Sprint: Solve Big Problems in Five Days

CareerCast - Life-long Career Development

John Zeratsky and Jake Knapp Do the biggest challenges require less time, not more? Do individuals produce better solutions than teams? Can you test anything in one week by building a realistic façade? Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky, Design Partners, GV, and co-authors of Sprint would answer “absolutely yes” to all three questions. In this CareerCast, John and Jake share their unique perspective from times at Google Ventures, YouTube and FeedBurner (which Google acquired in 2007) along with ideas, strategies, and a behind the scenes look at how startups sprint on difficult problems. So listen in if you have a big opportunity, challenge, or idea and need perspective, insights, and practical answers.

Aired January 20, 2017

John Zeratsky is a design partner at GV and the co-author of Sprint. Before joining GV, he was a design lead at YouTube and an early employee of FeedBurner, which Google acquired in 2007. John has written about design and productivity for Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Wired, and Time. His book Sprint describes GV’s unique five-day process for solving big problems and testing new ideas. Originally from rural Wisconsin, John now lives in San Francisco with his wife.

Jake Knapp is a design partner at GV, author of Sprint, and created the Google Ventures sprint process and has run more than a hundred sprints with startups such as 23andme, Slack, Nest, and Foundation Medicine. Previously, Jake worked at Google, leading sprints for everything from Gmail to Google X. He is currently among the world’s tallest designers.

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Sprint by Jake Knapp

Read an excerpt of Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days Hardcover by Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky, and Braden Kowitz

Read the Excerpt