Strategy-Led Innovation Playbook · Start here

Foundation Sprint

The way into Discovery. In a few focused working sessions, a team turns an idea into a founding hypothesis and a ranked list of assumptions to test. It is the cheapest place to find out that your thinking has a hole in it.

The Foundation Sprint is from Click by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky (2025).

01 / Output

What it produces

Founding hypothesis

One sentence the whole team owns: who you help, the problem you solve, how, what they will choose you over, and why.

Ranked assumptions

Everything that has to be true for the hypothesis to hold, ranked by how much damage it does if wrong and how little you know about it.

First experiments

The smallest tests that would change your confidence, in order, each with a pass/fail line.

These are beliefs to test, not evidence. A sharp hypothesis is still a guess. Finishing the sprint never passes the Problem checkpoint in Discovery; only customer evidence does.

02 / Sequence

The parts, in order

Each part answers one question and leaves one thing written down. Work alone first, then share, then decide. Keep every part on the clock.

Part	The question	What you write down
1 Vision	Where are we going, and why does it matter?	A short, specific picture of the future you are building toward. Specific enough that someone could tell whether you got there.
2 Customer and problem	Who exactly are we helping first, and what hurts today?	One specific customer, described by role and situation, and their problem stated in their terms with no solution named.
3 Advantage	Why are we the ones to win this?	For a startup: the capability, insight and motivation this team has that others lack. For a team inside a company: the company's right to win, meaning the assets, channels, data and customer relationships the company has and a startup does not.
4 Competition	What will the customer compare us to?	The dominant player, the direct alternatives, the workarounds people use today, and doing nothing. Then why switching is hard.
5 Differentiation	Where will we stand apart?	Two dimensions customers care about and you can credibly own.
6 Principles	How will we decide when trade-offs get hard?	A few decision rules drawn from your differentiators, plus one safeguard: something you will not do, even when it pays.
7 Approaches	What else could work, and which do we back?	At least three genuinely different ways to solve the problem, each written up fairly, then compared and one chosen, with the reason recorded.
8 Founding hypothesis	What is our bet, in one sentence?	If we help [customer] solve [problem] with [approach], they will choose it over [alternatives] because [differentiation].
9 First experiments	What do we test first?	The assumptions behind the hypothesis, ranked, and the smallest test for the riskiest ones.

03 / Strategy

Advantage, for teams inside companies

A startup asks why this team can win. A team inside a company asks why this company can win: what it already owns that a well-funded startup would have to build or buy. Name the assets, channels, data and relationships, and be honest about which ones the business will actually let you use.

This is where strategy enters Discovery. If you can't name a right to win, you have a reason to question the opportunity. If you can, it becomes the core of your case when you ask for backing.

04 / Position

Picturing differentiation

Draw a simple two-by-two. Each axis is one of your two differentiators, running from the weak end to the strong end. Place each competitor, the workarounds and "do nothing", then place your chosen approach.

	Weak on differentiator 1	Strong on differentiator 1
Strong on differentiator 2	Partly different	Where you want to be: strong on both, and nobody else there
Weak on differentiator 2	The status quo usually sits here	Partly different

If the top-right corner is crowded, or customers don't value it, pick different differentiators. Being slightly better on everything puts you nowhere in the customer's mind.

05 / Test

The first experiments

Order the tests by what would sink the hypothesis fastest if you are wrong. Give every test a pass/fail line before it runs.

Assumption	Smallest test	Commitment step	When
The customer has the problem	Interviews about the last time the problem happened; ask to see the workaround.	Gave time or effort	Always first
They prefer our approach	A landing page or waitlist (state the traffic type), or a prototype test.	Signed up	After the problem holds
A named payer has a reason to pay	Ask for a letter of intent.	Signed a letter: a Solution signal	After the problem holds
They will pay	Ask for a pre-order or deposit.	Paid: evidence for Incubation's Paying checkpoint	After the solution holds
The differentiation lands	Compare responses to a differentiated message and a plain one.	Said so, or signed up	Alongside the solution tests

A payment and a letter of intent are separate signals. A letter shows intent; a payment shows willingness to pay. Inside a company, asking customers for either needs backing first.

Next: take the founding hypothesis into Discovery, and judge each result with Evidence and Metrics.