The founder sprint
About three weeks from a God-given idea to a prototype tested with five real people. It is built on the Design Sprint method from Google Ventures, with prayer before it and Lean Startup's build, measure, learn cycle after it.
Who is in the room
You, as the founder, make the final calls. Douglas facilitates. Two to four helpers join you: a likely customer, someone who knows the money side, and someone with design or technology sense.
Week one: seek and frame
You leave this week with one clear problem, one customer, and the three assumptions that would sink the idea if they were wrong. It takes two working sessions of 90 minutes, plus homework.
- Seek. We pray over the vision together and listen. Prophetic insight brings direction and courage, but it never replaces wisdom, counsel or due diligence; every word is weighed with care, and the decisions stay yours. Write its purpose in one sentence: who is better off if this succeeds, and what good it does beyond profit.
- Problem statement. [Customer] struggles to [job] because [obstacle], which costs them [time, money or outcome].
- Customer conversations. Talk to five to ten people who live the problem. Ask about the last time it happened, not whether they like your idea.
- Lean Canvas. One page: problem, customers, unique value, solution, channels, revenue, costs, key measures, unfair advantage.
- Riskiest assumptions. List everything the idea depends on and mark the three that would kill it. These become the questions for the sprint.
Before week two starts, five test users are booked for the Friday.
Week two: the five-day sprint
By Friday afternoon you have watched five of your customers use a realistic prototype, and you know which assumptions held.
| Day | What happens | What you have at the end |
|---|---|---|
| Monday: map | Set the two-year goal, turn the risky assumptions into sprint questions, map the customer's journey and choose one moment to focus on. | Goal, three questions, the target |
| Tuesday: sketch | Look at what already exists, then everyone sketches a solution alone, in detail. | Three to six solution sketches |
| Wednesday: decide | Review the sketches in silence, vote, and the founder chooses. Draw the user's path as a storyboard. | One concept and its storyboard |
| Thursday: prototype | Build a realistic front with AI tools: clickable screens for an app, a landing page with a price for a service. Write the real words. | A clickable prototype and an interview script |
| Friday: test | Five one-hour interviews with real customers while the team watches, then look for the patterns. | Answers to the three questions |
Five interviews are enough to show most of the big problems. Decide on what you saw, not on what you hoped.
After the sprint: test with a pilot
On Friday you make one of three calls:
- Go. People understood it and wanted it. Move to a pilot, usually 4–8 weeks.
- Iterate. The value is there but key steps failed. Run a short follow-up sprint, Thursday and Friday only.
- Pivot. People did not care about the problem. Go back to week one with what you learned. That costs three weeks, not a year.
Once the prototype works, we test the process behind it with real customers and a trained team, measured week by week. Common starter pilots:
- Lead-to-Client: every enquiry answered fast, qualified and booked
- Client Care: onboarding, support and follow-up for your customers
- Back-Office Freedom: inbox, scheduling, invoicing and payment follow-up
- Mission Care: donor, member and volunteer care for charities and ministries
At the end you get the results, a written playbook, and a plan to run it with your own team.
The Marketplace Assignment Pathway
You don't walk this alone. After the sprint, we can journey with you over time, holding your business and your calling together:
- Discovery: we listen across your business and your spiritual life.
- Pathway design: a plan shaped around where you need the most support.
- Journeying: a steady rhythm of practical help, mentoring, pastoral care and intercession.
- Recalibration: regular reviews as you and your business grow.
Start with a conversation
Tell us what is on your heart to build. Message us on WhatsApp
Method sources: Jake Knapp and others, Sprint (2016); Eric Ries, The Lean Startup (2011); Ash Maurya, Running Lean.