How to Amplify Your Impact: FYSO Interview with Aly Khalifa, the Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Designbox

January 23, 2022

There are many ways can people give back to their community.

Some dedicate their time. Others dedicate money. Many do a combination of both.

For Aly Khalifa (Ah-Lee Kah-lee-fah), he found a way to give back through creating and developing innovative businesses and services…

...and doing that over-and-over again.

Aly is the Co-Founder and CIO (Chief Innovation Officer) of Designbox, an innovation organization whose purpose is to turn ideas into impactful products and experiences which positively impact the surrounding communities.

Aly is not only an innovative entrepreneur who is focused on positive impact but also a mechanical engineer and product designer with over 20 years of experience in global product manufacturing.

It’s safe to say that Aly is an expert in the world of mission-driven businesses.

The 2021 FYSO Accelerator cohort was fortunate enough to sit down with Aly to hear about his experiences and ask him questions about mission-driven entrepreneurship and using business as a force for good.

We highly recommend that you listen to the full conversation, but if you don’t have time to watch it, here are the four main pieces of advice that he gave:

Don’t put yourself into a box

Trained as both a mechanical engineer and an industrial designer, Aly often did not know where one ended and the other began. Shortly after he started his entrepreneurial journey, he noticed an internal pressure to impose certain restrictions on himself.

He felt that he needed to “put himself into a box” and follow a linear career path.

It’s a mindset many people carry and is routinely given out as “advice:”

Recognize what industry you want to be in, commit to it, and find higher levels within it.

Although that’s great advice for some people, it wasn’t a path that Aly wanted to follow.

He decided there was no need to draw a hard line between engineering and design. If he’s skilled at both, why not find a way to “weld” them together?

He discovered the importance of creating a blended innovative entrepreneurial identity, where all of his skills could be under the same umbrella, and it’s at this intersection where many of his greatest ideas have been birthed.

He became a unique type of entrepreneur. One that made him stand out within his industry and piqued people’s interest in working with him.

Aly explained that the most rewarding client experiences have come from those looking for an out-of-the-box entrepreneur who didn’t neatly fit one mold.

Ultimately, there is no one way of doing things and no single way to be an entrepreneur.

“Make the boxes fit inside you, not the other way around,” said Khalifa.

Amplify your impact through collaboration

Aly emphasized to the FYSO cohort the importance of a strong network that you can tap into and learn from.

When you’re working to embark on a new mission-driven project, it’s important to recognize entrepreneurs and organizations who have gone before you, to partner with them (when possible), and learn from their achievements.

Along with potentially attracting investment and increased business, this “homage”is also a sign of respect within businesses that is often appreciated but seldom done. Additionally, it can also lead to lucrative partnerships with businesses that may not have thought about working with you or previously been interested in doing so.

Too often businesses claim their service or product as “original,” without recognizing (at least publicly) that a lot of the inspiration comes from a previous product or service. Along with unoriginality that can be picked up from more savvy audience members, this can also lead to frustration from “those that came before you” within your industry.

For example, when Aly was working on SparkCon he deliberately engaged with many of the existing creative organizations to collaborate on developing the event. He knew creating a brand new event would be a waste of time — for him and his prospective audience.

Why?

There were already many professionals and organizations within the community that were brilliant within their field. Why try to do everything himself, when instead he could leverage the expertise of others in the community?

This did two things:

It exposed people to different perspectives within a field.

If you couldn’t already tell, Aly isn’t one to “fit inside a box” and stay in it. He likes to move and expand, and part of that is learning from different people and perspectives. By asking other professionals and organizations to participate in SparkCon, attendees had the opportunity to hear different points of view, which only amplified the learning value.

It was also a nod of appreciation

Aly often mentioned or alluded to the idea of “knowledge sharing” and the benefits that come from it. While the benefits may seem obvious at first — learning from more seasoned professionals within your industry and connecting with more people — the focal point wasn’t solely on that. Instead, Aly focused on the “feelings” people get when you reference their work and give credit to them.

This “nod of appreciation” is a powerful tool that can not only open new opportunities for business, but also generate impactful partnerships with mentors or perceived competitors you couldn’t previously imagine working with.

Constantly optimize and improve

As an innovator and entrepreneur, Aly discussed the unique challenge of constantly having to strike a balance between creative work and operations.

Left brain versus right brain.

Aly described creativity as somewhat of a blessing and a curse:

You are always full of new ideas, but this makes it difficult to be satisfied, as you know things can always be improved upon.

However, in order to run a successful organization, you must be both a visionary as well as an executor.

One cannot succeed without the other.

And if you lack time or a certain trait, make sure to find someone to support you where you lack.

He specifically discussed his unique challenge of designing a product, and then having to design the factory to create the product and make it sustainable. This experience allowed him to wear both his design and engineering hats, as he had to blend beauty with functionality and sustainability.

Striking a balance between creativity, dreaming big, operations, and execution does not mean that creativity should be stifled.

It is always important to always ask yourself “how could I make this better?”

It is this very thought that led Aly to some of his more impressive achievements:

SPARKcon: one of the nation's largest open-source creative festivals.

Gamila: a line of sustainable gourmet beverage makers that was sold to Seventh Generation/Unilever.

Oceanworks: a marketplace that repurposes ocean plastic for the circular economy.

A proper framework is crucial to understanding what you’re trying to build

One of Aly’s most important pieces of advice for mission-driven entrepreneurs is to always develop a proper framework in order to understand all of the impacts from what you’re trying to build.

Often, businesses will focus on the end goal, without considering the necessary steps they need to take in order to reach it.

For example, a mission-driven organization that sets out to clean up the garbage in the ocean may go about it in a way that requires so much machinery that they end up polluting the air. Although they had good intentions and contributed to their mission, that came at the cost of worsening a different issue.

Aly explained this dilemma as “doing less bad is very different from doing good.”

Without a comprehensive framework for making decisions and considering other issues related to achieving the mission, entrepreneurs can easily become confused about how best to achieve their goals where everyone and everything “wins.”

It can lead to paralyzation and inaction, which is a common barrier for many entrepreneurs.

Creating a framework does not rely on a single tool or define success in a singular way. Rather, it is important for entrepreneurs to understand that there is no perfect solution and that success should be understood comprehensively in terms of broader global contexts.

Entrepreneurship, particularly mission-driven entrepreneurship, is often more complex than we think. It is important to establish a proper framework for a mission-driven business in order to build a strong sustainable business model that will be a force for good.

We want to thank Aly for being so gracious with his time! Our cohort — as well as Kayleigh and Christina — learned so much from his story.

His advice is gold for any entrepreneur learning to get their business start, and we hope you get the same level of value.

If you have time — whether it be during a drive to work or doing some laundry — we highly recommend listening to our full conversation with Aly! We’re sure you’re bound to find some “nuggets” hidden within all of the amazing things he had to share.