I’m Jake Knapp, Design Partner at GV (Google Ventures) and This Is How I Work
If you don’t follow the day-to-day operations of Silicon Valley, you may not realize that Google is not just acquiring startups – they are also heavily involved in venture capital investments. GV is the venture capital arm of Alphabet Inc., which has invested more than $ 2 billion in promising companies since its inception.
Jake Knapp is a design partner at GV and is behind their sprint process — a method of bringing an abstract idea to testing in just five days. He has worked with startups like Slack and Nest and has written a book (along with fellow partners Braden Kovitz and John Zeratsky) about their formula for success, aptly named Sprint . So how do Jake and his team bite off more than they can chew without making major mistakes? We spoke with Jake to find out a little about how he works.
Location: San Francisco. Current employment: Design Partner at GV (formerly Google Ventures). Posted by Sprint . One word that best describes the way you work: sprints! Current mobile device: iPhone 6 Current computer: When I’m going to do a lot, I use the MacBook Pro 15 because I like the big screen. I also have a MacBook that I take when I need to take my computer very far because I’m a weakling.
What apps, software or tools can’t you live without? Why?
Undaunted stationery so I don’t get too expensive:
- Papermate Flair Handles: Line thin but not too thin. They are cheap. They look perfectly legal, but not in trendy pants.
- Plain white carbon paper
- Plain yellow stickers
- Hotel notepads: This is the least intimidating kind of paper. Nobody expects anything worthwhile to be written on a hotel notebook, so you are playing with home money.
- Boards : as large a surface area as possible.
How is your workplace arranged?
At home, I paint in this poorly lit, low-ceilinged studio that is connected to my garage. I can’t show you a photo of him – it’s very depressing.
But at the GV office, I do most of my work in this awesome sprint room. In fact, this is a conference room without a table and with large boards. I can show you this. It makes me seem so much cooler.
What’s your best time-saving shortcut or life hack?
On my iPhone, I turned off email and Safari, deleted Facebook, Twitter and everything else with an endless stream of cool stuff. I’ve been doing this for a while , and while it doesn’t work very well on my concentration or self-control, it’s very effective.
What’s your favorite to-do list manager?
I use a system called “one big thing” created by my friend and co-author John Zeratsky . No matter what my to-do list is for the day (I alternate between paper and nice and simple reminders from Apple), I only have to choose one big to-do for the whole day. This is another trick that keeps me focused – and a continuation of what we do in sprints where we only focus on one project for a whole week.
What device, besides a phone and a computer, can you not live without and why?
Time timer. This is a nice simple timer originally designed for school children. In sprints, I use them to “limit the time” of our activities. When I write, I use it for mostly the same purposes. He transforms the abstract idea of time into something concrete and visible – this is priceless.
Are you always working on something? Or when you finish a project, do you take the time to let your mind wander without worrying about what comes next?
I have so many projects that I want to do. The next thing is always ready to go – even before I’m done with the current one.
What are some of your best everyday activities? What’s your secret?
It was a really discouraging question because when I went through everything that I’m good at, I’m pretty sure I’m not the best in the world at any of them. Somewhere there is a guy who is now drawing on the board, just waiting for me to teach.
What do you listen to while you work?
I listen to music to break the ice and get started, then turn it off. Each work has its own soundtrack, and it should be an album that I have heard a million times, so I will not pay too much attention. For writing Sprint, I listened to Tame Impala . For illustrative purposes, it was built to spill . For my horrible top secret fantasy project, this is the M83 . And in the sprint, when we sketch, this is the “Blue Rondo à la Turks ” by Dave Brubeck’s quartet.
What are you reading now?
Now that you mentioned it, I think I have half-read a bunch of books. The Chronicles of a Clockwork Bird by Haruki Murakami, Confessions of a Public Speaker by Scott Burkun, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Suzanne Clarke, Deep Work by Cal Newport … I really need to do something and finish.
How do you replenish?
He played trains with his little son or went to school with his big son.
What is your sleep pattern? Are you a night owl or get up early?
Night time is a great time for me to work. I like silence. My trick is a vacation timer that you use to turn on the lights in the evening to make it look like someone’s house. I connect my router to one of them and turn off the internet at 21:30. Then, instead of getting hung up on reading the Seahawks news, I’ll write something.
Fill in the blank: I would like _________ to answer these same questions.
J.K. Rowling. I mean, she knows how to do things under pressure.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
My dad said, “Find a way to enjoy your job because you will spend most of your life doing it.” More importantly, he and my mom did it – so they showed me that it was possible.
What else would you like to add that might be of interest to readers and fans?
I am very tall (for example, strangely tall), and if you see me in real life and want to comment on how tall I am, you should feel free. I really don’t mind at all.