6-week online program
10–12h weekly workload
Intimate cohort of 50 designers
2 weekly calls with mentors
Lifetime access to Alumni Collective
3,280€ early bird tuition fee
Next intake: October 7th, 2024
Business knowledge extends our empathy beyond users. It helps us understand who our company competes with, what the motives of different stakeholders are, and how decisions get made.
Having business and design perspectives in mind gives us a better understanding of a problem space, which inevitably makes our solutions more relevant for the stakeholders.
Becoming business literate will help us become fluent in the language that other departments use. It enables us to present our work in a language that non-designers understand, fully appreciate, and can buy into.
The d.MBA was made specifically for experienced design professionals who want to up their design career, but not become a business person. The curriculum covers fundamental business concepts that are relevant across industries, varying company sizes, and products (hardware and software).
Develop your client empathy, make better-informed decisions, and persuade clients with the terminology they understand.
Get better projects by differentiating yourself from other designers; Increase your date rate by billing for business value, not pixels.
Prepare for a career boost towards leadership. Identify where design could bring highest value to a company and broaden your responsibilities to become indispensable.
Launch successful products. We will cover business knowledge and real-world case studies relevant to venture design.
The d.MBA is not just another mass open online course but rather a carefully crafted intimate experience where you will be taken on a journey in a small group of designers and mentors, who will care about your progress.
This approach leads to an outstanding completion rate of 97%, while the average online course completion rate is 4%. You have to finish the course to reap the benefits, right?
Education is about progress and impact. That requires rethinking our mental models and changing our behavior. And when do we learn and grow best? In intimate groups that challenge us.
A d.MBA cohort has up to 50 students and a dedicated mentor, which is a small enough group to foster new connections while providing rich diversity. There are plenty of interaction opportunities in weekly calls and a slack community, which brings the group together and creates a safe learning place.
The d.MBA students are experienced designers with on average 8 years of working experience. Some typical profiles include design directors, senior designers, VP of design, and design leads, who work as UX, UI, service, product, brand, research, strategy, and interaction designers. Conducting the class online has a big benefit: you meet designers from all over the world, not just a local bubble.
Reach out to our alumni or get inspired by their stories, which show how they used business confidence gained at d.MBA.
You will gain business confidence from great instructors and mentors, who have mastered their craft as leaders in multinational corporations, as consultants for Fortune 500 companies, working with unicorn startups and impactful non-profits.
d.MBA Instructor
Alen Faljic is the founder and CEO of d.MBA, ex-IDEO business designer. He is the main video instructor of the d.MBA curriculum and content.
d.MBA Mentors
Experienced business designers help students bridge the worlds of business and design.
The d.MBA is not a course. It is a community that starts with a 6-week educational program and continues into a lifelong alumni collective, where networking and learning continue. You will have a bunch of opportunities to keep expanding your skillset and continue meeting like-minded designers.
Most open-ended online courses lack the structure. That is why most of us never finish them. “I’ll do it tomorrow” is the beginning of so many unfinished projects.
Inspired by traditional offline education, the d.MBA has a start and end date. Paradoxically, this makes it easier to fit a program into our busy lives. We all want some predictability. How long will it take to master this? When will I be ready to move on?
This is why we set clear deadlines. Each module starts on Monday with a new content library and ends next Tuesday with personal reflection. This ensures that the d.MBA cohorts move through the program together simultaneously, helping each other along the way, and benefiting from group discussions.
Your cohort and mentors play the role of accountability partners. When you get stuck or fall behind, there is always a group that can help you get unstuck or motivated.
Content modules
Each week starts with new content uploaded to a Google Drive folder.
Discussions on Slack
Throughout the week, you can always reach out to the cohort's hive mind and get perspective of fellow d.MBAers and mentors.
Reflection call
Each Monday, mentors present an expert’s approach to the assignment and guide a reflection session to wrap up previous week lessons. This call is optional but highly recommended.
Assignment submission
The deadline for submitting your weekly assignment is on Sunday.
Coworking call
Mentors will host weekly coworking sessions on Fridays to discuss content and assignments. This call is optional but highly recommended.
Personal reflection
We conclude each module with a reflection of what we have learned that week and what we can still improve on.
A reflection call highlights module learnings.
Personal reflection closes the learning cycle.
d.MBA content is a synthesis of dozens of seminal business books, frameworks, and concepts, as well as the experience of d.MBA founder Alen, who worked as a business designer at IDEO.
We enjoy finding ways to package vast business knowledge into condensed principles that you can master in a few weeks.
We tested dozens of business tools so you don’t have to.
The d.MBA program is crafted for designers to understand business on the ecosystem, company, and product level. After leveling up your business knowledge, you will learn how to extend your circle of influence.
The d.MBA is a course that will make you a better designer, not a business person. The 6-week program covers all the relevant business topics for designers while honoring the human-centeredness that made you a designer in the first place. Each topic is explained through business rationale along with ideas for how to use them in your design work.
Understand competitive arenas in which you operate, understand how competitors create value, and learn how to shape business insights.
Competitive Arena & Arena Trends
Competitor Research
Value Chains
Learn how great companies compete and how you can design a winning strategy for a product or venture.
Business Strategy 101
Playing to Win
Blue Ocean Strategy
Familiarize yourself with various business models and learn how to generate as well as test your own business models.
Business Model building blocks
Famous Business Model examples
Designing and testing Business Models
Plan a new venture or a product; estimate its potential, and create a rigorous testing plan.
Market Sizing
Business Case design
Calculating business impact of design decisions
Use Hypothesis-Driven design to implement business and design metrics to measure the progress of your work.
Intro to most important Business Metrics
Design Metrics Canvas
Hypothesis-Driven Design
With a guest lecture of Daniel Burka (ex-Google Venture design partner) and Andrea Mignolo (President at IxDA), you will learn how to extend your circle of influence.
How business decisions are made
Measuring and showing the value of design decisions
Creating and sustaining relationships with business leaders
Fill out the form below and get a glimpse into the d.MBA content. You will get access to the lesson from the module Prototyping with Numbers, which shows how to use numbers to design viable product and services. It comes along with the program brochure, which you can use to get tuition reimbursed by your employer.
We believe that learning happens by doing. So, each module consists of small projects based on d.MBA’s original case studies. Students of the upcoming intake will have a chance to train their newly acquired business skills on the challenges involving Wikipedia, Netflix, Headspace, and other organizations that have shaped today’s business and design landscape.
We will get to know the fascinating strategy behind Wikipedia's success and why no organization was able to disrupt it in over 20 years.
We will dive deep into the video streaming arena to understand if Netflix is still well-positioned in a highly competitive market.
The d.MBA is not accredited as an official MBA program and is not striving to become one. The focus of the d.MBA is on practical knowledge and community. The accreditation process leads to redundancies in the curriculum and format, which would devalue the program for designers. But the curriculum has been peer-reviewed by fellow business designers Jo Roberts, Andreea Vangeison, Tina Slåttedal Jacobsen, and Brian Wong.
Instead, upon completing the d.MBA program you will receive a unique NFT certificate, created using a combination of blockchain technology and generative art.
You can print out and hang on your wall as well as mint and store in your crypto wallet and hence undisputedly prove that you have completed the program. You can find more information about our digitally-native certificates here.
To ensure the high quality of the learning experience, we currently run only two intakes per year. One in spring (Apr–May) and one in autumn (Oct–Nov).
To reserve your spot in the upcoming d.MBA, you need to go through the application process, which helps us ensure we find candidates that are a good fit. During the process, you will also have the chance to get your questions about the program answered by the d.MBA team.
Our application process consists of 3 steps.
1. Fill out application form
2. Have a call with d.MBA team
3. Book your spot in an intake
The tuition fee is due after your application has been accepted. The payment can be made by you personally or by your employer. There are no further costs.
We prepared some materials to help you pitch the program to your manager and get reimbursed by your company.
The next intake starts on October 7th, 2024. Join the waitlist and we'll notify you when applications open.
The d.MBA’s schedule is designed so that participants from all over the world can join the program. This ensures diversity and cross-pollination of opinions. To enable that, we offer various options that work well for participants from various locations. You will have the chance to express your preferred option in the application process.
Calls and deadlines at 6pm CET
View calendar
Best suited for
Calls and deadlines at 8pm CET
View calendar
Best suited for
In six weeks, you will become fluent in the language of business. You will also understand the relationship between business and design. This means that you'll no longer base your decision solely on aesthetics and what is good for the customer but try to look for the balance between customer and business goals. You will also learn the most important and widely used business frameworks (value chain analysis, competitor analysis, Porter's generic strategies, Blue Ocean strategy, prototyping with numbers, etc.). It is not uncommon that students use newly learned tools and host workshops with their colleagues days after learning them at the d.MBA.
“I ran a client workshop a week after learning about it at the d.MBA.”* - Lucas Coelho, Roam Collective, d.MBA alumni*
Here you can read how other d.MBA alumni designed their impact.
There are four main differences:
It focuses on business knowledge relevant to designers. Traditional MBAs cater to a much wider audience and are thus much broader in their topics and include many courses (e.g. accounting, economics, etc.) that are not relevant for designers.
In the d.MBA, we always talk about the relevance of business knowledge for designers' work. For example, when we cover prototyping with numbers, we also explain what impact it has on service or product design.
“My girlfriend who studied business and heard d.MBA videos the other night said that the content was greatly presented. Very streamlined, and very efficient. She said that these kinds of subjects are studied with much more clutter in business schools!” - Nathan Delavictoire, French Ministry of the Sea, d.MBA alumni
A cohort consists only of designers. All discussions, questions, and experience sharing is thus much more focused on designers' use case.
An average regular MBA costs somewhere between $55,000 and $150,000. The d.MBA is much more affordable and lets you acquire business skills without pausing your career for a year or two.
We believe that education is about growth and especially how to make an impact in the real world, not certificates. Therefore, we developed a new type of online course that we call MiCCs - Micro-Community Courses. While most online education is built around the content, MiCCs recognize that growth happens in a specific context. So, MiCCs are built around three factors: community, culture, and content. You can read more about it here.
The d.MBA curriculum is built on fundamental business frameworks because we want designers to speak the same language as our business-minded peers. For example, if we present a value chain in our next project, our clients and managers will know exactly what we are talking about.
However, the d.MBA teaches how to use these tools a bit differently than, for example, a business school. Business methodologies are designed as analytical and deductive tools but, the d.MBA shows you how to use them as a part of a creative design process. So, instead of narrowing down your thoughts and ideas, the curriculum will show you how to use these tools to design better briefs and unlock your creative process--not limit it. Furthermore, most business tools are business-centric. We flip that and explain how to use them with a human-centric or planet-centric perspective.
Of course! Learning together is great as you will have the shared language and tools to work on the business side of your projects. There is even a special offering for teams. Click here to find out more.
The d.MBA is proudly unaccredited. The focus of the d.MBA is on practical knowledge and network. The accreditation process leads to redundancies in the curriculum and format, which would devalue the program for designers. But the curriculum has been peer-reviewed by fellow business designers Jo Robertson, Lisa Xue, Andreea Vangeison, Tina Slåttedal Jacobsen, and Brian Wong.
No. You don’t need any prior business knowledge. We will start from the ground up, avoid business jargon, and build a holistic understanding of business.
Definitely. The d.MBA’s schedule is designed so that participants from all over the world can join the program. This ensures diversity and cross-pollination of perspectives.
To enable that, we offer several options that work well for participants from various locations. You will have the chance to express your preferred option in the application process.
Please check the exact calendars for the upcoming intake, which is linked to the Calendar on the Admissions section of the page.
No, the d.MBA runs completely online. There are no in-person meetings and hence no travel necessary. This means that the time investment from the perspective of an employer is much lower than other alternatives (conferences, in-person training, etc.), which you can bring up when making the case for getting the program investment reimbursed.
This course is for design professionals. Regardless if you are working in an agency, as an in-house designer, or a freelancer, this course is for you. On the other side, this course is not suitable for non-designer such as business professionals.
While more working experience improves your chances, the main criterion remains your motivation. Focus on that in your application. If you can showcase that you are willing to learn, put in the time, and share your experience with other students, you are on a good path to get your seat in the program.
Spots in the d.MBA are limited so we accept candidates on first-come basis. Upon receiving an invite to join the program, your seat is reserved for 10 days. In case you are getting tuition reimbursed and need more time, we can discuss the extension of your seat reservation.
The payment can be made by the candidate or by the employer. We accept only credit card payments. If you are getting the program reimbursed, we kindly ask you to settle the tuition fee with a corporate credit card. Alternatively, you can use a personal credit card and expense the cost to your employer.
Yes, you can pay the tuition fee in 3 installments. The first one is due within 10 days of receiving the invite to the program to book your seat, the second one is due 10 days before program start and the third one is due 10 days before graduation.
Roughly 50% of d.MBA students get their investment reimbursed by their companies. We prepared some materials to help you pitch the program to your manager and get reimbursed by your company.
It's a great idea to start your quest for getting reimbursed even before applying. Company processes can be long and cumbersome. But we also encourage you to apply for the d.MBA even without the final reimbursement-approval from your company. We can discuss your situation in the application process and work it out together.
The course consists of video lessons, slides and templates. Each week, you’ll receive 4-6 videos that explain the content of the module. All together about 50-70 minutes per week. Assignment are presented in slide decks. Additionally, you will receive Miro templates that can be used during and beyond the program.
Here you can watch the first video of the Prototyping with Numbers module, which shows how to use numbers to design viable products and services.
Each cohort of 50 students has one dedicated mentor who will guide you through your learning experience. The d.MBA mentors have deep expertise and experience in the intersection of business and design. Typically, they work as business designers at top design agencies (Fjord, Designit, IXDS, etc.) across the world.
Furthermore, the MiCC format is really built around the community. We try to bring out as many benefits of the community approach as possible. So, you can expect to learn as much from your peers as from mentors and content.
The size of the intake is limited to 50 students to ensure the best mentor to student ratio and to foster engagement among students. The goal is to learn and build your network for the future.
All assignments are individual so you can be very flexible with your time. However, we do recommend joining all weekly calls, where you will have the chance to discuss content and assignments with your peers and learn from mentors.
Furthermore, you have access to the community at all times. For example, there is a Slack community where you can ask questions, join discussions, share resources, and talk about your challenges.
Additionally, in week 1 (Meet&Greet call) and week 6 (Graduation call), there is an additional call with group discussions. In these calls, students are divided into smaller groups and talk about how they can apply their knowledge to their work.
The course was designed for busy practitioners who have full-time jobs. So, the d.MBA requires roughly 10–12 hours per week. Most students find the time for the course on weekends but some get a day or several hours off their weekly schedule to invest in the course. Our completion rate of 97% also indicates the program is completely doable along your job.
"My schedule is extremely busy during the week, so I was concerned about having enough time for d.MBA. But once the program started and I met my cohort, I was motivated and enjoyed investing the extra time on weekends to complete assignments." - Julia Olson, Bain&Company, d.MBA alumni
The program is designed to be as flexible as possible; however, there are deadlines to ensure that each cohort benefits from moving along each subject as a group while working individually.
In order to successfully finish the program and join the alumni network, you have to finish all assignments within the 6-week program. Additionally, each Sunday is a project assignment deadline. Each student can submit two assignments late (as per the wildcard rule).
There are only 2 mandatory meetings:
Meet & Greet - the first call where students get to know each other and learn about the logistics of the program.
Graduation call - reflection in smaller groups and graduation ceremony.
For exact times, see the calendar section.
Apart from that, there are weekly calls, which are not mandatory but still highly recommended. There you will have the chance to discuss your assignments in small groups, meet your cohort colleagues, and learn from mentors.
To ensure that you get the most value from the program, we want all students to move through the program together. Otherwise, you can't participate in group discussions, reflection, and core calls. That is why the d.MBA has a start and end date with clear deadlines for various deliverables.
However, life happens. You might have a work or life emergency, making it really hard to focus on the d.MBA. So, all students get two wildcards, which you can use to submit a deliverable late (but still before the program ends). Let's say that in week 4 of the d.MBA, you have a work-related emergency and you just can't finish your assignment. You can use a wildcard that week and submit your assignment later, but still by the end of week 6.
There are no grades in the d.MBA. Every student joins the program with the best intention of learning about business and increasing their confidence. The program is rather built around feedback and reflection process, which is fuel for our growth and impact.
To receive the d.MBA certificate, you must hand in six assignments by their respective deadlines (read more about that in the question above about the wildcard rule).
There are four tools used in the d.MBA. For written communication, we use Slack and for video conferencing, we use Zoom. To distribute the course content, you'll get access to a private Google Drive folder. Lastly, we will also use Miro to share assignments and useful templates.
No tool requires additional investment from students.
All graduates of the d.MBA get lifetime alumni community access. So, after you graduate, you can meet everyone who has taken the d.MBA before you. It is an opportunity for you to further grow your network and keep growing your business confidence.
The alumni community is organized as a private Slack workspace.
The alumni community has all kinds of activities. There is a virtual coffee channel, where we get paired for a 1-on-1 call with another members of the alumni collective. Every month, you can join a Transfer Call with a mentor, where you can ask questions about your work challenges. We can organize or join a local meetup in your area. We also share career opportunities, interesting resources, and alumni success stories.
Take the free 7-day mini MBA email course, learn business skills relevant for designers and be notified when applications open for the next intake.
