Change of Plans: Meet Sherpa, Your AI Innovation Coach

We started with a plan - then six weeks after launch we threw it out.

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The original plan

We launched MethodPunks at the end of January with 30 published methods out of a potential pool of 100+. Each one came with printable worksheets, real-world examples, and curated playlists that sequenced methods into workflows. The roadmap said: launch with 30 core methods, ship 10 new methods per month, prioritising based on user feedback. Steady, sustainable, sensible.

That plan lasted about four weeks.

What changed

We did what we always advise our teams to do - we ate our own dogfood.

We re-ran our competitive analysis across every innovation toolkit, method library, and coaching platform we could find. We mapped features, pricing models, content depth, audience segments and gaps. We looked at agencies, consultancies and corporate innovation labs.

Here's what we found (Feb 2026):

At the top: enterprise consulting firms charging $500K to $2M+ per engagement. Great frameworks, completely inaccessible to 99% of the people who need them. And when the engagement ends, so does the support.

In the middle: enterprise software platforms at $20K to $100K per year. Strong on top-of-funnel process management (idea capture, scoring, pipeline tracking) - but thin on methodology and depth. They're technology vendors, not methodology providers. Bring your own frameworks or figure it out yourself.

At the accessible end: a handful of platforms built around a single framework. One canvas. One approach. Useful if that's what you need. Limiting if your challenge doesn't fit neatly into that one tool.

Nowhere: a comprehensive method library paired with AI coaching that actually knows the methods. Nobody offers structured guidance on which method to use for which challenge. Nobody has an AI coach that can walk you through a canvas section by section and give specific feedback on your actual work.

That entire category doesn't exist. Yet.

We also tested what happens when you ask general-purpose AI tools for innovation method guidance. The results were often confidently wrong. Hallucinated frameworks, misattribution, no real-world appplications, generic advice dressed up as expertise. "Good enough" for a blog post, maybe. Not good enough if you're making real decisions about your product or business. (Ask your investors!)

That was the gap. And we decided to fill it.

The New Plan

The new plan:

• Core Methods library: Accelerate publication of 100 methods to round out the core offering and provide comprehensive support for all challenges. Since Feb 2nd we have published an additional 40 methods and are currently testing and refining the final 30.
• Custom Playlists: Release Custom Playlists in March as planned. This allows users create projects to hold their active methods, or create playlist of bookmarked favourites, and create custom workflows.
• Interactive canvases: Instead of static templates that can be downloaded and printed, give users ability to complete the templates online, save progress, share with team-mates.
• Sherpa AI: Build a custom AI coach. Not a ChatGPT wrapper with a system prompt - but a fine-tuned model trained on our own content, our own interaction patterns, and real-world coaching scenarios.

What Sherpa can do

Sherpa is not a general-purpose chatbot that happens to know some method names. It's trained on eight specific interaction types, each designed around how practitioners actually use innovation methods. Here's what that looks like.

(a) Method Recommendation & Explanation

You describe a situation or goal and Sherpa recommends the right method - this is the core job. Sherpa asks clarifying questions before committing to a recommendation, so it doesn't just pattern-match on keywords.

You ask what a specific method is for - Sherpa explains it accurately, attributes it correctly, and connects it to when it's most useful. No over-explaining, no listing everything. Critically, no hallucinated facts. If Sherpa doesn't know something, it says so. You want to understand the difference between two methods and which to choose. Sherpa gives an opinionated, situational answer. Not a neutral "both have merits" response. It helps you decide, not just describes.

MethodPunks organises methods into playlists for specific goals. Sherpa maps your situation to an ordered sequence of methods, not just which methods to use, but in what order and why.

With Custom Playlists, Sherpa also has the context of your project, your challenges and goals. With Interactive Canvases, Sherpa knows exactly where you are and where you could be.

(b) Canvas Facilitation & Review

You want to be walked through completing a canvas. These are longer, multi-turn interactions where Sherpa guides you section by section, responds to what you actually write, and asks probing questions rather than just describing what to do. It's the difference between a textbook and a trusted advisor sitting next to you.

Or you've completed a canvas previously and ask for feedback. This is the highest-value interaction and the most differentiated. Sherpa reads your actual submitted data and gives specific, targeted feedback. Not "make sure your value proposition is clear" but "your customer segment says B2B SaaS founders, but your channels are all B2C. Something doesn't line up."

(c) Progress Coaching

Say you get stuck partway through a method or a canvas section. Sherpa doesn't re-explain the method - it coaches you through your specific blocker using questions and targeted guidance. Sherpa is not there to teach - but to guide you to successful outcomes and actionable insights. When needed, Sherpa corrects gently and immediately, without lecturing, and moves forward constructively.

This is the most nuanced interaction type and the one that benefits most from fine-tuning. Pretty much every base LLM we tested got basic method facts wrong - either out of date info (training cut-off dates) or went completely off-track a few turns into a conversation. This interaction type exists specifically to fix that.

Where we are now

Here's the current state of play:

• 70 out of 100 methods published. Each with expert tips, real-world examples, printable templates, and similar method links. Browse them at /methods or on the Periodic Table. The final (for now) 30 methods will dropping this week and next. These new methods will round out strategy, growth, ideation, and lean operations.
• Custom Playlists: will let you build your own method sequences, not just use ours. Coming in March - already built and currently in testing.
• Interactive canvases: complete online, save progress, share. Coming in March - already built and currently in testing.
• Sherpa AI: Fine-tuned on 100 methods so Sherpa knows the full library. Already built; currently in internal testing. Beta launch: end of March/early April.

What's coming soon

With 100 methods and Sherpa in place, here's what's on the roadmap:

• Sherpa pricing we are still working on this one - but use of Sherpa AI will be entirely optional, with AI credit packs avilable for purchase for AI coaching sessions. Full details when beta opens.
• Teams brings shared workspaces, collaborative canvases, and team-level coaching. Pricing announced closer to launch.

Try what's live today

We're not waiting until everything is finished to ship. 70 methods are live right now, each with templates, examples, and expert tips.

• Browse the method library
• See it all on the Periodic Table
• Sign up to the mailing list to stay informed

Sherpa beta opens end of March. If you want early access, subscribe for updates and we'll let you know the moment it's ready.