Beneath the Canvas
A Business Canvas Is A Great First Step But Additional Value Lies Deeper
If you are unfamiliar with the Business Model Canvas, you should take the time to read the book. It is highly visual, very straightforward, and an excellent start to mapping out your business ideas. Many a start-up has told me it was instrumental in getting them organized and ultimately funded. There is also a web site that you can reference here. Note — Corsair’s is not affiliated or compensated in any way by the folks at Strategyzer.com — though we are fans and quite open to the idea.
Beneath Strategy
Strategy, vision, and big ideas are great, but businesses are won and lost on execution. Execution requires decision-making and great decision-making is data-driven. So while a business model is a great start, you need to dig deeper if you truly want to set your strategy in motion.
Recently, I published an article that dug deeper:
It has the same organizational simplicity of the business canvas, but it digs far deeper. The storyboard model and process allow your organization to drill down below the surface of strategy and delve into the key organizational needs for success and decision-making.
The process is as simple as storytelling. The outcome is far deeper. It includes financial models, decision trees, and data models. Powerful, yet understandable. The exercise alone is powerful, but the series of storyboards or maps that is generated have greater power still. If you have aspirations of a data-driven culture for your business, there is no better place to start. It is the first step in true analytic success:
Wait, how did we get to analytics…?
Analytics is all Greek to many people. This is appropriate as it is indeed the source of the word. But don’t let Aristotle and his fancy words intimidate you. He was just a wandering storyteller with a keen sense of organization and a knack for asking the right question. That is all we are talking about here.
Analytics = Decision-Making + Learning
It is a map and a story. That simple.
Okay, but what about that data piece?
Data is just an easy way of keeping score, a way to understand your customers, and (when well mapped) a great source of more compelling stories and questions. Data shouldn’t intimidate anyone. If it does, you need to find better people to manage it for you. Data should fuel your organization not hassle it, or worse yet scare it. And let’s face it — Big Data is a proverbial Boogie Man in this day and age.
Drilling Beneath The Canvas
The first peek beneath the canvas is not a long or costly process. It requires little more than some guided conversations. It is about asking the right questions and defining the right maps. It is about figure out what matters and by how much. It is an exercise in defining and prioritizing with the elegance of a storyboard (or coloring book).
It is a journey that takes just a few hours and will provide value from the jump. It is an exercise that will continue to inspire, organize, and guide your organization for months and years to come. Maps guide decisions. Stories compel people. You will be able to keep score. Soon analytics and data will feel warm and friendly, a nature component of curiosity and learning — not some fear-mongering boogie man of angst, confusion, and security concerns.
So research the Business Canvas. Create one. But then drill deeper. Don’t wait and don’t fear. Your business can’t afford to. Thanks for reading!
For help Storyboard Modeling your business:
