The Business Model Canvas is a tool invented by Alexander Osterwalder in Switzerland in the late 2000s that has become a very popular way of testing the viability of ideas for new businesses.
It has become linked with the “lean start-up model,” in which business ideas and models are tested in the marketplace via swift launch of a “Minimally Viable Product” (“MVP,” not to be confused with Most Valuable Player) to test market acceptability, as opposed to the traditional approach of analyzing a business concept and researching its market potential as a concept. Pursuing the lean start-up/MVP approach requires a quick identification of the critical success factors and issues and the Business Model Canvas does this by providing a one-page document that forces the management team to identify the nine key considerations in conceptualizing a new business.
The Business Model Canvas
The Business Model Canvas can be a very useful tool for the TTP to develop commercialization scenarios for the technologies that they are responsible for. The canvas requires consideration of what will be sold, how it will be sold, and to whom. These are basic commercialization questions that will help guide the TTP’s potential licensing strategy and what types of companies should be targeted for marketing.
Here’s a template of the Business Model Canvas that you can use in a group planning session.
It may be overkill to do a Business Model Canvas for all new technologies, particularly those that will be licensed to an existing company—it is the licensee that needs to do the work to identify how the technology will fit within their current business, not the university.
However, it is critical for the TTO to do a Business Model Canvas at an early stage if a new start-up is contemplated, which will be covered in much more detail in Track III Topic 1: Start-ups.
Here’s an explanation on how to do a Business Model Canvas for a particular opportunity.