Building Better Design Businesses: Insights From the Houzz Pro Design Summit

When we set out to plan the first Houzz Pro Design Summit, we knew we wanted it to feel different.

Rather than creating another conference packed with presentations, we wanted to bring together an intimate group of designers using Houzz Pro to learn from industry experts, discover new ways to get more from the platform and, just as important, learn from one another.

Over three days in Napa, California, designers spent time learning from Houzz Pro product experts, industry leaders and one another. Along the way, the Design Summit offered a window into what today's designers are looking for as they build and grow their businesses.

Design Is Only Part of the Conversation

If there was one theme that surfaced throughout the Design Summit, it was that successful designers are thinking beyond beautiful spaces. They're focused on leadership, operations, technology and building businesses that can grow alongside their creativity.

This came through in one of the Design Summit's most memorable conversations: a fireside chat between Houzz VP of Industry Marketing Liza Hausman and Aymee Kuhlman, founder and CEO of Corvallis, Oregon-based Light + Dwell.

While many expected the discussion to center on design, Aymee offered a different perspective:

• She shared how her strengths have always been in building the business by creating systems, leading teams and making thoughtful decisions that allow creativity to flourish.
  
  
• She isn’t the design lead herself yet has built an incredibly successful design business by focusing on operations, leadership and the systems that allow creativity to thrive.
  
  
• Aymee's experience demonstrated that strong leadership, sound business strategy and operational excellence are just as critical to long-term success as creative talent.
  
  

Her message resonated with attendees because it challenged a common assumption: that you have to be a designer to build a successful design firm.

Great Businesses Start With Great Leadership

The keynote by Jenn Zella, co-founding principal and chief visionary officer at CID Design Group in Naples, Florida, reinforced that message from another angle. Rather than focusing on ROI, financial metrics or the latest business framework, Jenn talked about culture:

• She shared practical ways leaders can build organizations rooted in trust, empathy and accountability, reminding attendees that the strongest businesses are built around we, not I.
  
  
• Her message wasn't theoretical. It was filled with practical examples designers could immediately apply within their own businesses while encouraging them to think differently about the kind of culture they want to create for their teams and clients alike.
  
  

It quickly became one of the most talked-about sessions of the Design Summit.

Designers Want to Go Deeper With Technology

The Houzz Pro workshops generated some of the most interactive discussions of the Design Summit.

Sessions such as “AI and the Future of Design,” along with practical product workshops including, “10 Houzz Pro Features You Should Be Using,” quickly became conversations rather than presentations.

Attendees weren't simply watching demonstrations. They asked thoughtful questions, shared how they currently use the platform, and exchanged ideas about new ways to streamline their businesses.

One of the biggest takeaways from the Design Summit was how many designers discovered capabilities within Houzz Pro they didn't know existed such as:

• New capabilities like AI Meeting Recording & Summaries, which records client meetings and automatically creates transcripts, summaries and action items, generated a great deal of interest.
  
  
• In-app client texting, which allows designers to communicate with clients directly from Houzz Pro instead of using their personal cell phones, keeping all project communication in one place.
  
  

Seeing these and other features demonstrated in real-world scenarios, and hearing how fellow designers use them every day, helped attendees identify new ways to work more efficiently.

More important, they saw how these capabilities work together throughout the lifecycle of a project, from design development and client presentations to procurement, project management and client communication.

The interactive sessions also sparked many requests for follow-up one-on-one conversations with the Houzz Pro team after they returned home to continue learning.

Community Is Still the Greatest Takeaway

As valuable as the sessions were, some of the best learning happened between them. Designers continued conversations over meals, compared business challenges between workshops, and built relationships that extended well beyond the scheduled agenda.

Those informal moments reinforced something that's easy to overlook in a digital world: There is tremendous value in learning from peers who understand the realities of running a design business.

Interactive experiences hosted by SKS, Sherwin-Williams, and Sunbrella extended those conversations even further. Rather than traditional product presentations, each partner created hands-on experiences that encouraged designers to explore new ideas, ask questions and connect with both industry experts and one another in a more meaningful way.

The Design Summit wasn't just about sharing ideas from the front of the room. It was about creating space for designers to share ideas with one another.

One attendee summed it up well: “I really enjoyed getting the opportunity to spend extended time with other designers to network, dig into our businesses, learn the software and get inspired to run my business more efficiently," said Suzie Baumgartner, founder and principal designer of TLB Interiors in Danville, California.