Simone Giertz

Simone Giertz

Pioneering Inventor, Product Designer, and Advocate for Creative Innovation

Core Intelligence Domain: Innovation & Creative Design
Location: Los Angeles, USA | Languages: English, Swedish
Representation: Represented globally by PSpeakers Global Intelligence

Simone Giertz is a globally recognised Swedish inventor, product designer, and robotics enthusiast who has redefined the modern approach to innovation by championing the normalisation of failure and the creative power of building ‘useless’ things. Initially skyrocketing to prominence as the internet’s premier creator of deliberately flawed robotics, Giertz has strategically evolved her brand into a sophisticated exploration of product design, engineering, and STEM advocacy. Through her proprietary framework of “joyful engineering”, she demonstrates how removing the pressure of perfectionism is the ultimate catalyst for breakthrough technological and creative development.

Operating at the intersection of entertainment, education, and hardware development, Giertz is the founder of Yetch, a design company focused on bringing unconventional, high-quality physical products to market. Her journey from experimenting with microcontrollers in her Stockholm apartment to engineering highly complex builds in her Los Angeles workshop serves as a blueprint for modern hardware innovation. Notably, she conceptualised and built “Truckla” – the world’s first fully functional Tesla pickup truck – a masterclass in ambitious, large-scale prototyping that captured international media attention and showcased her formidable fabrication skills.

Her globally acclaimed TED Talk, “Why you should make useless things,” has been viewed millions of times, establishing her as a leading philosophical voice in the maker movement. Giertz argues that performance anxiety is the greatest inhibitor of innovation. By intentionally designing products destined to fail, she effectively dismantled her own fear of failure, unlocking a deep repository of creative and technical capabilities. This strategic foresight makes her a highly sought-after voice for corporate audiences seeking to foster a culture of psychological safety, agile prototyping, and out-of-the-box thinking within their research and development teams.

Professional Milestones and Achievements

• Founder of Yetch: Established a successful product design company, overseeing the complete lifecycle from conceptualisation to manufacturing and global distribution.
• Creator of ‘Truckla’: Engineered and fabricated the first-ever Tesla pickup truck prototype, demonstrating exceptional skills in automotive modification and project management.
• Global TED Speaker: Delivered a viral TED presentation on the utility of uselessness, reshaping how educators and corporate innovators view the prototyping process.
• STEM/STEAM Ambassador: Collaborated continuously with renowned scientific communicators, including Adam Savage, to promote accessible engineering education.
• Digital Community Leader: Cultivated an international audience of over 2.5 million subscribers, leveraging authentic storytelling to demystify complex hardware engineering.

Primary Speaking Themes

• The Power of Useless Innovation: How intentionally removing the pressure for perfection leads to uninhibited creativity and unexpected breakthrough solutions.
• Embracing Failure as a Data Point: Reframing mistakes and malfunctioning prototypes as vital, non-negotiable steps in the engineering and design process.
• Demystifying STEM: Inspiring the next generation of makers, engineers, and technologists through accessible, hands-on, and engaging project development.
• From Concept to Reality: The practical, often chaotic journey of hardware development, tooling, and bringing highly unconventional ideas to life.
• Building Authentic Digital Communities: Strategies for leveraging transparent storytelling and vulnerability to cultivate a dedicated, highly engaged global audience.

Key Takeaways

• Perfectionism Paralyses Innovation: True creativity flourishes only when the fear of failure is systematically eliminated from the conceptualisation phase.
• Play is a Strategic Advantage: Curiosity and playfulness are not just educational tools; they are essential drivers for solving highly complex engineering challenges.
• Iterative Resilience: Groundbreaking problem-solving requires a steadfast willingness to prototype iteratively, fail publicly, and learn continuously.