Welcome to the Innovation Studio¶
You're here because you're joining the Cortado Group as part of our Innovation Studio — a hands-on, mentor-supported program where you'll grow from "smart and curious" into someone who can ship real software, work alongside AI, and take a product from idea to market.
This site is your home base for the next twelve weeks.
What this is¶
The Innovation Studio is a 12-week, four-module curriculum that mirrors how modern software teams actually work. You'll write code, review each other's pull requests, run sprints, and build something you can demo to real customers at the end. Lessons live alongside the assignments, quizzes, and media you'll need — all in one place.
Why you're here¶
You're here because Cortado believes the best way to learn is to do real work under real conditions, with people who care whether you grow. Every lesson is anchored to a deliverable. Every assignment is something a working consultant or engineer at Cortado would actually be asked to do. By week 12, you'll have:
- A portfolio of work you can point to in an interview
- A working mental model for how AI fits into modern product teams
- A capstone product you scoped, built, and pitched yourself
- A network of mentors who know your name and your strengths
How the program flows¶
| Module | Focus | Weeks | What you'll walk away with |
|---|---|---|---|
| M01 | Software Development | 1–3 | Python, SQL, OOP, and the discipline of clean code |
| M02 | AI-Assisted Development | 4–6 | Prompt engineering, the OpenAI API, AI as a teammate |
| M03 | Agile and QA | 7–9 | Kanban, testing, peer review, shipping with confidence |
| M04 | From Concept to Market | 10–12 | MVP scoping, GTM strategy, your capstone pitch |
Each module contains:
- Lessons — short readings, videos, and worked examples
- Quizzes — to confirm the concept stuck before you build with it
- Assignments — the real work; this is where most of your growth happens
- Media — diagrams, demos, reference material
- Badges — earned on completion, visible across the cohort
How to use this site¶
Use the menu bar at the top of every page to move between modules. Each tab — Start Here, M01 Software Dev, M02 AI-Assisted Dev, M03 Agile & QA, M04 Concept to Market, Common Assets, Global Assignments, Common Media, Solutions — is a top-level section. Click a tab and the left sidebar will fill in with the lessons, quizzes, assignments, and media inside it.
A few habits that will serve you well:
- Start with "Start Here", then work through Module 01 → 04 in order. The modules build on each other.
- Open Common Assets any time you need the orientation slides, code of conduct, or shared templates.
- Check Solutions after you've attempted an assignment yourself — not before.
- When in doubt, ask in your cohort Slack channel or grab your mentor in a 1:1.
A note on Mermaid diagrams¶
Many lessons use Mermaid for flowcharts and architecture diagrams. They render automatically here on the site and on GitHub. If you want to author your own, see Lesson 00 — Visualizing with Mermaid in Module 01.
Welcome aboard. Open the first lesson and let's get to work.