<aside> 💡 Felix Lee is a the co-founder and CEO at ADPList – a global community of mentors and learners with the goal to democratizing mentorship for all. Read on to learn more about his backstory, values, and approaches to building a successful design-driven business.

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💭 Who are you, and what do you do?

My name is Felix Lee. I was born and raised in Singapore, and grew up in an ordinary household. Since young, I had an interest in quantum physics as a way of making sense of the world around us. During my later years of studying engineering at a polytechnic (a pos-secondary education institute in Singapore), I felt like many of my friends didn’t fully appreciate the beauty of things functioning beyond the circuit level. I became fascinated with the idea of bridging the gap between mechanical and electronic components to create something people can actually use. Although I never went to college, I developed a passion for design and taught myself while continuing my engineering studies.

I’m a big believer in a fairer world, especially for people who come from less privileged backgrounds. People who come from a working class family have different opportunities and less exposure to the real world when starting their career. Two years ago, I wanted to democratize mentorship for all and bring access to literally anyone around the world – ****as long as you have internet access and a willingness to learn – which brought me to start ADPList.

💭 What role does design leadership play in the success of a community-driven platform like ADPList?

Leaders like Brian Chesky at Airbnb do a remarkable job in portraying how designers can take on CEO and leadership roles. As I engage with more designers in the community, it has became evident to me that designers don’t think too much about business. From my observations, designers take great pride in their work – from the visuals, to the holistic experience, and the research process itself. This user centric focus can potentially be a big problem because without a sustainable business, there are no jobs for designers.

<aside> 🌟 “It’s not a binary decision where you would either design for users or for the business. In many cases, it can and should be both.”

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When we think about Meta, for example, there seems to be an increasing lack of trust between the users and the business. The way newsfeeds are designed may disregard the users in mind. Because of that, a lot of designers may form a view that designing for businesses can’t be good, in fear of designing dark UX patterns such as promoting addiction, fostering social comparisons etc. But designers have to realize that they have the power to make design decisions and change.

Check out ADPlist, a platform to learn and grow with help from world-class mentors for free!

💭 How have your roles and responsibilities both as co-founder and designer shifted since ADPList has grown?

At ADPList, ‘co-founder’ is simply a title to me, not a role. In a perfect world, the responsibility of a CEO in a company revolves around 3 things — setting a clear vision, fundraising, and hiring great people. But the reality at ADPList for me at this stage is overlooking the product strategy and development, as well as providing support and guidance to the teams. I help to maintain efficiency in the product development process, and ensure that team leads are aligned with the vision. I’m a much more product-driven founder.

💭 What is one of the biggest challenges around running a mentorship community like ADPList?

The challenge has always been how we design something that is universally available for people around the world. We’re always grappling with whether we’re able to design things that are relevant for people that we have never met before.

There’s always a great challenge of turning curiosities into something tangible and long-lasting. There are limitless opportunities we have yet to discover which is both exciting and challenging because there are no clear answers. But the moment we discover what we’re after will be humbling.

💭 What do you see as the broader role(s) of ADPList and online communities in the design industry?

At the core, the role of ADPList in many industries is breaching the most important conversations that can unlock the next and better version of themselves – the “BeMore” version as we call it. Many conversations are missed out because they are restricted to exclusive social and educational circles. With ADPList, we aim to create access to the most important conversation for people who want to learn – and that to me, is the most important contribution we’d make to the world.

<aside> 🌟 “Imagine there is an important conversation in the realm of physics. I hope the next Einstein can gain access to that conversation, even if they are born into an underprivileged family. That’s precisely what we do at ADPList everyday.”

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💭 Do you have some talks from the BeMore Festival to recommendation for students or designers entering the industry?

• The Importance of Motion Design in Product and Brand, by K Minglani, Jonathan Howell, Robert Paige, Salih Abdul-Karim