There was a time when business plans were anything from 75 to 100 pages but today 10 to 15 can be considered too long.
If you’re hungry for your piece of the business pie but don’t exactly want to spend a couple months playing hit and miss with investors and potential customers then a one page business plan could be the answer you’ve been looking for.
Being able to simplify your business concept is a useful skill to have and it was Alexander Osterwalder and Eric Reis who decided that we should stop taking the long way around when it comes to business plans and product development.
“Founders go wrong when they start to believe their business plan will materialise as written. I advise entrepreneurs to burn their business plan – it’s simply too dangerous to the health of your business.” Alexander Osterwalder
The New Business Model Canvas Approach
Osterwalder created a model consisting of nine building blocks, which once put together give you an overall picture of your strengths, weaknesses and how your business functions.
It can be used in your business plan as well as assist you with strategy and innovation in the future.
It consists of the following parts:
- Customer Segments:Who are your mass and niche markets?
- Value Proposition:What are you offering and why are you different?
- Channels:Look at the phases your product goes through. This is everything from awareness and distribution to after-sales service.
- Customer Relationships:How are you building relationships with customers and is it working?
- Revenue Streams:Look at what you are charging and if you could be charging more. How are you receiving your payments and does it contribute enough to overall revenue?
- Key Resources:What resources do you require to function? These can include physical, human, financial and intellectual.
- Key Activities:Ask yourself what activities need to take place in order to deliver on your value proposition?
- Key Partnerships:Write down who your key suppliers and partners are and how they contribute to your overall goals.
- Cost Structure:Look at fixed and variable costs so that you can see what can be improved upon.
If you feel that you would like to start planning your business using this method thenLeanstackis a helpful tool.