This is one of my favorite stories to tell: 14 days, 11 prototypes, and 50 real
By Behrouzhariri · October 15, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
This is one of my favorite stories to tell: 14 days, 11 prototypes, and 50 real loans.
Last week, I had the pleasure of guest lecturing at the University of Toronto's course taught by Majid Behboudi and Mazi Javidiani Designing Human Agency in AI Systems. I shared a project from my time at IDEO.org.
In the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, our team was challenged to make formal financial services accessible to communities that had largely relied on informal lending. We had two working weeks on the ground.
Instead of building an app or developing an elaborate strategy, we went right into the field. We used paper prototypes, games, cardboard phones, and countless conversations to understand how people thought about money, trust, and technology.
11 prototypes in 14 very long days.
By the end, we were issuing real loans. The solution eventually reached more than 100,000 people. What made the project work wasn't sophisticated technology. It was the team's beginner mindset and trusting that our users have the answer for us.
I also shared the early days of building Smart Nora, where the journey from rough, DIY experiments to a product used by over 120,000 customers followed much the same philosophy: Make it exist first. Then make it better.
With AI dramatically reducing the cost of building, I believe this mindset matters more than ever. We can now build incredibly sophisticated products in days. But that doesn't mean were building the right things. The cost of building is falling. The value of good product judgment is rising.
A big thank you to the University of Toronto for the invitation and to the students for the thoughtful conversation.
Shout our to my amazing team mates on this project Mariana Prieto, John Won, Jonathan Newberry and the Banko team that implemented everything after this pilot.
#HumanCenteredDesign #ProductLeadership #Pretotyping #Innovation #DesignThinking