Overview
This is an involved activity but an important one. You are not expected to do the Business Model Canvas activity perfectly or to end up with a business model ready to present on Shark Tank. This is just a valuable introduction to what goes into developing a business model. Please approach it with an open mind and iterate (try a few times) when completing this weeks activity.
A vital part of any business is its business model. A business model describes how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value. It combines a compelling value proposition with an effective revenue model to deliver products to customers through established channels. The products and services provided by a business must be grounded in what customers really need and want.
The old way of approaching starting a business involved writing a long, complicated business plan. Many entrepreneurs stopped before they even began because the idea of writing a business plan was so overwhelming.
These days people generally start with a one-page draft of their idea. The most popular approach is the Business Model Canvas (BMC). The BMC lets you build a business model through 9 building blocks on one page. The BMC can save an entrepreneur a lot of wasted time because, if a business concept doesn’t make sense on a one page Business Model Canvas, there’s no sense in spending time writing 20+ pages on it. The BMC allows the entrepreneur to iteratively work out the essentials of a business plan before progressing to writing a traditional business plan. Essentially, the BMC is a diagram of how an entrepreneur thinks their company could create value for itself and its customers.
Rather than creating a perfect plan in one sitting, the BMC is meant to be developed iteratively by reworking it as many times as necessary to work out the components of the business model. Write down ideas in your first draft BMC. Then walk away and think about the various sections as you go about your day. Then come back to it, update your BMC, and repeat until it works.
Before you read further, please know that you are not expected to know everything. You will be developing a Business Model Canvas for a company of your choice that already exists. We can only get through so much in one quarter together but this tool may be useful to you in the future – regardless of whether you start your own business or work in a business. It is expected that you will make some guesses and assumptions. That’s OK.
Assignment
This week you will draft a business model by filling in the nine sections of the Business Model Canvas. This is intended to help you see the big picture of how you might approach starting a business. Investing time and energy in this weeks activity will pay off in the long run.
I have included many resources both in this page and in the Weekly Module for this assignment. Please watch the videos, read this entire assignment description, and review the templates provided before starting.
Below is a very brief description of each segment. Watch the videos and review the templates for a better understanding of each.
Important point – Work through the BMC in the order shown below. Always begin the BMC beginning with Customer Segment on the far right side of the BMC. Afterall, in order to be successful in business and in marketing, we need to be focused on our customers.
Customer Segment – a description of the people (or businesses) you create products for
Value Proposition – the value you uniquely provide your customers through your products and services
Channels – how you interact with customers and how you get products into the hands of customers (involves both promotional and distribution channels)
Customer Relationships – the relationship you intend to have with customers
Revenue Streams – how and through which pricing structure your business captures value (for example, product sales, subscriptions, or advertising if an online service)
Key Resources – infrastructure required to create products and assets required to support business model (factory, service, etc)
Key Activities – what you need to be good at to perform well as a business
Key Partners – in addition to suppliers, who can help you succeed in your business model
Cost Structure – we’re not looking at what it costs to make the product but rather a big picture of the costs you will incur in operating a business
When you create your Business Model Canvas, it will be tempting to just fill out the nine sections so the exercise is complete. That’s fine but going through multiple iterations is expected. You could use small Post-It notes arranged on a surface instead. The idea is to brainstorm and modify your BMC a couple times before submitting your best version.
Again, while this is a draft, please put in the necessary time to really consider each segment of the BMC. It is a roadmap to a new product or service.
Instructions
Review all the Business Model Canvas resources in this Module.
Choose an existing company to analyze for this activity. (Don’t depend on BMCs you find online. Many are not completed in the manner expected for this activity, would be plagiarism to use, and you would miss out on the important and valuable learning of this activity.) As you think about the company, apply the BMC and consider how you can describe the aspects of the business model for that company using the BMC framework.
Print about 3 copies of the BMC. If you don’t have access to a printer, use Post It notes to create a BMC template.
Complete the BMC for the business you chose.
Iterate (update it and try again) a couple times before having your final version. Entrepreneurs rarely get it right the first time they try something. This is an exercise not only in filling out the BMC but also the entrepreneurial mindset!
After doing 3 iterations, scan and save the final version as a file. Alternatively, take a picture of your final version BMC or Post It note BMC (it must be in the same layout as the BMC template provided) so you can submit it.
Look at your final BMC and analyze how the different segments relate to one another for the business you chose.
Write a 200 to 500 word walk-through of your Business Model Canvas sections, beginning with Customer Segment then moving through in the order indicated above, writing about what you wrote in the 9 sections of the BMC and how they go together. Hint: Really focus on describing your Customer Segment and Value Proposition as described in the resources before moving on. The others will make much more sense and be easier if you do this.
Record a brief video (2 to 5 minutes) of you presenting your write-up. The video should show your face and upper body – not the BMC. Review your BMC and practice reading through your write-up and presenting a few times before recording your video.
Submit three things to complete this assignment:
Your BMC file. For this one, you are welcome to submit a BMC template you filled out by hand or a picture of your Post-It note BMC, as long as the final Business Model Canvas includes an image of the template filled in with key information for all nine sections.
Your 200 to 500 word walk-through of the BMC you created for your chosen company. It should begin with Customer Segment, then move to Value Proposition, and progressing through the rest of the sections to show how they connect in your mind. My goal is for you to show how each section is connected to the others to form a successful business model for your chosen business. Again, you aren’t expected to be an expert on your chosen business but show you see how the parts are related.
An MP4 file or a link to an unlisted video on YouTube of you presenting your BMC walk-through in 2 to 5 minutes (see the Start Here for this week for more information on recording and making the video available to me).

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This is an involved activity but an important one. You are not expected appeared first on Solved Students Assignments.