Taking action on a business strategy is something many people struggle with. Jennifer Riel, IDEO’s global director of strategy, shares how to know when you’re ready to put your strategy into action, three design tasks required to do so, and examples and tips to help you get started.

As a venture capital investor at Collaborative Fund and Kindred Ventures, Kanyi Maqubela has invested in dozens of companies—including Lyft, Kickstarter, Beyond Meat, and Blue Bottle Coffee—and evaluated hundreds more. He seeks out founders and businesses that are not only addressing a market need, but have the potential to reinvent our future. In this episode of our Creative Confidence Podcast, he shares the elements he looks for to signal a strong business idea, an impactful leader, and a collaborative team.

Sheryl O’Loughlin says there’s a dark side to entrepreneurship, but it’s possible to run a startup in a healthy, joyful way. In this conversation, we dive into Sheryl’s vast experience as a CEO, founder, mentor, and advisor to pull out key lessons she’s learned at critical moments in her career. Walk away with tips for launching and growing a successful business while maintaining a fulfilled life.

In this episode of our Creative Confidence Series, Joe Gerber, Managing Director of IDEO’s CoLab, talks about how to connect the dots between a vision of the future and a business that can make that vision a reality. Joe shares how the team at CoLab are using design fiction and cross-organizational stakeholder collaboration to uncover meaningful innovation and launch new ventures in the world of emerging technology, the Circular Economy, and more.

In this episode of our Creative Confidence Series, IDEO U Dean Suzanne Gibbs Howard speaks with Mighty Networks CEO and Founder Gina Bianchini about how to launch and lead a business when the future of that business is yet to be defined. Gina shares the story of how she spotted the market opportunity for Mighty Networks, built the business through experimentation and co-creation with the community, and continues to lead her team to push the boundaries of innovation.

At IDEO, we believe that you can design the parts of a business just like you can any product, service, or brand. As Amy points out, it’s about realizing that it’s not just product design that makes a company successful in the market—it’s about the business model, the revenue model, the operations, the strategy, and even the IT. It’s about blending the rigor of traditional business strategies and tools with design, all in the service of meeting a human need.

One of the most important concepts in The Lean Startup, though, doesn’t fit on a sticker or a shirt. It’s not particularly catchy, involves a lot of math, and is about accounting.