How It Works

💡 Step 1: Identify an opportunity – Any team member can propose a business update, operational change, or new initiative.

📈 Step 2: Define success – The proposer sets clear, measurable success metrics that determine whether the wager is won or lost.

💰 Step 3: Put something on the line – To ensure commitment, the proposer stakes something personally meaningful—this could be a percentage of their bonus, a leadership challenge, or even an office trade.

✅ Step 4: Get buy-in – The idea goes through a structured process of peer and leadership approval before implementation.

📊 Step 5: Measure results – If the proposed initiative hits the agreed success metrics, the proposer wins their wager (often with a significant upside reward). If it fails, they own the loss.

Why It Works

• Encourages bold, high-impact thinking – Employees propose ideas that truly matter, knowing their own skin is in the game.
• Filters out weak or unfocused initiatives – Proposals must be measurable, specific, and outcome-driven to even qualify for a wager.
• Drives team engagement & accountability – When someone wagers 75% of their bonus on an idea, it’s no longer a suggestion—it’s a commitment.
• Creates a fun, competitive company culture – Proposals are high-stakes but playful, reinforcing both performance and camaraderie.

Examples of Wagers in Action

📍 Project Raving Fan – A viral referral system that rewards users for sharing the app, with a team member wagering 75% of their bonus that it would drive a 12% increase in downloads & 4% increase in stickiness.

📍 No-Meeting Tuesdays – A proposal to ban internal meetings on Tuesdays, backed by anonymous surveys. If it failed, the proposer agreed to run a marathon in a Still Life t-shirt—if successful, they won an office trade.

STAGE 1: INTERNAL REVIEW

FEATURE

THEORY

FUNCTION

HYPOTHESIS

Segment / Market

Problem to be solved

Solution

Metric of success

Proposed Hypothesis

CUSTOMER JOURNEY

FEATURE FLOW

VISUAL

WAGER

PRESS RELEASE

APPROVAL:

STAGE 2: EXTERNAL REVIEW

DESIGN

• Is a design phase necessary?

CODE

• Is this within the realm of possibilities?
• How labour intensive in working man days is the project?
• Do we need to add more people to the agile agreement to complete this?

MILESTONES

• What are the key milestones and dates for the project?

BUDGET

• What is the proposed budget for the project?

STAGE 3: CUSTOMER RESEARCH

INSIGHTS

• Is a design phase necessary?

PIVOTS

• Is this within the realm of possibilities?

MEASURES OF SUCCESS

• What are the key milestones and dates for the project?

BUDGET

• What is the proposed budget for the project?