Meet Scott Cobb | Founder, CEO & Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Scott Cobb and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Scott, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
This is a great question. My thought process for starting a new business begins with inspiration around an innovative idea. The idea is connected to a willingness to help others and a desire to contribute to a better world.

I believe in creating the world you want to live in. Questions like “What problem does the business solve”, or “who is the audience I hope to serve”, are a part of it, but at the core I imagine delivering a unique experience to people and making difference.

I put the ideas into words and begin drafting an outline of the business plan. As I continue using my imagination and exploring concepts, I begin to define what the viable product and a product-market-fit would be. Overall, the thought process is led with an entrepreneurial spirit. I believe it is essential to act upon your inspiration. However, the path of bringing the idea into a tangible, physical business is more grounded and logical. With twists and turns, the business evolves and grows, often becoming something very different than originally thought of.

An essential step towards realizing the dream is building a team. A core concept of the book, “Who not How”, by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy, is to focus on achieving desired outcomes by finding the right team with the necessary skills, expertise, energy and heart. Teamwork, collaboration and the ability to leverage each other’s strengths is vital for success. I challenge myself every day to recognize where I need to grow on a personal and professional level, and to surround myself with those who inspire and raise the bar.

Starting my own business is about being on-purpose and cultivating community. As a conscious entrepreneur, I am building a business centered on the principles of innovation, sustainability, community and collaboration, with a desire to help others in their life journey along the way.

What should our readers know about your business?
My career path began in architecture, then moved into Production Design and Art Direction for Film and Television productions. My credits include projects such as It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Lost, Outer Range, Arrested Development, Thirteen Reasons Why, and Sleepy Hollow. Film and TV production is a tremendous opportunity for creative minds. It is often fast-paced, and resource-challenged, with productions starting and finishing within a few months’ time and in distant locations. It can be exhilarating and surreal at times, with the benefit of making new friends in diverse places. Someone once said it’s ‘like the circus crossed with the army’!

Presently, my entrepreneurial journey has led me to executive positions within two California startup ventures. I am the Founder of Innovative Paradigm; a Design and Build Company located in Los Angeles. Innovative Paradigm’s endeavor is to create living spaces for homeowners that perfectly aligns with their individual needs, lifestyle and preferences through a unique storytelling process. We tell a client’s story through design – a spatial narrative, that strives for a deeper connection to the place called home. As the body is the shell of a soul, a house becomes “home” when a heart dwells within.

Innovative Paradigm’s passive house designs incorporate new CAL Fire recommendations for fire protection in Wildland-Urban Interface homes. These include using fire and ignition-resistant materials, roofing, vents, and designing defensible space around the property.

I also serve as Chief Operations Officer at Building Armour Industries, a company where we are developing a sustainable, climate resilient building technology. We have created an innovative geopolymer material that achieves zero CO2 emissions, is 100% recyclable, utilizes waste-streams from other industries, and when combined with recycled concrete aggregate, creates a superior product and an end-of-life recycle rate – a closed loop system where waste become resource. Building Armour is Carbon-Negative Material Design, with a formulation that actively sequesters CO2 during curing processes, locking away greenhouse gases instead of releasing them. Our first product, Building Armour Stucco, has a Class A fire rating – it is heat, water, acid and mold resistant, ignition resistant with zero flame spread and zero smoke spread, and uses zero Portland cement.

Can you imagine a world where structures are designed to elevate the human experience in-real-life, structures that are climate-hardened, sustainable and reduce carbon emissions? Welcome to my dream.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Zuma Beach, Malibu
The Velaslavasay Panorama
Musso & Franks Grill (Old Hollywood), Troubadour & the Dresden
Original Farmers Market
Soot Bul Jip Korean BBQ in Koreatown
Maru Coffee on Hillhurst
Venice, Venice Beach, & Venice Canals, Abbot Kinney Blvd
High Rooftop Lounge at Hotel Erwin for sunset drinks
Angeles Crest Highway via Big Tujunga Canyon Road
The Last Bookstore, Explore Downtown LA
The Getty, LACMA
Yume Sushi, Studio City
Universal Studios Backlot Tour, Griffith Park to Los Feliz
Raffi’s Place, Mediterranean, Persian cuisine in Glendale
Chocolate cake donuts at Civil Coffee
Brunch at The Fig, Santa Monica

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to give a shoutout to a handful of people whom I’m grateful for their guidance, mentorship, love and encouragement.

To my grandfather, an artist and Nasa engineer who demonstrated kindness to strangers and inspired my interest in design.

My grandmother, a painter, who gave me my first set of paints and brushes.

SFSU Scenic Design Professor Emeritus, Eric Sinkonnen, for his incredible talents and lifelong dedication to the craft of scenic design.

Production Designer, Michael Helmy, whose mentorship, humor and tales of old Hollywood were invaluable and shaped my early career.

TV Producer Tom Lofaro, for the ability to see the big picture while minding the details with tenacity.

Most of all, to my beautiful wife, Manjula Kiru, whose love, insight, open heartedness and guidance has inspired my journey to leave my comfort zones and really go big.

Influential reads: Dale Carnegie and Napoleon Hill
Creativity, Inc – Ed Catmull & Amy Wallace
Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs, Carmine Gallo
Atomic Habits, James Clear
The Innovation Stack, Jim McKelvey
Never Finished, David Goggins
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, Mark Manson
Your Next Five Moves, Patrick Bet-David
The Big Leap, Gay Hendricks
The Creative Act, Rick Rubin
10x is Better Than 2x, Dan Sullivan & Dr. Benjamin Hardy

Website: https://www.innovativeparadigm.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scottcobbdesign

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottcobbdesign

Other: https://www.scottcobbdesign.com

Image Credits
All photos and artwork are by Scott Cobb.
Illustrations from graphic novel “The Lost City of San Francisco”, written and illustrated by Scott Cobb
Set photos by Scott Cobb, from It’s Alway Sunny In Philadelphia, courtesy of FX.
Set photos by Scott Cobb, from Thirteen Reasons Why, courtesy of Netflix.