● INNOVATION · NEW SERVICES · VALIDATION
Innovation validated with customers before you invest.
We help SMEs turn ideas into new products, services and business models, with prototypes and real-world tests that reduce the risk of every investment decision.
New products and services · Business model · Customer experience · Prototypes
● IN TWO LINES
Innovation isn’t having ideas. It’s knowing which ones to drop.
Artik Grup is an innovation consultancy for SMEs based in Manresa (Barcelona). We work with the Discovery–Thinking–Create–Doing–Rethink method: we research the customer’s problem, prototype the solution, test it with real users and only then build it. That’s how projects like Cambra Locker or the Coffee Test for Cafès Serra were born.
● WHY NOW
The moment to innovate usually comes for one of these reasons.
● 01
Your core product is maturing and margins are falling: you need a new revenue source before it becomes urgent.
● 02
Customers are asking for new things (service, digital, subscription) and competitors are already trying them.
● 03
Management has had ideas for years, but there’s never time or a process to decide on them.
● HOW WE WORK
Three formats, from exploration to launch.
● 01
Opportunity workshopTwo days with the team to map customer problems, trends and internal capabilities. Deliverable: opportunity map with three or four prioritised bets.
● 02
Validation sprintSix weeks to turn a bet into a prototype and test it with real customers. Deliverable: evidence, business model and go/no-go decision.
● 03
LaunchWe build the pilot, brand and channels, and support it in the market during the first months. Deliverable: new product or service up and running, with indicators.
● WHAT WE DELIVER
Evidence, not presentations.
Each stage produces something you can show a customer or take to a board meeting: a prototype, usage data, a business model with numbers.
01 Customer research: interviews, observation and usage data
02 Analysis of trends and direct and indirect competitors
03 Opportunity map prioritised by impact and feasibility
04 Value proposition and business model (revenue, costs, channels)
05 Prototypes: from paper to working version
06 Customer tests and metrics on interest, usage and willingness to pay
07 Pilot plan: scope, budget, team and indicators
08 Launch: brand, website, communication and follow-up
● WHERE IT HAPPENS
Six types of innovation we have worked on.
Innovation isn’t always a new product; it’s often a new way of selling, serving or working. See the examples in projects.
● PRODUCT
New products and services
From the customer’s problem to launch. Example: Cambra Locker, a smart pick-up service for Manresa retailers.
● MODEL
New business models
Subscriptions, add-on services or digitising the offer. Example: Cafès Serra, from bulk coffee to a digital experience.
● CUSTOMER
Customer experience
We redesign the customer journey to remove friction. Example: Aparca Manresa, a public service explained from the user’s point of view.
● PROCESS
Process innovation
We rethink how work gets done with data and technology. It often ends in an applied AI project.
● CULTURE
Innovation culture
A simple system so the team proposes, evaluates and tests ideas every quarter without stopping the business.
● ECOSYSTEM
Open innovation
We connect the company with startups, universities and technology centres in Catalonia to accelerate projects.
● THE ARTIK METHOD
Five phases designed for fast decisions.
The method is the same as in our other services, but here the cycle is short: weeks, not months, and every phase ends with a decision.
- 01
Discovery
Understand
Research with customers, market and team. Outcome: opportunity map.
- 02
Thinking
Decide
We prioritise bets by impact, feasibility and risk. Outcome: one or two hypotheses to validate.
- 03
Create
Design
We prototype and test with real customers. Outcome: evidence and business model.
- 04
Doing
Implement
We build the pilot and launch it to market. Outcome: new service up and running.
- 05
Rethink
Measure & improve
Decision. With the pilot data we decide whether to scale, adjust, rethink or stop. Stopping in time is a success too.
● WHY US
Innovation with its feet in the SME.
Prototypes before budgets.
We don’t ask for big investments to test an idea. A paper prototype and five interviews already say a lot.
From concept to market with one team.
Once the idea is validated, the same team does the brand (branding), the website and the communication. No need to coordinate three suppliers.
Real launch experience.
We have launched new services for institutions, retail and industry in Central Catalonia. We know what happens the day after the presentation.
● FIRST STEP
A two-day opportunity workshop.
We bring the key team together, put customer problems, trends and capabilities on the table, and leave with three or four prioritised bets. If one deserves to continue, a six-week validation sprint tells you whether it has a future.
● FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What we get asked before we start.
Even better. We start with the customer’s problem, not the idea. The opportunity workshop exists precisely to find where innovation is worth it.
Then we start straight away with a validation sprint: we turn it into a prototype and test it with customers before developing it. The original idea often comes out changed, and better.
Three to six people who know the customer and the product, in focused sessions. No innovation department required.
Workshop: two days. Validation sprint: six weeks. Launch: three to six months depending on the project. We give you a fixed quote per stage; the next one only starts if the decision is to go ahead.
Often yes: ACCIÓ programmes, innovation vouchers or sector-specific grants. We help you identify them and document the project, although the application itself is handled by your accountant or a specialised consultancy.
You’ll have learned, with a small investment, what the market doesn’t want, and you’ll have data to redirect the bet. That’s why we validate before building.
● SHALL WE START?
Which opportunity is on your mind?
Tell us the idea or the problem in two lines and we’ll tell you, with no obligation, which format fits.