This year’s top 10 ranking takes us to places like Switzerland, Nigeria, Fiji, Canada (twice), the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, the United Kingdom, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia; here are our top 2025 Masterclasses – all built around the Strategy sims.

1. Fund Manager!, IMD (Switzerland)

WHO: IMD (Business School)

WHERE: Lausanne, Switzerland

DURATION: 2 days (Twice, one in May, one in September)

WHY THE SIM?

Now in its third year, the collaboration with IMD is perfectly mission-aligned with our goal of taking venture asset education in Europe to the next level. We are honored and privileged to be working with faculty lead Jim Pulcrano, pouring all his energy and connections into building this program into a force for good in the European VC landscape.

The reason IMD’s Fund Manager! Tops this ranking for the second year in a row is simple. The quality of the participants and the quality of work we witness in the program easily exceed any other group, anywhere (sorry, everyone else). This outlier performance is likely due to a couple of reasons. Number one, the top-notch quality of participants can really be felt from the moment we step into the classroom. These are high-processing power participants, ready to work. For this year, we had multiple high-caliber investment professionals, including Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Oman and Saudi Arabia. The pure quality of participants make this program stand out in every aspect.

Second, people lean in, work hard, prepare well. It is clear that people take the time, focus, concentrate and show up truly prepared and ready to work.

Third, participants truly engage with the content, exercises, challenges and presentations. They put in the work, overnight, from day one to day two. People are competitive and that truly helps team shift gears going into day two.

OUTCOME:

Clearly positioned as an educational experience, the four day Venture Asset Management Program has two core elements. Days 1 & 2; classroom learning through guest speakers, lectures and case studies. Days 3 & 4, hands-on experiential learning, where participants form teams to lead their own investments firms over a 15-year journey, for most teams culminating in running not one, but two investment funds.

What teams truly take away; navigating the full 15-year fund journey, from start to net DPI.

“The best learning experience—budding unicorns all over! An actual magic learning process.” — Anna Ziajka

“Just wow… So much of what I’ve been picking up mostly piecemeal over the years really began to crystallize. My VC excitement is validated.” — Ashton Songer Ferguson

“In just 48 hours, we went from barely knowing what pre-money meant to negotiating term sheets and syndicating deals. It’s one thing to read about VC in books, but you only ‘get it’ under pressure.” — John Nicholas

WHY IT MADE THE #1 SPOT ON THE TOP 10 LIST:

Our shared passion with IMD runs deep. We are in this together, to educate venture capital leaders across the ecosystem. From emerging limited partners, family offices, future fund managers, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, newly formed CVC teams; we have met them all at IMD’s Venture Asset Management Programme. With 55+ Fund Manager! Programs completed globally, the IMD experience stands in a category of its own – for the second year in a row. Want to learn more? Join an upcoming Venture Asset Management Program in May or September. Read more about VAM here.

FULL CASE STUDY: Taking Venture Asset Education in Europe to the Next Level

DELIVERY TEAM: Chris Rangen, Scott B. Newton

2. Pacific Island Fund Manager (Fiji)

WHO: Matanataki (General partner)

WHERE: Fiji

DURATION: 3 days (9 months, really)

WHY THE SIM?

“Chris, we want to make an impact version of Fund Manager!, for Fiji” “Of course”, I said, the first time Jodi, GP and founder of Matanataki brought this up in Singapore in November 2023. “No problem”

Little, of course, I knew that this easy-going conversion would turn into the hardest, most complex project of all of 2025 – and ultimately culminate in a powerful ecosystem engagement workshop on Fiji in August the same year.

Working with Jodi Smith, Andrew Irvin and the design team to bring the Pacific Islands Fund Manager! from  early idea to live delivery was a genuine highlight of the year – and stands as one of our most complex projects – possibly ever.

OUTCOME:

The research took 5-6 months. Deep diving into the shifting world of impact investing. Not just the label of impact investing. The real world where most of the traditional instruments are not available. Where follow-on financing rounds do not exist. Where the traditional metrics for VC and PE are not just skewed but completely altered. Where the traditional PE playbook does not apply. Where impact frameworks have moved from complicated to outright impossible for most of us to follow (Shoutout to Aunnie Patton Power for being a grounded voice of solid research in this space, and Jen Braswell for lending a life-time of experience to our emergent research). As winter turned to spring, our work turned into content development and writing.

We stopped counting at 2.400 new, unique content cards. We piloted. We iterated. Slowly, the content was starting to click. The fund financial model got built out; our most complex yet. (imagine you are running a full investment portfolio with both equity investments, cash flow and earnings and impact investment data. If you know, you know). Spring turned to summer, and the Fiji ecosystem engagement program was drawing closer. Internal tests and retests. Internal Train-the-trainers for the project team.

We landed in Nandi, Fiji around 6 am. Ready to support Jodi and the full GP Team at Matanataki on their ecosystem engagement. LPs were flying in. Key people and partners, politicians, portfolio CEOs, former EIB and IFC fund-of-fund executives flew in. The actual Pacific Islands Fund Manager! Workshop took place in Suva, overlooking the bay.

Five teams, five to eight people per team. Each team setting up their own $50M ocean impact fund, aiming to deploy capital and scale 10-25 impact investments across the Pacific. Perfectly modelled out to reflect the real-life challenges of leading a multi-decade investment platform in Fiji. Futaspak Pacific investment fund (Future Spark), Mana Pasifika, Wan Solwara, Pacific Ocean Resilience Fund and Loloma; all competed and collaborating, making a total of 50 investments, deploying $233.565.000, while returning back $475.239.939 to LPs. Mana Pasifika outperformed its peers with a 163,5 Impact Score, easily beating the average of 131,8 impact score. Financial top performance went to Pacific Ocean Resilience Fund, who turned a $16M equity investment in BlueSeaScape into a $230M cash-on-cash exit, ultimately returning 7.1X net DPI back to its LPs

More importantly, the ecosystem engagement brought together 30+ key ecosystem participants across the Pacific. From General Partners at Matanataki, Limited partners with a clear ocean impact focus, Fiji-based pipeline and portfolio CEOs, political connections, ecosystem supporters, village chiefs, island elders and investment professionals supporting Matanataki. The experience left a deep, lasting impression of both the complexities of running a Pacific island ocean impact fund and the importance of working with the ecosystem to make it happen.

WHY IT MADE THE TOP 10 LIST:

We probably spent north of 900 hours to develop Pacific Islands Fund Manager! Bringing it to Fiji to run with a truly eclectic group of participants from across the Pacific islands investment landscape was a unique experience. At the same time, even the most experienced team co-facilitators came back, “this is too hard to run”, reflecting the genuine challenges of running a multi-strategy, impact-first investment fund in the Pacific.

That’s how we designed it. To be hard. Because it is. Pacific Islands Fund Manager! Aims to truly showcase the details, the complexities, the technical requirements to run a 20-company investment portfolio with a mix of equity investment (but without any traditional follow-on rounds for equity valuation mark-ups), debt investment (but also requiring the investors to be deeply familiar with cash flows and ability to service debt), and recognizing that no traditional exit paths exists, to revenue-based earn-out models, community-based buyouts and self-liquidating exit routes need to become the default across the portfolio; while also balancing this with the PhD-technical-skill level of truly tracking impact metrics in line with(overly complicated) LP reporting requirements. We’ve looked globally. Nothing quite like this exists anywhere. This is why Fiji’s Pacific Islands Fund Manager! Made the top 10 list of 2025. But, it’s hard.

DELIVERY TEAM: Chris Rangen, Jen Braswell

3. Scale Up MENA X DFDF (UAE)

WHO: Dubai Future District Fund (Fund-of-funds)

WHERE: Dubai,UAE

DURATION: 2 days

WHY THE SIM?

Our partnership with DFDF runs back several years. When we started the development of Scale Up MENA!, DFDF was an obvious partner to work with to launch Scale Up MENA! In Dubai.

Our thesis: Scale Up MENA! Will perfectly support founders as they raise their Series A and need to grow into venture- and growth stage territory. Working with Tiffany Bain, Nader AlBastaki and Mahmoud Ward and 20+ late-stage DFDF portfolio founders, we got the thesis proven. In November 2025 we hosted the first ever Scale Up MENA! Masterclass, aimed exclusively at a small, hand-picked group of portfolio founders and a few investment professionals from across the MENA ecosystem.

OUTCOME:

“Just wrapped up an incredible two-day workshop on Scaling and Exiting for Founders, hosted by Dubai Future District Fund who I’m deeply thankful for the invitation. If only I had attended something like this 20 years ago during my first venture… In just 16 hours, we covered what felt like a year’s worth of founder lessons thanks to Christian Rangen of Strategy Tools and the team”, said, Fahmi Al-Shawwa, Founder & CEO of Immensa upon completing the program.

“In just two days we take people through a full 8-10 year journey to exit, the founder’s journey”, said Scott B. Newton, aptly summarizing the program.

So, what are people equipped with upon completing Sclae Up MENA! ? – Think long-term growth strategy – Study term sheets, work hard to get five+ term sheets for each round – Understand investor outcomes, understand the VC business model and how you fit in – Work strategically on exits, start earlier than you think – Keep your cap table clean and updated. A messy cap table makes secondaries and exits impossible – And maybe most importantly, scaling up starts with a mindset shifts and expands form there

FULL CASE STUDY: Scaling to exit

WHY IT MADE THE TOP 10 LIST:

“We are picking our very best founders”, said the team at DFDF. And they did. The founder participants we met were deeply experienced. Successfully built and exited in the region already. Negotiating the $160M term sheet with Blackrock. Raising Series A’s across markets. Deep experience in capital markets, having work for many of the leading investment banks in the region. They were, if you will, ‘supercharged founders’.

Taking this advanced group of founders and investors through Scale Up MENA!, going from idea to exit in just two days was a sprint – but they truly aced it. It proves that Scale Up MENA! Is well suited, to not only support early-stage founders (seed) but also push and support venture- and growth stage founders as they scale.

“Possibly the most unique training I have taken part in. The highs and lows of being a start up founder squeezed into two days.” – Michael Hunter, CEO & Co-founder, Holo

“The best program so far I have attended and at what speed. Precisely designed, immaculately delivered” – Avneesh Prakash, CEO, CAMB.AI

DELIVERY TEAM: Chris Rangen, Scott B. Newton, Sanjana Raheja, Alain Traboulsy

4. Transform! Hult Ashridge (UK)

WHO: Hult Ashridge Business School, in partnership with a leading European industrials company

WHERE: Ashridge campus, London

DURATION: 2 days

WHY THE SIM?

Transform! Has been a backbone of many executive education programs for the past six years. One of the most active business schools, with a long track record of experiential learning, has been Hult Ashridge and notably their global corporate and executive education teams.

When one of Europe’s leading industrial companies partnered with Ashridge to design a high-impact, future leader program, Transform! Was a strong addition to bring into the teaching format.

OUTCOME:

Transform! Is centered around four key domains; Team performance, Strategy & transformation, Capital markets & governance and performance. Within each of these, numerous topics are explored in depth. “How well did we gather, share, process information, allowing us to solve complex problems?”, “How well did we use different capital and finance options to gain an advantage on our peers?”, “How well did we interact, communicate, and respond to capital markets and various shareholder and stakeholder groups?” and “How well did we develop a winning culture, game plan, and mindset, to both overperform, outperform,and outcompete the other teams”

For the future leaders at the Industrial company, working at the incredible Ashridge campus, Transform! Served as a strong reminder that leadership is far more than just managing your team and hitting your P&L’s. To truly lead a transformational company, a very different playbook is needed.

WHY IT MADE THE TOP 10 LIST:

“Over a year we might run 25-30 Transform! Sessions globally, but this group was spectacular. Hungry, ambitious and clearly pushing themselves to transform faster – both individually and as teams”.

DELIVERY TEAM:  Chris Rangen

5. Scale Up MENA! Falak Startups (Egypt)

WHO: Falak Startups, in partnership with EBRD

WHERE: Cairo, Egypt

DURATION: 3 days

WHY THE SIM?

It all started in Cairo. A bit more than a year ago. We saw the effects of having more localized content. Of having more local market realities. Of having content and cases people could relate to. This insight, in November 2024, led us to develop Scale Up MENA! Now, a year later, we were back in Cairo, back with our friends at Falak Startups. In collaboration with EBRD Star Venture, Falak hosted nearly 30 scale up founders, investors and ecosystem builders.

Scale Up MENA!, if you were, was coming home. Over three days we had five teams compete – and collaborate – to build breakout winner companies coming out of MENA ecosystem.

OUTCOME:

The scale Up MENA! Masterclass equips founders and investors with five key things.

1. A chance to experience the Founder’s Journey, from idea to exit

2. Navigate 500+ term sheets and financing instruments

3. Crack the code of revenue velocity and market expansion

4. Learn a series of visual strategy canvases

5. Handle a cap table from first founders’ shares through an exit transaction

WHY IT MADE THE TOP 10 LIST:

What made this session unique was two-fold. One, being back in Cairo with the team that helped kick-start Scale Up MENA! to begin with. Two, seeing founders really engage – and compete – with the ultra-localized content, deal terms, investor term sheets, investment bankers and Superinvestors from across the region. But, most importantly, this was yet another fast-paced, high-energy, Scale Up! Masterclass, proving to us as facilitators just how much content, learning and advanced level materials we can pack into just three days.

Full case study: Scaling up in the rising Egyptian ecosystem

DELIVERY TEAM:  Chris Rangen, Rumbi Makanga, Mohammed al Rasbi

6. Fund Manager! BKR Capital (Canada)

WHO: BKR Capital

WHERE: Toronto, Canada

DURATION: 3 days

WHY THE SIM?

BKR Capital’s mission is to bridge the funding gap for Black-led companies in the technology sector, fostering an inclusive ecosystem by making capital accessible to visionary founders, driving wealth creation for the Black community, and training the next generation of Black investment professionals. They provide early, transformational investments in disruptive tech startups, aiming to create systemic change and normalize diversity in venture capital. BKR Capital has partnered with Strategy tools to work directly with their talented investment professionals including the Fund Manager simulation which was held in person in Toronto Canada in 2025 (and again in 2026)

OUTCOME:

The GPs and ecosystem partners that participated in the simulation were highly positive in their feedback, and noted both how realistic the simulation was, and how practical the tools are to diagnose and start improving performance from today forward.

The talented GPs demonstrated how they can improve their Strategy, their pitch, their approach, and importantly teamwork to deliver at even higher levels of impact in the future.

WHY IT MADE THE TOP 10 LIST:

While we delivered Fund Manager to global groups in 2025, this particular SIM session stood out for the advanced levels of discussion, the intense preparation by the participants, and their application immediately in to their funds and teams.

DELIVERY TEAM: Scott B. Newton

7. Scale Up! Madica Ventures (Nigeria)

WHO: Madica Ventures

WHERE: Lagos, Nigeria

DURATION: 2 days (with 2 preparatory webinars the week before)

WHY THE SIM?

Madica wanted to move beyond investor theory and slide decks to give pre-seed founders a realistic, hands-on understanding of fundraising, investor dynamics, and long-term capital strategy. While most founders had already raised using SAFEs or CLAs, many lacked clarity on how these instruments convert, how dilution compounds over time, and how to plan multiple rounds ahead while balancing growth, cash flow, and investor expectations.

The goal was to build real decision-making muscle by letting founders experience the consequences of their choices in a simulated but high-pressure environment.

“Madica wanted practical, hands-on training where the founders could immediately apply the learnings in their own startups.” – Vishal Shah

OUTCOME:

Fifteen founders experienced the full founder journey—from idea through multiple funding rounds to exit—inside the Scale Up! simulation. Working in teams as CEO, CFO, and CRO, participants structured and closed funding rounds, selected and traded investors, responded to board demands, explored acquisitions, and executed high-stakes exits—learning firsthand how early decisions compound over time.

By the end of the program, founders could confidently map long-term capital strategies, rebalance cap tables, understand SAFE and CLA conversions, and align growth plans with investor expectations.

“…I learned a great deal about the fundraising process and the connection between financial metrics and company valuation.” — Ahmed Chaari

“This simulation was an amazing opportunity to learn from realistic scenarios… and live through it up until the exit scenario”.- Yousef Elsamaa, Co-Founder & CEO, Daleela

WHY IT MADE THE TOP 10 LIST:

• Tackled one of the hardest challenges for African startups: scaling beyond pre-seed with capital discipline
• Transformed complex VC mechanics into hands-on, high-pressure decision-making
• Compressed years of fundraising, investor alignment, and exit planning into two intense days
• Delivered immediately transferable skills in capital planning, dilution management, and investor strategy

“I was strategizing how to build revenue and growth against how we fund that growth. It was really fun, but it was also very thought-provoking.” — Chidalu Onyeso, Founder & CEO, Earthbond

FULL CASE STUDY: Helping Madica’s pre-seed startups bridge the scaling chasm

DELIVERY TEAM:  Vishal Shah, Rumbi Makanga

8. Transform! IE Business School (Saudi Arabia)

WHO: IE Business School, partnering with one of the largest food companies in MENA

WHERE: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

DURATION: 3 days

WHY THE SIM?

Transform! Has served us well in global business schools including US, Spain, UK, Norway; but would it also hold up as well immersed in the cultural leadership nuances of Saudi Arabia? Would one of Saudi Arabia’s largest companies find Transform! And leading transformation at scale to be both relevant, applicable and suitable? The short answer: yes, absolutely.

The session had clear cultural and content differences, based on conversations and executive leadership challenges that came up. It was not the same as running a five-day Executive Program in the United States, but nor did we expect it.

Anchored in the realities and cultural distinctions of leading transformation in the Kingdom, Transform! Overshot its expectations and formed the backbone of “the best session of our entire leadership program”, according to one of our senior executive participants.

OUTCOME:

The number one outcome was a substantially increased clarity on ‘strategic leadership’. Recognizing that leadership goes far, far beyond ‘managing people’, and in this day and age, covers core skills like strategy, finance, M&A, innovation, hostile take-over, senior level negotiation, financial engineering, a balanced portfolio of core, growth and explore business models providing stable cash flow today and strong business opportunities for tomorrow.

“This was the most insightful leadership development I’ve ever been a part of”, said one senior executive, echoing the group’s take-away; this was strategic leadership development, with profound impact on both team and individual learning.

WHY IT MADE THE TOP 10 LIST:

This was Transform!’s first appearance in Saudi Arabia – and went exceptionally well. This year we have run a record number of corporate education programs, all using Transform!, all seeing customization of content to capture the nuances of each individual client. From food and dairy in MENA, financial technology in Europe, manufacturing in the Americas and Europe to global tech; Transform! Proves an excellent fit for developing strategic leaders at all levels – and that’s why we see Transform! KSA on the list for 2025.

DELIVERY TEAM: Chris Rangen

9. Supercluster! ISED – Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (Canada)

WHO: ISED

WHERE: Ottawa, Canada

DURATION: 0,5 day

WHY THE SIM?

Supercluster! was first developed to provide a fun, engaging and competitive way to learn about innovation superclusters around the world. Today, it is regularly used by global cluster experts, ecosystem builders, national cluster programs and cluster managers to build better clusters around the world. Working with the ISED Global Innovation Cluster team in 2025, this was a unique and exciting opportunity to bring together key ISED staff, global cluster expertise and run a fast-paced, expert-level Supercluster! Session.

OUTCOME:

Highly competitive teams quickly formed up global supercluster management teams, stepping into the roles of cluster strategists, cluster boards and cluster leaders. Choosing from a series of ‘case’ clusters, we had Canadian, Norwegian, Chinese and Swiss clusters competing to build out their cluster strategy, secure members, lock in funding and deliver cluster innovation projects. In just a few hours, participants got a chance to not just strategize about cluster development and economic competitiveness, but truly experience the nuances and challenges of building a global innovation Supercluster.

WHY IT MADE THE TOP 10 LIST:

The Global Innovation Cluster team at ISED is one of the world’s most experienced ministry-level teams supporting a national cluster program anywhere. To sit down and race through the Supercluster! Simulation with them in a collaborative, yet ultra-competitive format was somewhere between hyper-competitive and ultra-delightful.

In the global innovation cluster landscape, Canada has truly carved out a leading position, a global position over the past few years. Now, spending several days in Ottawa with the cluster team and their ecosystem development peer teams was highly insightful. Finding time to work through the Supercluster! Simulation allowed everyone to yet again, be reminded of the powerful effects of successfully building and expanding innovation superclusters. Just like with our IMD case study (above), having truly experienced people completing one of the sims in record pace, shows how high-value, high-impact, even a 4 hour session can be. That’s why we include ISED’s Supercluster! Sim in the 2025 ranking.

DELIVERY TEAM: Chris Rangen

10. Fund Manager! Masterclass (Mauritius)

WHO: Equitable Ventures, in partnership with Simera

WHERE: Mauritius

DURATION: 3 days

WHY THE SIM?

Most parts of the world are still in their early steps of developing a rich, robust venture capital ecosystem. From VC education, emerging GP acceleration, depth of knowledge of the VC asset class and building out national fund-of-fund strategies; most parts are still learning.

Zoom in on Africa the this picture just expands. With a massive youth population, rising middle class and a steep economic development path, the African venture capital ecosystem is expected to undergo a massive transformation in the coming decades.

But to get there, we need to work at an ecosystem level to upskill and support all the key building blocks.

This was the path that led us to partner with Equitable Ventures and Simera, to bring the Fund Manager! Masterclass to Mauritius for the very first time in 2025.

OUTCOME:

Over three intense days, four teams set up four GP companies, raising eight funds This could have been in New York, Frankfurt, or Abu Dhabi, but it was in Mauritius. The program was not for Silicon Valley VCs. It was for developing a new generation of LPs, GPs, and ecosystem backers—for Africa, in Africa.

“It’s really impressive how the Fund Manager! simulation closely mimics the real life experiences of fund managers in Africa so this session makes up for a great learning experience. The facilitator’s experience, particularly their global insights, are a very rich addition to the whole experience. I would highly recommend this training to anyone working in Africa’s venture capital ecosystem.”

– Cikü Mugambi, Investment Director, DOB

WHY IT MADE THE TOP 10 LIST:

We absolutely love running Fund Manager!, covering the full fund journey, nearly 15 years, in just three days. It’s intense, it’s complex, it’s packed with learning that can save both GPs and LPs years of pain. Getting a chance to partner with EV and Simera to run this Masterclass in Mauritius was a superb start. Looking ahead, we already have multiple conversations going on how we can best support the maturing VC ecosystem on Mauritius, in turn supporting the ongoing growth of the entire African VC ecosystem. Fund Manager! Mauritius was one of the absolutely best Fund Manager! Sessions in 2025 and we could not be more grateful to the GPs, family offices and LPs that invested three days together with us on Fund Manager! Mauritius.

FULL CASE STUDY: From early strategy to billions in DPI

DELIVERY TEAM:  Chris Rangen, Scott B. Newton

Delivered by a global community

Congratulations to our key partners and expert facilitators for making these 87 Strategy Sims sessions happen. Representing a true, global expert community, this would not have been possible without a massive effort from Scott (Italy), Ljubisa (Serbia), Sanjana (UAE), Vishal (UK), Rumbi (UK/South Africa), Jen (UK), Alain (UAE), Mohammed (Oman) and Stuart (Canada), Michael (Canada), Rick (US), Wan Fadzil (Malaysia), Suhail (Bahrain), Javier (Mexico), and many more.

Kickstart 2026 by learning more about Strategy Sims in action

Since inception, Strategy Sims have grown into a global phenomena, with 10.000 people, 400+ sessions, 70+ facilitators and ten unique Strategy Sims. Now you can read how global practitioners use Strategy Simulations to drive learning, mastery and change. In August 2025, the global community came together to co-author the first ever report, Strategy Sims in Action. Read it today.

What you get in the report

●     An overview of the ten Strategy Sims

●     Case studies from leading business schools and companies

●     Expert insights from leading strategy experts

●     How Global Partners Use Strategy Sims in Action

●     The Strategy Sims Methodology

●     How to get started

●     …and much more

Get the Strategy Sims in Action report today.

This week were were back in Cairo, but this time the best ever was a series of AI hacks we shared with the founders in the 3-day Scale Up MENA! Masterclass. “This is incredible. best ever”, said one of our participants. I guess history rhymes.

Over the past 3,5 years I have been involved in a number of projects and startups using AI for startups. Some of them works well. Some work really well; but the performance we are starting to see in the latest models this fall, well that’s a whole different level. In our recent Scale Up MENA! Masterclass, in Cairo, hosted by Falak Startups and EBRD we shared our ten ‘best AI prompts’ with the participants, and did a live working sessions with two founders in real-time.

We used Claude, with the latest Opus 4,5 model. Other models are quickly catching up and are likely to be good or maybe even just as good. Personally, having applied these to 100+ startup cases over the last three months, I’m wildly impressed with what Anthropic’ s Claude can do. Regardless of your choice of AI companion, here are the top ten AI prompts we used in Cairo.

LEVEL I

1. Deck evaluation

(Files to upload: Your standard pitch deck)

Imagine you are the world’s #1 startup pitch feedback coach. Review my pitch deck. Give me feedback. Tell me where the deck is strong. Tell me where the deck is still weak. Write your world class suggestions for all the pieces that are missing.

2. Decks x Personas

(Files to upload: Your standard pitch deck)

Read my deck. Develop 5 unique investor profile/Personas (ideal investor personas) Write a unique key message and why each of these should invest. That text goes into a slide called “Why invest” Make this a superbly strong slide!

3. Investment memo

(Files to upload: Your standard pitch deck)

Imagine you are one of the top Venture capital investors in MENA, like 500, BECO capital or MEVP. Write up a detailed, extensive investment memo for how they would view my company and a possible lead investment at my next round. Make sure the memo contains: – Executive summary – outcome analysis – Exit modelling + anything else we can expect. Conclude with a clear invest/no invest decision and also a summary on why. Finish a list of recommendations for “what would need to improve for us to lead an investment”

LEVEL II

4.      Market Map of investors

Build me a list of the 100 most active investors across MENA. Identify networks and collaboration, i.e. who likes to invest and co-invest with whom

5. Build my investor list

(Files to upload: Your standard pitch deck)

Build me a list of 1000 early-stage investors across MENA, focus on angel investors, angel networks, strategic advisors, startup accelerators, HNWI, successfully exited founders and anyone else investing in the early stages. Feel free to include family offices, CVCs and VC firms, but only if they have a proven track record of investing into the venture capital/early-stage space. Based on these 1000, analyze and identify the top 100 most relevant for me. Segment these 100 into different investor categories and groups. Develop a clear messaging for each of these unique groups. Focus on 3-5 key points on ‘why they would want to invest’. For the 1.000 list, please identify the right contact person, and contact details for each of them. Write the file in excel format, to allow me to plug it into my investor CRM

6.      Investment ready – growth strategy

(Files to upload: Your standard pitch deck + all key metrics. Share as much details as possible here + the Rocketship Canvas in .pdf or image)

Review my pitch deck and KPIs. Evaluate our performance vs. ‘best in class’ venture stage companies. Focus on our KPIs. Answer the following questions: – Today: how are we performing on our key metrics vs. our peers? – Next 6-12 months: Which key targets and metrics do we need to hit to really become exciting to a VC investor?

– Next 6-18 months: Write up an aggressive, ambitious growth strategy, focus the strategy on three stages. Use the Rocketship Canvas to structure your recommendation.

Level III

7. Getting to five competitive term sheets

(Files to upload: Your standard pitch deck + your fundraising process, plan, timeline)

Chris Rangen, the Norwegian guy, talks about ‘the triple Olympic gold medal in entrepreneurship is to get five competing term sheets’. Build me a plan for how we best can get to five competitive VC term sheets – and fast.

8. Strategic analysis

(Files to upload: Your best, extensive, detailed investor deck + the ST Investor readiness deck)

Write a short analysis on (insert your company name here). Then, complete the ten Project Work assignments in the ST Investor Readiness Deck. Keep each Project work section to max 5 pages of text. Use any source. (your company URL here).

(Pssst….. if you want the ST Investor Readiness Deck, you should join our Scale Up! Masterclass series….)

9. Strategic analysis with a focus on GTM

(Files to upload: Your best, extensive, detailed investor deck + your GTM plan + outcome canvas)

Develop a strategic analysis for (Insert your company name here) Make sure to develop: Ideal customer profile, Unique value proposition, beach head market, market expansion roadmap, go-to-market strategy, fundraising, ideal investor profile, write up a list of 1000 most relevant investors and fundraising strategy. Split the investors into different stages. Also develop a outcome canvas for a USD500.000 SEED round, at 5M post (adjust your own numbers). Make sure the investor list is correct and sufficiently detailed.

10. Outcome analysis – to- investor mapping – to- e-mails (Files to upload: Your most extensive pitch deck + outcome canvas in .pdf or image)

Develop a robust Outcome Scenario Memo for this company, use deck + any other sources.

Ok, give me a list of 100 investors that I can bring into this deal over the coming years.

Research each of these investors and write a highly, highly personalized e-mail to get them into the deal. Make sure to reference comparable deals and networks for them. Also write the bump, the follow-up and the nudge e-mails when they don’t respond. Finally, write a great thank you note, with a reminder to lets touch base for the next round.

11. Run my fundraising process for meRun my fundraising process for me

(Files to upload: Your most extensive pitch deck + funding journey)

Study my pitch deck. Study the Funding Journey. Write up a 6-month, detailed workflow and workplan for how we can win the funding journey. My fundraising team is me and my co-founder. We are experts at using AI, so we can automate a lot of stuff here, but of course, we rely on you to guide us as much as possible. Use the max potential in your AI engine, Claude + anything else we need. Use Boardy. Give us a plan, broken down to week-by-week, with clear deliveries to make sure we hit our fundraising targets.

12. The #1 scale up in MENA

(files to upload: everything you got, + your entire data room)

ok, Claude, write me a two-page strategy for how to become the #1 scale up in MENA!. Study our data room and all our materials. Tell us what we need to do to  win!

These ten prompts were what we covered in the Scale Up MENA! Masterclass. Feel free to experiment and find your own path. One thing is sure – everyone will soon be using AI tools to scale.

Big shoutout to Rumbi Makanga , Mohammed Al Rasbi & the entire Falak Startups team! Can’t wait go be back again, Cairo.

Mastery in Scale Up facilitation is not a credential you earn; it is a progression you live. Over 18 to 36 months, you will evolve from content expert to transformer; someone who helps founders and teams see what they could not see alone.

This journey unfolds through four phases that build on each other: Learn your craft deeply, Run programs to develop instinct, Apply your voice to client contexts, and Fly with the mastery that makes breakthrough moments seem effortless.

The result is not perfection, but the hard-won ability to orchestrate genuine transformation for the entrepreneurs and ecosystems you serve.

WHICH PHASE ARE YOU IN?

You might be starting from zero; in which case, Phase 1 is your entry point. But more likely, you are already somewhere in the journey. Reading about frameworks for the first time? Phase 1 is your entry. Running a few programs but lacking confidence and wondering if you are on track? Jump into Phase 2’s feedback mechanisms. Already designing custom programs and finding your voice? Apply is your home; now deepen it. Experienced facilitators from other teaching contexts? You may progress quickly, but do not skip the underlying principles. The journey is not about following a rigid timeline; it is about honest assessment of your current capability and intentional growth from there.

PHASE 1: LEARN — Building Your Foundation & Authority

The Foundation: Why You Are Studying

Before you run anything, you must understand that learning here is not passive. You are building the internal library that allows real improvisation later. Study is not preparation for facilitation; it is foundational to it.

Visual Thinking and Frameworks

Start with visual thinking, not slides. Transform strategic complexity into clarity with canvases like the Founder’s Journey, Investor Map, Long Term Funding Journey, the Rocketship Canvas, and the ecosystem of 500 plus others. It is about externalizing mental models and guiding discovery, not dictating solutions.

Early in my career with Connect BAN (Norwegian Business Angel Network), I watched Christian Rangen map a founder’s tangled business concept onto three canvases. Suddenly, confusion became clarity; not through explanation, but by making thinking visible. That moment taught me: visual thinking is the language of transformation. You must become fluent in it.

Simulation Engine Mastery

Simulations are not games. They are structured decision pathways, cap table mathematics, scenario dynamics, and feedback loops that teach through consequence, not lecture. When I first encountered the Scale Up simulation at Strategytools.io, I realized how architected choices; with Boom & Bust cards representing real market shocks, founder departures, acquisition offers; drive insight no textbook could match.

Understand the mechanics deeply:

• How dilution cascades across three funding rounds
• When a founder realizes their equity stake has shrunk more than they imagined
• The psychological shifts that happen when a market crash scenario card appears mid simulation
• Why founders who race for capital early often encounter their hardest lessons by Round 3
• This knowledge becomes intuitive only through study and playing the simulation yourself as a participant.

Content Universe and Case Studies

Master facilitators continuously expand their knowledge. Read the essentials; Venture Deals, Zero to One, Blitzscaling, The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Grit, The Lean Startup; but read them from multiple perspectives: as founder, as investor, as board member. Each lens matters.

Build a living case study library, categorized by region, industry, stage, and challenge. When you are facilitating with Blue Tech, Clean Tech, Climate Tech, and Agro Tech founders at Katapult (https://www.strategytools.io/case-studies/how-katapult-accelerator-gets-its-startupsinvestor-ready/), or AI + Impact scale ups through INCO Ventures GrowAI program mentoring, or ecosystem builders in Lebanon, North Macedonia, or Serbia, you have sectoral and regional context ready. This is not showing off; it is preparation that signals you have done your homework.

Learning Intensity and Timeline

This phase requires 3 to 6 months of serious engagement: deep study of visual methods, running simulations as a participant first, reviewing scenario cards until their logic becomes intuitive, and cultivating that living knowledge base. You know you have succeeded not when “you know it all,” but when you can hold confident, contextual conversations with founders and investors from any background, in any sector.

The Learning Principle: You are building the internal library that allows real improvisation later.

PHASE 2: RUN — Building Capability & Confidence

The Nervous System of Facilitation

This phase develops something no book teaches: the ability to sense what a room needs moment to moment. You are building the nervous system to feel energy shifts, recognize when someone’s struggle is their learning edge, and know when to intervene versus let silence work.

I remember my first solo facilitation at Katapult with a founder cohort. I was terrified. I had co facilitated before, but this was different; I was alone, responsible for Sixteen founders’ learning experience over two full days. I made mistakes. I mistimed a break. I let one discussion run too long. But those founders learned, and; crucially; so did I. Each mistake taught me something about presence and adaptation.

The Progression of Facilitation Practice

You do not jump to leading. You build through stages:

• Support: Participate in someone else’s run first. Watch a master work. Observe their interventions, their pacing, their choices. Get comfortable with the material while someone else holds the container.
• Co Facilitate with Masters: This is where real learning happens. Work alongside experienced facilitators like Christian Rangen, Rick Rasmussen , or Scott Newton. Learn not just what they do, but why they do it at each moment. Watch how they read the room. Observe what they notice that you missed.
• Lead a Full Simulation: After sufficient support and co facilitation, you lead. You make decisions about timing, interventions, pacing. You experience the full responsibility and joy of facilitation. You also experience what it feels like when things go sideways; and how to recover.
• Design Program Variations: From one day intensives to five day journeys to six month ecosystem programs, each length requires different facilitation skills. Through work across 20+ client engagements, I have run them all. Short formats demand clarity and energy. Long formats require building relationships and holding participants through vulnerability. You need both capabilities.

Feedback: The Engine of Development

This phase lives or dies by feedback. Not generic praise, but honest reflection:

• From mentors watching you facilitate
• From peers who co facilitated with you
• From participants on what landed and what did not
• From your own observation, record a session and watch yourself with curiosity, not judgment

Develop the discipline to ask: “What did I miss? Where did I lose someone? When did energy drop and why? What surprised me about how this group learned?”

Varied Contexts Accelerate Learning

Run in different settings to expand your capabilities:

• Free runs or educational settings: Low commercial pressure allows experimentation. You can try something new without stakes.
• University programs and student cohorts reason differently than accelerator founders or corporate executives. They bring fresh perspectives and different readiness for risk.

Some examples:

Students at FHV – Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences Dornbirn https://www.linkedin.com/posts/foresight-strategy-entrepreneurship_entrepreneurship-experientiallearning-scaleup-activity-7377660996145872896-YeTC and https://www.strategytools.io/vorarlberg/

Students at ESCP Business School Berlin https://www.linkedin.com/posts/foresight-strategy-entrepreneurship_cleantechunicorns-escpberlin-entrepreneurshipeducation-activity-7245014267207237632-psyw?

Early incubators WeAreFounders Brussels https://www.linkedin.com/posts/foresight-strategy-entrepreneurship_wearefounders-entrepreneurship-becentral-activity-7201578986525589504-NKri

• Accelerator cohorts: Each cohort brings unique challenges, industries, and founder psychology.

Savant Build program: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/savant-technology-venture-fund-incubator_savant-build-programme-cape-town-intensive-activity-7341737624505610241-WhF0?

Each context teaches you something new about facilitation.

Practice Timeline and Output

In 4 to 8 months of regular running, at least twice monthly, expect confidence to emerge. Your intuition develops. You are responding to the room, not following a script. You have facilitated your first awkward session and recovered. You have seen the moment when a founder’s understanding shifts. You know what that moment looks like, and you are beginning to create the conditions for it intentionally.

The Facilitation Principle: You are developing the nervous system to sense what a room needs moment to moment. Expertise is not about knowing more; it is about sensing deeper.

PHASE 3: APPLY — Adapting, Customizing & Creating

Moving Beyond the Template

Now you are not just running what exists; you are adapting it, merging it with other frameworks, and inventing new applications. This is where you develop your unique voice as a facilitator. Generic facilitation rarely works. Customization builds client ownership faster than any pitch.

Co Design With Clients

Listen deeply before designing. Understand their strategy, their real challenge, not just their stated one:

• What is the strategic question keeping the CEO up at night?
• Where do teams misalign?
• What conversations are they avoiding?

Share what is possible: different configurations, approaches, extensions. Let clients see the thinking behind choices. Design together. Buy in emerges from partnership.

Example: Swiss EP – Swiss Entrepreneurship Program brought together innovation teams from Peru, Vietnam, and Croatia to Zug for intensive ecosystem building work. They were not looking for standard Scale Up curriculum. They needed to think simultaneously about ecosystem dynamics, market conditions in emerging economies, and founder psychology across regions. The simulation remained core, but pre work addressed ecosystem mapping, debrief questions focused on ecosystem leverage, and post program design included peer mentoring structures across geographies. That is co design in action.

Merge Frameworks & Adapt for Context

The best facilitators do not present Strategytools at clients. They integrate Strategytools into the client’s world:

• Merge with OKRs, Lean Canvas, Jobs to Be Done, Business Model Canvas, Disciplined Entrepreneurship, Foresight.
• Adapt for industry: Fintech founders think differently than climate tech founders
• Customize for stage: Early-stage founders need different dilemmas than growth stage founders

Adjust for ecosystem: A Norwegian corporate faces different challenges than an emerging market accelerator

When I worked with ecosystem development initiatives in Lebanon, North Macedonia, and Serbia, with Ljubisa Petrovic Victor Haze I realized that customization meant more than adapting content; it meant understanding the specific regional barriers to entrepreneurship, the investor mentality, the founder readiness in those markets. At Katapult, working with Blue Tech, Clean Tech, Climate Tech, and Agro Tech founders, customization meant embedding sustainability frameworks and resource scarcity into simulation dilemmas. When mentoring AI + Impact scale ups through Inco Social Tides, the adaptation was about impact measurement, technology ethics, and scalable social value alongside commercial thinking. A VC fund in the Gulf region required the same deep adaptation: regional case studies, their portfolio company challenges, their specific investment thesis woven throughout.

Invent & Test New Approaches

Once you understand the engine, you can innovate. Try new scenario combinations that create fresh dilemmas. Design additional canvases for specific challenges. Create extensions that take founders from simulation learning to real application. Develop pre work and post work that extend impact beyond the room.

Some experiments fail. That is fine. The goal is to develop your own voice as a facilitator, not merely repeat what you have learned.

Output and Timeline

In 6 to 12 months of intentional design and adaptation work, you are creating programs that are distinctly yours; grounded in Strategy Tools but shaped by your unique perspective and your clients’ contexts. You know when to simplify and when to layer. You recognize when a client’s “request” masks a deeper need. You propose solutions before clients know they need them.

The Design Principle: Customization is not about complexity; it is about meeting the client’s actual strategic challenge. Simplicity built on deep listening is your advantage.

PHASE 4: FLY — Mastery, Flow & Contribution

The Paradox of Effortlessness

Master facilitators create unseen structure and invisible support, making profound learning look effortless. This looks like you are not working hard, because the deep work is already done. You are flowing.

Sensing and Flow

Fly level facilitators sense energy at a different resolution:

• Flow: You read the room’s rhythm. You know when to pause, when to push, when to shift.
• Energy: You notice when someone’s discomfort signals, they are at their learning edge. You hold that space.
• People: You see each person; where they are stuck, what they are ready to hear, what they need to discover themselves.
• Outcomes: You stay connected to what success looks like for this group, not what your plan says it should be.
• Relations: You build connections between participants, between ideas, between insight and action.
• Continuity: You create structures that extend learning beyond the room.

Seamless Adaptation

A Fly level facilitator can:

• Notice mid simulation that a founder is stuck on something deeper than the scenario and shift the game; accordingly, without disrupting flow
• See that the room needs different energy, pivot to an unexpected activity, and land perfectly
• Adapt a five-day program to four days without losing integrity
• Hold space for uncomfortable conversations because you are not scared of where they go
• Recognize when a participant’s struggle is the precise learning edge they need

What Deepens From Competent to Master

Competent facilitators after 12 to 18 months: Can run a program reliably. Participants learn. Energy is generally positive. You follow your design with flexibility.

Master facilitators after multiple years: Can adapt mid-session to emerging themes without losing coherence. Recognize when the “wrong” conversation is most important. Build custom programs that feel inevitable, not clever. Hold space for paradox, high challenge with high support simultaneously. See patterns across hundreds of founders and know when to break the pattern. Mentor others to find their own voice, not replicate yours.

Markers of Mastery

You know you have reached this level when:

• Clients return specifically for you, not just the program
• Other facilitators want to watch you work because they can feel the difference
• Participants leave with unexpected insights in directions they did not anticipate
• Things happen organically that you did not plan, the best conversations, the biggest breakthroughs
• Founders email you months later: “That moment in the simulation? It changed how I make decisions now.”

This is not perfection; it is mastery. Which means you are still learning. You are still amazed by what groups discover. You are still humbled by the privilege of holding space for transformation.

The Mastery Principle: You are moving from following a structure to embodying it. Expertise becomes invisible because it is so integrated into your presence.

THE REAL PATHWAY: WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE ACROSS TIME

Here is how this journey typically unfolds:

Months 1 to 3 (LEARN): You are studying, reading, building your knowledge foundation. You are absorbing frameworks, case studies, books. You are building the library that will serve you for years. You have played the simulation yourself. You know the visual frameworks fluently.

Months 4 to 9 (RUN): You are co facilitating, gaining confidence. You lead your first full program. You make mistakes and recover. You build muscle memory. You run with different groups and contexts. You are developing your rhythm.

Months 10 to 18 (APPLY): You are designing custom programs, merging frameworks, inventing variations. You are finding your facilitation voice. You are building reputation in your ecosystem. You have had your first difficult client conversation; and you handled it.

Months 19 plus (FLY): You have internalized it all. You are flowing. You are orchestrating transformation. Other facilitators watch you to learn. Clients seek you out specifically.

But here is the truth: these are not strictly sequential. You are always doing all four. Even at Fly level, you are still learning new markets, new industries, new challenges. The difference is proportion. Early on, you are 80 percent Learn, 15 percent Run, 5 percent Apply. Later, you might be 15 percent Learn, 30 percent Run, 30 percent Apply, 25 percent Fly.

COMMON STUMBLING BLOCKS & HOW TO RECOVER

In Learn Phase: Paralysis by Infinite Content

The Problem: You convince yourself you need to read fifteen more books, study fifty more canvases, master every framework before running anything. You have been studying for 12 months and still feel unprepared.

Recovery: Read three foundational books; pick Venture Deals, Zero to One, and The Lean Startup. Spend two weeks on visual frameworks. Then run something; with friends, with a mentor watching. Learning accelerates when you have a context. You learn faster by doing than by additional studying.

In Run Phase: Over Scripting Due to Anxiety

The Problem: You prepare so heavily; seventeen pages of notes, exact timing for each activity, scripted transitions; that you cannot be present. You are locked into your plan. The room is trying to teach you something, but you are following your agenda.

Recovery: Prepare your opening and know your three key transitions. Get clear on the principles driving each activity, not the exact words. Then let the room teach you. Preparation creates safety; rigidity creates brittleness. The best facilitators hold their plan lightly.

In Apply Phase: Overcomplicating Customization

The Problem: You are so excited about merging frameworks that you layer OKRs, Jobs to Be Done, Lean Canvas, and three other models on top of Scale Up. The core experience drowns in complexity. Clients are confused. Outcomes suffer.

Recovery: One primary framework; Strategytools. One supporting framework; OKRs, or Lean Canvas, or Jobs to Be Done; pick one. Then let simplicity be your advantage. Complexity cannot compete with clarity.

In Fly Phase: Losing the Edge Through Complacency

The Problem: You have run hundreds of programs successfully. You are comfortable. You stop experimenting. Your programs become rote. You are no longer learning.

Recovery: Each year, intentionally try one novel approach, even if it fails. Mentor someone completely new to see facilitation through fresh eyes. Go observe a master facilitator in a completely different context; design thinking, Liberating Structures, executive coaching. Growth is a choice, not an accident.

GETTING STARTED: YOUR FIRST STEPS

If this resonates, your first action is simple: pick one book from the Learn phase reading list. Start with Venture Deals or Zero to One. Read it with curiosity and a notebook; mark the passages that surprise you.

Then find someone; a founder, a colleague, an entrepreneur in your network; and run a scaled down strategy session. Do not wait for perfection. Facilitate one conversation. Ask them for honest feedback. Do it again.

Facilitation mastery is built through repetition, feedback, and the willingness to be uncomfortable. The question is not “Am I ready?” It is “Will I commit?” The pathway becomes clear when you are already walking it.

WHAT THIS REQUIRES OF YOU

Let me be direct. This is not a certification you can buy or a course you can complete in eight weeks. This is a commitment to becoming someone who can hold transformational space for entrepreneurs making the hardest decisions of their careers.

It requires:

• Deep Study: Not surface level familiarity, but genuine knowledge you have integrated into how you think.
• Regular Practice: You cannot develop facilitation skills without facilitating. Minimum twice monthly during your Run phase.
• Honest Feedback: From mentors, peers, participants, and your own ruthless self-reflection. The willingness to be wrong and adjust.
• Continuous Improvement: Each program teaches you something. You must be hungry to learn from every experience, even the ones that go sideways.
• Genuine Investment in the Ecosystem: Not as a stepping stone to something else, but as something you deeply care about.
• Vulnerability: The willingness to learn in public, to not have all the answers, to say “I do not know” when you do not, and to be humbled by what groups discover.
• Time: This takes 18 to 24 months of deliberate practice to reach Apply phase. Fly phase? Another year or more of continuous deepening. There are no shortcuts.

The cost is not just money. It is time, attention, and genuine commitment. But the reward is joining that rare class of facilitators who reshape founder journeys, teams, and entrepreneurial ecosystems; one breakthrough at a time.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Enrico Maset facilitates the moments when founders, teams, and entrepreneurial ecosystems see more clearly. From Blue Tech, Clean Tech, Climate Tech, and Agro Tech cohorts at Katapult, Deep Tech with Savant in Cape Town to early stage incubators like WeAreFounders in Brussels and ecosystem development initiatives in Lebanon, North Macedonia, and Serbia, he has designed learning experiences for hundreds navigating their most complex decisions. His work includes teaching clean technology entrepreneurship at ESCP Berlin and mentoring AI plus Impact scale ups through Inco – Social Tides. He bridges entrepreneurship, visual strategy, and the craft of transformation. He continues to ask the question that drives his facilitation: “How can we create the conditions for genuine breakthrough?”

More info on my early journey with Strategytools.io: https://www.strategytools.io/case-studies/uncover-an-entirely-new-business-area/

WHAT THIS ARTICLE PROVIDES

This framework is not borrowed theory. It emerges from over a decade of facilitating, mentoring facilitators, and observing what separates program managers from transformative leaders. The four phases work because they honour both the discipline required: deep learning, consistent practice; and the emergence required: flow, presence, adaptation.

You now know the path. You have seen what it looks like at each phase. You understand this is not a quick credential; it is a progression toward mastery that demands serious commitment.

The question remains: Are you willing to commit to this journey?

EXTRA ADDITION: How many runs does it takes to become a ScaleUp master facilitator?

I’d say you need to perform:

▶️ 20 times Learn phase, light version.

I recommend a casual context first, shorter runs and building towards an audience of entrepreneurship operators.

▶️ 10 times Run phase, full version.

I recommend at least 5 co-runs with experienced facilitators

▶️ 20 times Apply phase, full version.

I recommend you play with the program design, and lead multiple co-facilitators in your sessions.

▶️ After 50+ you can consider yourself at Master level

Beware of complacency and keep on pushing the programs to be as relevant and actionable as possible

Disclaimer:

This article has been written with Human led, Machine oversight collaboration. Models used were: Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Perplexity Comet browser. For reference on Human-Machine references please check: https://www.dubaifuture.ae/hmc

Here’s the brutal truth: Most leaders talk a good game about transformation, but when crisis hits, they crumble faster than a house of cards in a hurricane. That’s exactly why Duke, IE Business School, Hult, Microsoft, and Equinor are all using the same secret weapon to forge genuine transformation leaders.

Meet Transform! —the simulation that’s revolutionizing how we develop transformation leadership skills.

The Problem: Leadership Development That Actually Doesn’t

Traditional leadership programs are like learning to swim by reading a manual. Lots of theory, zero practice, and when you hit the water, you sink.

Meanwhile, real transformation requires mastering 12 interconnected skills simultaneously:

Team Mastery: Leadership, Teamwork, Complex Problem-Solving, Decision-Making

Strategic Firepower: Strategy & Transformation, Innovation, Strategic Finance, Competitive Dynamics

Stakeholder Wizardry: Board & Governance, Capital Markets & Shareholders

Performance Excellence: Strategic Clarity, Winning Mindset

Most programs teach these in isolation. Transform! throws leaders into the deep end where all 12 skills must work together—or they fail spectacularly.

The Solution: Learning by Nearly Dying (Professionally)

Picture this: You and your team are the new management team of an established company. Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Transform your company and hit a $50B market cap. Small problem—you’re competing against up to six other teams who want to outperform and crush you.

“Many people get overwhelmed. They function poorly as a team. They get stressed. They make bad decisions. They are unable to collaborate on strategy. This is by design.”

Transform! doesn’t coddle participants. It subjects them to:

• Business model portfolios for long-term value creation
• Entrepreneurial mindset by juggling new business opportunities
• Digital skills by using a wide range of AI tools in practice
• Hostile competitors trying to steal your market share
• Activist investors demanding immediate results
• Time pressure that would make any management team falter
• Financial resource constraints that force impossible choices
• System thinking through a complex learning format
• Strategic dilemmas with no clear right answer

The result? Leaders who can actually lead transformation, not just talk about it.

The Magic: 1,500+ Cards of Chaos and Opportunity

With over 1,500 unique content cards, based on 100’s of real-life strategy dilemmas developed with deep insights from many of the largest companies in the world, Transform! creates infinite scenarios. Your team might face:

• How large part of the business should be ‘built with AI first’?
• Should you bring in the “M&A Shark” for aggressive growth?
• How much debt can you handle for those new gigafactories?
• Can you survive rising interest rates while funding innovation?
• Will that multi-stakeholder joint venture attempt backfire spectacularly?

Every decision cascades through the business system, teaching leaders that transformation isn’t linear—it’s a complex dance where finance, strategy, innovation, and leadership intersect in unpredictable ways.

Built on the research behind the Ten Principles of Transformation, Transform! takes participants on a deep dive, fast-paced journey into the world of C-suites and boardrooms globally. Get the Building the Transformational Company report here.

The Proof: Real Results from Real Programs

IE Business School’s Success Story:

Peter Fisk, global thought leader and Academic Director of IE’s Global Advanced Management Program, embedded Transform! as the capstone experience. The results speak volumes:

• A craft beer ecosystem created by Latin America’s largest bottling company
• A South African bank drastically reducing loan approval times
• A Japanese pharmaceutical company partnering with Silicon Valley startup for personalized medicine
• A retailer growing from 500,000 to 5 million customers in three years

“We have so many examples of great results coming from the graduates of the program… This is typically the transformational outcomes we’re looking for.”

The Format: Flexible, Scalable, Devastating

Transform! adapts to your needs:

• 2-3 day intensive formats for maximum impact
• Hybrid models stretching over months (IE’s secret sauce)
• 10-100+ participants per session
• In-person or digital delivery, you choose
• Six different industries to match your context

Whether you’re developing young talent or seasoned C-suite executives, Transform! scales the challenge appropriately. New hires get overwhelmed then breakthrough. Veterans find their real-world dilemmas reflected in the simulation.

You are the new leadership team of a well-established company, with declining sales and falling share price. The board is looking to you to lead the transformation. Can you deliver?

The Skills: All 12, All the Time

Unlike traditional programs that teach skills in silos, Transform! forces simultaneous development:

Part 1: Teams learn basic strategy and finance while making rapid-fire decisions

Part 2: Innovation strategy meets competitive dynamics under pressure

Part 3: Growth, M&A deals, activist investors, and board management collide

Participants don’t just learn about strategic finance—they use it as a competitive weapon. They don’t study teamwork—they build coalitions or watch their companies collapse. By powering through the intense experience Transform! is, participants are able to debrief, reflect and discuss their own experience, thoughts, confusion and mastery of the 12 leadership skills behind Transform! Most importantly, what are the key skills you bring back to work Monday morning?

The Bottom Line: ROI That Actually Matters

For Business Schools: Transform! becomes your signature differentiator. Students graduate with genuine transformation experience, not just great lectures.

For HR Leaders: Stop sending executives to programs that don’t prepare them for real challenges. Transform! creates leaders who can actually deliver transformation results.

For Organizations: Every dollar invested returns exponentially when leaders can navigate complexity without panic.

Develop more strategic leaders? Drive a successful transformation? Teach the building blocks of a future-fit strategy? Try Transform

The Call to Action: Stop Pretending, Start Transforming

The transformation economy is here. Companies that can’t transform will die. Leaders who can’t lead transformation will become irrelevant.

The question isn’t whether you need these skills—it’s whether you’re brave enough to develop them properly.

Transform! doesn’t just teach transformation leadership. It forgets leaders through the fire until they emerge as transformation legends.

Ready to separate the real leaders from the pretenders?

Transform! is available for business schools and organizations worldwide.

Contact us to bring this game-changing, immersive experience to your leaders.

Transform! is trusted by leading institutions including IE Business School, Duke University, Hult International Business School, Microsoft, Equinor, and dozens of other forward-thinking organizations who understand that transformation leadership can’t be learned from a textbook.

Transform! is based on the research project, Building the Transformational Company and the Ten Principles of Transformation. Developed by Chris Rangen, with over 20 years experience working with boards, C-level and strategy leaders, Transform! is anchored in real-life challenges faced at the strategic level of the world’s leading organizations. Read more.

Want to learn more about the Strategy Sims methodology? Hear how the Strategy Sims went from zero to 10.000+ people in just six years? Pre-register for our upcoming report, Strategy Sims in Action today.