The Business Model Canvas (BMC) is a 1 page framework, made up of 9 boxes. It’s a creative tool to help you design and visualise how your business will operate. The canvas covers all the key elements you need to think about when starting a business and it is mapped to how our brain works; the left side boxes are the practical, operational considerations and the right side boxes are the creative, relationship focused considerations. This is a much quicker way of presenting your business too, instead of a lengthy full business plan.
Take the example business given to you by your facilitator – and have a go as a group at building that business’ business model canvas using the knowledge you have of how that business operates. Use all 9 boxes and add as much detail as you can. If time permits, you can also undertake internet research to understand the business model in greater depth. As you work through it, consider the following questions:
Now you understand how the BMC works, in your groups have a go at completing your own BMC for your business concept, using the editable Google Slides template below (create a copy before editing!). Make sure you store this somewhere sensible in your college or personal google drive, so you can go back to it.
You need to consider who your primary target customer group is. During this activity, you will design an ‘ideal customer’ by drawing and describing and designing what you think your ideal customer looks like. You should consider as much information as possible; e.g. age, gender, geography, occupation, spending power.
Once you’ve completed the activity, take photos of the ideal customers you’ve produced and update your BMC’s ‘customer segment’ section.
In this section, we’ll explore the difference between vision, mission and values. Our focus however, will be on your company’s mission statement. This mission is arguably the most important consideration when establishing your businesses direction and purpose.
Businesses have a mission statement to provide a formal summary of the aims and values of a company, that all stakeholders in the business can get behind. It is often used as a tool to guide company culture and remind everyone involved as to what the company exists to do.
The below video is from the book ‘Mission: How The Best In Business Breakthrough’. It is a powerful case study as to how mission can drive commercial success.
Now you’ve connected with the role of mission in a business, you’ll have a go at matching a variety of mission statements with their respective businesses, so you can see some practical examples.
Once you’ve got an agreed statement on paper, submit your mission statement below. Again, this will send you an email copy of your response, keep it safe ready for your final submission on Day 3.
