The end of August marked the beginning of another event organized by the StartUp MSK association, Design Sprint. The three day workshop involved teams of participants presenting their innovative business projects, cooperating and receiving valuable feedback.

The participants prepared 5 separate projects spanning different fields of business. These projects included the aquaponie project, accounting in the 21st century, innovative jump rope training, and two service shops and applications- one for athletes and the other for event organizers.

The first day consisted of participants defining their business goals and the questions they would need to answer throughout the Design Sprint workshop. It was one of the toughest days for the participants. They spent the entire afternoon explaining and defending their intentions in front of a jury of experienced entrepreneurs that asked critical questions and dissected the business plans from multiple perspectives. On the second day, participants came up with possible solutions for their products and services and decided on a single one to turn into a prototype. Throughout the third and final day, the participants created a prototype of their product with the purpose of testing the effectiveness of their plan and gathering feedback from real customers. Participants had to conduct a test interview, which would allow them to garner feedback on the impression of their product and its business model given from the customer. This evaluation gives the participant experience upon which they can reflect on when designing a product or a business model in the future. 

Three days filled with intensive and creative work are now behind us. However, it was also only a taste of what business and innovation really entails. The design process requires a lot more dedicated work and customer testing for a product to be fully fleshed out. I believe that we have prepared the participants of the Design Sprint well for this.

Text: Miroslav Marek,  CEO Start Up MSK, z.s.