From vision to revenue.

A practical end-to-end guide for moving from a Picture of the Future through discovery, ideation and validation to a business that works in the real world.

Start the journey

Table of contents

Get an overview of all the content
covered in this knowledge base.

We publish everything you need to close the gap between a new business idea and its first revenue, tightly edited and sorted into the sections below.

Introduction

New to Business Design? Start here: what it is, the principles behind it, and where it comes from.

Roles

Who does what in a Business Design project, from sponsor to coach, and how the roles work together.

Read the process The spine End-to-End Innovation Process

Five phases from a Picture of the Future to a business that works. Build and validate your innovation step by step.

  1. Phase I · 5 pages Picture of the Future & Strategy The first phase of the end-to-end innovation process sets the context for all innovation activities. We create a picture of the future and derive the strategy to get there. Let's dive in and see what strategic guidance you need to succeed with innovation. Read the phase
  2. Phase II · 13 pages Playgrounds & Exploration Based on the future we've envisioned for our customers and for our own organisation, the next phase is all about research and discovery. We define so-called "playgrounds" within that future vision and explore them with genuine curiosity. Successful innovation projects rely on fresh and surprising insights from research. Read the phase
  3. Phase III · 4 pages Portfolio & Evaluation The third phase of the end-to-end innovation process is the linchpin of the entire innovation system. First, new ideas are created based on insights from previous research. Second, we ask ourselves how the ideas we've developed help us put our vision and research work into practice, and what opportunity-to-risk ratio underlies them. The idea portfolio is our central tool here — and in this article we show you how to use it. Read the phase
  4. Phase IV · 20 pages Validation & Refinement The fourth phase of the end-to-end innovation process is the most operational phase of Business Design — and also the most challenging one. We validate new ideas from the portfolio with the pragmatism of an entrepreneur and the precision of a scientist. This pushes many companies out of their comfort zone. But it also delivers clear results and reduces uncertainty as much as possible, so investment decisions can rest on facts rather than gut feeling. Here we go! Read the phase
  5. Phase V Execution & Go-to-Market The final phase of the end-to-end innovation process consolidates all previous results and prepares market entry. Based on these results, you plan and execute the roll-out of the offer, and prepare the entire operational business. What this means in practice depends on how the new business will be run. More on this in this article. Read the phase
Organisational Context

Make innovation stick: leadership, governance, work culture and the roadmap to an innovation system of your own.

Tools & Methods

Proven tools and methods for every phase, ready to use in your next project.

More

The AI library, and who we are.

The process viewer

Walk the process,
step by step.

The five phases as a clickable map. Move through the end-to-end system station by station, with every step and every tool in its place.

Open the process viewer