Business model canvas for dads

Today I introduced the Business Model Canvas to my dad — a man with 30+ years in various traditional careers from financial accounting for the Queensland government, to running a 15-year old commercial cleaning business. He sold his business and now he’s ready for the next challenge. To run a new commercial cleaning business, even bigger, better and more innovative. His question — “How can I put my business idea on one page?” My answer — “Ha, well let me SHOW you on a whiteboard.”

Note, I did NOT say let’s use a Business Model Canvas, knowing very well he would be immediately disinterested in my business ‘jargon’. To be fair, I harp on a lot about cool design thinking tools or business ideas that generally go past his head.

Start with the why

To provide some context, the Business Model Canvas (BMC) was first introduced almost 15 years ago by Alexander Osterwalder from Strategizer. It’s a fantastic tool to help understand a business model visually on one page. The elements are all based around a value proposition of the service or product (centre box), key infrastructure (left-hand side boxes), customers (right-hand side boxes) and finances (bottom boxes).

For most people who haven’t studied the BMC, it’s hard to understand which box to start with and how the elements are organised. Although, once you roll up your sleeves and starting using the tool to facilitate thinking, the story of the model makes a lot more sense.

The first question to my dad started with the value proposition (without using the word itself). I asked, “What’s your service and how are you different to your competitors?” and “Why do you provide commercial cleaning services to your clients?” I highly doubt anybody ever asked my dad this question in the 15 years in his industry.

This in itself was profound. For the first time, the focus was not on how my dad would increase market share, but how he could provide a better service to his clients and create a more supportive environment for his franchisees. All the other elements from the business partners, commission structures, ERP systems, office space and branding were shaped around this core theme…a realisation my dad wished he had a long time ago.

It’s less the tool, and more the purpose

Whilst I was successfully able to create a BMC with my dad with beers and a whiteboard on the kitchen bench, I don’t think my dad will even remember what the tool was called. We weren’t focused on the specific titles, or following a particular structure — we let the grids guide our open-ended questions and spontaneous ideas. There’s no correct way to design a business model and there’s no correct way to use a strategizing tool.

So that’s the lesson it it for me, use all the design and business modelling tools out there, but make sure it’s relevant to your audience and purpose. That may mean using less ‘businessy’ words, grabbing a few beers in-between and casually explaining a concept like it HASN’T been used by some of the greatest start-ups in the world. After all, if you can’t use a tool or explain an idea to your dad, forget about delivering it to a boardroom.

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