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Welcome to the multiverse: Are you game?

As a current or future founder destined to launch a successful company, you’re entering the entrepreneur’s universe. This universe is a complex system, shaped by the market, customer desires and frustrations, revenue models, scenario–planning, stakeholders, and more–and you’ll need a keen sense of self-awareness, conviction and a strong vision to navigate this galaxy of opportunity.

As a current or future founder destined to launch a successful company, you’re entering the entrepreneur’s universe.

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Where we begin
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About the book

Design tools for entrepreneurs

This book is your comprehensive guide to launching a company using design-driven strategies to amplify your success from idea to scale. Featuring practical methods, frameworks, and case studies from other like-minded founders who’ve found success on their entrepreneurial journey, Starting Up in the Multiverse is your essential guide for navigating through our changing world towards better futures, integrating the core tools every entrepreneur needs to succeed. 

 

Across the globe, we are in a paradigm shift towards values-driven businesses with financial success. This pursuit of profit and purpose is being led by a new wave of entrepreneurs like yourself––those full of life, vision and conviction to challenge the status quo of extractive business models in favor of generative value.

 

Authored by a multidisciplinary team of design strategists, researchers, business leaders and entrepreneurs, this book will equip you to practice strategic design as a mindset: frame problems, apply methods, identify opportunities, and develop tailored solutions through futures and systems thinking. If you’re ready to journey to a place where ideas for products, services, and experiences can transform how we live and work, this guide is for you: the Next Generation Entrepreneur.

our approach

WELCOME TO the 4 Dimensions of
design-driven entrepreneurship

The guide navigates four systems that acknowledge context, establish a mindset for leadership, provide design methods for company-building, and instruct how to maintain design-innovation as you scale. Read chronologically for first-time founders, or jump between systems to reference key resources as you build.

MISSION

Why multiverse?
Why design? What’s a designerly mindset?

MIND

Why does mission matter? How do I shape mine?

Method

How do I build a company with design? What tools will serve me?

MULTIPLICITY

How do I enable success as we grow?  How might I shape our future as a company?

Authors

Rhea Alexander
Director, Parsons ELab
Faculty, Parsons School of Design

Rhea is an educator, designer + serial entrepreneur passionate about sustainable innovation and positive change for people and our planet. She’s founded several impact ventures, a founder and director of the Parsons Elab and cofounder of a consulting cooperative, author, and startup advisor.

Rhea's Toolkit

Ecosystem Analysis
Ethnography
Business Models
Business Models
Visual Synthesis
Prototyping
Joseph Press
Futures Advisor, Institute of the Future

Joseph is a futurist + educator driven by a passion for co-creating more sustainable practices. He’s cofounded a consulting cooperative, co-authored books, and advises companies on transformation.

Joseph's Toolkit

STEEP
Design Futures
Storymaking
Neuroscience
Mindfulness
Rose Pember
Co-CEO + Founder, Hodge, Inc.

Rose is a designer + educator led by curiosity on a path that’s been formed through entrepreneurship. She’s founded a strategic design studio, a food waste recycling company and advises startups on product-market fit through launch.

Rose's Toolkit

Storytelling
Ethnography
Social Prescensing
Journey Mapping
Brainstorming
Kiely Sweatt
Director of Storytelling, Oracle

Kiely is an educator, strategist + coach with a passion for helping people find meaning in what they do and build creative solutions people actually need. She’s co founded two non profits, and consults companies on culture change and transformation through design led practices.

Kiely's Toolkit

Sharpie In-Hand
Causal Loops
Qual Research
Ethnography
System Mapping
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Rhea Alexander
Rhea Alexander
Joseph Press
Joseph Press
Rose Pember
Rose Pember
Kiely Sweatt
Kiely Sweatt

Fellows

12 Founders, 10 Companies, 8 YEARs

At the ELab, our Fellow entrepreneurs have used design-driven strategies to launch their businesses from Day 1, incubated through the lab. From new agency models, iterative nonprofits, to social platform communities, the startups built by the Parsons ELab fellows provide you with unfiltered, real case-studies in the guide of what strategic design looks like along the startup journey, showcasing what building a company can look and feel like from the ground up.

What’s the ELAB? The Parsons ELab is a design-led research lab dedicated to innovation and entrepreneurship. The incubator program offers fellows design-driven methods to successfully test their ideas, find product-market fit, and take their offerings to market and scale. Check them out!

Unfold Alfie
PMDA: Sarah
Jeff
Sharouz
Mark
Yijia
Zi
Read more about the elab >

Strategy Canvas

Strategy Canvas Image

Download one of our chapter tools to kick off your company-building.

Stay Updated

Get Involved
Request a Workshop
Check out the Parsons ELab
Buy the Book
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© 2023 A Design-Driven Guide to Entrepreneurs, 

Part A: Welcome to the Startup Multiverse
Mission
Why multiverse? Why design? What’s a designerly mindset?

This dimension focuses on design strategies and stories leveraging the 5 phases of Strategic Design to develop both the business model and the business culture needed to thrive in uncertainty. Like gamma rays, strategic design is like electromagnetic energy. However it can be lethal if overused - be careful not to fall in love with the process or your original idea.
Part B: Dimensions of Mind
Mind
Why does mission matter? How do I shape mine?

We frame the individual, team, and organizational mindsets required to approach growing a business in a VUCA (volatile uncertain complex and ambiguous) world. In this section, we’ll name and practice what a designerly mind requires. We’ll walk through how and why to achieve a coherent, aware understanding of what you bring to the world (mindset), how this infiltrates your business organization and culture (mission and vision), and how to carry this influence with your stakeholders into your greater ecosystem (journey).
Part C: Dimensions of Making
Method
How do I build a company with design? What tools will serve me?

This dimension focuses on design strategies and stories leveraging the 5 phases of Strategic Design to develop both the business model and the business culture needed to thrive in uncertainty. Like gamma rays, strategic design is like electromagnetic energy. However it can be lethal if overused - be careful not to fall in love with the process or your original idea.
Part D: Dimensions of Multiplicity
Multiplicity
How do I enable success as we grow? How might I shape our futurer?

The final dimension is about maintaining the methods in long-term practice at a potential scale in organizations. We reveal the ways to make a difference, to cultivate change rather than impose it.
Previous
Next
Part B: Dimensions of Mind
MIND
Why does mission matter? How do I shape mine?

We frame the individual, team, and organizational mindsets required to approach growing a business in a VUCA (volatile uncertain complex and ambiguous) world. In this section, we’ll name and practice what a designerly mind requires. We’ll walk through how and why to achieve a coherent, aware understanding of what you bring to the world (mindset), how this infiltrates your business organization and culture (mission and vision), and how to carry this influence with your stakeholders into your greater ecosystem (journey).
Part C: Dimensions of Making
Method
How do I build a company with design? What tools will serve me?

This dimension focuses on design strategies and stories leveraging the 5 phases of Strategic Design to develop both the business model and the business culture needed to thrive in uncertainty. Like gamma rays, strategic design is like electromagnetic energy. However it can be lethal if overused - be careful not to fall in love with the process or your original idea.
Part D: Dimensions of Multiplicity
Multiplicity
How do I enable success as we grow? How might I shape our futurer?

The final dimension is about maintaining the methods in long-term practice at a potential scale in organizations. We reveal the ways to make a difference, to cultivate change rather than impose it.
Part A: Welcome to the Startup Multiverse
Mission
Why multiverse? Why design? What’s a designerly mindset?

This dimension focuses on design strategies and stories leveraging the 5 phases of Strategic Design to develop both the business model and the business culture needed to thrive in uncertainty. Like gamma rays, strategic design is like electromagnetic energy. However it can be lethal if overused - be careful not to fall in love with the process or your original idea.
Previous
Next
Part C: Dimensions of Making
Method
How do I build a company with design? What tools will serve me?

This dimension focuses on design strategies and stories leveraging the 5 phases of Strategic Design to develop both the business model and the business culture needed to thrive in uncertainty. Like gamma rays, strategic design is like electromagnetic energy. However it can be lethal if overused - be careful not to fall in love with the process or your original idea.
Part D: Dimensions of Multiplicity
Multiplicity
How do I enable success as we grow? How might I shape our futurer?

The final dimension is about maintaining the methods in long-term practice at a potential scale in organizations. We reveal the ways to make a difference, to cultivate change rather than impose it.
Part A: Welcome to the Startup Multiverse
Mission
Why multiverse? Why design? What’s a designerly mindset?

This dimension focuses on design strategies and stories leveraging the 5 phases of Strategic Design to develop both the business model and the business culture needed to thrive in uncertainty. Like gamma rays, strategic design is like electromagnetic energy. However it can be lethal if overused - be careful not to fall in love with the process or your original idea.
Part B: Dimensions of Mind
Mind
Why does mission matter? How do I shape mine?

We frame the individual, team, and organizational mindsets required to approach growing a business in a VUCA (volatile uncertain complex and ambiguous) world. In this section, we’ll name and practice what a designerly mind requires. We’ll walk through how and why to achieve a coherent, aware understanding of what you bring to the world (mindset), how this infiltrates your business organization and culture (mission and vision), and how to carry this influence with your stakeholders into your greater ecosystem (journey).
Previous
Next
Part D: Dimensions of Multiplicity
Multiplicity
How do I enable success as we grow? How might I shape our futurer?

The final dimension is about maintaining the methods in long-term practice at a potential scale in organizations. We reveal the ways to make a difference, to cultivate change rather than impose it.
Part A: Welcome to the Startup Multiverse
Mission
Why multiverse? Why design? What’s a designerly mindset?

This dimension focuses on design strategies and stories leveraging the 5 phases of Strategic Design to develop both the business model and the business culture needed to thrive in uncertainty. Like gamma rays, strategic design is like electromagnetic energy. However it can be lethal if overused - be careful not to fall in love with the process or your original idea.
Part B: Dimensions of Mind
Mind
Why does mission matter? How do I shape mine?

We frame the individual, team, and organizational mindsets required to approach growing a business in a VUCA (volatile uncertain complex and ambiguous) world. In this section, we’ll name and practice what a designerly mind requires. We’ll walk through how and why to achieve a coherent, aware understanding of what you bring to the world (mindset), how this infiltrates your business organization and culture (mission and vision), and how to carry this influence with your stakeholders into your greater ecosystem (journey).
Part C: Dimensions of Making
Method
How do I build a company with design? What tools will serve me?

This dimension focuses on design strategies and stories leveraging the 5 phases of Strategic Design to develop both the business model and the business culture needed to thrive in uncertainty. Like gamma rays, strategic design is like electromagnetic energy. However it can be lethal if overused - be careful not to fall in love with the process or your original idea.
Previous
Next

The 4 Dimensions of
Design-Driven Entrepreneurship

System Meta: Dimensions of Multiplicity Traveling across the Multiverse
4 Dimensions Spiral
How do I enable success as we grow? How do we remain innovative as we scale?
The final dimension is about maintaining the methods in long-term practice at a potential scale in organizations. We reveal the ways to make a difference, to cultivate change rather than impose it.
SYSTEM ALPHA: Welcome to the Startup Multiverse
4 Dimensions Spiral
Why multiverse? Why design? Why a better future?
You’re entering the entrepreneur's universe, so you’ll need to learn how to navigate this galaxy of opportunity like you would any new environment or system. We begin with context, and the driving why: why you, why now, and why design. We’ll give you some backstory on the methodology and the world you’re entering–so prepare to build a vision for your future, your company, and your own driving why.
System Psi: Dimensions of Mind: Presencing in the Multiverse
4 Dimensions Spiral
What’s needed as an entrepreneur? What’s the foundation for a successful journey?
We frame the individual, team, and organizational mindsets required to approach growing a business in a VUCA (volatile uncertain complex and ambiguous) world. In this section, we’ll name and practice what a designerly mind requires. We’ll walk through how and why to achieve a coherent, aware understanding of what you bring to the world (mindset), how this infiltrates your business organization and culture (mission and vision), and how to carry this influence with your stakeholders into your greater ecosystem (journey).
System Delta: Dimensions of Making: Worldbuilding in the Multiverse
4 Dimensions Spiral
How do I build? What tools can serve me?
This dimension focuses on design strategies and stories leveraging the 5 phases of Strategic Design to develop both the business model and the business culture needed to thrive in uncertainty. Like gamma rays, strategic design is like electromagnetic energy. However it can be lethal if overused - be careful not to fall in love with the process or your original idea.
Previous
Next

The 4 Dimensions of
Design-Driven Entrepreneurship

System Delta: Dimensions of Making: Worldbuilding in the Multiverse
4 Dimensions Spiral
How do I build? What tools can serve me?
This dimension focuses on design strategies and stories leveraging the 5 phases of Strategic Design to develop both the business model and the business culture needed to thrive in uncertainty. Like gamma rays, strategic design is like electromagnetic energy. However it can be lethal if overused - be careful not to fall in love with the process or your original idea.
System Meta: Dimensions of Multiplicity Traveling across the Multiverse
4 Dimensions Spiral
How do I enable success as we grow? How do we remain innovative as we scale?
The final dimension is about maintaining the methods in long-term practice at a potential scale in organizations. We reveal the ways to make a difference, to cultivate change rather than impose it.
SYSTEM ALPHA: Welcome to the Startup Multiverse
4 Dimensions Spiral
Why multiverse? Why design? Why a better future?
You’re entering the entrepreneur's universe, so you’ll need to learn how to navigate this galaxy of opportunity like you would any new environment or system. We begin with context, and the driving why: why you, why now, and why design. We’ll give you some backstory on the methodology and the world you’re entering–so prepare to build a vision for your future, your company, and your own driving why.
System Psi: Dimensions of Mind: Presencing in the Multiverse
4 Dimensions Spiral
What’s needed as an entrepreneur? What’s the foundation for a successful journey?
We frame the individual, team, and organizational mindsets required to approach growing a business in a VUCA (volatile uncertain complex and ambiguous) world. In this section, we’ll name and practice what a designerly mind requires. We’ll walk through how and why to achieve a coherent, aware understanding of what you bring to the world (mindset), how this infiltrates your business organization and culture (mission and vision), and how to carry this influence with your stakeholders into your greater ecosystem (journey).
Previous
Next

The 4 Dimensions of
Design-Driven Entrepreneurship

System Psi: Dimensions of Mind: Presencing in the Multiverse
4 Dimensions Spiral
What’s needed as an entrepreneur? What’s the foundation for a successful journey?
We frame the individual, team, and organizational mindsets required to approach growing a business in a VUCA (volatile uncertain complex and ambiguous) world. In this section, we’ll name and practice what a designerly mind requires. We’ll walk through how and why to achieve a coherent, aware understanding of what you bring to the world (mindset), how this infiltrates your business organization and culture (mission and vision), and how to carry this influence with your stakeholders into your greater ecosystem (journey).
System Delta: Dimensions of Making: Worldbuilding in the Multiverse
4 Dimensions Spiral
How do I build? What tools can serve me?
This dimension focuses on design strategies and stories leveraging the 5 phases of Strategic Design to develop both the business model and the business culture needed to thrive in uncertainty. Like gamma rays, strategic design is like electromagnetic energy. However it can be lethal if overused - be careful not to fall in love with the process or your original idea.
System Meta: Dimensions of Multiplicity Traveling across the Multiverse
4 Dimensions Spiral
How do I enable success as we grow? How do we remain innovative as we scale?
The final dimension is about maintaining the methods in long-term practice at a potential scale in organizations. We reveal the ways to make a difference, to cultivate change rather than impose it.
SYSTEM ALPHA: Welcome to the Startup Multiverse
4 Dimensions Spiral
Why multiverse? Why design? Why a better future?
You’re entering the entrepreneur's universe, so you’ll need to learn how to navigate this galaxy of opportunity like you would any new environment or system. We begin with context, and the driving why: why you, why now, and why design. We’ll give you some backstory on the methodology and the world you’re entering–so prepare to build a vision for your future, your company, and your own driving why.
Previous
Next

The 4 Dimensions of
Design-Driven Entrepreneurship

SYSTEM ALPHA: Welcome to the Startup Multiverse
4 Dimensions Spiral
Why multiverse? Why design? Why a better future?
You’re entering the entrepreneur's universe, so you’ll need to learn how to navigate this galaxy of opportunity like you would any new environment or system. We begin with context, and the driving why: why you, why now, and why design. We’ll give you some backstory on the methodology and the world you’re entering–so prepare to build a vision for your future, your company, and your own driving why.
System Psi: Dimensions of Mind: Presencing in the Multiverse
4 Dimensions Spiral
What’s needed as an entrepreneur? What’s the foundation for a successful journey?
We frame the individual, team, and organizational mindsets required to approach growing a business in a VUCA (volatile uncertain complex and ambiguous) world. In this section, we’ll name and practice what a designerly mind requires. We’ll walk through how and why to achieve a coherent, aware understanding of what you bring to the world (mindset), how this infiltrates your business organization and culture (mission and vision), and how to carry this influence with your stakeholders into your greater ecosystem (journey).
System Delta: Dimensions of Making: Worldbuilding in the Multiverse
4 Dimensions Spiral
How do I build? What tools can serve me?
This dimension focuses on design strategies and stories leveraging the 5 phases of Strategic Design to develop both the business model and the business culture needed to thrive in uncertainty. Like gamma rays, strategic design is like electromagnetic energy. However it can be lethal if overused - be careful not to fall in love with the process or your original idea.
System Meta: Dimensions of Multiplicity Traveling across the Multiverse
4 Dimensions Spiral
How do I enable success as we grow? How do we remain innovative as we scale?
The final dimension is about maintaining the methods in long-term practice at a potential scale in organizations. We reveal the ways to make a difference, to cultivate change rather than impose it.
Previous
Next