Business Modelz

Michal Waltner from Google invited me to an event about Business Models. 

Michal is nice. Business models are nice. Google is arguably nice. 

So I went. 

The company is called model Z

so it’s either 

Zany 

or 

zzz…..

Let’s see!!!

Ourboox doesn’t have a business model. I guess we should. 

The guys leading the event are Eli and Assaf.  They ask us questions and then they answer them. 

What is a customer? How do you keep them? Where do you keep them? All these are relevant questions. 

Maybe I need a customer ranch. 

They talk about the top 20 reasons that startups fail. The first is no market need. We have a market need. Second – running out of cash. We are the cash. Hmmm.  

So far, we’re doing great. Ourboox should succeed. 

Eli talks about business plans. We don’t have one. He says that you don’t need one. I am relieved. I hate long boring documents. 

He says that business plans are no longer relevant. He is going to explain how to be relevant. That’s good too!!

He asked us whether we know Steve Blank. Our minds draw blank. He tells us that Steve created the notion of ‘lean startups’. Oh, we know what that is.  Ourboox is very lean. He talks about startups being like pasta, looking for the ‘noodle’ that turns them into the business. The spaghetti. Ah, but for that you need secret sauce. I hope he will talk about that too. 

He says that entrepreneurs fall in love with their own ideas. He says this with a lot of love. 

 I say that entrepreneurs NEED to be in love with their idea. But also to grow ears. I’ve been trying. 

I begin losing the train of thought. I see everyone else is paying attention. Ok, I’m back in. 

He says that the main thing that keeps startups from succeeding is understanding and cultivating the customers.  Paul Simon knew that long ago. 

We do an exercise: You have three hundred dollars and a bicycle. What business would you start? 

What would you do?

I invested in dog biscuits, taught my dog to ride a bicycle and rented him to a circus in Kazakhstan for one thousand dollars per month.

Then he drops the BOMB!!! What is a business model? 

We are all supposed to write our idea on a piece of paper. But I am busy writing a book, so I’ll do it here: 

A business model is a model for your business. How to keep it viable, growing and successful over time. 

How to turn money into a product (or backwards) – it has to be scalable, profitable

One out of two for Ourboox. 

How do you monetize your company’s value?

Oy, our Achilles’ heel. Ourboox has no classic business model. Everything is free. And we like it like that. 

The universal definition of a business model  (from Wikipedia, so it must be universal)

“The rationale by which a corporation creates value, brings it to the customer, and brings it into income.” 

Eli talked about Southwest Airlines. They lock up their customers? I didn’t know that. Secondary airports pay them to land. Interesting, if you run an airline or airport. We don’t.  I’m still not there. 

We talked about Alex Osterwalder and Canvas. 

I don’t need to tell you what Canvas is. Because you know. I know, but I never really worked with it much. 

So we split into groups and were given an assignment to make a business using a single cow.  They didn’t like my idea (I wanted to turn the cow into a model and use her as a stimulant for collection of bull semen). The group didn’t go for it, so  I went to the bathroom. 

In the afternoon, we actually worked on our business model using their model approach. Canvas is very good when you know who your paying customer is, but we don’t, yet.

I was way outside my comfort zone. But it is clear that we have to team up with a large international publisher. Old school and new school. 

 Summary: I learned a lot met great people, played with sticky things (actually, slicky things) and was continually challenged. 

The day was zany indeed. Didn’t zzzz…. for a minute.

So thanks, Eli and Assaf!!! May the business model be with you!!!