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…
It’s the thing every Silicon Valley startup is aiming for. It’s the game-changer that’s going to turbo-charge their idea. It’s the thing that every CEO dreams of, part-nightmare, part-bliss. But can you really make it happen? As this article by Soren Kaplan explains, it’s not a new concept. Schumpeter coined the term ‘creative destruction’ back […] 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 It’s a work of fiction that’s out-of-date the second you finish it.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…
The digital revolution is dramatically affecting our personal and professional lives with both positive and negative effects. Whilst the effects are hard to predict and difficult to control but we can, and should, focus on the outcomes that we want to maximise. We have to decide what the point of digital is, decide why we […] Read More…
One of my first jobs was as a programmer for an Oil company. There were no computers, the title referred to the fact that we programmed the delivery of oil products to various depots around the country, where the road tankers would get filled to deliver to petrol stations and customer sites. I was responsible […] Read More…
“Allardyce has lost the dressing room” the headlines screamed. A 5-0 FA Cup exit followed by 6-0 drubbing in the League Cup semi-final, a particularly supine performance, led to speculation that the players had lost confidence in their manager and were no longer playing for him. If true, what happens next is inevitable. He has […] Read More…
The latest revelations about PRISM, the US government intelligence programme that is sifting through our data in an almost unconstrained manner, have cast a shadow over the whole idea of putting all our data ‘in the cloud’. Those companies and experts who have promoted cloud computing with an almost messianic fervour have got some serious […] 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…
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…