My Last Day at Bould Design
Hi friends,
Yesterday was my last day at Bould Design.
I started at Bould Design as an intern in 2012 with only the thought that I wanted to practice what I had learned in school.
In the ten years since, I’ve learned more than I ever could have imagined about design, business, and leadership. I’ve worked with great people both on our team and on the client side, all of whom have made every day one filled with creativity, learning, and joy. It has been the formative experience of my career, and one I’m incredibly grateful for, especially given that I made a mistake early on that might have derailed everything.
I’m especially thankful to my friend, mentor, and partner, Fred Bould. Fred saw potential at three critical junctures of my career and invested in me. First as an intern, then as a full-time designer, and again as a business partner. He’s given me more than I could reasonably expect, and whatever success that comes to me in future will be rooted in what I learned from him. I could not have asked for a more generous and giving mentor.
I’m also thankful for our third partner Jeremy, who has been a wonderful partner and a friend over the last decade. I’ve always admired his creativity and kind-natured leadership style. Jeremy has a talent for managing demanding clients and projects with grace, all while keeping our team even-keeled and happy, which are things I’ve strived to learn from.
For the first four years of my time at Bould Design, I focused on honing my craft. I was the third designer there and there were incredible opportunities for learning as we were small, scrappy, but working with some of the most innovative companies in Silicon Valley.
I learned how real technology products were made and worked on many fast-paced paced projects with now household names like Nest, GoPro, and Roku. Everything in school was theoretical. This was real life. Real products. And it was exciting.
The small size of our team meant there were no stratified boundaries based on experience. If you could do it, you would be given the task. I took advantage of this and experienced explosive growth over those years.
After four years, in 2016 Fred asked me and Jeremy to become partners in the studio and grow it together. We were a team of six at the time. We then embarked on perhaps the most difficult, but also most rewarding, design project of all - designing a company together.
In the six years since, we’ve scaled the team to a high point of eighteen people. We moved from an office park in Mountain View to a beautiful, sunny warehouse space in San Mateo. We got through a global pandemic and almost two years of remote work. We’ve continued to work on groundbreaking ideas with great partners and have become one of the best known design studios for shipping beautiful, functional products.
It hasn’t always been easy. Nothing worth doing ever is. But over the past six years, I’ve learned that with strong values, a clear vision, sound strategy, and talented people, anything is possible. Our partnership has also taught me that mutual respect, trust, and open communication are the most important things to growing a successful business together.
As for what’s next. I’m not entirely sure. After a decade of work, I’ll be taking some time off to see friends and family, recharge, and explore my interests to see where my creativity leads me. Of course, I’ll continue to share my thoughts and explorations here.
Thanks for reading.
Anson