It’s not too late. Now is the moment to create your business model. Maybe the reason for the existence of the business you want to start is no longer valid. There is a better mouse trap–even than your own invention. Or, worse there is after all, no need to kill mice in the first place.
Of course you have your business plan, whether on the back of an envelope or bound into a 50-page document with charts and tables. But will it work? Will they believe it?
Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur have led the charge, with their book, Business Model Generation and the deceptively simple way of looking at strategy. Their business model canvas is a wonderful way to take a fresh (visual) look at the key elements of your wish to start a business.
Use the canvas on your own or with associates. Be creative. Use sticky notes, scribbles… get the ideas painted in. Then stand back and admire your masterpiece. Be sure that it won’t look quite as pretty as you thought when you were up close. The picture just doesn’t hang together. The perspective’s wrong, or the brushstrokes aren’t realistic. All the best artists repaint their canvases.
Entrepreneurs do it all the time. So should you.