Be Passionately
Curious

THE BUSINESS AT ITS SIMPLEST FORM.

Einstein once said, “make things as simple as possible, but no simpler.” This tool is a good demonstration of this idea. It provides a framework to consider each aspect of the business, but you control how much or how little goes into each box.

If you have not documented your business model before, this is an opportunity to build buy-in with some key people, by discussing and completing this together.

Once you have it, this can provide clarity for the path you need to take, bring your people together and get them on the same page, and enhance your onboarding process with new staff, providing a one-page visualisation to walk through together as you introduce them to your business model.

What to do:

1. Use the template.
2. Start by identifying your primary revenue streams in the bottom right corner of your page. You can include a percentage of revenue each represents, or dollar amounts. You may include average revenue per customer on each.
3. Identify the customer segments or persona profiles that buy each revenue stream. If you are looking to capture more information here, include what percentage of the market share each represents.
4. Identify the relationship type next, which describes how customers interact with your company: do they have a dedicated rep, get assistance from a human, or is it self-serve? Use the shortest term or phrase that accurately describes the type of relationship.
5. Next list out the channels used to build awareness and deliver products and services to your customers.
6. In the middle of the template, describe your value proposition: your Why and How you are different from any competitor or alternative solution.
7. Then list the day-to-day key activities that need to be performed to operate and grow the company.
8. Below that, identify the key resources and assets internal to the business that you have invested in, created or used to maintain quality. Add the key roles or departments of your internal people.
9. Move to the box on the left to list all key external partners you rely on to deliver on your value proposition that you can’t do with your internal resources alone.
10. Finally, identify your primary expense types in the bottom left corner. These should include variable costs which would move up and down directly tied to the revenue streams. Also, include your fixed operating costs. Again, you can add the percentage of costs or actual dollar values here.
11. If you’ve used percentages or dollar values, place your net margin percentage and/or dollar for net profit under the chart in the centre.
12. You may consider this your current state, and duplicate it or reinvent how you want your future state to look.