Andrew Berkowitz (@TheWitzCarlton) is the Head of Product for Tradeversity, a buying-and-selling platform for university students. After gaining experience in a large corporate setting, Andrew has jumped in to startup life, enjoying the struggles along the way. In this conversation, Andrew shares some of the workflows required in a young, small, and nimble company, as well as his experiences testing personal productivity methods and morning routines. Catch up with Andrew on his own show, The Global Startup Movement   Show Notes & Links Andrew is “Head of Product” for Tradeversity Early stage startups require the wearing of many hats  "Design is the question of taking what's in the mind and manifesting them into reality." —Andrew Berkowitz Tweet This Tradeversity is exclusive to higher education students Andrew graduated from Virginia Tech .edu, .ac.uk — educational TLDs Sharepoint, and other internal marketplaces within corporations are rather outdated  "Product Design is more like being an inventor than a designer." —Prescott Perez-Fox Tweet This "The most important aspect of building a product is gaining empathy for users." —Andrew Berkowitz Tweet This Ideo Design Thinking can mean different things 5 elements of D-Thinking: gain empathy → define problem → ideation → prototype → test & iterate Andrew worked at a large bank before joining a startup Scrum Master (in Agile Project Management)  "The speed at which a project is moving is directly proportional to the energy involved." —Prescott Perez-Fox Tweet This "Innovation comes from failure; Having the freedom to fail allows us to innovate." —Andrew Berkowitz Tweet This Ready, Fire, Aim by Michael Masterson on Amazon and on Audible Andrew runs his own podcast, The Global Startup Movement Nootropics, cogntive-enhancing pills Nootrobox Andreessen Horowitz, Venture Capital firm “Sprint Pills” as an alternative to coffee  "The culture and the habits are more important than the tools." —Andrew Berkowitz Tweet This "The tool you use should reflect the system you've set up, and the mindset behind that." —Prescott Perez-Fox Tweet This The 1800 Exercise Tradeversity was launched from a content award — $20k and a year’s worth of office space Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill on Amazon and on Audible Conspiracy, from the Latin conspiratare, meaning “to breathe the same air” Virtually Reality, and opportunities for collaboration Ready Player One by Ernest Cline on Amazon and on Audible "A Virtual Reality device is an empathy machine." —Andrew Berkowitz Tweet This Marie Poulin, not part of the “cult of 5:00am” Entrepreneur on Fire Andreesson Horowitz Podcast The Tim Ferriss Show Amazon Kindle Audible Gadgets have to fit “The Three B’s”: Beach, Bed, Bath Millennials read more than Baby Boomers Amazon opens brick-and-mortar book stores  The Global Startup Movement  Andrew Berkowitz on Twitter  Andrew Berkowitz on Facebook  Andrew Berkowitz on LinkedIn Tools Tradeversity Walletpop Craig’s List Agile Development Whiteboards Trello Nootropics Techniques Understand the emotions of your users. This will bring insight. Employ Design Thinking; bring in real people and get your hands dirty Experiment with “packaged services” From a corporate setting, the thing you can learn most is working with diverse teams The 1800 Exercise: describe how projects get done in the year 1800 (using only parchment & quill)  Habits Keep Trello tidy; not started → in-progress → done Have regular Sprint-planning and Retrospective meetings Wake up around 6:00am for yoga, weightlifting, or running Feed your subsconscious mind until it takes over Try Audible.com Free for 30-Days Visit BusyCreatorBook.com for your free trial Get Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill as a free audiobook  Join the Discussion Leave a comment below to participate in the conversation. SaveSave