The Business Model Canvas (BMC) is a framework to look at the overall structure of the business that you are planning to build and see the important parts of the business that you need to pay attention to.

The goal of this module is to help you arrive at a model of a product/service that offers some value to your customers.  In Individual Assignment #1 (IA1) you came up with an idea for a product/service that could solve a problem faced by a specific target group. In IA2 you looked at the industry within which this product/service can be placed and the trends in that industry.  In this module, you will expand on this idea by thinking in greater detail about the different parts of this product/service that would be valuable enough for customers to want it badly.

Remember you are still just at an idea stage — but then that is where we always start!  Ideas are simply assumptions or hypotheses, until they are validated.  How do we validate assumptions? One way is by talking to customers and key partners.

In order to expand on our idea and articulate your assumptions for these ideas we will use a framework called the Business Model Canvas, invented by Alexander Osterwalder (see http://alexosterwalder.com/).

For each of the components of this Business Model Canvas framework, you will articulate your assumptions or your hypotheses.  Chapter 2 of your E-book describes each of the components of the Business Model Canvas in detail.

If you are smart you will recognize that these different components are related. For instance you cannot have “advertising” as a revenue stream unless you have an “advertiser” who is willing to pay to advertise to your customer segment.  You will also note that sometimes you will have two sets of customers – product/service user and advertisers or donors. In order to be successful, you will need to market to both of them.