Rapid Innovation Bootcamp
High-impact training for founders, builders, & product leaders
ACCELERATE PRODUCT/MARKET FIT
Validate ideas 10X faster 🎯
Our Rapid Innovation Bootcamp is a crash course in Game Thinking that’ll help you innovate smarter & find product/market fit.
If you want to give your team(s) the tools & training they need to get reliably better innovation outcomes – this 5-day online workshop is for you.
Startups, game studios & global brands worldwide use Game Thinking to launch successful products.
You can too.
NEXT BOOTCAMP RUNS FEB 26 – MAR 1 2024
Build your own
Rapid Innovation Playbook
FREE Training & Bootcamp AMA – Wed Feb 21 2024
9am PT / 12pm ET / 6pm CET / 9:30pm IST
Learn How to LEVERAGE Game Thinking
Accelerate your team 🚀
Game Thinking is a proven innovation system that blends Game Design, Systems Thinking, Design Thinking, and Agile/Lean Practices into a potent recipe for accelerating innovation.
Game Thinking speeds up product validation and customer discovery by showing you how to:
- partner with the right early customers and leverage their investment to tune your systems
- plan your product lifecycle around a mastery path – and zero-in on the right parts to test first
- build a stripped down, high-learning MVP that drives engagement from the ground up
Who it’s for
What you’ll learn
Find & leverage your ideal early customers
Create a compelling, sticky Habit Loop
Get reliably better innovation outcomes
How to build a Playbook to implement these ideas
This program is magic for entrepreneurs searching for product/market fit
Candis Best
CEO @ Learningateway
This program saved my team months of time. Incredible value
Vinayak Joglekar
CTO @ Excellerate
This program changed how we design; it delivers powerful insights fast
Kacie Hsu
User Research @ Jam City
What you can expect
Create your Rapid Innovation Playbook 📓
In the Bootcamp, you’ll learn how to validate your ideas faster and smarter with the Game Thinking toolkit.
To level-up your product skills, we show you how to run three interconnected Game Thinking Sprints. This is an integrated system: the output of each Sprint is the input to the next.
This highly efficient system exposes blue-ocean market opportunities and delivers validated design insights in record time.
Learning these techniques will save you months of time and dramatically increase your odds of success.
1. Learn to Build Habits that Stick
Increase retention by engaging customers in learning a skill
- Get an overview of the entire Game Thinking system
- Hear case studies of companies who have used Game Thinking
- Learn three habits of successful innovators
- Learn to do a mastery path teardown of an existing product
2. Find an underserved, high-need market niche
Clarify your strategy & get focused customer insights
- Clarify your beachhead strategy & high-risk assumptions
- Identify who NEEDS what you offer – and who doesn’t
- Understand your customers habits & motivations
- Write Job Stories that capture their motivations & habits
3: Design for Re-engagement from the ground up
Design sustained engagement from the ground up
- Visualize your end-to-end Customer Journey
- Analyze your market with Competitive Teardowns
- Design a habit-building Learning Loop
- Drive retention with smart Progression Design
4: Validate Your Ideas with Concept Scenarios
Test your ideas with low-fidelity storyboards
- Visualize a 30-day journey with Concept Storyboards
- Test your concept with vetted early customers
- Validate & update your key assumptions
- Update your design plans & next steps
5: Analyze your market with Competitive Teardowns
Share your work and plan next steps
- Share mastery path teardowns created by students
- Learn about ways teardowns can be used in innovation
- Plan next steps in your Game Thinking journey
- Receive a certificate of completion
Who we are
Meet your coaches 👋🏽
Amy Jo Kim
Game designer & startup coach
I’ve helped hundreds of product leaders bring ideas to life – co-designed Rock Band, The Sims, eBay, Covet Fashion, & Happify – run & sold a venture-funded startup.
Now I help innovative teams & leaders find product/market fit faster & delight customers with high-retention products & games.
Scott Kim
Educational game designer
I’m a game designer specializing in puzzles & education games. I created the puzzle modes on Tetris & Bejeweled, & helped to create adaptive math game Mastering Math for education giant ABCmouse.com.
I’d love to help you build more entertaining & effective product & games.
Amy Jo’s program & insights gave me practical, tangible design skills.
Gina Bianchini
CEO, Mighty Networks
Amy Jo’s MVP methodology is fantastic. The results you’ll see are a no-brainer
Ofer Leidner
President, Twill / Happify
Amy Jo has a refined, effective process for bringing new ideas to life
Blair Ethington
VP @ eBay
Game Thinking stretches beyond gaming
Trusted By Leading Brands, Startups & Game Studios
Game Thinking isn’t just for games. Our clients work in automotive, beauty, education, entertainment, finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and technology.
Successful product teams at Disney, Netflix, Tesla, Google, MTV, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, & the New York Times have used Game Thinking to bring their ideas to life faster and smarter.
What about you?
This program made me a better, more strategic product maker
Ian Brand
Product Innovation @ General Motors
Amanda Taylor
Senior Researcher
Dylan Watkins
VR / AR Developer
Eugenia Kuyda
CEO @ Replika
Amy Jo’s program & insights gave me practical, tangible design skills.
Gina Bianchini
CEO, Mighty Networks
Amy Jo has a refined, effective process for bringing new ideas to life
Blair Ethington
VP @ eBay
Now I can do research much earlier & set my teams up for success
Bonnie Chiurazzi
Director Market Insights, Glassdoor
This program had invaluable impact on my product thinking – AND my product
Chris Swain
Professor @ USC Iovine and Young Academy
Finally, I have a method to track innovation projects & help my team build hits
George Ogbonnaya
VP @ First City Monument Bank
Game Thinking saved us from struggling through Customer Discovery on our own
Cara Meverden
Podcasts @ Apple
Register your interest
Get on the early-bird list
We run our Rapid Innovation Bootcamp a few times a year. Our next cohort kicks off on Feb 26 2024.
Want to get notified when the doors open?
Get on the early-bird list for insider discounts and first access to our upcoming Bootcamps.
Case Study
How Geocaching applied Game Thinking
Allison Kelsey
Director of Product, Geocaching
the world’s largest treasure hunt
Allison Kelsey was searching for a process to help her teams innovate beyond their core product & reach new audiences.
She attended the Bootcamp with a colleague, and liked it so much she brought her entire team into the program.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Innovation Bootcamp?
A Game Thinking crash course that’ll level-up your product skills & help you get RESULTS.
When does the bootcamp happen?
Next Bootcamp runs Feb 26-Mar 1 2024. Join the early-bird list to get notified when the doors open!
Where do I need to participate?
The Bootcamp runs online. You need a connected computer or mobile phone to access the materials, checkin to the group & attend live sessions
What topics do you cover?
The Bootcamp improves key skills for cross-functional product teams: strategy, research, game & UX design, & product management.
What happens if I get busy?
You move at your own pace, & you get lifetime access to the videos, templates & private group.
What if I can’t make it to the live meetings?
We run these Bootcamps regularly – so if you miss one, attend the next one at your convenience.
I’m building an app/platform/enterprise system. Is Game Thinking only for games?
Game Thinking will improve any product experience that can be built around learning, mastery and empowerment. It works for games – and ALSO for products, apps, blogs, marketplaces, and events where the goal is long-term engagement.
This reminds me of Gamification – but I’m not hearing a lot about game mechanics. What’s the difference?
Gamification opens the door and gets people interested in the power of games. Game Thinking is the next step. You’ll learn how to bring your ideas to life like a game designer, and create Learning Loops that empower your players
Will my employer cover the cost?
If your company has a training budget, this should be easy to cover. Participating will enhance your product design and management skills – and your entire team will benefit from the techniques you bring back to the company.
Is this a good fit for me?
It’s all about what kind of outcomes you’re looking for. If you want to super-charge your product innovation skills, find product/market fit faster than you thought possible, and leverage the deeper underlying power of games – this is for you.
