Mentoring non-profits to ship products in 3 months

Catalyst supports charities in building digital capability. They wanted a programme that could take organisations from vague digital ambitions to live services in three months, whilst leaving them equipped to keep going independently. That's a tall order. Most accelerators produce slide decks and good intentions. These needed to ship. Contracted by Catalyst, I designed and ran digital accelerators for non-profits across the UK, leading on strategy, coaching, service design, and hands-on product development.

Ship, don't just plan

Most accelerators produce slide decks and good intentions. This programme needed to deliver live services in three months while leaving organisations equipped to keep going independently.

The three-phase framework

Each accelerator followed a structured twelve-week programme split into three phases. The framework was designed to compress a full product lifecycle into a quarter, without cutting corners on the things that actually matter.

Phase 1: Discover (weeks 1-4)

The first month was entirely about understanding the problem space. No building, no solutionising, just proper research with real users. Teams created knowledge boards, ran one-to-one interviews, mapped existing user journeys, and validated that the problem they thought they were solving was actually the one worth solving. Senior management buy-in was baked in from the start so the work wouldn't stall when it came time to ship.

The discipline here was keeping research framed as "I need" from a user's perspective, not "we should" from an organisational one. Every assumption got tested. Every bias got challenged.

Phase 2: Define (weeks 5-8)

With a solid understanding of the problem, the second phase moved into defining exactly what to build and how the service would connect to the rest of the organisation. Teams developed solution statements, mapped out integrations, scanned the market for existing tools, and built service maps.

The key lesson that came up repeatedly: some ideas need millions and a large research team. Others need a developer for a month. Knowing which one you're looking at is the difference between a programme that ships and one that produces a very impressive pitch deck.

Phase 3: Develop (weeks 9-12)

The final phase was about building a working prototype and testing it with real users. Teams built MVPs, created testing and piloting plans, developed service blueprints, and put together pitch decks that captured both the work to date and the path forward.

The rule was simple: resist adding features during the initial build, especially untested ones. Fix time and budget in the Agile process and let the scope flex. If 80% of what you need can be achieved with an off-the-shelf tool for twenty quid a month, don't build new software.

The results

Four accelerators. Four new digital services, all launched within their three-month windows.

More importantly, each team left with playbooks, practical skills, and strategic roadmaps. The accelerator ended, but the capability stuck. Several organisations have continued to iterate and expand the services independently, which is the real measure of success.

Learn more about Catalyst's work at thecatalyst.org.uk.