As your business grows, your design function should grow with it. At each stage of growth, different design functions make sense.
Let’s look at common stages companies move through as they grow their design function.
Stage 1: No design
Idea stage
Most companies start here, especially if they don’t have a design founder.
Design is increasingly becoming important at early stages for companies who need to build consumer brands and strategically prioritize features. However, companies with an unproven technology or non-product related risk might do well to skip design in the earliest days after founding.
- Design is not an internal capability of the company
