We recently spoke with Ty Hagler, Principal of Trig. Trig is an award-winning design firm that serves the consumer, healthcare, and durable goods market. They offer comprehensive insight into commercialization services for startups, midsize, and Fortune 500 companies. 

“If you boil it down, we teach and do the emerging discipline of design thinking,” said Ty. 

Ty’s role as a CEO is largely to guide clients through the process of product design and to set up his team for success so that they can create products that make an impact. 

He’s also found that there is a great need for training in the innovation space. “Most people that start down the innovation/entrepreneurship journey have no idea what they’re doing or what to expect,” he said. 

How you run your business is just as important as what you do, because if you don’t do that well, your product or service probably isn’t going to do well. 

Everything that Trig does is innovation—and that comes with a certain risk: No two projects or clients are the same, which can make it difficult to apply a one-size-fits-all approach to their work. But having successful procedures for things such as client onboarding or project management help ensure a successful outcome. 

For Trig, it’s important that each unique client receives a consistent experience—no matter what their design needs are. To ensure this, each of their engagements has a specific framework. Putting a framework around the process allows the team to be creative and also results in a great outcome for the team and client.  

An example of that framework can be seen in their concept cycles. They start with rough concepts, gain feedback, iterate on that concept, gain more feedback, and test it in the market. Then they build a prototype based on what they learned. “42% of all startups fail because they get product market fit wrong…they didn’t ask the customer what they wanted,” Ty said. 

Ty and his team of four all have industrial design backgrounds. They work fully virtually across the country and have been thankful for the addition of WBN Remote Professional Pablo who works as a project manager so that they can focus on designing new products. Pablo’s experience in graphic design and working with small businesses have allowed him to fold into the team seamlessly.

“The mantra I have…is don’t scale chaos,” said Ty. “So, [Pablo] helps us to make sure that everything is buttoned down and in order and some of the basics of the business are handled which has enabled us to…spend less time working in the business and, me personally, spend more time working on the business and looking ahead…making sure we’re attracting the right talent, that the strategy we’re putting in place we continue to execute on versus getting caught up in the day-to-day.”Watch the full discussion on the importance of strategy in the innovation space here.