You have a new product idea, a challenge slowing you down, or an opportunity you want to take advantage of and aren't sure where to start. thoughtbot strategists will work with you to quickly conduct research and lead design thinking exercises to uncover the best path forward. With a validated strategy defined, we work hand in hand to help you reach your first milestone whether that's an investor presentation, clickable prototype, proof of concept or MVP launch.
If you are a non-technical founding team with a business idea that involves a web or mobile app, we encourage you to apply for our 8-week program. We’ll help you get the proof points you need in order to move forward with confidence.
Use design thinking to zero in on the right approach, the right way, fast
You don’t have the time and money to waste on overly complicated research cycles and elongated development timelines. And you don’t need to.
As a startup, you can learn whether your product concept is a market fit and be ready for rapid prototyping in days, not months. We have facilitated hundreds of successful sprints to help entrepreneurs hone in on optimal next steps.
For an existing company, our approach allows you to future-proof your business, and the same strategic research principles uncover how you can stand out from competitors, deepen user engagement, or make an informed decision on a new initiative.
Strategy that will align your stakeholders with confidence
Your team, including investors, needs a clear strategic vision with the research to back it up. Proof of defined user needs, product market fit, and industry insights coming together into a clear analysis and recommendation from our team of experts, are the quality insights you need to make an informed decision.
thoughtbot will synthesize collected learnings in a way that’s easy for the whole team to understand and act upon. Our recommendations to continue to test and learn are commonly rolled out in a handful of weeks - not months.
Check out our approach
Customer Discovery Playbook
In our many years of experience designing and building products, we’ve learned how important it is to regularly ask, “Is this the right thing for us to be building right now?” A key ingredient in building that right thing is knowing who you're building it for and why they need it right now. This collection of customer discovery exercises will help your team find (or regain) customer, product, and strategic focus.
This offering quickly determines the right product roadmap for your idea including testing with customers, design direction and product architecture for v1.
Product Design Sprints are essential starting points when kicking off a new feature, workflow, product, business, or solving problems with an existing product.
thoughtbot has the industry experience and the sound approach to support grant recipients with continued research and bringing scientific discovery opportunities into the market.
A podcast about the design, development, and business of great software. Each week we are joined by the people who build and nurture the products we love.
Individuals come to thoughtbot in various stages, and it’s our job as product consultants to determine how we can best support them to reach their goals. Here are how some of our most successful startups get started.