Learning Launch

Challenge  I am a member of a charitable organization that focuses mainly on raising money for children  in orphanages across the country. The winter was coming and we wanted to raise money to  provide blankets and winter clothes for as many orphanages as we could, so the manager of  the organization divided us into teams and assigned a task for each team. Our team’s task was  to go to a nearby school and sell snacks and candy to the children there and all the money we  collect will go to the local orphanages. We had only one week to collect the money we  needed before  giving it to the manager to buy the suitable supplies for the orphanages.

Raising money from children was definitely challenging for my team because we have never  done it before, besides these children already have a booth in their school that sells snacks  and candy so why would they buy from us? However we accepted the challenge and thought  it was a great opportunity to learn something new.

Selection  Having gone through many design thinking tools, our team generated some ideas that we  wanted to test, so we selected the learning launch tool. A learning launch is quickly testing  your ideas on real customers to see how they would respond to these ideas and see if your  assumptions were actually true or needed to be reconsidered. The purpose of the learning  launch is mainly to learn and improve your ideas.

Application  We started the learning launch process by stating the assumptions that we made. When we  arrived at the school, we started observing and gathering information and as a result noticed  that the school had only one booth that sold snacks to all kids from grade 1 to grade 9, the  kids of the first, second and third grade found it difficult to buy snacks or candy during the  break time because the booth was always crowded with the bigger kids, so our team had the  idea of carrying the snacks and candy in boxes and going to the little kids’ classrooms to sell  them the candy. We called this idea “The moving booth” and we were determined to test this  idea as soon as possible. We started by just four classrooms, we sold our candy to the  children in the free time between their classes, and their reaction to “The moving booth”  confirmed our idea, the children were so happy and you could tell from their reaction that  “The moving booth” was what they needed for a long time.

After having these confirming data, we continued developing our idea and began to expand it  to reach all the classrooms of the school, we even sold snacks to some teachers who forgot to  bring their meals with them and were too busy to go to the school booth. “The moving booth”  was a success and in one week, we collected much more money than we had expected at the  beginning of this project.

Insight  The learning launch tool has definitely taught me and my team the importance of testing our  ideas and assumptions quickly and on a few customers at the beginning. When we began  testing our idea in four classrooms only, we were not worried about the failure of the idea

very much because we knew that if it failed, our failure would be fast and cheap.          Another thing I have learnt from learning launches is to look for facts only and to be able to  see what the customer really needs but can’t express properly, just like we did with those  children who really needed that moving booth but could not express that need.

Approach  After that amazing experience that had surely broadened my mind, I would definitely apply  the learning launch tool also next time because it saved our time, effort and money and  helped us get feedback from real customers at the very beginning of the project which  assured us throughout the project that we were on the right track.


Learning Launch Challenge I am a member of a charitable organization that focuses mainly on raising money for children in orphanages across the country . The winter was coming and we wanted to raise money to provide blankets and winter clothes for as many orphanages as we could , so the manager of the organization divided us into teams and assigned a task for each team . Our team ’s task was to go to a nearby school and sell snacks and candy to the children there and all the money we collect will go to the local orphanages . We had only one week to collect the money we needed before giving it to the manager to buy the suitable supplies for the orphanages . Raising money from children was definitely challenging for my team because we have never done it before , besides these children already have a booth in their school that sells snacks and candy so why would they buy from us ? However we accepted the challenge and thought it was a great opportunity to learn something new . Selection Having gone through many design thinking tools , our team generated some ideas that we wanted to test , so we selected the learning launch tool . A learning launch is quickly testing your ideas on real customers to see how they would respond to these ideas and see if your assumptions were actually true or needed to be reconsidered . The purpose of the learning launch is mainly to learn and improve your ideas . Application We started the learning launch process by stating the assumptions that we made . When we arrived at the school , we started observing and gathering information and as a result noticed that the school had only one booth that sold snacks to all kids from grade 1 to grade 9 , the kids of the first , second and third grade found it difficult to buy snacks or candy during the break time because the booth was always crowded with the bigger kids , so our team had the idea of carrying the snacks and candy in boxes and going to the little kids ’ classrooms to sell them the candy . We called this idea “ The moving booth ” and we were determined to test this idea as soon as possible . We started by just four classrooms , we sold our candy to the children in the free time between their classes , and their reaction to “ The moving booth ” confirmed our idea , the children were so happy and you could tell from their reaction that “ The moving booth ” was what they needed for a long time . After having these confirming data , we continued developing our idea and began to expand it to reach all the classrooms of the school , we even sold snacks to some teachers who forgot to bring their meals with them and were too busy to go to the school booth . “ The moving booth ” was a success and in one week , we collected much more money than we had expected at the beginning of this project . Insight The learning launch tool has definitely taught me and my team the importance of testing our ideas and assumptions quickly and on a few customers at the beginning . When we began testing our idea in four classrooms only , we were not worried about the failure of the idea very much because we knew that if it failed , our failure would be fast and cheap . Another thing I have learnt from learning launches is to look for facts only and to be able to see what the customer really needs but ca n’t express properly , just like we did with those children who really needed that moving booth but could not express that need . Approach After that amazing experience that had surely broadened my mind , I would definitely apply the learning launch tool also next time because it saved our time , effort and money and helped us get feedback from real customers at the very beginning of the project which assured us throughout the project that we were on the right track .