“What is Business Model Canvas?” is an unanswered question for most businesses.
If someone wants to ask you to explain your entire startup or (in general) business to me in less than 10 minutes; The best thing you can do is go and bring your business model canvas!
If you have big ideas in your head, or a business that needs a comprehensive plan to achieve them, reading this article will open up a new perspective.
In this article, we will tell you; How to create a new plan for every business and weigh all aspects to get the most profit with the least cost.
How to convince partners and customers to cooperate and buy and many other things will be determined with the help of “Business Model Canvas”!
Business Model Canvas, is a model set including 9 sections; The total of which shows the totality of entrepreneurship (startup or other business).
What is Business Model Canvas?
Business Model Canvas is the same plan that clearly states how a company or startup is supposed to produce its products and deliver them to customers, to generate income.
You may find it useful: How to find startup idea?
A business model canvas is a business’s blueprint for success. Without a map, it is difficult and almost impossible to reach the destination and goal!
The business model canvas describes all the activities of a company. This plan, which was first introduced by a person named “Storwalder“, consists of 9 main sections, in which elements are described in each section and are related to other sections.
How products and services are supposed to reach the customer, how to generate income, etc. are all well described in this model.
Since the services of each company are different and the way of communication with the customer is different in each one, also the financial resources are not the same, it is not possible to use the same business model canvas for all businesses. Only the general framework is defined and a new plan should be implemented according to it.
Although the plan of all businesses consists of the same nine parts and the main elements are the same, each company must define and design its business model.
If everyone comes to copy the business model of successful and famous companies like Google, Alibaba, Amazon, etc., they will not achieve any results. One business model canvas is not going to make everyone successful.
By drawing your business model, you are drawing your management tools to achieve success. How accurate these tools depend on the questions you ask and answer in each section.
The extent to which all components are interconnected and form a cycle of the same fabric determines the accuracy of the business model canvas.
In this cycle, 9 elements that are the main driver of your business are mentioned as success factors and each one is placed correctly.
Just download the blank sample of the business model canvas and complete it according to your assets and resources, to have your business model canvas.
Why should we have a business canvas?
This is the question that determines the true value of the business model canvas. Let’s review the not-so-distant past together.
In the past two or three decades, businesses had to answer three main questions to introduce themselves. What do they sell? How much do they sell and what is their profit from this sale?
By answering these questions, all aspects of their work would be clarified for customers and partners. But now the situation has changed. The business model has changed and become more complex. To explain your business, give clear answers to the above three questions. You will be asked again;
1. How do you find customers?
2. How do you communicate with your customer?
3. How does the money reach you?
4. Where do you get your financial resources from?
And hundreds of other questions, the answer to each of which can lead to other questions.
By designing a business model canvas, and showing it to clients or partners, you can save yourself from all these repetitive explanations.
With this, investors can check your idea and business and see for themselves its efficiency, at least on paper.
When you present a comprehensive plan, where all aspects are considered, more people will be encouraged to invest.
A business model canvas, if carefully designed, acts like a machine, which, given some raw materials, determines the output. Without taking risks and spending a lot of capital.
You can visualize the profitability of your business in this model.
Another advantage of the business model canvas is more focus on all the driving elements of your business. From this model, you can monitor all stimuli and focus well on them and increase their efficiency.
The flexibility of the business model is one of its other features. You can change each of the elements on paper and check the number of changes over the entire cycle. If you do it in practice will be costly and time-consuming.
Clarity of the path to success is one of the most important reasons why businesses need such a model. By looking at this model, you can visualize all the paths you are going to take to achieve success.
What is the main focus of the business model canvas?
The business model canvas focuses on two principles, one is the activities related to you and your business, and the other is focused on the customer.
The canvas of the business model is indeed divided into 9 parts, if we want to consider it in general, the topic revolves around two main items, which are production and sales.
How you produce services and products is entirely up to you.
But how to attract customers and generate income depends to some extent on the market and other factors.
If you want to hypothetically divide the canvas of the business model into two halves, one half focuses on the customer and the other half on your business, which ultimately results in a permanent cycle from the combination of the two, which leads to profitability and revenue generation. will be.
In other sections, we will examine these 9 elements and their importance.
If you want to hypothetically divide the canvas of the business model into two halves, one half focuses on the customer and the other half on your business, which ultimately results in a permanent cycle from the combination of the two, which leads to profitability and revenue generation. will be.
In other sections, we will examine these 9 elements and their importance.
Many people ask this question, what does the business model canvas have to do with my startup?
The answer is clear because you want to achieve success and you already have in mind what products and services to offer, so you probably need to predict the customer’s behavior to know the probability of success and failure of your plan in advance.
Since you are going to implement a plan that repeats this cycle over and over again, you need a plan that ties all the factors together so that it continues to work with minimal error.
You know well that customer behavior is unpredictable, you have to think everywhere and minimize possible risks with smart solutions.
Important components of the business model canvas
A good business model is supposed to consider all elements and link them together to form a repeatable cycle.
Next, we explain the components related to the business model canvas designed by Alexander Sturwalder.
The business model canvas includes the following 9 sections:
- Customers Section: In this section, as the name suggests, you introduce the customers that you have targeted based on a series of characteristics.
- Value proposition: In this section, you should specify what values you are going to bring to your customers. What advantage (such as good price, convenience, speed, etc.) are you going to give to the customer so that they prefer you over your competitors?
- Distribution channel: How is the product or service or any other benefit you will provide to the customer going to reach him? How will you distribute your product? From which channel will you provide your services to the customer?
- Communication with the client: In this section, you specify how you are going to communicate with the client and how you want to maintain this relationship.
- Revenue Streams: How is your startup going to generate revenue from each customer category? membership right? (like newspapers), service fee? Right to use the license? (like Shutterstock) and…
- Key business resources: Well, you are supposed to define a series of values, including the service and product and other benefits that you are going to deliver to the customer. What main and necessary financial, human, equipment, etc. resources do you need now to realize these values for the customer?
- Main activities: To bring the values you promised to the customer; Do, what are the main activities you should do?
- Key partners: What businesses are you going to partner with and in what areas and how?
- Cost structure: We need this part to start, survive and develop our business:
- One-time expenses: like buying software
- Fixed costs: such as employee salaries
- Variable costs: such as advertising costs
How to write my business model canvas?
You need to do some research to write your model canvas. First, by reading articles or watching educational videos, get to know the business model completely.
Then put the idea you have in your head on paper and determine your purpose for this work, put everything you have in your head on paper. After this, it’s time to download and print the prototype and rough canvas of the business model. You can even design it yourself on a large piece of paper.
At this stage, invite the other members of the group to join you and fill each of the houses of this plan together. Of course, if you don’t have a teammate, you can invite your friends to join you in this great work.
With this, you can design the prototype canvas of your business model. Then, with changes in each of the sections, you will see that other sections will change as well. Keep doing this until you find the best one.
Final word
Many people think they have the best idea for entrepreneurship and making money, but without a comprehensive map and direction, it is very difficult or impossible.
The business model canvas is the road map that every business needs.
This model helps every business to determine its path of progress and revenue generation, as well as monitor all the factors involved in it.
With such comprehensive plans, it is easier to monitor the implementation process of large projects and measure the amount of profit and loss.
In this article, we talked about What is Business Model Canvas, but we think that we can still use your experience to produce a better and more comprehensive article.
Share your experiences with us.
