1
A pipeline for your programmes
Your own accelerator, incubator or venture-building programme meets founders who have already tested their market and know what they need next.
For innovation hubs, co-working spaces, universities and venture builders
Bring the Venture Sprint to your community.
Five days in which your founders test whether their market truly exists. You provide the space and the startups, we bring the method and the facilitation.
Why host
What your hub gets out of it.
2
Memberships for your space
For co-working spaces and hubs: a week of focused founder energy in your rooms that turns visitors into members.
3
Visibility in your ecosystem
A five-day sprint with your name on it gives your community, partners and sponsors something concrete to talk about.
4
The method, without building it
Facilitators run the sprint. You don’t need to bring any method knowledge, only the space and the founders.
The week
A working sprint, not a workshop.
Every day starts with a short check-in. Then the teams prepare, run and evaluate real customer conversations, in their own rooms.
Before
Architecture of the venture
Each team clarifies its venture with the Self-Assessment: what, for whom, with what benefit. Teams reserve customer meetings for the week.
Day 1
Kick-off
Check-in, getting aligned and first steps in the team rooms.
Evening: get-together
Days 2–4
Selling for real
Preparing, running and evaluating customer conversations. What exactly is sold is decided during the sprint.
Day 4 evening: small party
Day 5
Reflect and realign
Reflection on what the market said, realignment of the venture, then departure.
What you provide
Rooms, a community and a little lead time.
- A room for every team, so each team can work and make calls undisturbed
- One shared room where everyone comes together, for the get-together, the party and the check-ins
- Location and catering, ideally. Otherwise we look for further sponsors with you
- Startups from your own members. The Venture Sprint is for the founders in your hub
Plan 3–12 months ahead
For larger hubs we recommend 3–12 months, so rooms are free and teams can clear their calendars. Even small teams should have at least one month: they need time to do the Self-Assessment and align as a team.
Teams may also want to book appointments with potential customers in advance. Without that, cold-calling is left as the only method, and some customers, such as top management, can’t be reached that way.
Checklists
Everything on one page, for you and for your teams.
Host checklist
- Fix the dates 3–12 months ahead (at least one month for small teams)
- Book one room per team and one shared room for everyone
- Secure location and catering, or find sponsors who cover them
- Invite startups from your own members and pick the teams
- Introduce the facilitator and name one contact person on your side
- Plan the opening get-together (day 1) and the small party (day 4)
- Send teams the Self-Assessment and the participant checklist
- Help teams reserve customer appointments for the sprint week
Participant checklist
- Complete the Self-Assessment together as a team: what, for whom, with what benefit
- Align on the answers. Your pitch deck may already cover most of them
- Clear your calendar for the full five days
- Reserve meetings with potential customers for the sprint week
- Decide who from the team joins and how you will travel
- Be ready to actually sell your idea, not only to talk about it
- Block the last day for reflection, realignment and departure
Host FAQ
What hosts ask before they say yes.
Who finds the teams?
You do. Innovation hubs recruit the teams from their own members, so the Venture Sprint serves the startups already in your community.
Who runs the sprint?
A Venture Sprint facilitator runs it, typically for about three teams per facilitator. A facilitator training for hosts is in the works.
Who pays for what?
The host carries part of the costs. Ideally that means the location and catering. If that isn’t possible, further sponsors are needed. What it adds up to is clarified case by case.
Who owns the results?
The Venture Sprint is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY 4.0). Everything the teams work out stays with the respective teams.
Let’s plan your Venture Sprint.
Tell us about your hub and your founders. We’ll work out dates, rooms and sponsors with you.