MPD
14 weeks. Real partners. A product with real traction.
Managing Product Development, the second core course. 26 students, six teams, six problem spaces from project partners, exactly one per team, and fourteen weeks to build an outstanding product with its first real users or customers.
Input from founders and Tier-1 VCs who have actually done it. The rest of the time belongs to your team and your product. The bar is real traction and an excellent product, not a prototype that demos well.
What MPD is.
- A real product, with real traction
Every team leaves the course with a working product and its first real users or customers. Where CDTM companies start; some of them never stopped.
- Project partners, one problem space per team
Project partners bring the problem space, the design partners and the resources. Nothing past that is handed over: the product is yours to own.
- Founders and investors as teachers
Five teaching blocks with input from the founders and Tier-1 VCs who have done it, and office hours in between. The rest of the time belongs to your team.
- Built with real tools
AI credits from Anthropic and OpenAI, and a hardware lab for the teams whose product needs one.
The course in numbers
- 26
- Students per class
- 9
- ECTS
- 14 weeks
- Part-time, alongside the semester
- 6
- Teams
- 6
- Problem spaces from the project partners, one per team
- 5
- Teaching blocks, one session a week
- 1
- Building weekend with the community
- 1
- Midterm presentation
- 1
- Design Fair to launch your product in public
Partners of past classes
The most asked questions
- Does every CDTM student take MPD?
- Yes. MPD is the second of the three core courses, worth 9 ECTS, and every student takes it after the Trend Seminar, at the beginning of their time at CDTM.
- How much time does it take?
- Fourteen weeks, part-time alongside your semester. One session a week: five teaching blocks with office hours in the weeks between, plus a building weekend with the community. The rest of the time belongs to your team and your product.
- Do I need to be able to code?
- No single background is required. Teams are interdisciplinary, and the building weekend brings tech coaching and your stack set up. Teams also get AI credits and, where a product needs it, a hardware lab.
- What do the project partners do?
- Each class works with several project partners, who bring six problem spaces, exactly one per team, along with design partners and resources. Which product you build inside your problem space is up to your team.
- Who owns what we build?
- You do. The partner brings the problem space, the design partners and the resources; nothing past that is handed over. The product is yours to own.
- Can MPD turn into a startup?
- It is where CDTM companies start, and some of them never stopped. The bar is a working product with real users or customers, not a prototype that only demos well.