Solopreneur Sprints
Solopreneur Sprints are one-week collaborations that help you execute your next idea without getting stuck.
Sprints by deliverable
Sprints by stage
We develop the first iteration of a new story and offer to start testing in the real world.
Sample projects
Testimonials
"It’s like looking in the mirror and loving what you see."
Julie Morgenstern, Consultant
"The processes Bianca has built… should be industry standard.”
Jono Gasparro, Producer
"Bianca asks strategic questions and gives immediate results."
Brianna Allen, Artist
FAQs
A sprint is a short, time-boxed period in which a team focused exclusively on one goal.
Design sprints are used to solve design problems and get feedback on ideas. Agile sprints are used to break large projects into smaller tasks. (The concept originated from the Agile project management philosophy, which—like Lean!—is an innovation with Japanese roots.)
A Solopreneur Sprint is a slightly more organic variation on a 5-day Design Sprint designed for two people. (Me and you.)
As a simple creative who acquired my first personal computing device in college, I knew nothing about sprints until five years into my solopreneur journey.
I was designing brand identities and websites for small businesses and was perpetually trying to find ways to be both more generative/creative and more focused/efficient during projects.
In 2018 I casually picked up the book Sprint by Jake Knapp, which describes a 5-day process he uses with companies to pinpoint any problem and prototype a solution. I was fascinated.
I immediately started testing and adapting Knapp’s method to client projects. My sprint projects were consistently both more fun and effective than other engagements.
Over time, I phased out all other project types (and have developed an allergy to hourly work—a story for another time). I now split my “work” time between playfully open-ended conversations and joyfully focused sprints.
Launching any project solo comes with common challenges, including uncertainty, skill gaps and limited brainpower.
Sprints provide just enough structure at just the right time to create momentum, foster creativity, and make meaningful progress.
What makes solo entrepreneurship really hard:
- Uncertainty: Doing something new is by nature ambiguous and open-ended, but our brains learn and operate best with a 85% certainty of success. Facing huge amounts of uncertainty can create internal friction that hinders the kind of risk-taking and problem-solving we need to move forward with limited data.
- Skill gaps: There simply isn’t enough time in one lifetime to learn everything you need to know to make a whole business work. How you budget your attention is among the most important decisions you can make.
- Limited brainpower: Executing tasks and switching contexts take up energy, and a solopreneur must take on dozens of challenges across domains at any given time. The freedom to follow your vision comes with the burden of responsibility to carry every aspect of it out, which taxes our creativity and energy.
Why sprints help:
- Sprints foster creativity. While some constraints kill creativity, multiple studies suggest that we are significantly more innovative with the right constraints. By focusing on one problem and setting time limits on solutions, sprints enable you to have more ideas, choose the best idea, and test it faster—while learning more in the process.
- Sprints double brainpower and halve friction. Our brains need a variety of inputs, social supports, and feedback loops to work well. By approaching your problem as a structured process with a collaborator, you spend less time wondering what to do next and more time getting inspired, challenged and focused.
- Sprints focus your energy on the right thing at the right time. By honing in on one key problem and being fully present at each step of solving it, you can gain the clarity and momentum to move forward fast.
Of course! But it’s better with a collaborator ;)
While I believe part of the magic of sprints lies in its collaborative nature, I’m interested in adapting them for different needs. To that end, I’ve created a course that guides you through a DIY brand & website sprint. I’m also working guides you can use with another collaborator (or even an AI assistant).
Curious? Email me or schedule a call.