About us
Startup program with effective customer discovery methodology coupled with a progress-tracking app that helps incubation managers deliver impactful customer discovery training and identify the most promising startup teams for investment.
Startup Drill was built to fix the biggest gap in early-stage startup support
Early-stage startups face a lot of uncertainty, making it difficult to make the right decisions. In fact, 42% of startup failures occur because founders misread market demand.
One proven way to reduce this risk is to learn what customers truly want before fully committing resources. This Entrepreneur-as-Scientist approach involves testing high-risk assumptions early and iterating based on real data. Also known as lean startup and customer development.
Founders trained in this approach recognize the unknowns in their market, use strict decision rules, and shut down unviable ideas sooner. They become more adept at reading signals and making informed choices.
As a result, they see a 38% boost in short-term revenue, better long-term sustainability, and a higher likelihood of attracting external funding.
Randomized control trials show that entrepreneurs who embrace a scientific mindset are more successful, underscoring the importance of building these skills early on.
So how do you, as an incubation manager, ensure your startups adopt a scientific mindset right from the start?
Early-stage startup program that helps incubation managers deliver impactful customer discovery training and identify the most promising startup teams for investment.
Startup Drill is an early-stage startup program designed to help incubation managers reduce uncertainty by delivering proven customer discovery training and pinpointing high-potential startups for investment. We focus on uncovering real customer needs and validating solutions early, applying lean startup and customer development principles to achieve a clear problem-solution fit.
How it works?
Training modules
Teams go through structured training modules to adopt customer development principles
Customer development
Teams apply customer development through experimentation and log their efforts
Progress tracking
Incubation staff tracks their progress via Evalu8 app and provides tailored support
Startup Drill is Built by Smion
Smion is an innovation agency and startup ecosystem builder based in Croatia.
We specialize in designing and delivering programs that support early-stage entrepreneurship — from startup bootcamps and incubation, to education, challenge-based learning, and regional ecosystem development.
Over the past decade, we’ve worked with cities, universities, ministries, and European institutions to help new ideas turn into validated ventures. Startup Drill is the result of that hands-on experience.
Learn more about Smion → www.smion.com
Why we Built Startup Drill
After years of supporting startup programs and mentoring hundreds of teams, we noticed the same problems repeating:
- "Managers without time or tools to deliver structured training"
- "Startups getting lost in theory instead of finding real customers"
- "Programs ending without clear indicators of progress or investor readiness"
That’s why we built Startup Drill — not just as a curriculum, but as a full system to make startup support programs easier to run and more effective.