M3: Critical Tools for Entrepreneurship

• The product/service, its features and benefits or uniqueness vs. competition; size of the market opportunity; and the MVP or minimum viable product that best illustrates the product as quickly as possible to elicit customer feedback early.

  Value Proposition
• Who your customer is and what problems the product solves.

  Customer Segments
• How you will distribute and sell products.

  Channels
• How you will create demand.

  Customer Relationship
• The fixed and variable costs required to operate your business.

  Cost Structure
• The essential actions required to operate your business effectively.

  Key Activities
• Suppliers, commodities, or other essential elements of the business.

  Key Resources
• Other enterprises essential to the success of the business.

  Key Partners
• The various sources through which the business earns money.

  Revenue Streams
• The way that a company sells products to its customers, describing how a business creates, delivers, and captures value.

  Business Model
• Aircraft manufacturing, heavy equipment manufacturing.

  Low-Volume, Hi-Margin Model
• Coffee retail, software manufacturing.

  Hi-Volume, Hi-Margin Model
• Convenience stores, fast food restaurants.

  Hi-Volume, Low-Margin Model
• Creating content that people want to read or watch and displaying advertising to readers or viewers.

  Advertising Business Model
• Using links embedded in content instead of visual advertisements.

  Affiliate Business Model
• Connecting buyers and sellers and facilitating transactions for a fee.

  Brokerage Business Model
• Adding a custom element to existing products or services, making every sale unique.

  Concierge/Customization Business Model
• Bringing together a large number of people to contribute content.

  Crowdsourcing Business Model
• Selling access to a national brand and support services to franchise owners.

  Franchise Business Model
• Giving away part of the product or service for free and charging for premium features.

  Freemium Business Model
• Allowing sellers to list items for sale and providing tools for connecting to buyers.

  Marketplace Business Model
• Charging customers for actual usage at the end of a billing period.

  Pay-as-you-go Business Model
• Allowing customers to get services by paying a fixed amount regularly.

  Subscription Business Model
• Products are directly sold to the end customers in a one-on-one conversation or small gathering.

  Direct Sales Business Model
• Targeting the educational industry, including students and teachers, this business model allows them to get access to educational resources via flat course fees or subscription.

  Online Educational Business Model
• • Everything it takes to make something (design, raw materials, manufacturing, labor, etc.).
  • Everything it takes to sell that thing (marketing, distribution, delivering a service, and processing the sale).
  • How and what the customer pays (pricing strategy, payment methods, payment timing, etc.).


  Three Parts of Business Models
• • Low-Volume, Hi-Margin
  • Hi-Volume, Hi-Margin
  • Low-Volume, Low-Margin
  • Hi-Volume, Low-Margin


  4 Distinct Business Models
• • Advertising
  • Affiliate
  • Brokerage
  • Concierge/Customization
  • Crowdsourcing
  • Franchise
  • Freemium
  • Marketplace
  • Pay-as-you-go
  • Subscription
  • Direct Sales
  • Online Educational


  Business Models to Start Your Own Business
• • Business to Business (B2B)
  • Business to Customer (B2C)
  • Customer to Customer (C2C)
  • Customer to Business (C2B)
  • Government to Government (G2G)
  • Government to Business (G2B)


  E-Commerce Business Models
• • Standard Business Plan
  • Start-Up Plan
  • Internal Plans


  Types of Business Plans
• • Size the value of your solution in the target segment.
  • Confirm that your product or service solves the problem.
  • Test your channel and support strategy.
  • Talk to industry experts and investors.
  • Plan and execute a pilot or local rollout.
  • Focus on collecting customer references.
  • Target national trade shows and industry association groups.

  Steps for Establishing the Right Business Model
• • Value Proposition
  • Customer Segments
  • Channels
  • Customer Relationships
  • Cost Structure
  • Key Activities
  • Key Resources
  • Key Partners
  • Revenue Streams


  Components of a Business Model