Case study - a Design Sprint in Silicon Valley with the startup TeraWatt Infrastructure

Terawatt, with its ambition to revolutionize the charging infrastructure for electric vehicle fleets, faced a significant challenge. How to design, validate, and launch a complex product in a highly technical and regulated field in just a few months? The challenge was not just to think about an isolated feature but an ecosystem: a suite of tools allowing the client to track and manage charging sessions for entire fleets of electric vehicles (EVs).

The answer was found in adopting a Design Sprint, facilitated by Steph Cruchon from Design Sprint Ltd, to accelerate innovation while navigating the sector’s strict requirements.

It’s generally VERY difficult to share such detailed case studies on Design Sprints for recent projects, as everything is often protected by NDAs. The projects we work on are always highly strategic.

(In some companies, the design sprint is used as a “secret weapon” for innovation; it makes sense that we can’t show everything 🤫)

This time it’s different because the team was lightning-fast in execution. This allows us to show you such a case study without risk, just a few months after the initial sprint. (You’ll see we still had to blur some stuff!)

In this rare video, Steph Cruchon, the facilitator, meets up with Camilo Ramirez, the Head of Product at Terawatt (and former Uber), to dive deep into this design sprint. You’ll see this isn’t just a typical feedback session because Camilo didn’t come empty-handed; he presents us with the operational MVP (Minimum Viable Product) created by his team following the sprint!

You’ll see the journey taken: strategic alignment during the sprint, prototype construction, user testing results, leading to the first functional version of the product launched just 3 months later!

The Design Sprint was conducted 100% online. Steph, based in Switzerland, started his days at 6:30 PM, and the team, spread across multiple time zones in the USA. The challenge was to assemble a “dream team” of 7-8 people for the entirety of the sprint. Challenge completed with flying colors by Danielle (Decider) and Camilo (Head of Product and sprint organizer).

The first days of the sprint were dedicated to a deep understanding of the challenge posed to Terawatt. The team examined the end-users’ needs, market trends, and technological constraints. Some technical elements or data already existed but were either in databases or in dynamic Excel files.

The design sprint process MAP > SKETCH > DECIDE of the first three days gave birth to several concepts, suggesting innovative ways to develop the charging monitoring infrastructure. This stage was crucial for aligning the team on a common vision and identifying key hypotheses to test.

On day 3 at noon, the winning concept was identified.

The culmination of the process was the creation of a functional prototype. This phase transformed abstract ideas into a tangible model that the team could test with real users. The prototype, designed to be intuitive and suited to the specific needs of electric vehicle fleets.

A critical element for the success of this sprint was that the entire team got involved and brought their expertise, enabling our team (Design Sprint Ltd) to create the high-fidelity prototype presented to testers.

The last days of the sprint were dedicated to user testing. This was a unique opportunity to gather direct feedback from potential users of the charging system. The insights obtained at this stage were invaluable for refining the product, correcting flaws, and confirming initial hypotheses.

End of Sprint.

In just three months, the team managed to go from an idea to a functional MVP, ready to be deployed. This success highlights the power of the Design Sprint as an innovation tool, enabling rapid iteration, concrete user testing, and accelerated market entry.

The involvement of Steph from Design Sprint Ltd as an external facilitator played a decisive role in the project’s success. His ability to guide the team through the process, encourage collaboration, and keep the focus on objectives optimized time and resources while avoiding common pitfalls in product development projects. Being external helped bring the team to success, impartially ensuring the process was followed.

Another key element was involving the team’s full-stack developer (frontend + backend) throughout the sprint. From the week following the design sprint, he was able to start the actual construction of the solution, beginning with the project parts that had been validated.

The journey of Terawatt is one more example of the transformative impact the Design Sprint can have on the rapid development of products (digital or services).

By enabling the team to focus intensely on the problem to solve, validate ideas with real users, and iterate quickly towards a viable product, the Design Sprint has proven its value as a “secret weapon” for innovation.

As Terawatt continues to leverage the results of this sprint to improve and expand its electric vehicle charging infrastructure, we hope this case study serves as an inspiring model for other companies seeking to accelerate their own innovation.

The speed of execution, team engagement, and openness to learning and adaptation are keys to turning complex challenges into successful innovation opportunities.

One last important thing: the MVP product isn’t perfect, and that’s precisely what makes it so good. Because it was released on time and without spending a tremendous amount of ressources.

Thanks to the design sprint, the team was able to align on priorities and execute pragmatically, getting the product into the hands of its customers, which would have taken years otherwise.

As soon as customers start to own it, everything becomes easier since they will suggest their needs. Thanks to the design sprint, we can say the hardest part has been done.