Adam Fard: The young entrepreneur whose company specialises in designing products for FinTech, SaaS and offering complex enterprise solutions

Adam Fard, CEO and Founder of AdamFard UX Studio, talks exclusively to Dimitra Triantafyllaki and emeastartups about his steps as a young entrepreneur, the difficulties he has faced so far, the success and the future plans.

emeastartups: How did you start the company? What gave you the boost and the motivation to establish it?

Adam Fard: I transitioned from a regular UX job, to be a remote freelancer in 2016. While I was collaborating with billion dollar companies, recently funded Startups and established agencies I noticed their low UX maturity and decided to start my own agency with a team of designers to offer something innovative and different to the market.

emeastartups: What does the company offer to the market? How does it stand out? Can you tell us some details about your work?

Adam Fard: AdamFard UX Studio is a UX and UI design studio that specialises in designing products for FinTech, SaaS and complex enterprise solutions. We pride ourselves on helping businesses boost their perceived value and increase their revenue as well as their customer retention through our user interface and experience expertise. In-depth research with dedicated research that goes beyond the industry one-man-designer standard sets our agency apart from the rest. We’re also serious about educating our readers and clients. On top of running a weekly design blog with 20k+ monthly readers, we integrate design into the very DNA of our clients. Lastly, we’ve been remote for years before the pandemic hit. We’ve already solved problems newly remote agencies don’t even know they have.

emeastartups: Apart from your existing clients (tell us some things about them) do you consider expanding your partnerships?

Adam Fard: Our roster of clients spans a few industries and sizes. We primarily focus on catering to SaaS and Fintech startups (generally, Series A and above) while also working closely with enterprise clients such as Samsung and Deutsche Telekom. That said, we’re always on the lookout for new partnerships, as we’re happy to provide our expertise and see the results in real time.

emeastartups: When and how did you decide to make the transition and start your own company and become a Startupper?

Adam Fard: In order to realise my vision and have a bigger impact on companies’ products, I needed to have a team of experts. A one-man army can only have so much impact, so I thought I’d find a team of people who share my passion. This is when I built a team of experts who work remotely in different time zones around the world.

emeastartups: What challenges have you faced and how did you manage to overcome the possible obstacles you may have met?

Adam Fard: In the beginning, I focused mostly on my team’s hard skills instead of prioritising their soft skills. I later learned the hard way that attitude and motivation are even more important factors to people’s performance and the success of a team. Skills can be learned fast, while attitude is something that isn’t as malleable.

emeastartups:Tell us a few things about your journey so far as a young entrepreneur.

Adam Fard: One thing that has amazed me through my journey as a young entrepreneur has been how people are ready to help when you reach out to them, especially successful people. Which was actually a really nice surprise starting out in the world of business. I think this can create a very positive dynamic amongst entrepreneurs and it’s how I strive to be. This encouragement from peers and those above you can really push you to keep going and go further.

emeastartups:If you could offer advice to young people who want to start their own business what would that be?

Adam Fard: A common advice is to not be afraid of failure. But failing in itself doesn’t help. You should learn from those mistakes. To truly grow and learn from your failures you should start a decision journal and write down your most important decisions and their circumstances. You should update the outcomes regularly so you can start to see patterns in your decisions. This will help you understand your own biases and in the long run help you recognise similar situations and make better decisions going forward.

emeastartups:How easy or hard is it to create something nowadays with the financial crisis, the pandemic, and the ongoing war? How can all these affect the plans and ambitions of entrepreneurs in general and especially the young ones?

Adam Fard: Let’s start with an easy answer – the pandemic. Adam Fard Studio has been remote from day one. As such, the challenges that a lot of modern companies face, are a thing of the past for us. Since our inception, we’ve been sharpening our tools of remote cooperation, while also helping our clients adapt to the new reality.

Secondly, when it comes to Russia’s invasion into Ukraine, we’ve seen the consequences first-hand. Three members of my team are based in Ukraine, two of which still remain there. They’re as safe as you could be in a country at war. Naturally, we’re trying to help in all the ways we can. Despite the horrors of war, all my Ukrainian colleagues maintain great performance, which is definitely something worth admiration.

emeastartups:What are your ambitions, your mission and vision for the future?

Adam Fard: I have an array of ambitions for the future. We will be launching a series of in-depth UX training programs that aren’t your typical ‘become a UX designer in 4 weeks and get rich quick’ programs. We want to deliver practical courses that are made for the UX designers of today. I’m also on a mission to reshape the way Startups find the product-market fit and once this is reached, help them to accelerate the scaling process of their business. Finally, my vision is to assist bigger companies to become more competitive in their innovation process.