• Build the Product Your User Needs

    Taught By
    Geordie Graham Chief Product Officer, Ample Labs
    Mardi Daley Founder, Lived Experience Lab; Volunteer User Researcher, Ample Labs

    How to do user research right (with insights from a researcher with lived experience).

    User research: it’s what should determine the product you build and how you iterate. Most people are doing it wrong – but after this class, you definitely won’t be one of them, thanks to user research pro Geordie Graham, Chief Product Officer at Ample Labs. He’ll be joined by Mardi Daley, a user researcher with lived experience with homelessness for a can’t-miss discussion about how to leverage user research as a tool to really understand your users’ needs. With a grounding in Research Ethics, you’ll leave knowing:

    • How to actually do user research as a tech nonprofit
    • How to successfully work with individuals who have lived experience with the problem
    • How to turn user research insights into product roadmaps

    ABOUT THE TEACHER

    Geordie GrahamGeordie Graham is the Chief Product Officer at Ample Labs, the chatbot helping people facing homelessness find resources. With over seven years of experience in the field, Geordie has an in-depth knowledge of inclusive design methodology and multimethod user research practices. At Ample Labs, he generates research that advises the organization’s UX strategy and product development. Geordie also supports the learning and growth of the User Research team at Ample Labs through workshops and applied mentorship. Previously, Geordie held user research roles at ecobee, TWG, and Xello.

    Mardi Daley Mardi Daley Is the Founder of Lived Experience Lab and a Volunteer User Researcher at Ample Labs. Her work includes contributions to the by-youth, for-youth "MY" Guide, Best Practices for Hiring Young Adult Peers. Mardi has worked as a consultant with Toronto Alliance to End Homelessness and A Way Home Toronto to bring her perspectives as a person with lived experience to research projects that work with at-risk youth.

WHAT YOU'LL GET OUT OF THE FAST FORWARD ACADEMY

Insights

Learn from experts on topics specific to the tech nonprofit experience, all for free. You’ll have a front-row seat to conversations that get to the heart of how to level up your social impact work.

Action

With tactics and new frameworks in-hand, you’ll walk away feeling unblocked and empowered to leverage new learnings within your organization.

Community

You’ll find yourself in the company of peers who believe in - and are building - social impact tech. A supportive community of impact-driven leaders awaits you.

About Fast Forward

The world’s biggest social problems, from healthcare to education to human rights, deserve the best tech. Fast Forward invests in entrepreneurs who are using technology to accelerate social impact.

Fast Forward’s investments span beyond philanthropic funding, through products and programs that bridge the tech and nonprofit sectors to build capacity for tech nonprofits.To date, Fast Forward’s 59 Accelerator alumni have raised $275 Million in follow-on funding, impacting 88M lives.

As the first and only organization focused exclusively on scaling organizations that combine the best tech with sustainable nonprofit business models, Fast Forward’s mission is to accelerate impact.

About Our Partners

The eBay Foundation is committed to unleashing the power of entrepreneurship to build economically vibrant and thriving communities. To this end, they invest in organizations that empower underrepresented entrepreneurs to build a stronger and more inclusive world. The eBay Foundation is proud to support Fast Forward in its pursuit to do the same.

The Fast Forward Academy is also supported by Comcast Business. With a long history of supporting local communities and organizations wherever they do business, Comcast Business shares our belief that an entrepreneurial spirit is necessary to innovating for a better world.

Fast Forward’s work is made possible with the generous support of our premier partners Google.org, BlackRock, HPE Foundation, Twilio.org, and GM.