I love the Business Model Canvas*. I know it’s a bit sad but ever since I first saw it in the book “Business Model Generation”, I have been besotted. It just fits the way that I see things, the way that I think about businesses. As a tool, I’ve used it** with businesses of all […] Read More…
No-one wants to read your business plan. I know you’ve spent hours on it. And that’s just the formatting. But no-one’s interested in reading it. It’s a work of fiction that’s out-of-date the second you finish it. It’s about as relevant to your business as Game of Thrones but, without the sex and violence, much […] Read More…
“What the hell is that?” you are probably asking yourself. Well, it’s the juxtaposition of two topics that I wanted to talk about. So it may be a new concept, or it may be linkbait. You choose! I am a big fan of the Lean Launchpad work of Steve Blank, Eric Reis and Alex Osterwalder, […] Read More…
I am a big fan of the Business Model Canvas as a tool to get people to think about their business models and play around with ideas. It’s fun, it’s accessible and it generates lots of questions and discussions. I use it a lot. www.businessmodelgeneration.com I ran a workshop the other day to introduce it […] Read More…
Today, we all need to innovate. You can’t just do what you’ve always done, you have to come up with new products and services, solve problems in a new way, create new ways of marketing your business, even re-invent yourself. We all know this. We also know it’s really hard. Often we tell ourselves we’re […] Read More…
Product is important. It’s central to your business. But it’s not your business. That App. That’s not your business. That Website. That’s not your business. That cool piece of kit. That’s not your business. There’s a ton of other stuff you need around the product to have a business. One that has sales, customers, and […] Read More…
There is a general perception that you need to have a ‘Big Idea’ for your start-up, a compelling vision, a clear picture of what you are trying to create. The heroic entrepreneur, armed with this brilliant idea, this killer app, carries all before them and triumphs over the vicissitudes and setbacks to build a successful […] Read More…
The ‘pivot’ is a key idea for start-ups today. Rather than plough on regardless until you crash and burn as the money runs out, you assess the data, consider your options and elegantly pivot the business in a new direction. Simple, huh? Eric Reis identifies 10 different types of pivot in his book, The Lean […] Read More…
I often tell clients to work on defining the archetype or persona of their customers and make them as rich as possible, so they really come alive for everyone in the business. For start-ups, it’s a key part of getting to the Product-Market fit that they are seeking. But I’m not aware of anyone developing […] Read More…
This is the mantra of the Wayra Academies set up by Telefonica. They have set up 13 accelerators in 12 countries around the world in this unique initiative, seeking to realise new ideas and create a wave of new start-ups (180 and counting). (Declaration: I am a mentor at Wayra UK and board advisor for […] Read More…