Every project climbs the same ladder: from a dotted-outline idea, through a working model, to a finished thing proven with real people. Here's what happens at each rung — and what you get.
Every strong product starts as a question someone else dismissed as too small, too weird, or too obvious. We start by mapping the territory around your question: who has the problem, what they do about it today, and where the friction actually lives. We generate broadly and judge late — the dotted outline in our mark is dotted on purpose. Ideas at this stage are supposed to be unfinished.
Ideation ends when we can state, in one sentence, the bet worth testing.
A prototype's job is to be wrong quickly. We build the cheapest thing that can teach us something: clickable mockups first, then functional software with real data. Speed matters more than polish here, because the goal is to let the idea meet reality before anyone gets precious about it.
Each round of the prototype is a revision, numbered and dated like a lab notebook, so everyone can see exactly how the idea gained fidelity.
This is the stage the whole method exists for — the solid cobalt block. We put the product in front of ordinary people with no coaching and watch what happens. If a first-time user can't succeed at the core task, the product goes back a rung. No exceptions, including for things we're fond of.
Validation ends when the evidence says the product simply works — and you get that evidence, not just our word.
Sketch, prototype, or unproven product — we can pick up the climb from any rung.
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