Describing the ROI of Design

A talk by Ryan Scott, Founder at Accelerate Design

Watch on Leading Design On Demand

More than ever, the value of Design is being questioned by our businesses. As design leaders, if we can’t draw a straight line from our work to business value, our teams face lower rates of investment and higher rates of layoffs. What if we could translate our work into business language, so nothing about what we do gets lost in translation? 

Ryan has worked at tech companies of every shape and size—from seed-stage startups to public corporations. He's faced numerous design-skeptical cultures. As a design leader at Airbnb, he has also seen the magic that happens when execs fundamentally understand design. 

In this talk, Ryan will share key methods to grow design’s impact and influence within orgs that may not already understand and value design.

Ryan Scott

Founder at Accelerate Design

For nearly 20 years, Ryan has run multiple businesses, coached hundreds of designers, and led numerous cross-functional teams to launch some of today’s most recognisable products.

His perspective on design leadership is shaped by his experience in-house at startups of every scale.

As one of the first designers at DoorDash, he reported to one of the company’s co-founders and led multiple 0-to-1 product launches, including live order tracking, mobile group orders, remote driver training, and the company’s food photography program.

At Airbnb, Ryan led multiple cross-functional teams to redesign and rebuild the company’s most business-critical products. His team’s redesigns of the company’s booking flow, messaging platform, search experience, and host calendar elevated Airbnb’s product quality.

Ryan believes business expertise will unlock influence for the next generation of Design leaders. In addition to a BA in graphic design, he earned an MBA from U.C. Berkeley's Haas School of Business, which consistently ranks among the top MBA programs in the world.

Now, Ryan teaches and coaches experienced designers in the business skills necessary to excel at the leadership level.