From idea to evidence in five days.
Stop guessing whether your idea is worth building.
The Venture Sprint fuses the Design Sprint method with the 5V™ Venture Building Framework. Bring an idea on Monday. Leave on Friday with real customer evidence, a 5V™ Venture Score and a go, pivot or kill decision you can defend.
Most ventures don’t fail because of bad ideas. They fail because nobody tested them.
Months of building before one customer conversation
Founders and teams fall in love with a solution, then discover nobody will pay for it.
Decisions made on opinion, in committees
Innovation boards, incubators and investors judge decks and pitches — not evidence.
Pilots that never end — and never decide
Six-month pilots burn budget and goodwill without a clear go or no-go.
A Design Sprint tests the product. A Venture Sprint tests the business.
We kept what works in the Design Sprint — five focused days, one team, a decider, a real prototype and real users — and wrapped every day in one layer of the 5V™ Venture Building Framework.
| Typical Design Sprint | 5-Day Venture Sprint | |
|---|---|---|
| The question | “Will this solution work for users?” | “Is this a business worth building — and should we invest?” |
| Customer contact | 5 user tests on Friday | 8–10 discovery interviews on Tuesday + 5 tests and live demand signals on Friday |
| What gets tested | A prototype | Problem, customer, value, price, business model and demand |
| What you leave with | A prototype and test notes | The Venture Evidence Pack (10 outputs) and a 5V™ Venture Score |
| How it ends | Learnings for the product team | A go / pivot / kill decision and a 90-day plan |
Inspired by the Design Sprint method created at Google Ventures. Venture School is not affiliated with Google.
Five days. Five layers. Five evidence gates.
Every day is one layer of the 5V™ framework and one step of the Design Sprint rhythm. Every day ends at an evidence gate — so weak ideas die on Tuesday, not in month six.
Find a problem worth solving
Map the problem, the customer and the long-term goal. Turn every belief into a testable assumption.
Problem tree & 5 Whys · customer persona · assumption map · sprint questionsProblem statement · persona · ranked assumptions
Prove people feel the pain
Get out of the building: 8–10 real customer interviews using the Mom Test. Then sketch solutions from what you heard — not what you hoped.
Interview scripts · live interviews · insight synthesis · Crazy 8sInterview synthesis · evidence wall · 3 solution concepts
Design what customers will pay for
Pick the strongest concept, write the value proposition, sketch the business model and set a first price to test.
Value Proposition Canvas · Lean Canvas · pricing hypotheses · storyboardValue proposition · Lean Canvas · price to test
Build a testable offer
Build a realistic façade in one day — landing page, clickable prototype or concierge MVP — and your first unit economics.
No-code prototyping · offer page · smoke test · unit economics v0Live prototype · offer page · unit economics v0
Test demand, then decide
Five user tests plus live demand signals — sign-ups, letters of intent, pre-orders. Score the venture and pitch to a decision panel.
User tests · demand signals · 5V™ scoring · decision-panel pitch5V™ Venture Score · go / pivot / kill memo · 90-day plan
Same rhythm, every day.
09:00 – 17:00 · in person, live online or hybrid
Leave Friday with evidence, not opinions.
Every sprint — whatever your organisation — produces the same Venture Evidence Pack and a comparable 5V™ Venture Score. It’s built to drop straight into a board paper, an incubator application or an investment committee.
One sprint. Four ways in.
The method and outputs are the same. What changes is the decision you need to make on Friday — and who makes it.
Incubate new ventures — or build the capability to do it yourself.
For innovation, strategy, CVC and L&D teams who need evidence before budget.
- Track A · Incubate: 1–6 teams take internal ideas to a board-ready investment case
- Track B · Capability: train 20–40 intrapreneurs and certify internal facilitators
- Friday: your executive panel decides with 5V™ Scores side by side
Turn student ideas into ventures in a single week.
For enterprise offices, entrepreneurship centres and business schools.
- 30–100 students in teams, in reading week or over the summer
- Co-branded “Powered by Venture School”, with a certificate
- Incubator shortlist ranked by 5V™ Score, plus an impact report
Know if your idea is worth it — before you quit or raise.
For pre-seed, first-time and solo founders, and teams of 2–3.
- Talk to 8–10 real customers in the first 48 hours
- Expert coaches, a peer pod and 30 days of Venture OS
- Pitch to an expert panel and leave with your 5V™ Score
Validate your shortlist before you commit capital.
For VCs, accelerators, angel networks, CVCs and ecosystem funds.
- 8–20 shortlisted startups run the sprint side by side
- See how founders execute, learn and respond to evidence
- A 5V™ Score and evidence memo per startup for your investment committee
Same five days. Four ways to buy them.
Fixed scope, fixed outcome, clear price. Delivered in person in London, live online, or hybrid.
Founders
- 5 live days with expert coaches
- Peer pod + Friday expert panel
- 30 days of Venture OS
- Venture Evidence Pack + 5V™ Score
- Certificate of completion
Universities
- Co-branded “Powered by Venture School”
- Staff facilitator training
- Incubator shortlist ranked by 5V™ Score
- Impact report for your enterprise team
- Certificates for every student
VC & accelerators
- 8–20 shortlisted startups side by side
- Per-startup evidence memo + 5V™ Score
- Founder behaviour notes
- Cohort ranking for investment committee
- Friday investor demo
Corporates
- On-site or at a Venture School hub
- Executive decision panel on Friday
- Board-ready investment case per team
- Optional capability track
- Facilitator certification add-on
Prices in GBP, excluding VAT. UK cohorts: London and live online.
Human-led. AI-powered. Framework-driven.
Human-led
Dipesh Savani and expert coaches lead every day. AI gives you structure; people make the judgment calls.
AI-powered
Venture OS runs the workflow: interview synthesis, assumption mapping, prototype builder and 5V™ scoring.
Framework-driven
5V™ Venture Building Framework + the Design Sprint rhythm, with the Mom Test, Value Proposition Canvas and Lean Canvas inside.
Friday is a decision — not the end.
Every outcome has a next step. Sprint graduates get priority access to everything that follows.
Keep building
12-Week Master in Venture & Business Building — from validated idea to first paying customers and Demo Day.
Scale it
Venture Studio — a venture partner and operator bench for six months.
Incubate it
18-week corporate incubation with stage gates — or license the method for your teams.
Bring the next idea
You just saved months and budget. Re-run the sprint on your next, stronger idea.
(replace with <img src="PHOTO_URL" alt="Dipesh Savani">)
Dipesh Savani
Founder, Venture School
- Creator of the 5V™ Venture Building Framework
- Ex-McKinsey
- Built and backed ventures across 20+ countries
- Led a $100M corporate venture capital fund
- 10 fintech venture programmes delivered
Do I need a finished idea?
No. You need a problem or opportunity you care about. Day 1 sharpens it — some teams arrive with three ideas and leave Monday with one.
How is this different from a Design Sprint?
A Design Sprint tests a product solution with users. The Venture Sprint also tests the problem, customer, value, price, business model and demand — and ends with a scored go / pivot / kill decision.
Do we really talk to customers in five days?
Yes. Interviews start on Tuesday. We help you recruit with Venture OS outreach templates and our network; corporates and universities can bring their own customer panels.
Can I do it alongside a job?
Choose the Split Sprint: the same five days spread across two weeks of live online evenings and Saturdays.
What if the answer is “kill”?
That’s a win — you’ve saved months and budget. You keep your Evidence Pack and can re-run the sprint on your next idea.
Who owns what we create?
You (or your organisation) own everything you create during the sprint.
Find out by Friday.
Tell us what you want to validate. We’ll design the right sprint for your idea, your team or your cohort.
Discovery call20 minutes to understand your idea, team or cohort.
Sprint planWe recommend the format, dates and Friday decision panel.
Pre-workVenture OS opens a week before Day 1 with short prep tasks.
Day 1Monday 09:00 — your sprint starts.
Monday: an idea.
Friday: a decision.
For corporates, universities, founders and VC cohorts.
Book a discovery call →