White Board Wednesday® Marathon

Disher recently facilitated four free innovation sessions for four different start-up companies in the Ann Arbor area. These sessions  – called White Board Wednesdays® – are part of a proven Disher process which generates a high quantity of quality ideas around a given problem statement.

A year and a half ago, Disher established an office presence in Ann Arbor and started looking for ways to get connected with the economic development community. It wasn’t long before Disher connected with Spark, an economic development company based in Ann Arbor Michigan that provides mentoring, resources and more for start-up companies.

These start-ups need real world practitioners to come in and help them develop practical solutions and propel their business forward – ideas ranging from market positioning to product design to manufacturing feasibility. Additionally, they need help securing distribution partners and attracting financial support.

Disher brought forth the idea to Spark of offering free White Board Wednesday® sessions to start-up companies, bringing in four or five experienced cross-functional experts to help solve key problems for these the start-up teams.

This past spring Disher facilitated these sessions for four start-ups. All of the sessions were exciting and invigorating. Disher facilitators spent an hour-and-a-half with each start-up and together they generated dozens and dozens of new ideas and prioritized the higher impact possibilities.

Moving forward, both Spark and Disher think this could be a very valuable partnership to continue providing this service to vetted, serious start-ups committed to working through the challenges of launching a viable business.