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A 1-day workshop for teams who are tired of ideas dying in meetings

Validate a business idea in one day — before you waste
£50K building the wrong thing.

Your team builds something real customers can use, gets signal back within a week, and makes a clear call: kill it, iterate it, or scale it.

See if this is right for your team → How this works
✓ No working prototype = you don't pay ✓ Built for marketing, commercial, strategy, innovation & product teams
📅 Availability May · 1 spot left · June · 2 spots · July · open
No slides.
No theory.
Real builds.
trusted by teams across every sector
Centrepoint
Young Gloucestershire
Constructing Excellence South West
The Rail Innovation Group
Cynam
Hub8
Centrepoint
Young Gloucestershire
Constructing Excellence South West
The Rail Innovation Group
Cynam
Hub8
sound familiar?

Ideas keep stalling. Nothing actually ships.

1 Talked about. Never built.

Endless workshops, decks and "follow-ups" — but no working artefact anyone can test.

2 Swallowed by business as usual.

The idea never happens.

3 Post-its > production.

The off-site fizzles. The sticky notes hit the bin. Momentum dies on Monday.

4 No way to know if it's any good.

Without a prototype in front of a real user, every idea sounds equally smart in the room.

Most companies don't have an idea problem. They have a validation problem.

what your team walks away with

Not a process doc. A prototype, plus the muscle to build the next one.

01

A working prototype

Something you can put in front of customers this week.

02

A repeatable method

A way to test ideas without waiting weeks or developers.

03

A distribution plan

How you'll get real users on it within days.

04

A platform map

An understanding of which AI tool to reach for — based on the kind of idea, not the hype cycle.

05

A go / no-go call

A clear decision on whether to invest or kill the idea.

This works. Here's what happens when teams build instead of talk:

Nik and his team took 22 ideas from our delegates from raw concepts to validated prototypes, with phenomenal  feedback that's paving the way to understanding clear market traction, and commercialisation of each idea.
Hollie Wakefield · Programme & Delivery Manager, Cynam
hear it from the room

Watch what teams say AFTER they build something real.

No scripts. No slide decks. Just teams who showed up with a problem and left with a working prototype.

T
Teo
Workshop participant
B
Brandon
Workshop participant
O
Oscar
Workshop participant
workshops in the wild

From charities to construction. The method works.

Teams across every sector, from charity to corporate to creative are using the same 5-stage process to go from problem to prototype in a day.

🏗
Construction Company
Corporate workshop
YG
Young Gloucestershire
Charity workshop
🏗
Construction Companies
Corporate workshop
from the room

Delegates present their working prototypes.

In one day, our teams created ideas, built working prototypes, and took them back into their organisation to secure stakeholder buy-in. Brilliant.
Lorrin White
Lorrin White
Head of BD and Marketing Strategy — HCR Law
from the room

Working prototypes, ready to test immediately.

Instead of just talking about ideas, our teams left with working prototypes they can immediately test with audiences — this was so valuable for us, thank you!
Johnny Wilkes
Johnny Wilkes
Co-creation | Community Engagement | Social Research & Design — Centrepoint
the 5-stage process

A flow your team can run on Monday morning.

This replaces weeks of internal debate. Five stages, with each one designed to get your idea in front of real customers fast, then make a clear call on what to do next.

01
where most ideas go wrong

Identify the challenge. Map out the problem.

Most teams jump to solutions before they've understood the problem. We map it first, so you know exactly what you're solving and why it matters.

  • Pick the challenge, a process, sales problem, customer pain, product or service problem
  • Map it as it actually is, not as you wish it were
  • Commit to the one challenge worth solving first
your challenge
🎯 Pick the challenge
↓
🗺️ Map it out
↓
⚡ Circle the biggest pains
↓
📍 Identify priority areas
↓
✓ Pick the challenge to solve
02
borrowed straight from The Ideas Agency playbook

Reframe the challenge. Then ideate widely.

Most teams ideate around the wrong question. We reframe first and turn an internal pain into a customer-facing opportunity. Then we generate ideas fast and converge on the ones worth testing.

  • Reframe: rewrite the problem as "How might we…" from the customer's POV
  • Diverge: generate ideas in short timed sprints, no judgement
  • Converge: pick 2–3 bets worth prototyping
cluster & pick
self-serve quote
AI triage bot
SMS nudge
video reply
priced widget
drop-off email
← worth prototyping
03
the part that used to take 6 weeks

Prototype it with AI. In hours, not sprints.

You don't need a wall full of sticky notes. You need a working prototype. We show your team how to translate the chosen idea into clear prompts and build a real, clickable prototype using AI, before lunch.

  • Translate the idea into a tight, structured prompt
  • Generate a v0 in minutes — UI, copy, logic, data
  • Iterate live with your stakeholders watching
  • End the morning with something real users can click
live prompt → app
▸ workshop-prompt
Build a self-serve quote tool for SMB roofers.
3 inputs (size, material, postcode) → instant price + lead capture. Brand: cream + black, friendly.
↳ Generating UI…
↳ Wiring inputs to pricing logic…
↳ Adding email capture + thank-you state…
↳ Done. Preview live ✓
04
the right tool for the right job

Pick the platform. Match the prototype to the medium.

Not every idea wants to be an app. The platform is half the prototype, choose wrong and you waste the day. We teach the live decision tree: when to use which platform for;

  • Reasoning & copy
  • Web app prototype
  • Code-level changes
  • Pitch / buy-in / marketing
platform map
Claude
Lovable
Google AI Studio
Cursor
Gamma
Loom
Claude Code
Replit
Runway
05
the stage 90% of teams skip

Distribute it. Get real signal back.

A prototype no-one used isn't worth anything. We close the loop to help your team get it in front of your customers this week, capturing real signal, and making a clear call: kill, iterate, or scale.

  • Pick the smallest channel that gets real users in fast
  • Define 3 signals upfront: behavioural, verbal, commercial
  • Run a 1-week test: short enough to act on
  • End with insight, data and a clear go/no-go decision
signals back
📊 Click-through
78%
💬 "I'd use this"
62%
💷 Pre-orders
18%
→ verdict: iterate the pricing, then scale
platforms we cover

Your team leaves knowing which tool to reach for, when.

the brain
Claude / CoPilot / GPT

For thinking, structuring, writing prompts, and turning a fuzzy idea into a buildable spec.

reasoning
the fastest UI builder
Lovable / Replit / Claude Code / Google AI Studio

Prompt-to-app in minutes. Perfect for landing pages, internal tools, customer-facing demos.

prototype UI
when you need real code
Cursor / Claude Code

For prototypes that need to plug into real data, real APIs, or live in your existing stack.

production-ready
getting the idea in front of customers
Runway / Gamma / Loom

So the prototype gets noticed. Creative/pitch decks and walk-through videos that get traction.

distribution
where we run the workshops

We come to you. Or you come to us.

Most workshops run on-site at your offices and we bring everything we need and work within your environment, which means the prototypes are rooted in your real context from day one.

If you'd rather get your team out of the building, which often unlocks better thinking, we host at Patch, Gloucester. A purpose-built creative workspace in the heart of the city, with dedicated event spaces, HD screens, sound systems, and a dry-hire bar for end-of-day celebrations.

📍
our offsite home
Patch Gloucester
5-7 Cathedral Walk, The Forum
Gloucester, GL1 1DG

4 min walk from Gloucester station
Q-Park parking opposite · Wheelchair accessible

Open in Google Maps →
Our two favourite spaces
The Lounge at Patch Gloucester
for bigger groups & evening sessions
The Lounge
Up to 120 standing · Up to 60 seated

A vibrant terracotta lounge with a generous dry-hire bar, extra-large HD screen and sound system. Perfect for multi-team hackathons, demo days, and end-of-sprint showcases.

The Academy at Patch Gloucester
for focused workshop days
The Academy
Up to 20 roundtable · 24 cabaret · 40 theatre

A light-filled, flexible studio designed for focus and collaboration. Ideal for full-day workshops — HD screen, sound system, and flexible seating configurations to match how your team works best.

Venue hire at Patch is arranged directly — we'll help coordinate if you'd like to run the workshop there. View Patch Gloucester →

transparent pricing

Test whether your idea is worth £50K+ investment, before you spend it.

If your team doesn't leave with a working prototype, you don't pay.

get started
Exploration & Definition Session

A live, 90-minute online working session on defining the right problem, testing ideas, the platforms your team can use and how to start.

£750
Deducted from the Decision Sprint total if you continue.
  • Get clear on the business challenge worth solving now
  • How to create tests
  • See exactly how ideas become prompts and working prototypes
  • Understand which tools to use (and avoid wasting time on the wrong ones)
  • Leave knowing exactly how to start
Start with a working session →
most popular
the full experience
Decision Sprint

One real problem. One day. Prototypes you can put in front of customers immediately.

£7,750

Test whether an idea is worth £50K+ investment — before you spend it.

on-site or remote · up to 10 people
  • Pre-workshop call to lock in the right challenge
  • Full process run end-to-end in one day
  • Working prototypes your customers can actually use
  • A repeatable way to test ideas without waiting on dev
  • How to get real user feedback + a clear decision: kill, iterate, or scale the idea
  • No working prototype = you don't pay
  • This replaces weeks of internal debate talking about ideas
See if this is right for your team →
scale it up
Multi-Team Hackathon

Validate multiple ideas fast, without months of internal delay.

Starting from £22,000
2–5 days · multiple teams
  • Everything in the 1-day sprint, across multiple teams
  • 3–5 day programme designed for speed and output
  • Each team leaves with a working prototype
  • Real user testing and clear decisions on every idea
  • Programme wrap-up with next steps to scale what works
  • Ideal for innovation programmes and accelerators
Talk to us about your team →

↑ All prices exclude VAT. Travel & expenses charged at cost for on-site sessions.

We run a limited number of these each month. Once slots are filled, the next availability moves.

who leads the sessions?

Meet Nik.

Nik Venios

My name is Nik. I founded The Ideas Agency in 2013.

Through years of working with both large and small businesses, I noticed a pattern. Teams had great ideas. They just didn't have the confidence to take them out of the meeting room and make them happen.

As a result, nothing was proven.

Ideas don't fail because they're bad. They fail because they're never tested.

So I created StopTalking.Build.

A service that helps businesses use AI to turn ideas trapped in meeting rooms into something tangible, testable, and real.

I've created ideas and led innovation work for organisations including Red Bull F1, Rolls-Royce, BMW, PepsiCo, Danone, the MoD, NHS, Volvo, as well as startups, small businesses and charities.

Now, I help teams get their ideas out of the meeting room and into the world, so they can see what actually resonates with customers, and scale what works.

questions teams ask

FAQ.

Do we need technical skills to build a prototype?
No. The whole point is that AI lets non-developers ship working prototypes. We've run this with marketing, ops, strategy, finance and exec teams. If you can write a clear sentence, you can build.
What do we bring on the day?
One real business challenge. Not a clean one — the messy one. The more specific (and the more it actually hurts), the better the prototype at the end of the day.
What's the options and outcomes
Three options. Intro session (90 min, online) to see the method. Decision Sprint for a single team — one challenge, one prototype, one distribution plan. Multi-team hackathon across 3–5 days for innovation programmes (this is how Cynam got 22 ideas prototyped and validated in a week).
Is there a guarantee?
Yes. No prototypes, no payment. If your team doesn't walk away with the ability to create working prototypes, you don't pay. Borrowed straight from the Ideas Agency model — and we've never had to honour it.
How quickly can we book a Decision Sprint?
Usually within 2–3 weeks of sign-off. We need a short pre-call to lock in the right business challenge before the day, otherwise you spend the morning scoping instead of building.
Our industry is regulated or complex — will this work?
Yes. We've run this in finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and government. The method is the same — the platforms we recommend change. We'll flag where prototypes need to stay in a sandbox vs. where they can go to real users.
Is what we build secure?
We're building prototypes, not production-ready products or services — so the rules are different to a live system. That said, all the platforms we use take security seriously. Claude (Anthropic) holds SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certification. Lovable is SOC 2 Type II certified and ISO 27001 certified. Replit has achieved SOC 2 Type 2 attestation, hosted on Google Cloud Platform. If you're working with sensitive or regulated data, we'd advise keeping it out of the prototyping environment entirely — the point of the day is to validate the idea, not handle live production data.

Stop talking about ideas.
Start testing them.

One day. One idea. A real prototype your customers can use, so you know what's worth building.

See if this is a fit for your team →
↑ takes 15 minutes — no slides, just a conversation

Contact Us

Email ideas@stoptalking.build or contact us using the below form

What this service is

StopTalking.Build is a 1-day decision sprint run by The Ideas Agency (UK). Teams bring a real business challenge and leave with working prototypes that real users can test — within a week. The workshop uses AI tools to build prototypes quickly, without any technical skills required. It is designed for marketing, strategy, commercial, ops, and innovation teams across all sectors. There are three formats: a 90-minute online intro session, a full-day Decision Sprint, and a multi-team hackathon spanning 3–5 days. The goal is to validate business ideas with real users before committing significant budget to development. If no working prototype is produced, you don't pay.