Bonjour, I'm Philippe.
For more than thirty years, I've helped other people make their ideas real. Now I'm building The Gold Bison to do it in the open.
It rests on one conviction, earned the hard way: a product isn't an object to be styled. It's a venture to be built: where function, market fit, and business model are designed as one, not bolted on later.
I believe we can build better products and better businesses at once, ones that respect people, the planet, and the bottom line without pretending those three are enemies.
And I believe you shouldn't die with the idea still in you.
C'est ça, la différence.
— Philippe Guichard, Founder
The Journey:
1993 — I left mechanical engineering to study industrial design in Canada, and graduated with honours the same year. The obvious path was never the right one for me.
1994 — Opened my first design studio in the French Alps.
2002 — After eight years, the studio closed, a hard lesson in why a venture has to be de-risked, not just designed.
2005–2007 — A stint inside Mars / Masterfoods showed me, by contrast, exactly who I was: an entrepreneur, not an employee.
2010 — Arrived in Melbourne, and, being me, promptly started a chocolate-mousse venture of my own.
2013 — Founded D2 Design, built one relationship at a time.
2019 — Gave a TEDx talk (now on TED.com).
2020 — Named the methodology I'd been refining since the '90s: The Elegance Effect™.
2025 — Brought it all together as Strategic Venture Design.
2026 — The Gold Bison. The brand for the work I was always building toward.
By the Numbers:
33+ years — designing physical product ventures across France, Canada & Australia
$200M+ — in revenue generated for the ventures I've worked on
20+ years — how long some of those products have stayed on the shelf
1 TEDx talk — on redesigning how we build products, now on TED.com
35+ years — of daily meditation, because the long view isn't a slogan here
