2. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
AGENDA
Period
Deliverables
SESSION I: Achieving
Customer Relevance
Personas
Problem Scenarios-Alternatives-Value Propositions
Start Business Model Canvas
Storyboards
Customer Discovery
Venture Design II: Iterating
to Success
Venture Planning- focal hypotheses, experiments, and minimum viable
‘product’
Venture Design III:
Focusing & Validating
Venture Progress
Review of field work, refinements of approach, planning next iterations.
Venture Design IV:
Engineering Your
Business Model
Detailing your business model and remaining focal assumptions.
Venture Design V:
Designing the Right
Product
Pairing your learnings on personas & hypotheses with high quality,
actionable inputs (stories & wireframes) for product development and
product validation.
3. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.The templates here are made available on the same CC license terms as the original canvas.
(Cost Structure)
(Key
Partners)
(Key
Activities)
(Key
Resources)
(Revenue Streams)
(Customer
Relationships)
(Channels)
(Value
Propositions)
(Customer
Segments)
4. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT
Personas
MVP
Nascent
Product-Market
Fit(?) Scale
PIVOTAL
ASSUMPTIONS
PRODUCT
ORG.
PARTNERS,
CHANNELS
Founders
N/A
Probably too
soon
Test, revise,
test...
MVP
Customer dev.
team
Probably too
soon
Validated- now
tactical
Focus: efficiency,
extension
Full functional
organization
Yeah, maybe?
Validated- now
tactical
What would a
startup do??
Scalable
organization
Yeah, definitely!
5. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT & THE CANVAS
MVP
Product-Market
Fit(?) Scale
Thinking through what you want the business to be for a
better idea of what you don’t know.
Then use that to focus your discovery.
6. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT & THE CANVAS
MVP
Product-Market
Fit(?) Scale
Focal point for managing your assumptions- which are
open? closed? what are their inter-relationships?
7. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT & THE CANVAS
MVP
Product-Market
Fit(?) Scale
Focal point for organizing incremental ‘growth hacking’
experiments.
8. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT & THE CANVAS
MVP
Product-Market
Fit(?) Scale
Strategy management tool and jumping off point for new
‘intrapreneurial’ ventures and business model innovation.
9. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
The Canvas is a housekeeping
tool.
It won’t hand you the gold but it
will help you monitor how things
are panning out.
10. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
IT’S A PROCESS
Some techniques are more effective than others.
But they all require substantial, consistent exertion.
12. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
VENTURE DESIGN
Foundation in
Design Thinking
ExperimentLearn
Hypothesize
Lean Startup-
Style Assumptions
13. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
VENTURE DESIGN
Foundation in
Design Thinking
Business Model
Canvas
ExperimentLearn
Hypothesize
Lean Startup-
Style Assumptions
14. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
VENTURE DESIGN
Foundation in
Design Thinking
User Stories &
Test Cases
Business Model
Canvas
ExperimentLearn
Hypothesize
Lean Startup-
Style Assumptions
15. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
VENTURE DESIGN
Foundation in
Design Thinking
Product &
Promotion
User Stories &
Test Cases
Business Model
Canvas
ExperimentLearn
Hypothesize
Lean Startup-
Style Assumptions
16. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
VENTURE DESIGN
Foundation in
Design Thinking
Product &
Promotion
User Stories &
Test Cases
Business Model
Canvas
ExperimentLearn
Hypothesize
Lean Startup-
Style Assumptions
17. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
THE CANVAS: 3 PARTS
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.The templates here are made available on the same CC license terms as the original canvas.
O ering
Customers
Infrastructure
Cost_1
Cost_2
Cost_3
Partner_1
Partner_2
Partner_3
Activity_1
Activity_2
Activity_3
Resource_1
Resource_2
Resource_3
Revenue_1
Revenue_2
Revenue_3
Relationship_1
Relationship_2
Relationship_3
Channel_1
Channel_2
Channel_3
Proposition_1
Proposition_2
Proposition_3
Segment_1
Segment_2
Segment_3
18. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
REALLY GETTING CUSTOMER SEGMENTS
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.The templates here are made available on the same CC license terms as the original canvas.
(Cost Structure)
(Key
Partners)
(Key
Activities)
(Key
Resources)
(Revenue Streams)
(Customer
Relationships)
(Channels)
(Value
Propositions)
(Customer
Segments)
19. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
SEGMENT TO VALPROP MAPPING
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.The templates here are made available on the same CC license terms as the original canvas.
Cost_1
Cost_2
Cost_3
Partner_1
Partner_2
Partner_3
Activity_1
Activity_2
Activity_3
Resource_1
Resource_2
Resource_3
Revenue_1
Revenue_2
Revenue_3
Relationship_1
Relationship_2
Relationship_3
Channel_1
Channel_2
Channel_3
Proposition_1
Proposition_2
Proposition_3
Segment_1
Segment_2
Segment_3
20. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
THE INDEPENDENT VARIABLE
Value
Propositions
Customer
Segments
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.The templates here are made available on the same CC license terms as the original canvas.
(Cost Structure)
(Key
Partners)
(Key
Activities)
(Key
Resources)
(Revenue Streams)
(Customer
Relationships)
(Channels)
(Value
Propositions)
(Customer
Segments)
21. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
CUSTOMER SEGMENTS VS. PERSONAS
≈
g
Customer
Segments Personas
22. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
REALLY GETTING RELATIONSHIPS & CHANNELS
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.The templates here are made available on the same CC license terms as the original canvas.
(Cost Structure)
(Key
Partners)
(Key
Activities)
(Key
Resources)
(Revenue Streams)
(Customer
Relationships)
(Channels)
(Value
Propositions)
(Customer
Segments)
23. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
AIDA(OR) FRAMEWORK
Attention
Interest
Desire
Action
Onboarding
Retention
How do they first
find out that you,
your proposition
exist?
How do you break
through the noise
floor?
24. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
AIDA(OR) FRAMEWORK
Attention
Interest
Desire
Action
Onboarding
Retention
What is it that
engages them
with your
proposition? How
will you connect?
25. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
AIDA(OR) FRAMEWORK
Attention
Interest
Desire
Action
Onboarding
Retention
Are you
connecting with
an important
problem scenario?
Is your VP better
enough than the
alternative?
26. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
AIDA(OR) FRAMEWORK
Attention
Interest
Desire
Action
Onboarding
Retention
What is absolute
minimum set of
actions required
by the customer
to have you
reward them by
delivering on their
problem?
27. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
AIDA(OR) FRAMEWORK
Attention
Interest
Desire
Action
Onboarding
Retention
What is the full set
of things they
need to do to be
fully operational
with the product?
28. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
AIDA(OR) FRAMEWORK
Attention
Interest
Desire
Action
Onboarding
Retention
How do you
deepen their
involvement?
Investment? How
do you get them
talking about it?
30. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
EXERCISE- AIDA STORYBOARD
guideline:
1 panel per
item (A, I, D …)
(10 MIN)
31. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
EXERCISE- CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS
Customer
Relationships
GETTING STARTED
1. Bounce off your take on AIDA(OR)
2. Decouple any concierge/hand-holding actions you use for
discovery from your target steady state
3. Variation by segment?
4. How will you know if it’s working?
EXAMPLES
‘dedicated personal service’ (onsite? offsite?)
‘personal service’
‘phone support’
‘web/email based tickets’
‘web self-help and forums’
(3 min)
32. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
EXERCISE- CHANNELS
(3 min)
GETTING STARTED
1. Bounce off your take on AIDA(OR)
2. Variation by segment?
3. How will you know if it’s working?
EXAMPLES
SALES
hand sales (direct or indirect?)
retail
web
phone
delivery
Channels
PROMOTION
personal (direct vs. indirect?)
specialty media
television
radio
AdWords + SEO
33. copyright 2013 Cowan Publishing
CLASS PRESENTATIONS (5 MIN EACH)
As Presenter
POSITIONING STATEMENT
PERSONAS <> VALUE PROP.’S
Who is/are the top persona(s)?
What’s cool about the value prop.?
If applicable, how do they differ
between the personas?
RELATIONSHIPS & CHANNELS
1) What’s the AIDAOR journey?
2) How do the Relationships &
Channels work for that?
As Audience
- Focus on the process; avoid
editorial
- Ask a lot of questions
- Think about it like an investor
34. copyright 2013 Cowan Publishing
REVENUE STREAMS
Don’t overcomplicate it.
When a plumber does
something, you pay them.
If a sink garbage disposal
lasts twice as long, you’d pay
more, right?
35. copyright 2013 Cowan Publishing
DON’T MAKE BIG BETS- CREATE EXPERIMENTS TO TEST FOR VALUE VS. PRICE ELASTICITY
Base
Camp Hootsuite
36. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
EXERCISE- REVENUE
GETTING STARTED
1. Where are you providing value? When?
2. How does the customer’s perception of value change over the
course of their experience with the product?
3. How will you collect revenue, administratively?
EXAMPLES
price/unit
access/subscription fees
utilization fees
support & maintenance contracts
hourly billing
fixed price services billing
royalties/revenue share
(3 min)
37. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
EXERCISE- SEGMENT TO VALPROP TO REVENUE
(2 min)This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.The templates here are made available on the same CC license terms as the original canvas.
Cost_1
Cost_2
Cost_3
Partner_1
Partner_2
Partner_3
Activity_1
Activity_2
Activity_3
Resource_1
Resource_2
Resource_3
Revenue_1
Revenue_2
Revenue_3
Relationship_1
Relationship_2
Relationship_3
Channel_1
Channel_2
Channel_3
Proposition_1
Proposition_2
Proposition_3
Segment_1
Segment_2
Segment_3
38. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
THE CANVAS: 3 PARTS
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.The templates here are made available on the same CC license terms as the original canvas.
O ering
Customers
Infrastructure
Cost_1
Cost_2
Cost_3
Partner_1
Partner_2
Partner_3
Activity_1
Activity_2
Activity_3
Resource_1
Resource_2
Resource_3
Revenue_1
Revenue_2
Revenue_3
Relationship_1
Relationship_2
Relationship_3
Channel_1
Channel_2
Channel_3
Proposition_1
Proposition_2
Proposition_3
Segment_1
Segment_2
Segment_3
39. copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
THE CANVAS: 3 PARTS
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.The templates here are made available on the same CC license terms as the original canvas.
O ering
Customers
Infrastructure
Cost_1
Cost_2
Cost_3
Partner_1
Partner_2
Partner_3
Activity_1
Activity_2
Activity_3
Resource_1
Resource_2
Resource_3
Revenue_1
Revenue_2
Revenue_3
Relationship_1
Relationship_2
Relationship_3
Channel_1
Channel_2
Channel_3
Proposition_1
Proposition_2
Proposition_3
Segment_1
Segment_2
Segment_3
40. copyright 2013 Cowan Publishing
3 BUSINESS MODEL TYPES
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.The templates here are made available on the same CC license terms as the original canvas.
(Cost Structure)
(Key
Partners)
(Key
Activities)
(Key
Resources)
(Revenue Streams)
(Customer
Relationships)
(Channels)
(Value
Propositions)
(Customer
Segments)
1. INFRASTRUCTURE-DRIVEN
2. CUSTOMER SCOPE-DRIVEN
3. PRODUCT-DRIVEN
41. copyright 2013 Cowan Publishing
3 BUSINESS MODEL TYPES
Infrastructure-Driven
UTILITIES TELECOM COMMODITIE
S
Scope-Driven
RETAIL BANKING CORP. LAW
Product-Driven
PACKAGED GOODS APP. SOFTWARE MEDIA
42. copyright 2013 Cowan Publishing
3 BUSINESS MODEL TYPES
INFRASTRUCTURE
Kimberly-Clark: paper pulp
DuPont: plastics and polymers
SCOPE
Procter & Gamble: cradle to grave products
Baby Store: everything for babies in one place
PRODUCT
EarthBaby, TinyTots, Honest Company:
compostable diapers and service
43. copyright 2013 Cowan Publishing
EXERCISE- KEY ACTIVITIES
GETTING STARTED
1. Bounce off your business type
2. What is particular, strategic to your business model?
3. How will you do these things?
4. Will partners be involved? Should they be?
Key
Activities
EXAMPLES
INFRASTRUCTURE: a) industry participation b) supply chain
management c) process design and iteration
SCOPE: a) industry participation b) growth marketing online’ [SEO,
web analytics..] c) supplier management
PRODUCT: a) software product development b) growth marketing
online’ [SEO, web analytics..]
(4 min)
44. copyright 2013 Cowan Publishing
EXERCISE- KEY RESOURCES
(4 min)
GETTING STARTED
1. Bounce off your business type
2. What is particular, strategic to your business model?
3. How will you get it?
EXAMPLES
Key
Resources
INFRASTRUCTURE: a) ‘track record in [relevant topic]’ b) investment
in infrastructure’ c)’supplier relationships/integration’
SCOPE: a) ‘track record with [customer segment]’ b) channel or
partner relationships
PRODUCT: a) proprietary technology b) rapid prototyping and
validation methodologies c) expertise in [exotic technology]
45. copyright 2013 Cowan Publishing
EXERCISE- KEY PARTNERSHIPS
(4 min)
GETTING STARTED
1. Bounce off your business type
2. What is particular, strategic to your business model?
3. Are you comparatively good at it?
4. Where will partners make the business bigger and more
effective?
EXAMPLES
‘direct sales partners’
‘content creators’
‘retail or distribution’
‘creative agency’
‘subcontractors’
‘referral network’
Key
Partnerships
46. copyright 2013 Cowan Publishing
COST STRUCTURE
(4 min)
Minimize: Obviously.
Defer: MVP’s; don’t over invest
for the sake of creating
‘output’
Link: To revenue as much as
possible (variable vs. fixed).
47. copyright 2013 Cowan Publishing
PROFIT DRIVERS: EXAMPLE
Profit
Drivers
Revenue
Drivers
Tighter Proposition (website, pres., etc.)
Finite Cost
Finite Deliverables
Increased Use of Channels
Ease of Entry
Easy to See What's on MenuUpsell
Intellectual Property Multipliers
Tighter Talent Definition
Simpler Training, Eval., Promotion
Cost of Delivery
Cost
Drivers
Less Consultative Selling
Simplified Contracting
Cost of Sales
Standard Project Management
Comparable Post Mortems
Engagement
Management
48. copyright 2013 Cowan Publishing
COST STRUCTURE
(3 min)
GETTING STARTED
1. How do you minimize? Use of partners? Off the shelf tech/
components?
2. How do you defer against customer development milestones?
3. How do you link to revenues?
4. Which are fixed vs. variable? How do they related to revenues?
EXAMPLES
‘fixed cost product development’
‘fixed cost infrastructure investment’
‘variable cost marketing or commissions’
‘variable cost customer onboarding and support’
‘variable cost inputs’
Cost
Structure
49. copyright 2013 Cowan Publishing
EXERCISE: COST STRUCTURE & LINKAGES
(3 min)This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.The templates here are made available on the same CC license terms as the original canvas.
Cost_1
Cost_2
Cost_3
Partner_1
Partner_2
Partner_3
Activity_1
Activity_2
Activity_3
Resource_1
Resource_2
Resource_3
Revenue_1
Revenue_2
Revenue_3
Relationship_1
Relationship_2
Relationship_3
Channel_1
Channel_2
Channel_3
Proposition_1
Proposition_2
Proposition_3
Segment_1
Segment_2
Segment_3
50. copyright 2013 Cowan Publishing
EXERCISE: PEER PRESENTATIONS
(2 min)
As
Presenter
As
Audience
RELATIONSHIPS & CHANNELS
1) What’s your business type
(infrastructure, scope, product)?
2) What are the major cost drivers and
linkages? How do they tie to revenue?
3) How do the key activities, resources,
and partnerships help that?
- Focus on the process; avoid editorial
- Ask a lot of questions
- Think about it like an investor