Sabrina Staniewska
Case Study Ringier X Innovation Accelerator
Building and running a corporate innovation accelerator from the inside — for one of Europe's largest media companies.
What
Programme design, facilitation, coaching
Role
Senior Innovation Expert & Coach
Participants
60+ from 18 Countries
Company / Sector
Ringier / Media
Strategic Impact
To generate additional 100 mln CHF revenue on group level.
About Ringier
Ringier is one of Europe's largest media and digital companies, headquartered in Zürich, operating across publishing, digital marketplaces, entertainment, and sports media in 18 countries. Ringier X was the company's internal corporate innovation accelerator — a structured programme to identify, develop, and validate new business ideas from within the organisation.
Ringier X Accelerator
The programme was built on Strategyzer methodology — Business Model Canvas, Value Proposition Canvas, and Testing Business Ideas — applied to an internal corporate context. Working closely with Strategyzer, the framework was adapted for Ringier's specific innovation culture and business context. The philosophy: ideas are cheap, evidence is everything. Teams that couldn't show genuine customer validation data didn't advance.
Methodology
The programme was built on Strategyzer methodology — Business Model Canvas, Value Proposition Canvas, and Testing Business Ideas — applied to an internal corporate context. Working closely with Strategyzer, the framework was adapted for Ringier's specific innovation culture and business context. The philosophy: ideas are cheap, evidence is everything. Teams that couldn't show genuine customer validation data didn't advance.
What I covered
• Coaching teams in the discovery phase — challenging their business models, pushing them to test assumptions rather than defend them, and driving meaningful business impact from internal ideas.
• Designing and facilitating three-day innovation bootcamps.
• Preparing executive summaries, reports, and presentations for the corporate management team — translating complex innovation activity into clear strategic updates.
• Managing accelerator operations — including marketing, promotion, application assessment, and cohort selection.
• Leading the global innovation management community of practice — hosting Innovation Coaching Roundtables with both internal and external coaches.
• Building the Ringier X ecosystem — nurturing relationships with mentors, alumni, and external partners to sustain the programme beyond individual cohorts.
• Stakeholder influence and network building — engaging stakeholders at all levels of the hierarchy to maintain a pipeline of high-quality applications and establish advocates across the organisation
Chief Innovation Officer and AI
Ringier Switzerland
Sabrina transformed how we think about innovation. She didn't just run workshops — she built lasting capability. The frameworks and methods are now embedded in how we work.
Moving ideas to validated business models by de-risking through experiments.
Day 1
Business Model Canvas and Value Proposition Design
Teams worked through the Strategyzer Business Model Canvas and Value Proposition Canvas for their own project — learning the frameworks through a mechanical exercise (23andMe case study), then applying them to their idea. Four Hats feedback method used to give structured critique across teams.
Day 2
Hypothesis generation, prioritisation, and experiment design
Teams identified the weakest assumptions in their business model, prioritised them using a hypothesis quadrant, and designed specific experiments to test them. Experiment design using Strategyzer Testing Cards — moving from 'we think' to 'we will test by'.
Day 3
Testing, evidence evaluation, and iteration
Teams ran their experiments, evaluated evidence strength, and iterated on their business models based on what they learned. Tracking progress through a project scorecard. Preparing for pitch presentation to leadership.
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