Design-driven entrepreneurship - An interview with four designer-founders

Four Irish Designers are blazing a trail in business with a design approach as their competitive advantage. In this article, Martin Ryan and Trevor Vaugh hear from the co-founders of Izzy Wheels, Turbo-spoke and Connect the Dots as they share the story of their early success and the underlying insights driving breakthrough in their markets. With start-up failure rates of up to 90%, it is clear that current approaches to growing new ventures is not delivering sufficient returns. This article introduces a potentially important missing element - Design. While passion, rigour and talent are essential traits in entrepreneurs, the most important success factor is the identification of a real problem and the creativity to navigate it towards success. This is the foundation of a design approach.