Shashank Deshpande

Pentathlon Ventures, India

Business of Design

2 PM IST November 07, 2020

Abstract

Design is a very lonely and in many cases, an isolated function of an organization. CxOs or the key decision-makers in an organization rarely understand how to collaborate and extract value from designers. There is a lack of recognition & appreciation in spite of the popular stories of the designers’ contribution to the success of the business. The perception gap on both sides needs to be bridged that could eventually lead to design-centered organizational culture.

The keynote will highlight strategies to create a long-lasting mindset and the cultural change required for the design function to establish and flourish. During my professional career spanning more than 25 years, I have carefully nurtured some of these strategies to influence CxOs & create a lasting impact.

Biography

Shashank is a serial entrepreneur with 28+ years of experience in crafting user-centric digital transformations, with a unique combination of business understanding, technical acumen, and design thinking.

Currently, Managing Partner at Pentathlon Ventures – a  boutique venture capital company helping early-stage technology companies scale their business with expertise, eco-system & capital.

Prior to Pentathlon Ventures, Shashank was the Chief Design Officer – Asia at Globant. He co-founded Clarice Technologies in 2008 – a niche consulting company focused on User-Centered Design and technology development services to product companies. Acquired by Globant Inc. in May 2015.

Prior to Clarice, built & managed a multi-location team of usability consultants for Human Factors International, Veritas/Symantec, and Siemens Information Systems. 

Shashank started his career by setting up a consulting company – Quipus Design that was acqui-hired by Frontier Software/Veritas. A regular speaker at usability conferences and teaches at design schools across India.  Chartered member of TiE & Member of ACM & SIGCHI

Shashank has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters in Industrial Design from National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad.