Who we are
The team
Margriet buseman
I quit my job at a corporate organization hoping to find a smarter, better and more fun way of working. I fell in love with Design Sprints as a way to energize teams and book results. Almost a decade later and fuelled with flat white's I’m still passionately facilitating teams all over the world. I’m always ready to embark on a next adventure.
"On the other side of fear, lies freedom."
Things you should now:
Favorite fruit: papaya
Free time: spent outdoors
Rain: on the couch with a book
Loves: authentic products & people
Dislikes: wet socks
Expert: getting things done
Robert westerhuis
I traveled to 75+ countries around the world. I hitchhiked from China to Turkey and cycled from Amsterdam to Italy. I love the adventure of embarking to the unknown and found my passion in facilitating others on their adventurous change and innovation journeys. With 100+ Design Sprint weeks done and countless training and programs, I can't wait for the next adventure to start.
Things you should now:
Favorite country: Kyrgyzstan
Free time: skiing/Hiking/Biking
Rain: frustration
Loves: to face language barriers
Dislikes: ironing
Expert: booking train tickets
With amazing partners
It’s two of us at Orange Minds and we collaborate with a remarkable network of freelance professionals and other agencies to deliver the most memorable experiences.
a green mindset
Dutch roots, working globally
The full orange minds story
2014
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Margriet Dreaming of something different
Margriet quit her job at a corporate organization hoping to find a smarter, better and more fun way of working. She spent 3 months hiking across the Himalaya searching for what's next. She came back very well rested and with a mega endurance, but without a brilliant business idea, yet...
2014
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Robert hitchhiking from China to Turkey
Robert returned from his third time traveling around the world and refused to believe that being employed by someone beside himself was a good idea. Robert registers Orange Minds at the Chamber of Commerce.
2016
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Design Sprint start!
Early 2016 a client asked if we ran Design Sprints. Of course! We read the book, saw the similarities and differences compared to the workshops we already did and traveled to Prague. The first Design Sprint was a fact. Each day started at 06.00 to read the book before the Sprint day started. In the months that followed it was learning by doing. By the end of the year we’d also traveled to Madrid, Istanbul, Berlin, Budapest, Amsterdam, Arnhem and Rotterdam to facilitate Design Sprints. We were hooked and the Design Sprint was here to stay.
2017
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First Work retreat at Azores
We’d always been big travellers and why not work from somewhere else? We decided to go somewhere exotic; the Azores. During our month on the Azores we envisioned that we’d work 8 months per year and travel and invest time in ourselves the other 4. We wrote it down and, spoiler alert, it’s still how we roll today. Full of focus and energy when we work. Full of (active) relaxation and inspiration when we don’t.
PS. This was also the year we painted our office (then living room) yellow. #forever sunshine
2018
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Hello Orange Minds 2.0!
The relationship prototype was tried and tested during workshops, holidays, multi-week bike trips and living together. We found out that when we would actually work together, we would also be able to live the life we envisioned. A life that was not just about helping each other in work, but also helping each in finding relaxation, inspiration and doing what we really like: traveling, meeting others and learning and experiencing other cultures. This year we decide to truly join forces in business, Hello Orange Minds.
2019
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18 Sprints, One week!
In 2019 we visit beautiful Lebanon for holidays. While there, we met innovators from a local Accelerator program, funded by the Netherlands. Fast forward 10 months and we’re back in Beirut to facilitate 18 Design Sprints, at the same time. It was the start of a great partnership. This was the year we perfected facilitating Design Sprints at scale.
2019
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no innovation without validation
This year, our Design Sprint facilitation took us to diverse locations, with the most exotic being Ivory Coast. Robert conducted a Sprint there, gathering customer feedback on public ferries in Abidjan and university dorms - a truly immersive experience despite the sweltering heat. Such real-world insights are invaluable for validating business propositions.
2020
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Celebrating our 100th Sprint, online
This is the year that we perfected the online Design Sprint, because like the rest of the world, we had to (Covid-19). We hit Design Sprint # 100 and traveled more than ever. From behind our screen we met teams in Pakistan, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Hong Kong, Poland and many more.
2021
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First Design Sprint Train-the-Trainer
Sprint. Sprint. Sprint. Most people know us as Design Sprints facilitators. We genuinely believe in the Design Sprint as a tool for decision making, teamwork and validated learning. A tool that should be mastered by many others. This year we invested time in building our Train-the-Trainer program and did a lot of coaching too.
2023
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2x Robert this year
What if a government organization asks you to create 4 different programs based on everything you learned and developed over the past 7 years? If that happens, you focus and deliver. We designed, developed and facilitated. Iterated, re-designed and facilitated again. Results after a year of focus: 20 teams with results from Design Sprints, 14 new innovation facilitators trained and 100’s of employees onboarded into Design Thinking mindset.
2024
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The year of the 200th Design Sprint & Ready to rumble
This is us, walking into 2024 on a Moroccan beach. Time to reflect and look forward. Conclusion: we realized how much knowledge we have built throughout the years and how many experiences we've had that allowed us to be the facilitators that we are today. Ambitious and realistic. We're excited to keep up the energy to facilitate, to train and to innovate. It’s what we love.
What else kept us busy the past years?
Margriet loves to read and to write reflective reviews. Check her favorite business books and the tips & learnings from those books.
We love to work remote and to travel to relax and get inspired. Want to do the same? Check out some of our tips from Robert
We facilitated many workshops, programs and Design Sprints. Want to read some of our stories from the past years?
