Hands-on 4 day sprints for non-engineers, designed to gain practical AI knowledge.
AI is everywhere.
But until you’ve gone beyond “AI is just fancy autocorrect,” it’s hard to tell what’s hype and what’s genuinely world-changing.
There’s now an existential need for all of us (people and businesses) to adapt to an AI first world. But AI doesn’t need to feel like a threat — with the tools and skills to do so, we can harness, understand the limits of and make the most of this exciting technology.
That’s where Hack Weeks come in.
For four glorious days you’ll have dedicated time, resources and support to get truly hands on with AI.
Whether you’re looking to really lean in or just feeling pressure to become “AI first,” joining a Hack Week will help you to explore tools and techniques that match your skills and comfort level, so you can start working with AI, not just reading about it.
Your hosts are Jonny and Tom, seasoned design and product leaders and exited founders who’ve helped individuals and teams grow at the likes of Monzo and Deliveroo. We’ve caught the AI bug, and we’re excited to bring you along for the journey.
Sign up for a Hack Week below, or if you have any questions, please reach out to us at [email protected].
Is this for me?
While Hack Weeks is most suited to product and design folks, whatever your background we think you’ll get value from the accountability and the time and space to explore.
You don’t need any technical expertise. Just bring your creativity, curiosity and an open mind and we’ll explore together in a low-stakes environment.
Some people we’d love to see:
- Product Managers and Designers
- Sales, Customer Success, Marketing and GTM folks
- Operations and People teams
- Founders, investors and consultants
Not in work at the moment? We’d love to have you. Focus on feeling confident talking about AI in your interviews, side projects or to inform your next role.
What will I get out of it?
You’ll ship a ‘thing’
A working prototype, a movie poster series, or even an AI-written instruction manual. Whatever matters to you and your work. The only requirement: make it real.
You’ll explore with others
Daily morning meetings give you space to share progress, blockers, and “a-ha” moments. There’s no single right answer, but learning together helps you find your way faster.
You’ll try the latest prompting tricks
From voice mode to prompt anatomy, we’ll share what’s working and help you experiment. Just bring your tools, ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini are welcome.
You’ll learn by doing
Real deadlines, peer momentum, and support from your hosts make this one of the fastest, stickiest ways to level up your AI literacy.
Who else will be there?
A crucial part of the Hack Week experience is a peer group to learn from.
We’ll aim for small groups of 6-8 people with similar backgrounds and ambitions (for example Product Designers, Cursor improversor people who want to improve their daily workflows). In fact we’ll talk to you about your goals in advance so we can match you with a good group.
Your peer group will work closely together sharing learnings, support and motivation, both in group sessions and asynchronously through chat. We’ve found that the conversation and new friendships continue long after the Hack Week ends.
What can I build?
It’s completely up to you.
Whether you’re diving into vibecoding or exploring workflow-level improvements, there’s plenty you can build in just four days. Bring a problem from work, a process improvement, a side project or just a curiosity.
For example our pilot Hack Week in April 2025 featured seasoned product designers exploring AI tools to prototype app ideas – you can see some of those projects below.
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An app to encourage thoughtful conversations between parents and children, with AI-generated prompts and character illustrations. Read more
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A way to take photos of meat-based recipes and find vegetarian substitutions, complete with AI-generated ingredient illustrations. Read more
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A website to pull articles from the NY Times and Guardian APIs, summarising them into digestible bullet-point cards using AI. Read more
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A Chrome extension to save articles, generate a podcast script, and create an audio version delivered to your podcast feed weekly. Read more
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A service to help you never forget a birthday again. Read more
What you work on doesn’t need to even be ‘one thing’. You might choose to ship a few automations that make every day a bit smoother or reduce low value work.
Still stuck? Don’t worry, we’ll help you scope a meaningful project that fits your familiarity with AI, the tools you have access to and your ambition so you can hit the ground running on the Monday.
What's the agenda?
The week is fully remote and takes place over four days.
Before the week
We’ll work with you to shape your project, sharpen your scope, and get clear on what success looks like.
During the week
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Kick-off workshop
Morning check-in
Morning check-in
Morning check-in
Group session:
Package Up
Group session:
Lift Off
Group session:
Zoom In
Group session:
Zoom Out
Demos!
Monday: Kickoff & Setup
- Welcome session — A two-hour workshop to introduce ourselves, establish our collective AI knowledge and run through some exercises together to go deeper with our tools.
- Group session: Lift Off — Set the course for your week by shaping the scope of your project, choosing your approach, and identifying the tools, tactics, or questions that will unlock progress.
Tuesday: Make & Learn
- Morning check-in on progress, help remove blockers and share reflections so far.
- Group session: Zoom In — Go deep into tactics, techniques, and experiments to sharpen your approach and accelerate your project.
Wednesday: Shape & Polish
- Morning check-in on progress, help remove blockers and share reflections so far.
- Group session: Zoom Out — Reflect on the broader impact of your work including barriers to adoption, shifts in your role, and what your project reveals about the future of your craft.
Thursday: Demo Day
- Everyone shares their screen and walks through their project + key takeaways.
- Group session: Package Up — Shape and share your work in a way others can understand and value whether that’s through a name, a brand, a story, or a compelling artifact.
- Demos: Hosts collect and group shared learnings into a recap for all participants.
There will also be async chat throughout the week for people to share learnings and ask for support as they go.
After the week
- We’ll send you a recap of the week’s learnings.
- We’ll share any resources that were useful.
- You’ll stay in your group and the Hack Weeks community as you continue learning and building.
What time zones can I be in?
Our first Hack Weeks will be centred around GMT (London time) with morning and afternoon activities. If you’re outside of this time zone, please let us know and we’ll do our best to accommodate.
We plan to run Hack Weeks in other time zones soon.
How much time should I make available?
You’ll get the most value if this can be your main focus. That means 20+ hours across the four days. Of course, you can burn the midnight oil as much as you want beyond that!
Your hacking time can be done in the daytime or evening if you’re attending a Hack Week in a different time zone or around work commitments — but we strongly recommend attending the scheduled morning meetings and group sessions as much as possible. Sharing challenges with your group is as valuable as your solo building time.
So make sure your manager is comfortable with that time commitment, and clear your calendar as much as possible.
OK, but how do I persuade my boss?
Here’s a handy email template to use with your manager:
Subject: Joining an AI Hack Week
Hey [Manager’s Name],
I’d love to join this AI Hack Week. A 4-day, hands-on sprint where I’ll explore AI tools by building something grounded in real work.
Here’s why I think it’s worth doing:
- Accelerate our team’s adoption: AI is top of mind for us right now. This would give me the space to actively learn, bring that energy back, and potentially even run a lightweight hack session internally.
- Choose the right tools: We’ve been meaning to go deeper into AI tooling. This gives me a structured way to explore a bunch of tools to help us make smarter decisions on where we invest.
- Solve real business problems: I’d focus my project on something we’ve already discussed improving, which means there’s a real chance of making actual progress during the week.
I’d prioritise my time across the four days for live sessions and focused work, but can dip out for anything critical.
What do you think?
Thanks, [Your Name]