✨ Launch Event – MelbDT ✨ Failure Résumé: Failing Forward in Design

Come help shape the future of the Melbourne Design Thinking community. This is more than just a meetup - it’s an open invitation to co-create a space that reflects you: your questions, your experiences, your challenges, and your hopes for the design industry. Whether you’re curious, burnt out, job hunting, leading, or just in it for the pizza - you’re so welcome here.

We’re thrilled to announce the first-ever Melbourne Design Thinking event. We're part of the Australia Design Thinking collective — with a reputation for meaningful conversations, warm connections, and zero BS - just good humans talking about the real stuff that shapes our work and lives. Plus, yes, 🍕.

Now, we’re bringing that same energy to Melbourne - and we’re kicking things off with a topic that feels timely, necessary, and deeply human: Failure.

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WHAT TO EXPECT
We’ve invited an incredible panel of leaders from startups, scale-ups, and large orgs to share something you won’t find on their LinkedIn: their Failure Résumés.

⭐️ Jamal Cassim - Co-founder of Untangld
⭐️ Teresa Huang - Head of Product at Bupa & YouTube Creator
⭐️ Ben Pecotich - Co-founder of Sydney Design Thinking & Founder of Dynamic4
⭐️ Mickey Rummery (Facilitator) - Founder of RUMR & Conference Director of The Outlook and UXCamp Naarm
⭐️ Rachel Zhang (Facilitator) - UX Lead at RACV & Founder of Ro&Co Studio

That’s right - three of their biggest flops, the tough lessons that came from them, and how those moments became unexpected springboards to growth, clarity, and success.

In an economy where roles are scarce and pressure is high, we believe it’s more important than ever to normalise failure, dismantle shame, and share the messy middle - especially for designers navigating career pivots, layoffs, burnout, or reinvention.

BIOS
Jamal Cassim co-founded strategy studio Untangld in 2020. Now based in Melbourne, Sydney, and London, Untangld delivers breakthrough thinking for businesses across insight, strategy, and prototyping.
Jamal’s career has spanned advertising, fashion, and art, across Europe and APAC, from global networks Y&R and BBDO to innovative indies like Exposure and Dare. He’s been a proven business leader to some of the world’s most innovative and successful companies, including Nike, BMW, Warner Music, Carlsberg, and the BBC, and trusted advisor to countless startups and scaleups.

Teresa Huang is a product management leader with 10+ years’ experience across financial services, media, healthcare, aviation, and e-commerce. She specialises in product development and emerging tech, fostering innovative, empowered teams through collaborative leadership. Beyond her corporate role, Teresa runs a YouTube channel on product management, leadership, and career growth in the tech sector.

Ben Pecotich is a designer, coach, and founder of Dynamic4 – a social enterprise and B Corp focused on leadership, design, and innovation for happier communities… and making the transition to more regenerative ways of living and doing business.

He coaches and works alongside leaders to solve problems that matter by designing and building business models, products, and services that customers and teams love, make money, do great things for people and our planet, while increasing wellbeing.

For 30+ years, Ben’s led, designed, and delivered strategic change in financial services, digital & tech, health & fitness, and founded startups/social enterprises – in Australia, NZ, Asia, the UK, and Europe. He founded Dynamic4 in 2001 and takes a human-centred design and living systems approach to bring together strategy, design, and tech.

Ben's the author of Solve Problems That Matter: Design, Build & Launch Your Social Enterprise Idea and co-founder of Sydney Design Thinking.

EVENT SPONSORS
This event is brought to you by RUMR, Ro&Co Studio, Natural Velocity Innovation Centre, Askable, Scyne Advisory, and Dynamic4.

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