The 3-Hour Innovation Plan

What is the 3-Hour Innovation Plan?

The 3-Hour Innovation Plan is three 60-minute coaching sessions, $300 for all three, that move your idea from hunch to evidence. Between sessions you talk to real customers and put a rough prototype in front of them. By the third hour you have a roadmap, a discovery method you can run again, and an honest answer to the only question that pays: will anyone pay for this?

Most ideas die in a conference room, defended by the one person who loves them. Have you ever watched a good team spend a year building something nobody asked for? An idea stopped in three hours costs three hours. The same idea stopped in year three costs year three.

What you get for $300

• Three 60-minute sessions: one on discovery, one on insights and experiments, one on the decision. All virtual, live with your coach.
• A complete innovation roadmap: the moves that take your idea from today to a decision you can defend out loud.
• A customer discovery framework: the questions, the interview plan and the prototype approach, so the next round runs without us in the room.
• Innovation path documentation: the written trail of what you tested, what customers did, and why you decided.
• 30-day implementation support: thirty days of email follow-up after session three, while you put the plan to work.

Is this plan for you?

This plan is for anyone holding an idea and no customer evidence yet. It suits people with a decision coming and real money or careers attached.

• Startup founders: chasing an idea, needing a sharper read on the customer and their problem.
• Corporate intrapreneurs: told to drive innovation inside a company that likes its old ways.
• New business builders: unsure of key parts of the business model or the value proposition.
• Non-profit leaders: trying to connect your work to the outcomes donors care about.
• Government innovators: up against decades of process that needs reimagining.
• Anyone creating value: in any setting, for any customer or user.

How do the three hours work?

Each session runs 60 minutes on a pre-set agenda we bend to fit your team. Every hour has its own deliverables and its own success metrics. Sessions are virtual, Monday through Friday, 9am to 10pm Eastern. Need a fourth hour? Additional sessions are available by mutual agreement.

Hour 1: Discovery

Goals

• Idea definition
• Customer identification
  • Who are they?
  • What is their problem?
  • Where can they be found?
  • When do they feel it?
  • Why do they have it?
  • How do they solve it today?
• A theory of customer value
• A plan to learn

Activities

• Lean Canvas discussion
• Identify ten potential early-adopter customers
• Plan the interviews and observations

Hour 2: Insights & Experimentation

Goals

• Actionable insights from what customers said and did
• A plan to run behavioral experiments with customers

Activities

• Sorting and grouping your customer data
• Insight generation
• Prototype building
• Experiment planning

Hour 2 is where the surprises live. For a head start, read how to turn customer observations into insights, and how experiments differ from pilots.

Hour 3: Decision Making

Goals

• New actionable insights from your experiments
• A revised theory of customer value
• Agreement on whether the customer wants the idea
• A pivot, persevere or stop decision

Activities

• Interpreting your experimental data
• Insight generation
• The evidence-based next step
• Business Model Canvas discussion

What do we need from you?

Three hours only works if you bring the customer work.

• Commit to all three 60-minute sessions.
• Fill out the short materials we send before each one.
• Do the customer work between sessions: interviews, observations, a prototype, an experiment.
• Be willing to accept data you hoped not to see, whether customers shrug at the idea or headwinds appear that would sink the business model.

The $300 fee covers your coach’s time for all three sessions.

Outcomes you can expect

• Your idea tested against a real customer problem and observable behavior.
• Insights you can act on about customer, problem and solution.
• A behavioral experiment run with customers using low-fidelity prototypes.
• A pivot, persevere or stop decision built on evidence, not opinion.

How will you know it worked?

Four questions, asked at the end of hour three. Four honest yeses and the $300 did its job.

• Did you answer the question, “Is this idea valuable to a customer?”
• Did you identify a customer with a problem, and a potential solution?
• Did you get unambiguous customer data when you tested your prototypes?
• Were you able to make an evidence-based decision about moving forward?

Your coach

Frequently asked questions

What does the 3-Hour Innovation Plan cost, and what does it cover?

The 3-Hour Innovation Plan is $300, covering all three 60-minute sessions with your coach. It also includes your innovation roadmap, a customer discovery framework, your innovation path documentation, and 30 days of implementation support. Nothing else to buy.

Who is the 3-Hour Innovation Plan for?

It is for anyone with an idea and no customer evidence yet. Founders, corporate intrapreneurs, non-profit leaders and government innovators all use it the same way: to find out whether a real customer has the problem they think they are solving. If you already hold that evidence, start with the free call instead.

How are the sessions scheduled?

We contact you to set up the first session as soon as your payment comes through. Sessions are virtual and run Monday through Friday, 9am to 10pm Eastern. You choose the spacing, because the customer work happens in the gaps.

What happens between the sessions?

You do the customer work. After hour one, interviews and observations with the early adopters you named; after hour two, a prototype in front of real customers and a close look at what they do. Short materials come to you beforehand, so each hour goes to thinking, not catching up.

What do I have at the end of the three hours?

You end with a decision and the evidence behind it: pivot, persevere or stop. You keep the innovation roadmap, the customer discovery framework and your innovation path documentation, plus 30 days of implementation support. The framework keeps paying, because you can run it again on your next idea.

Can I start with the free 15-minute call instead?

Yes, and plenty of people should. The free 15-minute consultation exists so you can size up the fit before spending $300. Bring the idea and one sentence about who you think the customer is, then ask for the call on our home page.

What if my idea does not survive the evidence?

Then the plan did its job and you found out in three hours instead of three years. An invalidated idea is a result, not a failure: it hands back your money and your calendar for the next idea. That is why we ask up front for a willingness to accept disappointing data.

Can I reschedule a session?

Yes. Sessions can be moved with a day’s notice, so email coach@coachingup.us and we will find a new time. Life happens, and the agenda is built to bend.