Building a Business Model

Building a Business Model

Last time in the series related to Startups, I said that a startup is a temporary organization in search of a scalable, repeatable, profitable business model, but what is a Business model ? is there a framework that we can follow, since it’s an iterative process to find one ? that's what I will cover in this article with an original idea including Open AI as practical example

Like always, if you find my articles interesting, don’t forget to like and follow ????, these articles take times and effort to do!

First, What is a Business Model ?

A business model helps organization understand and formulate their strategy for generating value ! having a simple framework to follow will surely enable companies to focus on the same elements and follow a certain logic facilitating communication and understanding

Alexander Osterwalder a Swiss business theorist and entrepreneur, had an idea to formalize that process and build as we know today the “Business Model Canvas”

The goal of the canvas is to break down a business idea into nine essential components to standardize the process, focus on essentials and facilitate iteration and changes, especially for startups

Components of the Business Model?Canvas

I like to group the components into 4 clusters?:

  • Customer-Facing
  • Infrastructure
  • Value proposition (the central component)
  • Financial Viability

I?—?Customer-Facing

  • Customer Segments: There are the different groups of people or organizations a business aims to serve
  • Channels: How the value proposition (product/service) is delivered to the customer segments (online platforms, physical stores, or direct sales)
  • Customer Relationships: The type of relationship a company establishes with its customer segments (from personal assistance to automated services)

II?—?Infrastructure

  • Key Resources: The most important assets needed to deliver the value proposition (physical, intellectual, human, or financial resources; without it you can’t deliver your value proposition)
  • Key Activities: The critical activities a company must undertake to deliver its value proposition (production, delivery, sales and promotion…)
  • Key Partnerships: The critical external companies or suppliers that help the business achieve its goals (Partnerships can reduce risk, optimize resources, or acquire new resources)

III?—?Financial Viability

  • Revenue Streams (From Customer-Facing)?: The way the business generates cash from each customer segment with the value proposition (can include direct sales, subscription fees, licensing…)
  • Cost Structure (Infrastructure)?: All the costs required to operate the business model. (This includes costs associated with key resources, key activities, and key partnerships)

IV?—?Center

  • Value Propositions: As I mentioned, this is the central component, bridging the infrastructure and customer-facing sides. It defines what makes the company’s product or service valuable and unique to customers

How each elements in the BMC is connected??

From what you read, you can understand that everything revolves around the Value Proposition; this is how the relationships between each element in the BMC work


Key Partners can perform some of the Key Activities and provide Key Resources used in those key activities to create a Value Proposition

This Value Proposition is delivered through Channels to each Customer Segment. The company acts as a bridge between each Customer Segment and the Value Proposition, which generates revenue to balance the Cost Structure, while maintaining strong relationships with the Customer Segments to improve sales (Revenue Streams)

Let’s have a quick example to understand it, I will first build a Python function to generate the Business Model from user input, transform it into a DataFrame and export it as CSV if needed.

import pandas as pd
from tabulate import tabulate

def get_input(prompt):
    return input(prompt)

def create_business_model_canvas():
    components = [
        "Customer Segments", "Value Propositions", "Channels", 
        "Customer Relationships", "Revenue Streams", "Key Resources", 
        "Key Activities", "Key Partnerships", "Cost Structure"
    ]
    
    canvas = {component: get_input(f"Enter {component}: ") for component in components}

    df = pd.DataFrame(list(canvas.items()), columns=["Component", "Details"])

    print("\nBusiness Model Canvas:")
    print(tabulate(df, headers="keys", tablefmt="fancy_grid", showindex=False))

    df.to_csv("business_model_canvas.csv", index=False)
    print("\nBusiness Model Canvas has been exported to 'business_model_canvas.csv'.")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    create_business_model_canvas()        

Now let’s run it and have an example of subscription-based streaming service like Netflix for anime only in English and the original version including also content related to the anime by the studio and fans (selected) with exclusive interaction using Open AI (like summary, image generation, social media post, asking GPT about the characters and so on). Let’s start with Customer Segments


Customer Segments: Individual viewers ranging from 16 to 35 (Including both millennial and Z generation)

Value Propositions: Access to a wide range of anime not available in your country in English and also in the original version with?:

  • Exclusives videos from the studio
  • Height quality content from fans of the series including review, conspiracy and cosplays
  • Integration of Open AI GPT for personalized experience

Channels:

  • Mobile apps
  • Websites
  • Smart TV
  • Open AI

Customer Relationships?:

  • Personalized recommendations
  • Customer support
  • Events with studios and content creators.

Revenue Streams:

a?—?Monthly Subscription Fees:

  • Individual Plan: Access on 1 device.
  • Friends Plan: Access on 2 or more devices, with an additional charge for each extra device.
  • Couple Plan: Access on 2 devices.

b?—?Free with Ads:

  • Limited to 1 device, with no access to GPT features or exclusive content

Key Resources:

  • Content library for the anime
  • Technology infrastructure
  • Data analytics

Key Activities:

  • Content acquisition
  • Platform maintenance
  • Customer support
  • Events for subscribers

Key Partnerships:

  • Content producers
  • Technology providers like Open AI
  • Influencers for promotion

Cost Structure:

  • Content licensing
  • Technology infrastructure
  • Marketing cost

What do you think about the Idea??

Pros and Cons of the Business Model?Canvas

I need for sure to write about how to do a proper business plan, maybe in another episode?! If there’s a specific subject you’d like us to cover, please don’t hesitate to let me know! Your input will help shape the direction of my content and ensure it remains relevant and engaging??


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