The Hidden Geometry of Venture Building

Even the most experienced founders can struggle to communicate their vision for their venture in a way that is compelling.

Seeing founders scramble, both solo and within large corporates, Steve McCarthy has assembled an approach to venture building where design takes center stage. With the goal of illustrating complex concepts in a simple, intuitive manner.

Since we can't possibly capture Steve's knowledge and experience in a single 900-word article, welcome to our first Special Edition Series. Just the thing for thoughtful summer reading!

The time to start is now. Enjoy!

By Elke Boogert, Mach49 Managing Editor

July Roundup

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• Ellen Bossert's argument that success springs from the powerful intersection of the new and the time-tested
• Alexandra Ross's sneak peek into the big players, challenges and opportunities in the music biz

The Hidden Geometry of Venture Building: Finding New Angles

By Steve McCarthy , Principal Entrepreneur-in-Residence

Let's start with a fact: I'm not a professional or trained designer. For a long while I couldn't even draw a stick figure well.

But for as long as I can remember, I've been fascinated with the impact of design on our behaviours and the way we see the world. I've always been fascinated with anthropology and in particular the role of visual storytelling in helping humans navigate complex social obstacles and attempt to comprehend reality.

I was particularly captivated by the idea that design had 'laws' when I discovered Gestalt theory, and was disturbed and amused by the illusion of perceiving faces in faceless objects (also known as Pareidolia). I even wrote an article on the importance of semiotic theory when designing icons (which somehow is still ranked 2nd in most search results on the topic of icons and their relationships with labels).

But the inciting incident of my journey was when I read Don Norman's The Design of Everyday Things and I realised that the application of design principles in the things we build – be that products, experiences, cities or ventures – didn't have to be constrained by an ability or inability to sketch stick figures. We all have the ability to observe and influence design.

When done right, we barely notice it, things just work and make sense. And when done wrong, we get frustrated, get hurt, and make poor decisions. So design matters – of course – but what's the impact long term? Well if someone puts a pull handle on a push door, the impact might be a minor moment of embarrassment, but when the stakes are raised and you're designing a suspension bridge or removing electromagnetic interference from a PCB, architects and engineers know that bad design can be dangerous and, in some instances, fatal.

So on that uplifting note, let me shift to the focus of this series of articles: the role of design in venture building, or more specifically the value of 2D geometric shapes.

Arguably venture building is rarely a matter of life and death, but it is a matter of energy, dedication, emotional well-being, sacrifice and success. So anything we can do to improve the venture building experience through design is a worthwhile endeavour in my opinion.

I've been involved in the world of product innovation and venture building for over fifteen years, and in that time I have observed the importance of frameworks for communicating new ideas. That might seem like an obvious statement, but the reality is that, in the words of Adam Grant, "many promising ideas fail to see the light of day not because they’re wrong, but because their champions fail to persuade the right audience.”

I've had the opportunity to watch and observe as some incredibly smart and creative thinkers have struggled to communicate their venture visions in a way that is compelling and robust. My hypothesis is that this absence of clarity stems from the process of venture building itself. If teams are using the wrong visual tools when answering key venture questions and validating their hypotheses, then it becomes even harder to communicate their venture visions during a pitch with an investor or corporate venture board.

My colleague Rob Majteles has long been promoting the value of visual tools when framing difficult or new concepts. In a methodology we call Impact Framing at Mach49, we establish an impact mindset, and use a specific impact methodology and visual tools to help C-Suites drive the strategic, financial and team impact they want a new venture, or a portfolio of ventures, to create as both a starting point and ongoing discipline around impact.

The goal for Impact Framing is to define, align, and execute scalable and meaningful outcomes and visual tools provide the constraints to drive action and execution – there is limited space, and we can define how that space is used such that priorities are clear – and these constraints can force both creativity and innovation.

According to the Visual Teaching Alliance, of all information transmitted to the brain, 90% is visual — and the brain processes visuals 60,000x faster than reading text. So when venture teams are moving at the speed of light, validating and invalidating hypotheses, it’s important to keep things visual. Over the years, I’ve come to a conclusion: matching geometric frameworks to the core components of a successful venture can help illustrate complex concepts in a simple, intuitive manner. Each geometric shape can represent the fundamental principles and considerations necessary for evaluating or enhancing these core components.

In this series I will share examples of how I have come to this conclusion. I’ll dive into the typical risk buckets associated with venture building and describe which geometric shape tends to be best suited to helping teams learn, de-risk and communicate their visions more effectively. On this journey we will explore:

Product Desirability and the Circle

Product Feasibility and the Triangle

Business Viability and Quadrilaterals

Team Capability and the Pentagon

Mothership Suitability and the Hexagon

So, ready your protractors and prepare to pivot as we start our journey through the geometry of venture building.

Principal Entrepreneur-in-Residence STEVE MCCARTHY has over 15 years of experience helping startups, blue chip companies, and public sector organizations develop products and services that put users first. At Mach49, he blends his expertise in innovation, psychology, design, and marketing to help global businesses disrupt their markets by pursuing customer-centric opportunities for growth.

Steve specializes in storytelling, teaching client teams how to articulate their journeys in succinct, stimulating narratives. He has led multinational teams and projects in the automotive, leisure and hospitality, healthcare, and engineering industries. He holds a BA and MA from Kingston University in London.

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