The d.MBA.
Your pace.

The self-paced version of our flagship curriculum.

Get the Self-paced d.MBA

THE FORMULA

Business + Design = Magic. Simple as that.

THE SOLUTION

Meet d.MBA—the only MBA built specifically for designers, minus the business school fluff.

THE IMPACT

Transform from production-line designer to strategic leader. Do the work that matters.

What’s included?

The Self-Paced d.MBA includes everything you need to become the Strategic Designer and have more impact.

Video Lessons of all d.MBA Modules

Includes 7 hours of the latest version of d.MBA curriculum, including Business Empathy, Business Strategy, Business Models, Prototyping with Numbers, Business and Design Metrics, and Design Your Impact. 

d.MBA Original Case Study Assignments

Practice your strategic thinking by working through 6 d.MBA original real-world assignments of companies like Netflix, Wikipedia, and Apple.

d.MBA Mentor Approach

For each case study, we’ll include the d.MBA Mentor Approach. A video showing how a professional business designer would approach the challenge.

Recorded Live Calls

Access to 12 hours of recorded live discussions from past cohorts, so you can benefit from student questions and mentor expertise.

Pro Resources

We have you covered with Cheat Sheets and Miro templates for key frameworks to give you a head-start for your own projects.

Certificate

Upon completing the content from all 6 modules of the d.MBA curriculum, you’ll receive a signed d.MBA certificate.

Pragmatic MBA Curriculum. No fluff.

Business can feel like an exclusive club sometimes. The kind where everyone speaks in three-letter codes and nobody hands you a manual.

We’re here to make sure you don’t just nod along. You actually get it, and even enjoy the process.

The d.MBA is a program that will make you a better designer, not a business person.

The 6-module 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.

Get the Self-paced d.MBA

  • 1. Business Empathy

    Understand competitive arenas in which designers operate, understand how competitors create value, and learn how to shape business insights.

    Competitive Arena & Arena Trends

    Competitor Research

    Value Chains

  • 2. Business Strategy

    Learn how great companies compete and how to design a winning strategy for a product or venture.

    Porter’s Generic Strategies

    Playing to Win

    Blue Ocean Strategy

  • 3. Business Models

    Get familiar with various business models and learn how to design as well as test business models.

    Business Model building blocks

    Famous Business Model examples

    Designing and testing Business Models

  • 4. Prototyping with Numbers

    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

  • 5. Business and Design Metrics

    Use Hypothesis-Driven design to implement business and design metrics to measure progress of design work.

    Intro to most important Business Metrics 

    Design Metrics Canvas

    Hypothesis-Driven Design

  • 6. Design your Impact

    With a guest lecture of Daniel Burka (ex-Google Venture design partner) and Andrea Mignolo (President at IxDA), learn how to extend your circle of influence.

    How business decisions are made

    How to measure and show the value of design decisions

    Creating and sustaining relationship with business leaders

Learn business from business designers

Alen Faljic is d.MBA’s main instructor. You’ll see him in all of the program's video lectures. He is the founder of d.MBA, an ex-IDEO business designer and one of the leading business designers internationally. 

Franz Emprechtinger is d.MBA’s main mentor. You’ll see him in all of the recorded live classes, where he leads discussions, and answers student questions. Franz is a world-class business designer, and a co-host of d.MBA’s podcast.

What our students say

Get the Self-paced d.MBA

FAQ

  • You will get instant access to all the content. So, you can jump right in today.

  • The self-paced version doesn’t include mentor interactions. This course is designed for you to work at your own pace, without the need for rigid schedule or guidance. However, you’ll have access to recorded mentor sessions from previous cohorts, where many common questions are already addressed.

  • Yes! You’ll be individually certified as a d.MBA graduate. Many of our graduates share their certificates on LinkedIn to show their achievement to their peers.

  • Completing assignments is not a formal requirement. We want you to move at your own pace and jump around according to your individual needs and curiosity.

    However, watching all video lessons is a prerequisite to receive your certificate.

  • Self-Paced d.MBA is designed for independent learning, so there’s no access to a community.

    However, after years of running this program, we've anticipated many common questions, which are addressed throughout the materials and recorded live calls. You'll get access to these recorded discussions with other students and mentors, where many valuable insights and answers are already covered.

    And of course, if you have any issues accessing the content, we’re here to help with any logistical concerns.

  • Absolutely! If you later decide that you want mentor support and community access, you can apply for Cohort-based d.MBA. The amount you paid for the Self-Paced d.MBA will be deducted from the tuition.

  • d.MBA Essentials is 100% online and hosted using a purpose-built platform Teachable.

  • We estimate that you can complete the program within 45 days, stress-free. The curriculum for the self-paced version is based on our cohort-based program, which runs for 6 weeks (42 days).

  • You get lifetime access to the video course, resources and free bonuses.

  • Absolutely! You can do that on this special checkout page. Just choose how many people you’d like enroll by updating the Quantity field on the checkout page.

    Once you’ve made the purchase we’ll reach out to you to collect the email addresses of all the team members you’d like to enroll. We’ll take care of the onboarding right after that, and your team is all set to start learning.

    But if currently there is a waitlist for the Self-Paced d.MBA (or you have any questions), feel free to reach out to hello@d.mba.