Special Episode: Why Jake Knapp’s Click! and the Foundation Sprint Are Changing the Game

Today’s post is a special, off-the-cuff reflection on a truly energizing experience: facilitating a community meetup centered around Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky’s new book, Click: How to Make What People Want, and its centerpiece-the Foundation Sprint. If you’re passionate about facilitation, product innovation, or just want to learn how to start big projects the right way, this book and its associated methods are must-knows.Who Is Jake Knapp?Jake Knapp is best known as the creator of the Design Sprint at Google, a process that compresses months of product and service development into just five days. Alongside John Zeratsky, Knapp co-authored the bestselling book Sprint, which has become foundational reading for teams seeking to solve big problems quickly and creatively. Their work has influenced product teams at companies like Google, Nike, Microsoft, and Slack, and their new venture, the Foundation Sprint, builds on these years of hands-on experience.Introducing Click! and the Foundation SprintClick: How to Make What People Want is the anticipated follow-up to Sprint, released in April 2025. The book distills the lessons Knapp and Zeratsky have learned from working with over 300 teams and introduces the Foundation Sprint-a two-day, high-impact workshop that helps teams:* Identify the right customer and clarify their core problem.* Differentiate their solution from competitors and alternatives.* Select the strongest strategic path before building anything.* Develop a testable founding hypothesis to validate their direction.Unlike the Design Sprint, which focuses on prototyping and testing solutions, the Foundation Sprint is about ensuring you’re solving the right problem for the right audience. It’s a critical prelude that helps teams avoid wasted effort and align on a clear, differentiated strategy.Why Is the Foundation Sprint a Game-Changer?The Foundation Sprint addresses a gap many teams face: jumping into solution mode without deeply understanding the customer or what makes their approach unique. By compressing months of strategic thinking into two days, the Foundation Sprint gives teams:* A clear, shared understanding of their target customer.* Insight into what truly differentiates their offering.* Alignment on a prioritized set of opportunities.* A practical, actionable next step-whether that’s research, prototyping, or a full Design Sprint.This process isn’t just for startups. Even established organizations and nonprofits can use the Foundation Sprint to clarify their value proposition and make smarter bets.Inside a Foundation Sprint MeetupThis week, I hosted a local Facilitation Lab meetup in Grand Rapids, in partnership with Voltage Control and Miro. We joined dozens of similar meetups worldwide to celebrate the launch of Click! and experience the Foundation Sprint’s differentiator exercise firsthand.Our group-product leaders, nonprofit directors, facilitators, and even a local CEO-gathered at Squibb Coffee & Wine Bar. We explored what makes Squibb unique by mapping out classic and custom differentiators, comparing them to competitors, and using the two-by-two matrix tool from the book. The energy and insights were palpable: by the end, everyone could clearly see what set Squibb apart and how these tools could apply to their own organizations.Having already facilitated a Foundation Sprint at my company, I can vouch for its power. Teams quickly get aligned, clarify the problem, and walk away with a hypothesis they’re excited to test. It’s the perfect launchpad for a follow-up Design Sprint, where solutions can be prototyped and validated with real users.Final ThoughtsIf you’re curious about Click! or the Foundation Sprint, don’t hesitate to reach out or join a local event. Whether you’re a facilitator, product leader, or just facilitation-curious, these tools can transform how you approach big challenges-and help you make what people truly want.Have questions or want to learn more? Drop them in the comments, or DM me for a deeper dive into the Foundation Sprint process. And if you’re feeling inspired, maybe it’s time to host your own meetup!Stay curious, keep facilitating, and make it click!Whenever you're ready, I can help you with:* Workshop design and facilitation* Facilitation and workshop training* Intention setting, planning, and incremental progress for success Get full access to Confessions of a Creative Leader at creativeleaderconfessions.substack.com/subscribe