Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Matthew Manos. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Matthew, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

As a life-long “weird kid”, I can’t help but be attracted to any place or idea that differs from the industry standard. With my first major project, verynice, the idea was to disrupt the economics of the design services industry. We launched in 2008 as one of the first social enterprises in the industry, dedicating 50% or more of our workload toward pro-bono service while also publishing all of our intellectual property for free download online.

The other project that I’ve been a part of that follows this pattern is the USC Iovine and Young Academy, where I’m an Associate Dean and Associate Professor. Our school believes there is no single subject matter or discipline that can effectively face the complexity of our current world. It’s fundamentally different than the whole of higher ed, and I love it.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I like to approach any project or challenge with as little assumptions as possible. I’m passionate about bringing play to serious conversations; helping organizations actually see all of the endless directions they can go in. I rarely get involved in a project that has an established or pre-determined outcome (that is least interesting to me).

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

In the early days, I would take on any and every project with very little vetting. As a starry-eyed 19 year old, I was naive to the importance of finding the right relationships to lean into. You can always be selective. You don’t have to work with every one.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

verynice launched as a design services company, especially graphic design. Around 2010, when crowdsourcing and template-driven website and collateral building tools became “good enough”, I had a feeling we wouldn’t be able to survive offering those services much longer. We pivoted to strategy. In a future where anything can be generated and created in front of your eyes with little expertise, the most important thing becomes the strategy; the idea; the decision of what to make.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://verynice.co
• Instagram: @veryniceinstagram
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewmanos/
• Other: https://iovine-young.usc.edu/
  https://www.reginald.co/