​SESSION 4

​Design Thinking

​Defining innovation — what it is, and what it absolutely is not

​Innovation is not a lightbulb moment. It is not a brainstorm on a whiteboard. It is not disruption for disruption's sake. It is a disciplined, human-centred process — and when you understand how it actually works, it becomes a repeatable skill rather than a lucky accident.

​Session 4 of The Psychology of Startups: Building Something Meaningful demystifies design thinking by walking through three of the world's most proven frameworks — the Double Diamond, Stanford d.school, and IDEO — and shows you exactly how to apply them to your startup's most pressing challenge.

​Led by Morné Maritz, who has applied design thinking principles across global enterprises and coached founders at every stage, this session is hands-on, fast-moving, and designed to shift the way you think about problem-solving permanently.

​✅ What You'll Learn

• ​The real definition of innovation — and why most startups confuse it with something else entirely

• ​How the Double Diamond model structures the journey from problem to solution

• ​The Stanford d.school 5-stage process: Empathise, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test

• ​How to apply Root Cause Analysis (5 Whys + fishbone diagram) to any business problem

• ​How to run a rapid prototyping sprint — even in a 15-minute workshop exercise

​🎤 Your Facilitator: Morné Maritz — Founder & CEO, Cogniate | Organisational Psychologist | Author | Enterprise Innovation Consultant (Accenture, EY) | Morné has led design thinking workshops across Asia-Pacific, the US, and EMEA.

​🎤 Your Host: Diane Gogoleva — [Networking Expert & Events Curator | Creating the container for ideas to collide and founders to connect.]

​Session 4 of 9. Come ready to sketch, question, and challenge your own assumptions.