Panel Talk: Entrepreneurship in XR
Sally hosted a Designpreneurs panel on product-market fit in XR was one of those conversations that reminded her why she cared so deeply about design-led entrepreneurship.
As a moderator, Sally wasn’t just guiding the discussion, she was genuinely curious. XR is such a complex and evolving space, and hearing how founders like Jinha, Timothy, and Dominic navigated uncertainty, pivots, and traction in real time was incredibly grounding. One idea that really stayed with Sally: we don’t pivot—our users pivot us. That shift in mindset said everything about what it actually means to build.
What she loved most was how honest the conversation was. There were no polished narratives but real stories about testing ideas, missing the mark, finding signals, and slowly getting closer to product-market fit. It reinforced something she always emphasizes through Designpreneurs: there’s no single formula, but there is a discipline around listening to users and designing with intention.
She was grateful for the energy in the room and for our panelists' openness. This was exactly the kind of dialogue she wanted to keep creating. Where design, business, and emerging tech collided in a real way!
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Panelists info:
“Timothy Wang is an NYC-based startup founder, Co-founder of Plai, and Creative Technologist at NYU’s ITP. He previously co-founded WLab (acquired), developing affordable virtual production workflows and working with brands like Verizon and E.L.F. Now he is starting Plai to create a context-driven spatial interface for the next computing platform, built around privacy, curation, and productivity. Fun fact, Timothy was one of the winners from last year’s Designpreneurs Start-up design Hackathon with NYU Stern.”
"Dominic Barrett is currently an XR Designer based in New York City. He started as a Creative Technologist with a passion for making in many mediums. The journey lead through design and development, digital and physical. Works ranging from the commercial (projection mapping for Toyota), to the artistic (electronic hardware design for Liz Harris). His most recent step in exploring technology as a medium has been in the world of VR. He now works at Transfr, making educational job training simulations as an XR Designer."
“Jinha Lee is an award-winning designer, inventor, and entrepreneur from Korea. He is Co-founder, President and Chief Product Officer of Spatial, a 3D UGC gaming platform where creators craft and share immersive social experiences. Prior to founding Spatial, Jinha designed SpaceTop, a pioneering Augmented Reality desktop that allowed people to reach inside the screen. At the MIT media lab, he created a physical pixel, ZeroN, that levitates and moves freely as his master thesis project. He led the redesign of Samsung’s Smart TVs, turning screens into a collaboration platform and artistic data visualization. As an advocate for inclusive design, he co-designed Bradley Timepiece, an award-winning tactile wristwatch for the blind. These projects became viral and brought him to the TED stage in 2013. Jinha was named one of the “35 innovators under 35” by the MIT Technology Review , and one of the “32 greatest living designers” by Fast Company, and was named a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum.”