Stacie Bloom: How Interdisciplinary Collaboration Benefits Science

In Chapter 19 of 19 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, Stacie Grossman Bloom answers "Why is Interdisciplinary Collaboration So Important to Creating the Global Nutrition Program?" Grossman Bloom notes the overlapping issues, for example malnutrition and infectious disease. By inserting interdisciplinarity into the conversation, scientists can have more informed conversations using the most cutting edge laboratory research data and techniques.

Stacie Grossman Bloom is the Executive Director at the NYU Neuroscience Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center. Previously, she was VP and Scientific Director at the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS). She earned her PhD in Neurobiology and Cell Biology at Georgetown University and did a post-doctoral fellowship at Rockefeller University in New York City. She earned her BA in Chemistry and Psychology from the University of Delaware.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: Why is interdisciplinary collaboration so important in creating the global nutrition program?

Stacie Grossman Bloom: I think inserting interdisciplinarity into the conversation of global nutrition is really key. There is a lot of overlap in nutrition issues and, for example, infectious disease. Not only scientifically is there a lot of underlying commonality, but in the field when you are talking about a community that’s suffering from great malnutrition, they are also often suffering from infectious disease. So inserting interdisciplinarity into the conversation allows those two groups of scientists to have, you know, a conversation that also probably doesn’t normally happen. A lot of what we were told from stakeholders when we were planning the institute is that there isn’t a lot of interdisciplinarity in the conversations of nutrition science. And, that by introducing that, you are also bringing nutrition scientists up to date with the most cutting edge research that is going on in the lab, not just the data, but the techniques.

Scaling Crowdfunding Startup IndieGoGo Globally - Slava Rubin

In Chapter 2 of 12 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, IndieGoGo co-founder and entrepreneur Slava Rubin answers "Since We Last Spoke a Year Ago, What Has Been the Most Exciting Thing to Happen in Your Life?" Rubin points to the growth of his company, IndieGoGo, and is now used in over 158 countries by 22,000 users. He notes how four films featured at South By Southwest 2011 were crowd financed on IndieGoGo and how media exposure, including Good Morning America, continues to spread the company's project crowdfunding message. Rubin is co-founder and CEO of IndieGoGo.com, a crowdfunding startup whose platform helps individuals and groups finance their passions. Before IndieGoGo, Rubin worked in management consulting for Diamond Consulting, now a PWC company. Rubin founded and manages non-profit Music Against Myeloma to raise funds and awareness to fight cancer. He earned a BBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Transcript: 

Erik:  Since we last spoke a year ago, what’s been the most exciting thing that happened in your life?

Slava Rubin:  Well, I mean IndieGoGo is doing well.  It’s really about scaling the business and growing. I mean, now IndieGoGo has over 22,000 campaigns in 159 countries.  There is millions of dollars that are being distributed, millions of page views every month.  Since we last talked, we’ve been – you know, even in the last few weeks, we’ve been on Good Morning, America, or the New York Times, or Channel 7 News in New York. And we opened up where really anybody can create a campaign to absolutely anything, and just the excitement of the team as we’re hiring folks, and everybody being so excited to be a part of IndieGoGo, and making people’s dreams of raising money possible.

Erik Michielsen:  What feeling do you get when you think about, you know, what type of projects are being built, and what effect it’s having on communities, on people’s lives?

Slava Rubin:  I mean it’s amazing.  We’re here at South-by, right?  And there’s only a certain number of South-by movies that get in and there’s only a certain of South-by music that gets in.  At IndieGoGo, we’ve had four films that got in, got funded through IndieGoGo, and musicians that got funded through IndieGoGo.  We have people road-tripping to South-by, by funding they get through IndieGoGo.  So just to know that there are all these tens of thousands of people here at South-by and a number of them all facilitated their dreams to get here through IndieGoGo, it’s just really quite incredible.  And you were at the IndieGoGo party, and that was – that was fun too.

How IndieGoGo Startup Founders Evolve into Leaders - Slava Rubin

In Chapter 5 of 12 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, IndieGoGo co-founder and entrepreneur Slava Rubin answers "How Has Your Role Evolved as Your Business Has Grown?" IndieGoGo started with three people, Rubin, Eric Schell, and Danae Ringelmann. They name themselves "The Eyes, The Hands, and The Heart" at the inception, where Rubin, the eyes, handles publicity, marketing, and public relations. Schell, the hands focuses on technology, and Ringelmann, the heart, manages business operations, customer relations, and partnerships. Over time, as the company expands and hires employees, Rubin, Schell, and Ringelmann take on more management responsibilities that go beyond the blocking and tackling from the early days. All the while, they follow their "List, Prioritize, Execute" plan. Rubin is co-founder and CEO of IndieGoGo.com, a crowdfunding startup whose platform helps individuals and groups finance their passions. Before IndieGoGo, Rubin worked in management consulting for Diamond Consulting, now a PWC company. Rubin founded and manages non-profit Music Against Myeloma to raise funds and awareness to fight cancer. He earned a BBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen:  How has your role evolved as your business has grown?

Slava Rubin:  Yeah, I mean when we first started, it’s just the three of us, the three co-founders, so Eric Schell, Dane Ringelmann, and myself, and the three of us, we like to call ourselves the eyes, the hands, and the heart.  So I’m the eyes; I do a lot of external stuff, marketing, PR, biz dev, things like that.  Eric is the hands, so really putting in the implementation, making sure that the actual development and design is all great.  And Dane is the heart, so managing the day-to-day dealing with our customers and making sure that our partners are all happy.  

And it’s amazing that we just started as the three of us, always kind of debating, and discussing, and proving, and yelling at each other, and now we have employees, and we’re growing, and we really just have to evolve to learn how to not always be as hands-on, really make sure we company-build and bring in the right employees who are all smarter than us and better than us.  And so it’s really about managing growth and trying to figure out how to prioritize, again.  I mean it’s all we – at the company we talk about list, prioritize, execute, and that it’s really about working with the team and working with employees as opposed to just always blocking and tackling, which I still have to do a lot of that for sure.

How to Evaluate Potential Investors - Slava Rubin

In Chapter 9 of 12 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, IndieGoGo co-founder and entrepreneur Slava Rubin answers "What Criteria Are You Using to Evaluate Potential Investors?" First, Rubin notes the importance of aligning ambition and goals. Second, he looks for more than money with investors. With finding money getting easier, Rubin looks for investors who have contacts, expertise, and experience that can help the company improve and grow. Rubin is co-founder and CEO of IndieGoGo.com, a crowdfunding startup whose platform helps individuals and groups finance their passions. Before IndieGoGo, Rubin worked in management consulting for Diamond Consulting, now a PWC company. Rubin founded and manages non-profit Music Against Myeloma to raise funds and awareness to fight cancer. He earned a BBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen:  What criteria are you using to evaluate potential investors?

Slava Rubin:  No matter who you’re trying to add in to the business, whether it be employees, or partners, or investors, it’s really important that it all has alignment as to what you’re trying to accomplish, right?  So you have a shared vision, you have a shared understanding as to what our goals are as a company.  Regarding investors, specifically, it’s a classic saying ‘you want to find more than just money’ or sometimes they call it ‘dumb money’ or ‘smart money’.  It’s becoming easier and easier to find the cash, whether it be credit cards, or loans, or IndieGoGo, or one off angels, or dentists, or lawyers, but really what you wanna find is folks that can give you advice based on their experience as running companies before, or maybe they have the right network for your industry to get you certain business development relationships, or certain distribution deals, or certain partnerships; or maybe they have expertise in areas that your founding team or your small team doesn’t have yet, whether it be in technology, or sales, or operations, or maybe scaling the company.  

So what we look for when we talk to investors is always about, you know, what is your participation going to be with us and how can we work together to make the company better.  It’s also – it’s just always very important as a default that we’re all on the same page as to what we’re starting to accomplish.  Some investors are looking in to only create billion-dollar companies, and some investors are looking to create ten-million-dollar companies and sell them.  So you just need to make sure that everybody is on the same page as to what we’re all trying to accomplish.

How Online Brand Builds Offline Customer Relationships - Slava Rubin

In Chapter 11 of 12 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, IndieGoGo co-founder and entrepreneur Slava Rubin answers "What Have You Learned About How an Online Brand Can Build Offline Customer Relationships?" He begins by creating a message that customers believe from the product experience. With his company IndieGoGo, it is "Anyone in the world can create a campaign to raise more money from more people faster." This online message transcends into the physical experience customers have creating and conducting campaigns. Rubin is co-founder and CEO of IndieGoGo.com, a crowdfunding startup whose platform helps individuals and groups finance their passions. Before IndieGoGo, Rubin worked in management consulting for Diamond Consulting, now a PWC company. Rubin founded and manages non-profit Music Against Myeloma to raise funds and awareness to fight cancer. He earned a BBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen:  What have you learned about how an online brand can build offline customer relationships?

Slava Rubin:  Managing a brand, period, is just really important and challenging. Trying to transcend from offline to online or online to offline is very challenging, but I would say that the more that you can create a message that resonates with your customers, not something that you’re trying to make them believe but they believe in the experience of using your product, and you can concisely use that message across the board, it’s just really important, because it becomes then, instead of just using a tool, it becomes an experience that everybody is part of.  At IndieGoGo, we say that anybody in the world can create a campaign to raise more money for more people faster.  So that’s our brand.  I can repeat it.  

But really it’s just a matter of more money for more people, and that’s why they come to IndieGoGo.  That’s why from any country in the world, they come, they create campaigns, and that’s what they’re looking to feel and experience, and we try to have that permeate whether it be online or offline. 

How Innovation Can Enable Industry Leadership - Richard Moross

In Chapter 7 of 13 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, Moo.com CEO and London entrepreneur Richard Moross answers "What Does It Mean to Be a Leader in What You Do?" He shares how his company, Moo, has challenged rules to make an industry, printing, better. It was not only about process improvements such as lowering costs and increasing throughput. It was about being more relevant, responsible, accountable, useful and beautiful. The optimistic vision of continuous improvement over time shapes the Moo company and brand into one known for innovation. Moross is founder and CEO of Moo.com. Before starting Moo.com, an award-winning online print business, Moross was a senior design strategist at Imagination, the world's largest independent design company. He graduated from the University of Sussex, where he majored in philosophy and politics.

How to Improve Entrepreneur Mentor Networks - Richard Moross

In Chapter 8 of 13 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, Moo.com CEO and London entrepreneur Richard Moross answers "How Did Working on the Seedcamp Board of Directors Allow You to Give Back?" Moross notes how Seedcamp, a startup incubator started by Saul Klein and funded by venture capital firms, was designed to support entrepreneurs with advice and capital. He finds the structured mentor network a valuable way to give back and support small business owners. Moross shares his experiences and the decisions he made to support young entrepreneurs. Moross is founder and CEO of Moo.com. Before starting Moo.com, an award-winning online print business, Moross was a senior design strategist at Imagination, the world's largest independent design company. He graduated from the University of Sussex, where he majored in philosophy and politics.

How Young Presidents Organization Educates CEO - Richard Moross

In Chapter 10 of 13 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, Moo.com CEO and London entrepreneur Richard Moross answers "How Has Your Involvement in Young Presidents Organization (YPO) Made You a More Effective CEO?" Moross finds value in the diverse YPO membership. The YPO peer learning network provides Moross a different perspective to complement the technology startup networks. Learning from international businesspeople working in different industries helps Moross improve his decision making. Moross is founder and CEO of Moo.com. Before starting Moo.com, an award-winning online print business, Moross was a senior design strategist at Imagination, the world's largest independent design company. He graduated from the University of Sussex, where he majored in philosophy and politics.

How Operations Makeover Positions Company for Growth - Richard Moross

In Chapter 11 of 13 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, Moo.com CEO and London entrepreneur Richard Moross answers "Since We Last Spoke a Year Ago, What Has Been the Most Exciting Thing to Happen in Your Life?" Moross cites how rebuilding the company from the ground up has positioned it for 2011 growth. By rearchitecting Moo.com's website, software, and backend, the company strategically positions itself for the future. Moross is founder and CEO of Moo.com. Before starting Moo.com, an award-winning online print business, Moross was a senior design strategist at Imagination, the world's largest independent design company. He graduated from the University of Sussex, where he majored in philosophy and politics.

How Family Business Shapes Work Ethic and Aspiration - Jon Kolko

In Chapter 1 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, designer and educator Jon Kolko answers "To What Do You Aspire?" Kolko shares how his aspirations have progressively become defined in the process of hard work. Kolko shares how he learned work ethic from his parents, who taught him by working in the family eyeglass business. Kolko finds motivation in this process, learning Internet by playing with PC Plus while at the office on weekends. Kolko is the executive director of design strategy at venture accelerator, Thinktiv (www.thinktiv.com). He is the founder and director of the Austin School for Design (www.ac4d.com). Previously, he worked at frog design and was a professor of Interactive and Industrial Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). He has authored multiple books on design. Kolko earned his Masters in Human Computer Interaction (MHI) and BFA in Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

How Childhood Passions Lead to Design and Technology Career - Jon Kolko

In Chapter 3 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, designer and educator Jon Kolko shares the stories behind his childhood interests in art and technology. Early studio art ceramics work pushes Kolko to be creative. As a child, Kolko plays with early Internet computers to call pirate bulletin boards and hack RIT password files. Collectively, these shape Kolko's education, leading him to Carnegie Mellon University and catapulting him into his career. Kolko is the executive director of design strategy at venture accelerator, Thinktiv (www.thinktiv.com). He is the founder and director of the Austin School for Design (www.ac4d.com). Previously, he worked at frog design and was a professor of Interactive and Industrial Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). He has authored multiple books on design. Kolko earned his Masters in Human Computer Interaction (MHI) and BFA in Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

Transcription: 

Erik Michielsen:  Where did your passions for technology and art originate?

Jon Kolko:  My passion for art originated through a ceramics – ceramics mentor of mine named Alec Haislip.  He’s one of the premier potters in Upstate New York. He studied with a number of the folks that were responsible for Bauhaus and things like that and – so I studied wheel thrown ceramics for as long as I can remember. 

I think I started when I was 5 or 6 and that was like a thing to do and then it became a release and then it became – now, it is a, ‘Wow!  I wish I had more time on Saturdays to spend in my studio.’  Very much art driven.  It’s functional ceramics but it’s also, let’s make it the way I want to make it.  There’s no constraints.  There’s no clients.  There’s no deadlines. 

On the technology side I’ve spent a great deal of time playing with the early foundations of the internet and I was using dial out remote BBSes on remote voxes at RIT when I was 7 or 8 years old to call you know pirate bulletin boards and stuff like that.  Like, we got a cease and desist, my dad actually still has this letter, we have cease and desist from one of RIT’s heads of technology ‘cause we’ve – we’ve hacked their password file back then.  It was like you run crackerjack overnight and it brute force hits it with anything, what I am gonna do with a bunch of accounts to RIT’s vox but I do remember you know getting my first Magnavox 28612 and going to town on it, also the Apple 2c and all that good stuff so I know both of those – were – were pretty prevalent in my life growing up and then it sounds like it was well designed but it was in fact very arbitrary that I ended up going to Carnegie Mellon. 

I remember I got a brochure to attend pre-college there for design, I thought it was cool.  I went - I went to undergrad there, I continued to do my Masters there and years later, you do some research and you’re like, ‘Wow!  That’s like the epicenter of everything technology leading up into what is now normal culture.’  So, you know I think I got super lucky with all of those things, sort of leading to what is now my – my job, my career, and my passions.

How College Interdisciplinary Studies Shape Design Career - Jon Kolko

In Chapter 4 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, designer and educator Jon Kolko learns problem solving in a Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) interdisciplinary studies program. Studying Human Computer Interaction, or HCI, Kolko majors in computer science, cognitive psychology, and statistics. These problem solving skills prepare Kolko for his design career. Kolko is the executive director of design strategy at venture accelerator, Thinktiv (www.thinktiv.com). He is the founder and director of the Austin School for Design (www.ac4d.com). Previously, he worked at frog design and was a professor of Interactive and Industrial Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). He has authored multiple books on design. Kolko earned his Masters in Human Computer Interaction (MHI) and BFA in Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

Transcription: 

Erik Michielsen:  How did your interdisciplinary studies at Carnegie Mellon impact your career trajectory?

Jon Kolko:  Directly.  I got a Masters in Human Computer Interaction or HCI which traditionally has been a convergence of cognizant psychology, computer science, design and statistics and that – so fundamentally that career is interdisciplinary, that career path and then if you combine that with sort of an under – underlying approach on just in design like with a big D or however you want to frame it. 

I’ve always approached problem solving with those different lenses on, albeit be not nearly as equally weighted.  I always tended toward the computer science design side of things and away from the cognitive psychology and statistics point of view.  It’s only recently that I’ve actually started embracing both of those two. 

Arguably, they are harder for my small little creative brain to understand because those are like real science elements as opposed to these design disciplines.  I say that completely tongue in cheek so – and so I learned an interdisciplinary approach but I don’t think it ever occurred to me that that’s was what it was because it just seems like how else would you approach solving a complex human problem and then – then from multiple perspectives.  That idea of empathy of being able to view it from a different – a different point of view, I think is pretty fundamental to solving any problem.

How Decision and Ideation Skills Apply in Software and Design - Jon Kolko

In Chapter 7 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, designer and educator Jon Kolko shares the importance of and how he has developed rapid ideation and quick decision making skills. Upon graduating Carnegie Mellon, Kolko works at Austin startup, Trilogy Software, where he learns decision-making in a sink or swim environment. As his design career develops, he learns to balance rapidly creating new ideas with letting them marinate and develop. Kolko is the executive director of design strategy at venture accelerator, Thinktiv (www.thinktiv.com). He is the founder and director of the Austin School for Design (www.ac4d.com). Previously, he worked at frog design and was a professor of Interactive and Industrial Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). He has authored multiple books on design. Kolko earned his Masters in Human Computer Interaction (MHI) and BFA in Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

How to Use Industrial Design to Develop Software - Jon Kolko

In Chapter 8 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, designer and educator Jon Kolko shares how he has applied industrial design to develop software products. He finds many top interaction designers have backgrounds in either architecture or product design. Kolko notes the problem solving process - ethnographic research, synthesis, ideation, form giving, and evaluation - developing enterprise software and industrial products is nearly identical. The difference occurs not in the process but the the artifact complexity. Kolko is the executive director of design strategy at venture accelerator, Thinktiv (www.thinktiv.com). He is the founder and director of the Austin School for Design (www.ac4d.com). Previously, he worked at frog design and was a professor of Interactive and Industrial Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). He has authored multiple books on design. Kolko earned his Masters in Human Computer Interaction (MHI) and BFA in Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

How to Solve Ill-Defined Problems - Jon Kolko

In Chapter 10 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, designer and educator Jon Kolko shares how he thinks about well-defined, ill-defined, and wicked problems. Kolko sees wicked problems as more likely to be mitigated than solved. Ill-defined problems, however, can be solved, though, as he notes, not algorithmically. Kolko notes the value in bringing interdisciplinary approaches to solve the ill-defined problems and finding satisfaction working on them to the point of exhaustion. Kolko is the executive director of design strategy at venture accelerator, Thinktiv (www.thinktiv.com). He is the founder and director of the Austin School for Design (www.ac4d.com). Previously, he worked at frog design and was a professor of Interactive and Industrial Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). He has authored multiple books on design. Kolko earned his Masters in Human Computer Interaction (MHI) and BFA in Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

Why to Personalize the Problem Solving Process - Hammans Stallings

In Chapter 7 of 12 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, innovation strategist Hammans Stallings details what he enjoys most about assessing and solving complex problems. Stallings sees this as a process, starting with a base cathartic experience confronting and tackling the problem. Stallings sees the process as a relationship that becomes very personal. He notes his struggle leaving work at the office when the personalization occurs. Stallings is currently a Senior Strategist at frog design. Previously he worked in business strategy at Dell and investment banking at Stephens. He earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, a MS in Technology Commercialization from the University of Texas McCombs School of Business and a BA in Economics and Psychology from the University of Virginia.

How to Create Jobs Using Technology Transfer - Hammans Stallings

In Chapter 9 of 13 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, innovation strategist Hammans Stallings connects his interest in economic development to earn a Masters Degree in Technology Transfer. As a problem solver, Stallings sees a gap between academic research innovating and business markets implementing. He learns about mutual motivations and structuring contracts to facilitate technology transfer. Stallings is currently a Senior Strategist at frog design. Previously he worked in business strategy at Dell and investment banking at Stephens. He earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, a MS in Technology Commercialization from the University of Texas McCombs School of Business and a BA in Economics and Psychology from the University of Virginia.

How Mentor Relationships Develop Career - Hammans Stallings

In Chapter 10 of 13 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, innovation strategist Hammans Stallings shares how mentors have helped him most in career transitions. In each transition, mentors play the role of passing along the sociocultural meaning in an organization. This not only helps Stallings assimilate into new roles and organizations, but also produces very close friendships and professional relationships between mentor and mentee. Stallings is currently a Senior Strategist at frog design. Previously he worked in business strategy at Dell and investment banking at Stephens. He earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, a MS in Technology Commercialization from the University of Texas McCombs School of Business and a BA in Economics and Psychology from the University of Virginia.