Scott Belsky
Co-founder, Behance
Scott Belsky is an entrepreneur, author, investor, and currently serves as Adobe's Vice President of Products and Head of Behance, the leading online platform for creatives to showcase and discover creative work. Scott co-founded Behance in 2006, and served as CEO until Adobe acquired Behance in 2012. Millions of people use Behance to display their portfolios, as well as track and find top talent across the creative industries. Behance also powers portfolio display for many of the top art and design schools and organizations around the world, as well as tens of thousands of personal websites via "Adobe Portfolio," Behance premium portfolio service.
Top creative companies around the world also use Behance to post jobs and find talent. Millions of creative enthusiasts visit Behance sites every month to watch and follow the latest and greatest work by creative professionals across industries.
Over the years, Behance has pursued other projects to help organize and empower the careers of creative people. These include99U, Behance's think tank and annual conference devoted to execution in the creative world; and a popular line oforganizational paper products that help organize creative people and teams.
Scott is also the author of the international bestselling book Making Ideas Happen (Portfolio Imprint, Penguin Books, April, 2010).
Through his work at Behance, Scott has become an advocate for technology and community initiatives that empower creative people and help businesses leverage the creative potential of their people. He has worked with leading media and Fortune 500 companies, including GE and Facebook, and has traveled around the world to share his findings. He has appeared in the Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek, and has shared Behance's research in segments on ABC News, MSNBC, and with the United States State Department and CIA. Scott has also guest lectured at Cornell University, Harvard University, VCU Brand Center, and UC Berkeley among other institutions. In 2010, Scott was included in Fast Company's "100 Most Creative People in Business" list.
Scott actively advises and invests in businesses that cross the intersection of technology and design, and help empower people, among other criteria. He is an investor and advisor in Pinterest, Uber, Warby Parker, and Periscope as well as several others in the early stages. Scott is also an investor and Board member of sweetgreen, a values-driven locally-sourced seasonal kitchen. He also works closely with Founder Collective, Homebrew, Expa, and other early stage investment funds as a Product advisor.
Prior to founding Behance, Scott helped grow the Pine Street Leadership Development Initiative at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Scott was especially focused on organizational improvement and strengthening relationships with clients. Scott serves on the Advisory Board of Cornell University's Entrepreneurship Program and is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. He attended Cornell University as an undergraduate and received his MBA from Harvard Business School.
Don’t be afraid of making decisions, says entrepreneur Scott Belsky. Decisiveness — even when the decisions aren’t the “right” ones — is a sign of a true leader.
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