OPERATIONALIZING CREATIVE CAPITAL

 
 
 
 

THE TEAM

Platform Lead*
FKTRY Creative Capital Studio

THE CHALLENGE

Creative capital studio, FKTRY, emerged to disrupt the design industry: rather than a fee-for-service exchange that incentivizes near-term client needs with minimal expertise invested, FKTRY exists to harness design leaders across industries as equity-holding partners in early stage start-ups. This model allows for shared ownership and subsequently a much deeper investment in start up product and brand development.

For four years, FKTRY existed but had yet to adequately demonstrate a clear proof of concept with a way of working that tapped into designer expertise easily and efficiently to meet start-up demands on time. The team approached me to serve as an interim Platform Lead, to get the team on rails with straight-forward and agile operations while also managing existing client work.

 
 

THE APPROACH

Needs Assessment: It was critical to do a deep dive across the team to understand the talents, skills, challenges, and needs of each member of the team. Additionally, I arranged for conversations with clients understand how FKTRY was showing up for their clients, and where the strengths and gaps are.

Synthesis: All conversations and interviews were synthesized into a series of priorities that a process must embody to ensure the FKTRY team talent is being utilized fully, clearly, and joyfully, and clients’ needs are met without friction or delay.

Workshop: Lead a 3-day workshop with the FKTRY team to breakdown and co-create a workflow from client intake to handoff. Identified key roles, responsibilities, and tools required to execute successfully.

Relationship-driven Systems Building: Throughout this work, I also managed FKTRY’s existing work which required quick, easy to use and reference work management systems to ensure designers were set up for success, client work was completed on-time, and both clients and designers were held accountable for maintaining clear communication and respecting team member needs.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

THE OUTCOME

Designed a dynamic, sprint-based process utilizing existing FKTRY tech tools that the team can steward clients through. Thoroughly assessed workflow management software through the lens of FKTRY team priorities to recommend the ideal system designed for agile, asynchronous work.

Workflow process has since been utilized on client work with success.