.


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In this episode, we talk to Silicon Valley icon Mark Leslie, the founding CEO and Chairman of Veritas Software. (To listen, click play above!)

Mark took over Veritas in 1990 and brought the company from 12 employees and $95,000 in revenues to 5,500 employees and $1.75 billion in revenues. Veritas became the fifth largest software company in the world and eventually merged with Symantec in a deal valued at $13.5 billion. Mark is now the Managing Director at Leslie Ventures and is also an advisor at El Dorado Ventures.

In addition to being an accomplished leader and strategist, Mark is as an expert in sales management. He has pioneered the concept of the Sales Learning Curve which VC David Cowan described as "some of the best startup advice." Ross Mayfield says "every manager should get their arms around this."

Here are some quotes from the interview:

• On people: "I don't believe that I have the ability to change character... it's as imutable as intelligence."
• On hiring decisions: “at senior levels they either do their job or we get someone else to do their job... I don't believe in improvement programs"
• On innovation: “the hallmark of great companies is their ability to transform themselves”
• On Sun: “I don’t know if they still have time for transformation”
• Responding to Andy Rachleff's question from our previous episode, "where can a venture capitalist add value?": Mark says, "it's only about the money."

Please keep those comments and emails coming and thanks for listening!

Update: transcript available!

- JULIO.

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