I suspect my philosophy degree worked against me when I started Overstock.com in 1999. I went to 55 venture capitalists in Silicon Valley to raise money, and each one turned me down. It wasn't like I didn't have any experience: I had run a company for Warren Buffett and worked on Wall Street. Meanwhile, kids were dropping out of B-school with one-page business plans who were getting $40 million.
Ultimately, philosophy is about values, and that definitely has its place in business. I consider myself a far outsider to Wall Street. There's a whole lot of obfuscation involved. In August, I spoke out on how the Wall Street system was corrupt and how the financial press was co-opted. Because of it, I got called a buffoon and wacky; then a lot of lies came out about my being gay, taking cocaine, and hiring a stripper. That's sort of the fifth-grade level that we're operating on. It doesn't bother me. When you decide to stand for things, you have to be prepared to face criticism, mockery, and derision."
Blanks earned a master's in architecture from the University of Illinois, Chicago. Blu Dot is a furniture designer whose midcentury-inspired wares are sold at Target and Design Within Reach.
"Architecture is a profession everyone fantasizes about. Like George on Seinfeld; he'd always say he was an architect. But people who can't keep fighting in the storm get weeded out early. When I started architecture school, one of the professors said only 25% of us would make it. Of those, many drop out of the field by age 40. I did that in 2002. I closed my practice in Chicago and moved to Minneapolis to devote myself full time to Blu Dot, which I helped found in 1996.
Architecture is about keeping track of thousands of pieces of information and making sure they're all covered in the design. The implications of failure are pretty high if you don't: People could get hurt. Therefore, you learn that you must be very efficient with information and organization, which naturally translates to running the day-to-day operations of a company.
It's funny how the word "sell" is never used in architecture school, but to me the critiques were kind of informal lessons in sales. For exams, you'd present your work to a jury--your professors, peers, local architects, and so forth. Their job is to shell you; your job is to defend yourself. It's pretty brutal. Typically, you've pulled at least one all-nighter. Tears are not uncommon. But it taught me how to communicate ideas quickly and tailor information to an audience. When I show a coffee table, I'll talk about the decisions we made, how we designed one part to hold magazines, or why having wheels makes it easy to move around. You can't possibly cover every single aspect. You have to figure out what's important and how your design solves their problems.
Architects say yes more often than they should, and I still do that at Blu Dot. It often brings about unexpected opportunities. Last year, a pharmaceutical company wanted us to make a custom bookend for a trade show within three months. It was an unusual project, but we figured out a way to do it--and discovered a whole new market that was perfect for one of our desk-accessories lines."
Lorenzo has a master's in communications from Boston University. Frog design has created the look and feel of Dell's Web site, Disney's karaoke microphone, and Old Navy's signs.
"While getting my undergraduate degree in theater, I got involved in public speaking. I found that I loved talking to people, and I thought public relations or marketing would be interesting. I went to Boston University for my master's in communications without any real idea of what I was going to do.
I specialized in film and video at school. I loved being around theatrical people because of their creative energy. My job was producing--learning to take all these wonderfully creative writers and directors and form that into a package where something could get finished. I remember taking classes where you'd have to write, direct, and produce with a team. If I could be the one to understand what they were all doing, ultimately we could pull this project together successfully. It was an "aha" moment for me because we got an A, and everyone looked at me and said, "You really helped!" I then realized that I was good at understanding how to take creativity and build successful businesses with it.
How many years later, here I am. Everything frog design does is team based. I use the same exact skills, only the stakes are higher. To design a beautiful thing requires certain skills. So does making sure it fits within our client's mission and desires. That's what I do.
Even though I've been trained in communications, my job is really about listening. Throughout my entire career and particularly at frog, you really have to listen to and analyze what someone's saying to try to interpret that into something tangible. I have a lot of respect for the creative folks, and they appreciate me because I understand what they have to accomplish and empathize with them. There's a mutual appreciation because I'm not this hard-core businessperson who's all about the numbers."
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