Suggestions
Andreas Roos
Head of Design Strategy @ Visa | Startup Advisor | MBA | CMgr FCMI
Andreas Roos is a startup advisor specializing in the Bio and Circular Economy at the University of Helsinki. He has a robust background in innovation and design, having worked with major organizations like Google, where he held various roles focused on creative strategy and global innovation. His experience includes leading human-centered design projects and facilitating workshops aimed at enhancing creativity within teams.1
Education and Professional Background
- MBA from Exeter University: Graduated with Distinction, focusing on strategy, leadership, and business data analysis.
- Google: Served in multiple capacities from 2013 to 2018, including roles as Global Innovation Evangelist and working in creative strategy within Google's think tank, the ZOO.
- Founder of Steal The Idea: An idea consulting agency aimed at fostering innovation.
- Co-founder of Malmö Industri: A web agency providing solutions for small to medium enterprises.1
Current Role
In his current position at the University of Helsinki, Roos advises startups that are focused on sustainable practices within the Bio and Circular Economy sectors. His expertise in innovation and design thinking is instrumental in guiding these startups toward effective strategies for growth and sustainability.1
Roos's LinkedIn profile can be found under the username roosandreas, where he shares insights related to design and innovation.2
Highlights
👋 Things I’ve learned from being in Design PT 6: Be the container 📦 Yes, let’s talk about emotions. Working anywhere comes with emotions 😊😢😡. Especially in Design, since there’s craft, dedication and personal preference that comes into play when working on an experience. The idea of being the container is stolen from parenting toddlers 👶 (which is way harder) and relates to the idea of: how are you as a leader the “container” for your children’s (or teams) emotions when it’s hard (or impossible for them) to regulate that themselves or have psychological distance to their work. I find it incredibly important to be respectful of the effort others have poured into an experience 👏, however there might be times where what’s been created isn’t matching the need of the brief 📝. It’s at times like those that it’s very important to consider how you can help to “feel with, not deal with” the emotions of others (and likely your own) that will appear. This comes from something I’ve learned from the most terrible leader that I’ve worked a long long time ago (way before Visa); this person used to critique designs in a way that it became personal and it was wildly unproductive, without taking responsibility for the terrible brief supplied 🙅♀️. So consider how you can praise effort that’s gone into the work and “feel with the team”, while delivering a pivot to what we could try instead of the current execution 🔄. 99% of the time I find that a brief labyrinth of word soup and not enough check-ins with briefing team is what creates mismatch in output. This will not take all emotions out of design work, I’m just saying that it’s ok to acknowledge emotions (feel with), while keeping feedback to how to move the experience to a better place.
Example: “I can see that a lot of hard work and effort has gone into crafting this experience, thank you 🙏, however when I see this now, I wonder if we can try X since I think the brief probably wasn’t clear enough on that we needed Y as an outcome. What do you think?” 🔄
This approach works on all levels and is not only for designers, you just need someone that has psychological distance to the work you do and can help contain your emotions. There’s also something to be said about humour in the workplace, there’s overwhelming evidence of the importance of fun in the workplace 🎉 and the day-to-day interactions. I’ve noticed that sometimes it might feel like we can’t make things fun AND be serious at the same time, which I 100% would like to dispute! There’s a reason why I take great pride in taking serious things playfully and playful things seriously 🧩(more on that later).
In summary, as a design leader, think about how you can be the container and feel with the emotions of others (with authenticity) and give constructive suggestions on how to move forward versus the popular stereotype of the shouty design guru that manages by fear and chaos 😤💥. And don’t forget to make it fun whenever you can! 🥳🎈#Design
👋 Things I’ve learned from being in Design PT 5 🚀 If you’ve missed my previous posts, I’m doing a series of 12 things I think I've learned from being in Design. This is post 5 out of 12. Let's dive in! 🏊♂️
Part 5: Deliberately Design Behaviour, your own and others. 🧠 My first thought-provoking quote of the day is; “Ambition without action is fantasy 🦄”, yet at times we follow predictable patterns as humans and still end up surprised by the predictable outcome produced. Are you surprised that I ate the chocolate 🍫 that was on my kitchen counter? I’m not. It was there, it needed to be eaten. The barrier to eat it was low and now it’s gone forever.
The idea of deliberately designing your own behaviour is about being aware of decision-making context and making sure you deliberately set your everyday up in such a way that the barriers are low for the “easy” decision making it the “right” decision for you. 🎯
This principle also applies in creating experiences for others, what do we want the users to do in an ideal state? Is it “easy” to do so? What biases are at play driving towards or blocking this intent and are there ways we can design around them with a system of interventions? 🧩
The “pro-mode” 💡 is when you really dig into which behavioural biases we can experiment with that might prove valuable to achieving your own or others outcomes.
This is NOT a judgemental post about what you should or shouldn’t be doing in your life. This is about aligning your actions with your intent and making sure that barriers are as low as possible to do the thing that’s “right” for you on a personal level.
Years ago I finished my MBA 🎓 in a 15 minute scheduled daily ritual that helped me to get started. Whatever it is you’re trying to do; from getting off social media 📵 to doing some exercise 🏋️, or just getting some relaxing time in 🧘 - this is a helpful mindset to deliberately design your behaviour for it. So help yourself and your users with ways of getting started towards the goals that are most important to achieve for you. I’m keen to learn from all of yours success stories in the comments! 💬
Next 3 learnings are: 1. Be the container 📦 2. Don’t be the poo in the pool 💩 3. Your identity should NOT be your job 🚫👔
#Design #DesignStrategy #Experience #DeliberatelyDesignBehaviour #Goals #Rituals #Achievement #AmbitionWithoutActionIsFantasy #BehaviouralDesign #Biases
People also viewed
Related People
Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.