The Product Gap

The Product Gap

The Product Gap

From our experience working with startups in various industries, early-stage founding teams usually consist of co-founders with exceptional business understanding within their field and the necessary technical skills to build digital products. However, design and product thinking capabilities for crafting these digital products are often missing.


Finance, Business, Economics, Engineering, and Computer Science are among the most popular degrees in Europe and North America - while design-related subjects are trailing the field. We are not surprised by this distribution. However, we are surprised how consistently we can observe the Product Gap when working with early-stage startups.

From our experience working with startups in various industries, early-stage founding teams usually consist of co-founders with exceptional business understanding within their field and the necessary technical skills to build digital products. However, design and product thinking capabilities for crafting these digital products are often missing.


Finance, Business, Economics, Engineering, and Computer Science are among the most popular degrees in Europe and North America - while design-related subjects are trailing the field. We are not surprised by this distribution. However, we are surprised how consistently we can observe the Product Gap when working with early-stage startups.

From our experience working with startups in various industries, early-stage founding teams usually consist of co-founders with exceptional business understanding within their field and the necessary technical skills to build digital products. However, design and product thinking capabilities for crafting these digital products are often missing.


Finance, Business, Economics, Engineering, and Computer Science are among the most popular degrees in Europe and North America - while design-related subjects are trailing the field. We are not surprised by this distribution. However, we are surprised how consistently we can observe the Product Gap when working with early-stage startups.

The Product Gap defines the underrepresentation of design expertise in early-stage startup teams compared to business and engineering expertise.

The Product Gap defines the underrepresentation of design expertise in early-stage startup teams compared to business and engineering expertise.

The Product Gap defines the underrepresentation of design expertise in early-stage startup teams compared to business and engineering expertise.

Having the necessary business/industry experience and technical capabilities to realize a digital product seems common sense. We strongly believe in the value of having equally strong design/product capabilities present when embarking on the startup journey.


Knowing how to validate the product idea early, understanding and translating customer pain points and needs into a coherent product concept, ensuring great user experience, and aligning the product strategy with the ambitions of the business is vital to creating sought-after products. One can only master these things through first-hand experience.


In most cases, the Product Gap in startup teams is only closed once the company has ample cash flow or funding to build up these capabilities internally.


We started our Product Camp to help early-stage startups set up their product idea on the right track and provide them with an initial toolkit to bridge the Product Gap. To all selected startups, we offer our design services at steep discounts, providing some additional runway to build up the necessary skills internally over time.

About the Product Camp

About the Product Camp

About the Product Camp

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