ABOUT THIS COURSE
There are entire college courses (and degrees!) dedicated to business modeling, but "for the rest of us," how about a simple tool to determine: 1) who to sell to, 2) how to make money, and 3) how to price your solution?
Entrepreneurs start thinking about the "dollars and cents" of their solutions during the development process, to ensure that the technological and design aspects of their products and services will be sustainable.
In this 60 minute course, you'll:
- Determine your basic business model type between four options so that you can identify and explore best practices for selling, projecting finances, and delivering your solution
- Explore different revenue stream options so you can expand your solution's opportunity for income and derisk the future financial stability of your company or product
- Consider and strategize different pricing options that reflect the value of your solution to your customer and ensure that your product or service will be financially stable and sustainable
Getting Started
This course contains an interactive, downloadable PDF workbook:
"Business Models (for the rest of us)" Worksheet
You may complete this workbook in your browser window (just don't forget to save!) or download it to your computer.
The text in the blue boxes is editable and you should add your own thoughts or ideas about your solution in these areas as the workshop videos progress.
LESSON 1: Intro to business model (Who You sell to)
Lesson 1 Workshop:
Update your worksheet by clicking in the blue areas and listing your current business model(s) and examples that demonstrate this choice.
Next, consider and document new business models that you might consider for your solution in the future. How would that work?
LESSON 2: revenue streams (how you make money)
Lesson 2 Workshop:
Update your worksheet by clicking in the blue areas adding the revenue stream(s) that you've historically used or considered for your solution with an example.
Next, add any new potential revenue streams that you might consider testing in the future.
LESSON 3: Pricing Models (how you'll charge)
Lesson 3 Workshop:
Update your worksheet by clicking in the blue areas and adding the pricing model(s) that you've historically used or considered for your solution with an example.
Next, add any new potential pricing models that you might consider testing in the future.
LESSON 4: pricing strategy (getting the value you deserve)
Lesson 4 Workshop:
Complete all four slides in your worksheet related to pricing factors as you listen to the lesson. Clicking in the blue areas and add your current or expected process for making sales, customizing solutions, and supporting the customer after purchase, as well as your hypothesized customer lifetime value.
LESSON 5: Pricing within the market (using insights from others)
Lesson 5 Workshop:
Update the last slide in your worksheet by outlining the current market factors that might impact the price you set for your solution.
If you're not sure about the answers, try incoporating customer interviewing to learn more. Check out this workshop for the how-to!
USING YOUR NEW LEARNINGS
Building a solid business model into your solution as early as possible positions your solution to "work," not just from a product standpoint, but from a business standpoint as well! Entrepreneurs use business modeling to prepare for their sales and finacial projections, as well as how they should design their solutions.
Try to incorporate these new learnings into your work by:
- Comparing the value that your solution provides to your customer with the price you've set. Adjust the value or price (up or down) until they match.
- Informing your marketing and sales strategy to position your solution more for business customers, consumers, or government clients.
- Explore additional revenue streams that your solution might test to build added income opportunity and market resiliency (in case one revenue stream deflates).
- Identifying which customers to interview and which questions you have the most ambiguity around (how to charge, how to implement, level of customization required, etc.) Learn more about customer interviewing in this workshop!
Questions or feedback about this course? Connect with a SEED SPOT educator today.