How to use : The Business Model Canvas explained in Few steps
- Written by Vinay Kevadia
August 08, 2022
8 Min Read
It is said that anything worth doing is worth doing well, right?But they also say you need to work smarter, not harder.
When it comes to describing your business model, the two expressions are accurate.
You want to be sure you’re putting in a solid attempt, taking the time to find the right tools, strategies and setting yourself up for success.
But that doesn’t mean that you need to spend countless hours of your day doing this.
Well, let us come to the point, there’s an incredible tool found by Alexander Osterwalder, he has first proposed in his earlier book Business Model Ontology.
It is possible to use the canvas to describe, design, challenge and pivot your business model.
By utilizing the right tools and information gathered from your business, you can make that happen in less time than you think.
Here’s what to do to easily define your business model together with your team using a canvas template:
What is the business model canvas?
It’s a visual representation of new or current business models, typically used by strategy designers and product managers.
The Canvas provides a holistic perspective of the business as a complete and Is particularly helpful in running a comparative analysis on the effect of an increase in investment may have on any of the contributing factors.
The Business Model Canvas gives people a common language through which they can evaluate traditional processes and bring innovation in their business models.
The Canvas includes nine elements and together these elements provide a pretty coherent view of a Business, see them structured on the canvas as follows:
Why do you need a Business Model?
Many startups fail since entrepreneurs put all their faith in the concept of this merchandise the organization exists to make. In their devotion to this item or service, they don’t give in-depth consideration to the business model their company will follow.
Usually, the business model is either a one-size-fits-all model, common in the market or it is a random amalgamation of processes and systems, created at the spur of the moment to further the most important goal; market the products or services.
Successful new ventures don’t go to market with their original idea;
Rather, the product/ service has usually gone through many iterations before arriving at the final version.
Similarly, organizations are more sustainable if they’ve considered several business models before settling on a specific one.
The Business Model Canvas helps firms visualize and position their business models for growth and organizational innovation.
It moves innovation from the theory stage and into the planning phase.
Advantages of using the Business Model Canvas
-
It guides your brainstorming session
Some entrepreneurs take Business Model Canvas sheets to meetings and utilize the building blocks to direct brainstorming.
Grouping comments and ideas under the nine headings fast give ideas contour.
-
It’s fast
Forget about 40 to 50 pages of the business plan document.
Utilize the Canvas to write a one-page business model to Find out if the idea has legs, and take a lean entrepreneurship strategy where you discover customers
-
Value Propositions are constantly at the heart
Value Propositions are the heart of BMC and it’s placed in the center of the canvas.
Great ventures start with the client and work backward, it is a bearing wall that divides the front stage and backstage
-
You all are on the same board
Finally, the BMC makes your crew members understand each other better.
Team collaboration is made easy when all are on the same page. Therefore it forces every team member to believe in the exact same direction.
-
Shifting and progressing
The BMC is Supposed to be a living document that’s always changing and evolving. Thus, you and your team can make instant decisions and include changes on the go.
How to use the Business Model Canvas?
Title the purpose of your business, Without a clear purpose, how do we know if a model is great or not?
Start attaching notes on the canvas, Before you start to allow me to tell you, you should stick to some arrangement putting notes beneath the blocks according to your business stage.
Your journey is going to be driven by a listing of questions that will help you brainstorm and compare a number of variations and tips for your next small business model innovation.
-
CUSTOMER SEGMENTS
For whom are we creating value?
Who are our most important clients?
-
VALUE PROPOSITION
What value do we send to the customer?
Which of our client’s problems are we helping to solve?
What bundle of goods and services are we offering to every Customer Segment?
Which customer needs are we fulfilling?
-
CHANNELS
Through which Channels do our Customer Segments are interested in being reached?
How are we reaching them today?
How are our Stations integrated?
Which ones work best?
Which ones are co-efficient?
How are we integrating them with customer patterns?
-
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS
Which kind of relationship does each of our Client Segments anticipate us to establish and keep them?
Which have we established?
How are they integrated with the remainder of our business model?
How costly are they?
-
REVENUE STREAMS
For what worth are our clients really willing to pay?
For what exactly do they pay?
How are they currently paying?
How would they prefer to cover?
How much can each Revenue Stream contribute to overall revenues?
-
KEY ACTIVITIES
What Key Activities do our Worth require?
Our Distribution Channels?
Customer Relationships?
Revenue Streams?
-
KEY RESOURCES
What Key Resources does our Value Proposition require?
Our Distribution Channels?
Client Relationships?
Revenue Streams?
-
KEY PARTNERS
Who are our primary partners?
Who will be our key suppliers?
Which crucial Resources are we getting from partners?
Which crucial activities do spouses perform?
-
COST STRUCTURE
What are the most important costs inherent in our business model?
Which Key Resources are most expensive?
Which Key Actions are the priciest?
Avoid these common mistakes while using it
-
You fill it all at once
There are no prizes being declared to complete it as early as you can.
Take the time to think about what you’ve missed, What exactly are the connection and relations between each box.
-
You fill it once and you’re done
The purpose of using BMC is to understand the difference between phases what exactly does exist and what it could be.
Let’s take time and iterate it until you all are get convinced about what’s the last model.
-
You’re not certain that what you write down
Being generic in your value proposition will ensure it is impossible to explain exactly what you do to your customers who’ll smell a confused founder miles away.
-
You’re making it cluttered
The space beneath the boxes on the canvas would be the little for a reasonable user shouldn’t put too much depth on it. Otherwise, it would be tricky to visualize the entire together.
Now It Is Your Turn
I’ve clarified what’s BMC. And how to use BMC? I believe now you feel confident about getting started with the Business Model Canvas.
To begin with BMC there are two ways you can either go with a pencil and large paper with sticky notes for that you can download a sterile BMC template PDF out of here and print it.
Another way is to use the web-based tool, Try Upmetrics‘s Canvas Modeling tool, Invite your team and begin putting your thoughts on it.
Please Don’t make those mistakes I have mentioned in the previous section of this article, All the best!
Couple of some common applications where people are using BMC:
Couple of some common applications where people are using BMC:
-
Strategic Planning and Development
It acts as a strong communication tool aligning all stakeholders with a shared language,
The BMC provides a very clear base and direction for the conversation available.
-
Performance Monitoring
Some people have hacked BMC to utilize an instrument to monitor organizational performance involving”strong” sustainability.
-
Competitor Analysis
Competition is not part of your own business version, but what should you draw a business model of the competition?
You can draw your competitor’s BMC to understand how aggressive are they.
-
Customer Analysis
Incredibly interesting and innovative utilization of the BMC is that of companies that use the Canvas to sketch out the business models of the clients
-
Continuous Innovations
Use it like an idea amassing board to collect and innovate new ideas for your business.
Today continuous Innovation is an essential part of any modern organization, That is why a popular author Eric Ries has written his book “The Lean Startup” on “How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses”
-
Investing
BMC helps to understand the underlying business opportunity to the investors, It can be easy for them to make an investment choice.
-
Mergers and acquisitions
The notion here is that you would sketch out the business models of two organizations and figure out if there is a fantastic fit.
Summary
The nine-building blocks and the interrelationships between them provide a way to show the key elements of any business model on a single sheet of paper.
It doesn’t matter what is the scale of your organization from a startup with two employees or a Fortune 500 company with over 50,000 employees, It can be used with any size of business organization.
Don't forget to share this post!
Vinay Kevadia
Vinay Kevadia is an entrepreneur with a vision to help each and every industry with their business planning and his vision becomes the reality with upmterics: #1 online business plan software.
