iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

Have you ever taken a pay cut for autonomy—was the trade worth it in hindsight?

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Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

Which skill has compounded your career value more: storytelling or tooling mastery?

Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

The lower you are on the corporate totem pole, the more freedom you have to speak inconvenient truths.

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Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

It’s easier to predict the future than to deal with the present. We love calling our shots about what’s next, but maybe the real work is right in front of us—messy, urgent, and unglamorous.

Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

One measure of a successful career is the number people you admire that also admire you.

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Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

Fractional is a pressure valve: rent senior judgment at sprint cadence, avoid the full-time sticker shock, and unlock momentum before it calcifies.

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Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

When I share design work, I avoid panning around a Figma canvas, and instead use Figma's prototype mode to show the work in context. This shifts the focus away from the noise of my design process and onto what actually matters: how the product feels in action.

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Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

When it comes to presenting design work, your energy sets the tone. If you sound unsure or disconnected, people will mirror that. But if you show up with excitement, curiosity, and conviction, others will lean in. Don’t just show the work — show that you care.

Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

When you let people in while the work is still forming, you make space for collaboration and momentum, not just approval. Over time, feedback becomes less of a verdict and more of an essential ingredient that helps shape the end result.

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Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

PSA: Make your design channel public. Working in public not only keeps the team aligned but also builds a collective history of how the work has evolved over time.

Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

Don’t wait weeks to unveil your designs. Share progress early and often to gather “micro-yeses” — small approvals that bring everyone on board, one step at a time.

Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

Next time you find yourself in a zoom call,

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Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

The scrappy designer deletes 90% of scope to learn faster. The mature designer documents 90% of scope to operate safer.

Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

Early-stage design is about turning abstract conversations into something real—fast. That’s why instead of sitting around a meeting table, you’ll find me in front of a white board sketching what's being talked about.

Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

We're looking for an exceptional 🤖 Android engineer to work on Dex — a language learning camera for kids. ✨ You'll work with me to build a whimsical OS from scratch. 🧑‍💻 Must be able to work with Jetpack Compose and Kotlin-Multiplatform. 👉 Email careers[at]worldexlab.com to apply or learn more.

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Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

Pre-product-market-fit, iteration cost is low and opportunity cost is high; post-fit, those costs flip. Design like you know which column you’re in.

Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

Founders who treat design as “polish” end up buying it twice—first as decoration, later as surgery. Measure cost in replaced screens, not invoices.

Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

Early-stage design is spelunking—map the cave while you move. Late-stage design is excavating—methodically digging out and shaping the environment. Bring a headlamp or a hard hat accordingly.

Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

If you're curious about vibe coding, this 20 minute video from Pablo is a great primer that helps you understand the basics and get started... today! pablostanley.substack.com/p/vibecoding...

pablostanley.substack.com

Vibecoding Basics

Stuff for beginners

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Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

I'm willing to bet that we're bound to see more early-stage designers as AI shifts our roles away from maintaining existing software to incubating new products.

Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

Monday ritual: ask “What can we ship by Friday that changes what we know?” Answer that ruthlessly and the roadmap writes itself.

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Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 11/05/2025

I had the pleasure of speaking at Config this year. It was a real honor to get the opportunity to share my design approach with our design community. Here’s the video in case you missed it: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS2f...

youtube.com

Config 2025: Design at the speed of startups with Gabriel Valdivia

YouTube video by Figma

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Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

I made another lil game over the weekend. Guess the movie as it gradually reveals itself. The faster you guess, the higher your score. 👉 www.flicktionary.com

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Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

I made a little game last night! It's kinda like Tetris and Scrabble: form words by tapping the letters before they fill up the board. Can you beat the highest score? letterfall-play.lovable.app

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Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

I made a little toy that's kinda fun. It's like minesweeper but for taking photos with anyone. Try it out here: preview--photo-spiral-grid.lovable.app

Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

@jeffcannata.bsky.social we just finished Colin From Accounts and I was not prepared to ball my eyes out during the last few episodes of Season 2 😭

Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

I wrote a few words about why I think speed is the number one skill you need when working in early stage teams: open.substack.com/pub/unkempt/...

open.substack.com

Progress Over Polish

How fast decisions lead to better outcomes

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Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 25/01/2025

I just unlocked the most unhinged way to design a website… frame by frame

Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

I’ve spent 4 days in China and I can already tell it’ll become a core part of my personality. “When I used to live in China..”

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Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Now that all these American oligarchs are stepping into the limelight, it’s worth a reminder that you don’t make it to the tippy top of capitalism by being a “good person”

Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

Going on a last minute trip to Shenzhen and Hong Kong this week. What are your favorite spots there I shouldn’t miss?

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Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

I've been working on a talk about everything I've learned after spending the last 2 decades in 0-1 products. Would love to share it with the world. What's your favorite design conference nowadays?

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Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

Parenting is a lot like music. A lot of people proclaim what good music is, but also a lot of people listen to Taylor Swift.

Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

I’ve spent the weekend building an app to track scores across board games. There are player stats and even a venmo-like feed where you can see what board games everyone in the app is playing. It's not quite ready for prime time but I’d love hear what you think: testflight.apple.com/join/1EC3k7xe

testflight.apple.com

Join the Skunk: Games Leaderboard beta

Available on iOS

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Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

I'm in cabin with my family for the holidays and we've been playing a lot of board games. So, I spent an afternoon building an app to track our wins along with game and player stats Merry Christmas!

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Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 21/12/2024

Since taking care of children is a full time job, then family vacations are offsites

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Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

my 2024 wrapped 🫡 11 clients 8 launches 3 talks 5 employees 4 collaborators 1 apprentice

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Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Apparently, there's a thriving spam tactic where people (bots?) pretend to be illustrators and when asked to share their work, they just send you JPGs of illustrations without any online presence to verify it's actually theirs. The more you know 💫

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Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

That’s me! Don’t be like me: go to this website.

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Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

This interview with the CEO of this very same company is worth a listen. Feels refreshing and thoughtful podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/r...

podcasts.apple.com

Rewind: Bluesky CEO Jay Graber on the future of federated social media

Podcast Episode · Decoder with Nilay Patel · 12/02/2024 · 1h 11m

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Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Getting email spam by AI notetakers after every meeting is the 9th circle of hell.

Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

The intro credits in Heretic is one of the coolest shit I’ve ever since

Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

I'd love it if RunwayML could animate icons like this with one click

Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

To "help shape" something (ie., "join us to help shape the future of commerce") is the most non-committal call to action. "Shaping" is already so little impact, and *helping to* shape is even less influence in the outcome.

Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Two things I've learned this year: 1. There are multiple roads that lead to "success" 2. Self-awareness is the biggest ingredient to "happiness"

Gabriel Valdivia @gvaldivia.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

Design Manager* is a confusing term. It’s easy to think of it as “a designer who manages” but it’s actually “a manager overseeing designers” *Same is true for Directors, VPs, etc