After graduating from Rhode Island School of Design, I had to make a decision – get a job or create my own.
I began by working as a freelance industrial design consultant for other startups, which proved to be invaluable. Because these companies were still small, I was able to learn a lot about how to make a business work from all the different team members. Soon after, I knew what I needed to do.
Yet since that decisive point in 2014 when I started Linkmount Systems, I have experienced and overcome obstacles that I would have never even imagined facing.
Despite my experience, I believe the world is becoming a place where anyone is both allowed and encouraged to innovate. And I further believe Providence is a great place to start a business, with an amazing entrepreneurial community that fosters creativity.
One thing I learned at RISD was that the only way to validate your idea is to build and test your concepts as often as possible. By doing all of the prototyping in-house, I can afford to pursue radical ideas, take risks and fail productively.
As a result, despite being a bootstrapped startup, I decided to make an upfront investment to acquire the tools I needed to rapidly innovate my ideas. With the advent of affordable CNC, 3-D printing and CAD technologies, it has become possible to have incredible building capabilities on top of a desk. I believe having access to these technologies whenever the need for creation strikes is largely responsible for my success so far. •
