When creativity works, business impact and returns outsize anything derived from efficiency, according to Tara Tan.

On this week’s episode, we welcome back Tara Tan, Founder and Managing Partner at Strange Ventures, to hear about her investment experience at IDEO Ventures, qualities that she looks for in company founders as a designer-turned-capitalist, and specific examples of design helping companies succeed.

Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Intro
• 00:01:12 VC Hits and home-runs throughout Tara’s career 
• 00:03:23 If a founder doesn’t value design
• 00:04:41 Case 1: How design helped shape PillPack
• 00:06:06 Case 2: How River Financial turned to design to discover its users
• 00:08:38 Early stage companies and product-market fit
• 00:10:03 Founders have a personal purpose tied to their business
• 00:10:33 The art and science of finding unicorns
• 00:18:57 Capitalism needs creativity, more than creativity needs capitalism
• 00:19:45 Lightning questions
• 00:23:10 Three takeaways

Episode References:

• Tara Tan | The Strange Review
• Tara Tan | LinkedIn
• Rei Inamoto | Instagram
• Rei Inamoto | X
• I&CO | Corporate Site

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