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As a Startup
Validate your market, build traction, and scale with purpose, before over-investing in product development.
Apply as Startup →The 5-day Pre-Accelerator
Sprint to Test if Your Market
Truly Exists.
For founders who want to validate their market, build traction, and scale with purpose, before over-investing in product development.
Created by
Michael Laussegger, serial founder and coach with 20+ years of coaching experience. Founder of Silicon.Garden.
The Venture Sprint
Three ways to run a Venture Sprint.
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With your Team
Bring your team on the shortest path to market fit. Startup discounts are available at selected innovation hubs and co-working spaces.
Run a Sprint with your Team →3
As an Innovation Hub
We partner with leading hubs to help founders build smarter, scale faster, and unlock opportunities across regions.
Host a Venture Sprint →Free Primer
Is the Venture Sprint right for you, right now?
Want to understand whether the Venture Sprint is right for you and your startup at this moment? Check out our Venture Sprint Primer to learn more about the approach, and to see who should run a Venture Sprint, and when.
Download the Primer ↓
PDF, no sign-up needed
Founder stories
What Founders are saying
In just a few days, he helped us cut through the noise, focus on what truly matters, and turn vague ideas into concrete decisions.
Read the full story
Working with Michael in the Venture Sprint was a turning point for datamonkeys.ai. In just a few days, he helped us cut through the noise, focus on what truly matters, and turn vague ideas into concrete decisions.
What we appreciated most was his ability to keep the sprint moving at a strong pace without it feeling chaotic. He brought structure, clear frameworks, and just the right amount of pressure so that we actually made progress instead of circling around the same topics.
By the end of the sprint, we had a clear set of priorities, a sharper story to tell about what we do, and a concrete roadmap for our next steps. Michael’s way of working is very hands-on, pragmatic, and honest – exactly what we needed as a startup team. We’re very thankful for his support and happy to recommend working with him.
Founder datamonkeys AI
Michael helped us gain rapid clarity and focus for our go-to-market strategy. The whole team benefitted from his guidance, his empathy, his genuine interest in our endeavor and his ability to build the plane as it flies.
Co-Founder Academy for Climate Action, Vienna
Michael helped us position ourselves in the market, challenged our hypotheses, and understand our customers better.
Read the full story
Atlas Ledger's team spent a few days with Michael during a sprint period that helped us refine our business model. Michael helped us position ourselves in the market, challenged our hypotheses, and understand our customers better. Michael supported us in structuring the design process and facilitated the team's discussions. It was also very helpful for the team to receive external feedback. Michael helped make sense of our collective thinking. He is highly skilled at using AI to make the process smoother and go straight to the essentials. Thank you, Michael, for all the help, and all the best to you.
Co-Founder, Atlas Ledger
Global Venture Sprint Tour 2027
5 days
Pre-accelerator sprint
Hybrid
Join from anywhere
Europe & Africa
Particular focus
Hubs worldwide
Hosted by innovation hubs
The Global Venture Sprint is a hybrid five-day pre-accelerator sprint designed for founders who want to grow fast, connect globally, and access the talent, markets, and investors that matter. Hosted by innovation hubs across the world, our hybrid model lets startups join from anywhere, because borders are a mindset, not a barrier.
More about the network
We partner with leading hubs to help founders build smarter, scale faster, and unlock opportunities across regions. Our network bridges the Global South and North, East and West, with a particular focus on Europe and Africa, where innovation ecosystems are rapidly converging. Together, we share knowledge, open doors, and accelerate the path to sustainable impact.
Coming close to you soon!
Stay up-to-date with new dates and hubs.
The team
A Global Team for Global Goals.
The Venture Sprint is backed by a global team of senior ecosystem builders, entrepreneurs, innovators and change makers with the shared mission of helping impact founders be more successful.
FAQ
What founders ask before they apply.
When is the right time for a Venture Sprint?
Whenever an important decision is coming up and you still lack evidence from the market.
The first time is when you’re ready to invest five days in your idea at all. After that, every time you feel you’re building into the void, because you don’t know enough about your customers to let demand guide you.
The goal: create impact starting from the market, instead of having to close the product-market fit after the fact.
Do I need a product or special skills?
No. A Venture Sprint is not an ideation sprint, though. Your idea should be mature enough that you know who benefits from your product and how, when it matters, which solutions already exist and why they fall short, and how you want to reach people.
The product itself doesn’t have to exist, and you don’t need any special skills.
What actually happens during the week?
It’s a working sprint, not a training and not a workshop. Every day starts with a short check-in, then you get to work: preparing, running and evaluating real customer conversations.
You already know what your product is. In the sprint, you try to actually sell your idea. What exactly you sell – the finished product if that’s possible, a pre-order, or simply your know-how as a service – is decided during the sprint, often anew every day.
What does it cost?
A Venture Sprint takes one week and needs one facilitator for about three teams. Venue and catering may come on top.
Prices vary from place to place and depend on how much is covered by sponsors. We keep them startup-friendly.
When and where is the next Venture Sprint?
Dates and locations are shared on request.
Can I join remotely?
A Venture Sprint thrives on communication. Remote and hybrid work well for teams that are already in sync. For teams that are less in sync, it’s a good opportunity to meet in person.
Is my idea safe?
Facilitators are bound to confidentiality, like any professional coach. How much you share about your startup is entirely up to you.
Our advice: if your idea is your moat, your idea isn’t good enough. A moat emerges from doing, not from thinking.
What if the market doesn’t exist?
A Venture Sprint builds on a hypothesis about the market. If it’s falsified, we use what we learned to adjust and refine it, or to form a new one.
The sprint wasn’t for nothing: it delivers important feedback you’d otherwise get much later, and often too late.
Let's Have a Chat!
Want to learn how we help innovators scale from zero? We’re happy to chat over a cup of coffee, share how it works, and explore what could make the most impact for you.