You probably know Scott Belsky from his bestseller Making Ideas Happen. But before the book, there was Behance, the company that led him to the book. What follows are the best parts from our recent interview.
By the way, at the end of the interview, Scott mentioned these were some of the best and most thought-provoking questions he’s received. Oh Scott, I bet you say that to all the girls.
1. I read that your business model is unlike anything you learned in business school. Can you elaborate?
Well, technically we are a technology and social media [company] that develops a paper product line, runs a think tank, and produces an annual conference. This pretty much defies everything they teach in business school about specialization and operations management.
But, in the era upon us where the barriers to developing new technology are low – and operations management can be more automated – it is easier for a business to attack their mission from various angles.
For Behance, our specialization is OUR MISSION rather than OUR MEDIUM. We want to organize the creative world, and we’re open to using every/any medium to do it.
2. What are your strategies to make the Behance network of sites grow? Are you focused on one site or another?
(Behance, Action Method, The 99 Percent, The Served)
Early on in the history of Behance, we realized that “organizing the creative world” would require a focus on both the MACRO and the MICRO needs in the creative community. We structured our team accordingly. The 99% and Action Method initiatives help creative individuals and teams get organized. While the Behance Network is a powerful platform all about organizing the creative world’s work.
The sites have grown organically through word-of-mouth. We feel extremely fortunate to have a community of extremely talented participants that care about developing the platform organically. We get a lot of feedback, which we take into account.
3. How would you define your core audience for Behance products?
Our core audience is made up of people and teams that generate ideas for a living. We serve an audience that, in most cases, has too many ideas to begin with and wants help in organization, promotion, and ultimately making more of their ideas happen.
4. Describe your vision for Behance. In what ways is it rewarding or difficult to stick to that vision? How does the company fit into your longer-term plans?
We believe that, with better organization and platforms for navigating creative industries, there will be more of a “creative meritocracy.” We imagine a day when the greatest talent gets the best opportunities (rather than be at the mercy of antiquated systems).
This has always been our collective vision for Behance – a more organized and empowered creative world. Our challenge is not falling into the trap that plagues most creative teams: doing projects because they are fascinating rather than because they achieve the mission. At times it is difficult to ground our excitement with sound judgment about WHY we do what we do, and to stick with it.
5. What is it like working as a young entrepreneur? Talk about your strengths and weaknesses.
My greatest weakness is impatience. I have so little patience for standard procedures and the long process of development. In my mind, I always want everything to be “done” until I realize that rushing the process is, in fact, rushing life…and I certainly don’t want to do that. Luckily I have a team of people who are better at setting the pace and ensuring that a process is tempered with the right questions.
As for strengths: I try to do a realistic gut-check every night about where everything REALLY stands. I try to identify where I screwed up that day, what I would change if I could, and I try to keep learning amidst the blur of every day. I think this is an important strength that every aspiring leader should develop.
6. Describe your philosophy on work and life. Boundaries? Balance? Blur?
Realistically, I think balance is not an every day achievement, but rather something achieved over time. Busy periods in life come and go. Right now I am in a busier period. But if you love what you do, such periods are easier to manage. I try to listen to my body. When it tells me to slow down, I try to obey. But it’s not easy.
7. Describe a good team member. How do you recognize those qualities?
The best team members take initiative. When we bring on new members of a team, we look more for evidence of “taking initiative” than past experience and skill sets. Our mentality is that, as a growing company, we are developing each other. Past knowledge is less important than the tenacity to help make Behance happen.
We also ruthlessly fight apathy at Behance. We have many heated arguments about features, systems, and user experience. Sometimes we fight, but we stick with it. We don’t tolerate apathy, and we think it is the biggest detriment to reaching the best solutions.
8. Is there a question I should have asked, but didn’t? Please let me know, and answer it.
Other entrepreneurs ask me if one needs start-up capital or personal wealth to start a business. Behance is actually a bootstrapped enterprise! We did do a very small friends/family round to get us off the ground, but we decided to bootstrap the business instead of raise major financing.
Why? Partly because we were selling some products from the very beginning and didn’t require too much capital. Partly because we wanted the team to become owners of the business. But the major reason is that we wanted to feel the texture of the business, work within our means, and develop a sustainable business model rather than lurch toward an uncertain future.
9 replies on “Specialize in the Mission, Not the Medium”
I’ve been meaning to read Making Ideas Happen since it came out. I love the anti-apathy stance Scott takes and I completely agree: it’s amazing what you can do (as a small team, when you are entry-level, with small amounts of money, etc) if you are truly passionate. I am finding that I am more of an ideas-person than an action-person, which I struggle against, because the action part is so important and yet usually the hardest part (and sometimes mundane). It’s especially important to me now as 1/8 of a company where I have a huge part in both the marketing and the product development.
Which is why I need to read the book.
When I finished reading Making Ideas Happen, I repeated to myself constantly, “Execute, and then execute again.” EVERYONE is an ideas person. I can’t tell you how many times I constantly here that. That’s not unique. What’s unique is follow-through. I also recommend the book the Happiness Advantage which talks about activation energy (it’s easier to watch TV than go to a museum), and making it as easy as possible to make the right choices. Anyway, let me know what you think if you pick either up.
re: Everybody is an “idea” person.
I completely agree and I hate hearing it. There’s even a number of people who brand themselves that way, which is ridiculous. It’s so easy to think of ideas. It’s infinitely harder to put them into practice. Executing, quantifying the results and adjusting accordingly… that’s what matters.
I think that some people are inherently lazy and want to ‘get away’ with having ideas as opposed to having to execute, but more than that I think most people are just scared of the failure that will invariably come with executing at some point.
Being an idea person is the equivalent of being an arm-chair Quarterback.
I wonder if part of the issue with idea people is we haven’t told the story enough of how exhilarating it is to experiment and test an idea. I think the prevailing story is it’s “hard work” which okay, I agree with, but so is sitting with an idea and not sharing it with the world.
I think that the biggest problem, for me, with getting ideas out there is setting them out in a way that’s coherent and useful to other people, so that the idea *can* happen. I find it hard to start from a blank slate, and having to build upwards. Of course, I know that there is no real “blank slate” in the purest form. But I can talk about ideas, bounce them off people, develop them further… and then I sit down to work them through, lay them out, and immediately I go, “Ok, so where do I start?”
“I try to listen to my body. When it tells me to slow down, I try to obey. But it’s not easy.”
I can’t tell you how much I agree with this statement. The best ideas in the world ain’t gonna happen if the person behind them does not have an able body to follow through. Precisely why I started practicing Ashtanga Yoga last year – it’s intense, it’s tough but the payoffs in strength, energy and overall health are worth it. If I’m going to hold down a full-time job, study at night school and make ideas happen, heaven knows I need all the physical and mental energy I can get.
I like to run better than yoga, but I was just at a yoga retreat recently and what I especially love about yoga is the theory behind it – a union of opposites, and applying that to our life – i.e., you can’t have pleasure without pain. You are both a student and a teacher, and so on and so forth. Powerful stuff.
“In my mind, I always want everything to be “done” until I realize that rushing the process is, in fact, rushing life…and I certainly don’t want to do that.”
I think that this is incredibly common among Generation Y-ers. We’re very – Now, Now, Now – and additonally often adamant about deserving results, praise, rewards, etc. immediately. This also ties into a sense of entitlement among Gen Y that I’m somewhat embarrassed about. We can forget that we’re bound to mess up, we may not get the results that we want right away, and that, ultimately, we have to put in much more work than we may have anticipated and also face the realization that it IS a struggle finding that balance between your work/career goals and your life goals.
I like that you pulled out this quote, Ramou, because I hadn’t realized how good it was. Do you think Generation Y is still like that? I’ve seen a lot of my Gen Y friends go one of two ways – either settle down and accept the average path, or really double our efforts and go big.
I think you’re right about things being more work that we anticipate and I’m going to contradict my comment below in saying that. But as Belsky makes the point: that is the exciting part of the process. I don’t want to get too new-agey, but one of the affirmations I have been repeating to myself lately is “You are in transformation. There is no end, only transformation.”