Designing Ventures for Uncertain Futures

Cohort 1

Founding Cohort

While there's an argument to be made that every UN SDG could benefit from private intervention, the reality is that a portion of them are better served through policy and government-led intervention. For all the others however, there are discreet opportunities for ambitions, impact-focused entrepeneurs to chip away at. We've collected this list of all the UN SDGs, their explicit target metrics and potential provocations tied to those goals that we believe are ripe for entrepreneurship.

SDG Impact Venture Cheat Sheet


In 1972, meteorologist Edward Lorenz asked a profound question: "Does the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?" This concept, now known as the Butterfly Effect, revolutionized our understanding of complex systems and uncertainty. Forty years later, in 2015, the United Nations posed its own world-changing question: Can 17 Sustainable Development Goals transform our planet by 2030? Welcome to Designing Ventures for Uncertain Futures – where the Butterfly Effect meets the global quest for sustainable impact. Just as Lorenz discovered that tiny changes can have monumental effects, we'll explore how a new venture can create ripples of positive change across the globe. Why Now: The Exponential Age: We're living through the fastest technological change in human history. What worked yesterday won't work tomorrow. The Great Reimagining: From remote work to AI, every industry is being reshaped. The winners will be those who can imagine and build new futures. The Impact Imperative: In a world facing climate change and social upheaval, aligning with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals isn't just good ethics – it's good business. This workshop is your launchpad for navigating the complex web of global challenges and emerging opportunities. You'll learn to spot the butterflies that others miss – those small shifts that signal massive change – and harness them to create ventures that are both profitable and profoundly impactful.&nbsp; We'll focus on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to guide you in creating ventures that address the triple bottom line: people, planet, and profit. By aligning your innovations with the SDGs, you'll develop solutions that not only drive financial success but also contribute to global well-being and environmental sustainability. Transform uncertainty into your competitive edge and become the leader who not only navigates the future, but shapes it.

Transform Uncertainty into Opportunity


Course syllabus

Introductory pre-recorded session covering the fundamentals of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a primer to the course.

Pre-Course Materials

Understanding the SDGs, ideation and world building techniques.

Saturday


Impact-venture refinement, evaluation and prioritization.

Sunday


Meet with your instructors 1:1 after the course to discuss your idea and next steps.

Venture Design Office Hours

Course Schedule

Entrepreneurs who want to break free of existing mental models and develop new techniques for opportunity discovery.

Corporate leaders responsible for identifying and crafting new growth areas for their organizations.

Action-oriented individuals who are genuinely concerned about their future and feel that policy-efforts alone aren't cutting it.

Who is this course for

What you’ll get out of this course

The internet doesn’t need another app for cat videos. Dive into solving critical issues like healthcare, poverty, water access, climate change, and education inequality, and unlock your potential to create groundbreaking solutions.

Unlock your creative potential by taking on the world's most pressing challenges.


Strategy is about choice, but how do you actually choose? Learn technique for how to prioritize impact-focused ventures and evaluation criteria that matters most to investors.

Learn how to prioritize what to work on and what impact leaders actually care about.


Develop an understanding for how to balance people, planet, and profit. Infuse purpose into your projects by aligning with impact metrics that matter.

Learn to Design with Triple Bottom Line in Mind


You don't need to come to the course with a concept in mind already (though it's great if you have one), but you'll walk away with 100s of concepts to consider based on what excites you most to pursue.

Walk away with a new venture concept that you can further explore on your own or within your organization.


Get hands-on with discovery and ideation techniques utilized by some of the world's most innovative design firms and venture studios.

Expand your innovation toolkit.


Gain a deep understanding of the techniques used by futurists to navigate the unknown. Learn to spot and analyze key trends and shifts across social, technological, economic, environmental, and political landscapes that can make or break your venture.

Learn how to turn uncertainty into a source of inspiration


Ready to proceed with a venture from the course? There will be an opportunity to get feedback from your peers and instructors on a prioritized opportunity.

Receive expert feedback and coaching on a venture you're excited to pursue.


A hands-on workshop that gives you the skills to think like a futurist and design ventures to tackle threats to our society and environment.


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Designing Ventures for Uncertain Futures

Courses

Designing Ventures for Uncertain Futures

Resources

SDG Impact Venture Cheat Sheet