INDUSTRIAL DESIGN: think twice before starting your own product company

You spend years building for someone else's roadmap. Then one day you think about doing it for yourself. Designing exactly what you want, making it beautiful, putting it into the world.

I followed that thought all the way. It's possible, rewarding in ways that are hard to describe, and the hardest thing I've done professionally.

Designing the product was the easy part. Getting anyone to care, find it, trust it, and buy it is where the real work starts. Marketing, distribution, ads, SEO, email, storytelling, momentum from zero.

A great product isn't enough anymore. It's table stakes, especially without a massive audience, an unfair distribution advantage, or real funding.

Here’s the good news. If you are an industrial designer, you already know how to solve complex problems, learn fast, and adapt. That counts for more than most realize.

Just don't go in believing the product is the hard part. The hard part is getting anyone to care.