This is the presentation I used for the boot-camp organized by NSRCEL for aspiring and pre-revenue stage entrepreneurs on 21st December 2019

1. WHAT HOW
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2. WHAT
HOW
Venture
Idea
Venture→
Plan of action! • Coherent • Consistent
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CANVAS
VISUAL TOOL FOR
COMMUNICATION
SELF
TEAM
OTHER STAKEHOLDERS
QUICK SUMMARY
TYPES

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TYPES
PLATFORM SOCIAL
COMMERCIAL
PRODUCT
SUB PROB
SUB PROB

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BUSINES
S
PURPOSE COMMERCIA
L
SOCIAL
NATURE PIPELINE PLATFORM
THE ENTITY
THE ACTIVITIES
• OPERATES IN A CONTEXT
• INTERACTS WITH THE
CONTEXT
• DESIGN!

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PRODUCT
MARKET
YOUR
PRODUCT
Your product is NOT “the product”
Your “Business Model” is the product
Remember
FACTOR
MARKET

7. So, Lets use the Business Model
Canvas?
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8. So, Lets use the Business Model
Canvas?
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9. So, Lets use the Business Model
Canvas?
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10. So, Lets use the Business Model
Canvas?
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11. So, Lets use the Business Model
Canvas?
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12. So, Lets use the Business Model
Canvas?
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13. So, Lets use the Business Model
Canvas?
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14. So, Lets use the Business Model
Canvas?
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15. So, Lets use the Business Model
Canvas?
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16. ACTIVITY
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19. Interpreting the outcomes...
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Scenario
1
Scenario
2
Scenario
3
Knightian UncertaintyRiskPredictable
You know the distribution
and can clearly predict the
scenarios you could get
into – very little risk if at all
to operate in such a state
The distribution is unknown to
begin with, but one could follow
the draws to understand what
could come next. You could
then prepare for the outcomes
You do not know what is going
to come next in spite of multiple
attempts at the same thing.
Outcome is highly uncertain!
It is this sort of
uncertainty that we deal
with as entrepreneurs

20. LEAN START-UP
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21. The Principles
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1
Entrepreneurs
are
Eeverywhere
2
Entrepreneurshi
p is
Management
3
Validated
Learning
4
Build –Measure-
Learn
5
Innovation
Accounting

22. Identify the Riskiest Parts of your
business
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Building a successful product is fundamentally about risk mitigation
For most parts, the solution is not what’s riskiest!
Problem/Solution Fit
1 Key Question: Do I have a problem worth solving?
• Is it something customers want? (must-have)
• Will they pay for it? If not, who will? (viable)
• Can it be solved? (feasible
Product/Market Fit
2
Key Question: Have I built something people want?
Scale
3
Key Question: How do I accelerate growth?

23. The Process
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01 IDEA !
02 HYPOTHESIS
03 EXPERIMENTAL
DESIGN
04 EXPERIMENTATION
05 PIVOT OR
PERSEVERE?
6.b PERSEVERE
Do I have real evidence from my buyer
that this is compelling?
What are the key assumptions required to
make this business work?
How do I definitely prove or disprove the
assumption with minimum time or effort?
Am I reacting or am I focused on validating
my pivotal assumptions?
Pivot or Persevere
Experiment proves
hypothesis
6.a PIVOT
Experiment
s disprove
hypothesis

24. The MVP
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25. The Iteration Meta-Pattern
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Understanding
Problem
Defining
Solution
Validating
Qualitatively
Verifying
Quantitatively
Problem Solution Fit Product Market Fit

26. Pivoting - Optimize
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Focus:
Experiments:
Growth
Optimizations
Focus:
Experiments:
Validated Learning
Pivots
Finding a plan that works Accelerating that plan
Validate Refine
Course Correction Efficiency
Your Goal:
Investor’s
Goal:
Growth
Growth
Your Goal:
Investor’s Goal:
Learning
Growth
Pick bold outcomes instead
of chasing incremental
improvements
Ideal time to raise funding
Problem/Solution Fit Product/Market Fit Scale

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• Pre-set goals and opportunities
• Expected returns!
• Competition analysis
• Avoiding surprises
• Inevitable trends

28. What is learnable in
entrepreneurship?
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Study the Expert Entrepreneurs helped identify 5 principles
Bird in Hand Principle - Start with your means. Don't wait for the perfect
opportunity. Start taking action, based on what you have readily available: who you are,
what you know, and who you know.
Affordable Loss Principle - Set affordable loss Evaluate opportunities based on
whether the downside is acceptable, rather than on the attractiveness of the predicted
upside.
Lemonade Principle - Leverage contingencies Embrace surprises that arise from
uncertain situations, remaining flexible rather than tethered to existing goals.
Crazy-Quilt Principle - Form partnerships Form partnerships with people and
organizations willing to make a real commitment to jointly creating the future--product, firm,
market--with you. Don't worry so much about competitive analyses and strategic planning.
Pilot in the Plane – Control vs Prediction If you can control something, you
don’t need to predict what the future would look like.

29. How differently do entrepreneurs think?
1. Bird in Hand Principle – Start with who you are, what you know and whom
you know, and not necessarily with a predetermined goal or a pre-envisioned
opportunity
2. Affordable Loss – Invest only what you can afford to loose
3. Crazy Quilt – Create an expanding network of self-selected stakeholders,
each of whom commits only what he or she can afford to loose. Focus on
partnerships rather than on competitors.
4. Lemonade – Be open to surprises and leverage them. Treat them as useful
inputs rather than hindrances to be avoided.
5. Pilot in the Plane – Co-create the future with things within your control and
with self-selected partners
If you use these principles you can shape your future and transform your
environment in ways that matter to you and your stakeholders.
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30. How is this different from how Managers
think?
Effectual Causal
Start with your
means
Focus on your
downside risk
Leverage
Contingencie
s
Form
Partnerships
Control Vs
Predict
Pre-set goals
and
opportunities
Expected
Returns
Avoiding
Surprises
Competitive
analysis
Inevitable trends
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31. Classic Causation Model from Marketing Textbooks
Process of Effectuation Used by Expert Entrepreneurs
SINGLE CUSTOMER
Segment Definition
Market Definition
Segmentation
Targeting
Positioning
Understand
Customer
Adding Segments/Partners
Def of one of many possible markets
Marketing Process Inversion
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32. Who I am?
What I know?
Whom I know?
What Can I
Do?
Interaction
with others
Effectual
Stakeholder
Commitments
Who we are?
What we
know?
Whom we
know?
New
mean
s
Expanding cycle of resources
What can we
do?
(Affordable
loss)
New
Goals
Actual course
of action
possible
Converging cycle of constraints
New Markets
and New
Firms
The process!
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33. Firm Life-Cycle and Entrepreneur’s
Career
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Causal
Tethered to goals
and predictive
Effectual
Tethered to means
and non-predictive Time
Expert
entrepreneurs
do not always
manage to
bridge this gap
Expert
Entrepreneur
Startup
Firm
Large
Firm
NoviceEntrepreneur
R
e
s
o
u
r
c
e
s
Low
High

34. QUESTIONS
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THANK YOU

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References:
1. Business Model Canvas: https://www.strategyzer.com/canvas/business-
model-canvas
2. Lean Canvas:
https://railsware.com/downloads/Lean%20Canvas%20Template.pdf
3. Customer Forces Canvas: https://leanstack.com/customer-forces-canvas.pdf
4. Value Proposition Canvas: https://www.strategyzer.com/canvas/value-
proposition-canvas
5. Product Canvas (Roman): http://www.romanpichler.com/wp-
content/uploads/2013/07/The_Product_Canvas.pdf
6. Product Canvas (Shardul): http://streetsmartproductmanager.com/product-
canvas/
7. Platform Value Canvas: http://platforminnovationkit.com/kit/
8. Platform Canvas: http://icsb.nl/artikelen/new-business-model-canvas-for-
digital-platforms/
9. Social Business Model Canvas (Tandemic):
http://www.socialbusinessmodelcanvas.com/ or
https://bmtoolbox.net/tools/social-business-model-canvas/