Lessons Learned - Week 1
What is the single, most important
tool when developing a start-up? Are you thinking about the Business Plan?
That is the traditional reasoning, also connected with the Product Development Model. According to Steve Blank, No Business Plan Survives First Contact With A Customer. Behind this idea it is the way we are going to develop our start-up.
The objective is start by designing a Business Model (BM) - generate a hypothesis - then test it among costumers. According to their feedback and information, rapidly redesign and adapt our BM, as much as it is necessary, until fully meet our client’s expectations. Then, we are ready to Launch and only in the end we will be able to build our Business Plan. Yet, this iteration should be continuous. The reasoning is based in the Customer Development Model by Steve Blank - “Build and they will come” is not a strategy, it’s a prayer[i].
An important tool we will be recurrently applying is the Business Model Canvas, conceptualized by Alex Osterwalder. It allows an organization to translate its Business Model through nine basic building blocks: Customer Segments, Value Propositions, Channels, Customer Relationships, Revenue Streams, Key Activities, Key Resources, Key Partners and Cost Structure. This is how we will be able to constantly and quickly readjust our Business Model, always taking into account the four areas of customers, offer, infrastructure, and financial viability. We are sure we will be using 15,000 post-its and 100 meters of brown paper just like Daniel Egger from Brazil[ii]!
[i] “The Customer Development Manifesto: Reasons for the Revolution”, Steve Blank, 2009, http://steveblank.com/2009/09/03/the-customer-development-manifesto-reasons-for-the-revolution-part-2/
[ii] “Business Model Generation”, Alex Osterwalder and Ives Pigneau, 2009.
That is the traditional reasoning, also connected with the Product Development Model. According to Steve Blank, No Business Plan Survives First Contact With A Customer. Behind this idea it is the way we are going to develop our start-up.
The objective is start by designing a Business Model (BM) - generate a hypothesis - then test it among costumers. According to their feedback and information, rapidly redesign and adapt our BM, as much as it is necessary, until fully meet our client’s expectations. Then, we are ready to Launch and only in the end we will be able to build our Business Plan. Yet, this iteration should be continuous. The reasoning is based in the Customer Development Model by Steve Blank - “Build and they will come” is not a strategy, it’s a prayer[i].
An important tool we will be recurrently applying is the Business Model Canvas, conceptualized by Alex Osterwalder. It allows an organization to translate its Business Model through nine basic building blocks: Customer Segments, Value Propositions, Channels, Customer Relationships, Revenue Streams, Key Activities, Key Resources, Key Partners and Cost Structure. This is how we will be able to constantly and quickly readjust our Business Model, always taking into account the four areas of customers, offer, infrastructure, and financial viability. We are sure we will be using 15,000 post-its and 100 meters of brown paper just like Daniel Egger from Brazil[ii]!
[i] “The Customer Development Manifesto: Reasons for the Revolution”, Steve Blank, 2009, http://steveblank.com/2009/09/03/the-customer-development-manifesto-reasons-for-the-revolution-part-2/
[ii] “Business Model Generation”, Alex Osterwalder and Ives Pigneau, 2009.