Patrick Morgan’s Post

I used to feel embarrassed that I didn't have a "normal" linear career path. Now I'm grateful for the ups, downs, and side steps that brought me here.

Change is my career's only constant. 12 years. 5 reinventions: 1. Liberal arts student → Advertiser 2. Advertiser → Engineer 3. Engineer → Designer 4. Designer → Writer 5. Writer → Founder Each transition earned through hustle. Each step riddled with imposter syndrome. Proof of execution? Abundant. Self-doubt? Persistent. Some see a lack of focus. I see a compounding stack of powerful skills. So follow your curiosity. Bet on yourself. You’re capable of more than you believe. #Career #Reinvention #ImposterSyndrome

I’m drawn to designers who have rocked the “design team of one” role. They’re pragmatic, creating impactful work that thrives in reality, not just in theory. That’s my kind of person. 🙌🏻 — PS. Say hello if you see me at Figma Config!

Good design isn't rocket science but most founders suck at the foundations. Master these five critical design basics to dominate your market: 1️⃣ 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀. Real insights come from real time spent together. 2️⃣ 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗼𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲, 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁. Continuous improvement is a humbling process, but each test brings you closer to product-market fit. 3️⃣ 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘆. Your brand builds recognition and trust in a crowded online market where consumers form opinions within just 17 milliseconds (Google research). 4️⃣ 𝗡𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲. Poor IA frustrates users and kills the utility of objectively useful tools. Make it seamless. 5️⃣ 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆. Flexible, composable approaches prevent future headaches and allow for efficient and strategic growth. Nailing these foundations is challenging but straightforward. Founders get too clever for their own good all the time (guilty as charged 😅). The long and short of it is this: The longer you treat design as a luxury, the more product debt you accumulate. This debt compounds, potentially crushing your product’s potential. Don't let design negligence sink your revolutionary ideas. Start building these foundations today. What foundation do you see violated most often? #StartupAdvice #FounderTips #ProductDesign #UXDesign

From "I can't code" to software engineer at American Express in 6 months. Here's how I rewrote my limiting belief: As a liberal arts grad, I once thought I couldn't be "technical." One bad math class scared me away from programming for years. Sound familiar? We often cap our potential with self-imposed limits. But these "incapabilities" are just stories, not facts. My journey to challenging this belief involved three key steps: 1️⃣ 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿����𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 While still working in advertising, I used Codecademy to start learning programming on nights and weekends. It was 2013, but if it worked for me then, imagine how much easier it is now! 2️⃣ 𝗣𝘂𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗳𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 Learning to code from scratch on my own meant I hit plenty of frustrating roadblocks. I relied on Google and StackOverflow to get by, but today's tools like ChatGPT are game-changers for getting unstuck. Eventually, I realized I needed human support if I wanted to put my learning into hyperdrive and go pro. 3️⃣ 𝗧𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸 I uprooted my life, quitting my job and moving from Chicago to NYC for one of General Assembly's earliest Web Development Immersives. I rented a tiny 6th-floor walk-up sublet, and basically only ate, slept, and coded for the next few months. The payoff? Just 6 months after starting my coding journey, I landed a full-time front-end dev role at American Express after the final showcase. An outcome I couldn't have imagined a year before! 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀: 1. Question your assumptions 2. Your current abilities don't define your potential 3. Start with small, consistent steps 4. Embrace learning discomfort 5. Big changes demand time and calculated bets, but the rewards are worth it What limiting belief will you challenge today? #CareerTransition #OvercomingLimits #TechCareers #ContinuousLearning

🚨 Reality Check: "Founding Designer" ≠ Design Founder Let's cut through the hype and clarify a trend that's inflating design egos in the startup world. Here's the truth about founding designers: 1️⃣ 𝗥𝗼𝗹𝗲: Crucial early employee, NOT a founder 2️⃣ 𝗟𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝘂𝘀: Name on the payroll, NOT on company documents 3️⃣ 𝗘𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝘆: Measured in shares, NOT percentages 4️⃣ 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: Accountable for design direction, NOT company survival 5️⃣ 𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗸: Potential job instability, NOT personal asset exposure 6️⃣ 𝗥𝗲𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱: Likely bonus or modest payout, NOT major windfall Yes, founding designers shape product vision, craft user experiences, and build brand identities. But the "founding" title acknowledges you were there early, not that you took on founder-level responsibility or will see founder-level return on your invested time. It's about timing, not status. 👉 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀: Know your worth, but also understand your position. Don't let inflated titles cloud your judgment or expectations. 👉 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝘀: Be transparent about roles. Respect your early employees without muddying the waters of ownership and control. Let's celebrate the vital role of founding designers without confusing it with actual foundership. Clarity benefits everyone in the long run. Thoughts? Experiences? Share in the comments! 👇 #startups #design #founder

Revolutionary designs often flop. Boring ones get ignored. So what's the key to design success? Enter MAYA. MAYA, or "Most Advanced Yet Acceptable," is a principle coined by industrial design pioneer Raymond Loewy. It's the sweet spot where innovation meets familiarity, and it's been driving market success for decades. As journalist Derek Thompson brilliantly summed it up: "To sell something surprising, make it familiar; and to sell something familiar, make it surprising." 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗠𝗔𝗬𝗔 𝗶𝗻 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻: 1. Assess your product: Is it more familiar or surprising at its core? 2. Use design to shift in the opposite direction until you find balance. ➡️ Surprising product? Incorporate familiar patterns. ➡️ Familiar product? Explore a bolder design direction. 𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿: 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗕𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 - Surprising isn't inherently "good" - Familiar isn't inherently "bad" They're equal and opposite forces – the design equivalent of Newton's third law of motion. 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻: Find the natural balance between familiar and surprising. Encourage their equilibrium. Tend to their inherent tension. Do this, and you're on your way to hitting the MAYA target. The sweet spot where market success awaits. #DesignThinking #ProductDesign #ProductInnovation #UXDesign

Are you doing the work? Or just “playing business”? I have a confession: I'm a master of procrastination - distracting myself with low-impact tasks to trick myself into feeling productive while actively avoiding my highest leverage priorities. It's all too easy to get sidetracked by doing the "right" things at the wrong time. As an employee, this tendency was problematic. But as a founder, it can be lethal to the business. When I'm avoiding critical actions, I fall into rabbit holes like: - Overbuilding project management in Notion - Overcrafting intricate Figma systems - Obsessing over perfect visual designs - Conducting endless research cycles While valuable, there's a right time and scope for these tasks. The temptation to convince yourself you're "doing business" is strong. But it's really just "playing business." These tasks look productive, but they don't directly impact whether your startup survives. Often, they're the wrong things to obsess over in the precarious early days. Prioritizing is hard - it means deliberately postponing important work to laser in on highest leverage activities right now. But it's critical to pinpoint what drives most impact and growth, then ruthlessly execute while avoiding distracting busywork. Have you procrastinated on make-or-break tasks by getting lost in busywork disguised as productivity? How did you overcome the urge to deceive yourself with false busyness? #startups #entrepreneurship #prioritization #focus

Here’s the harsh truth that made me switch from designer to co-founder: 💥 In an ideal world, if I needed to hire for a design role, I wouldn't choose myself. There are design geniuses out there whose skills eclipse my own. My true zone of genius isn’t design itself, but bringing all the pieces together –empowering those geniuses to do their best work. It was tough to take a step away from my design passion. But I realized that by shifting to an entrepreneurial path, I could have an even greater impact. As a founder, I get to lay the foundations and orchestrate the opportunities where world-class designers can truly thrive. Where their brilliant work takes center stage. This transition from maker to multiplier hasn't been easy. It required a personal mindset shift and venturing into the professional unknown. But it's allowed me to grow in ways I couldn't before. To take on new challenges and responsibilities that push me further. I'm still on that journey, but I'm energized by the potential impact. By creating environments optimized for design excellence, I believe I can empower the very best work. Have you gone through a similar career pivot or mindset shift? I'd love to hear your story in the comments!