This note describes how entrepreneurs benefited from using value networks to underpin their thinking and strategy, having initially practised their pitch within an environment supportive of those aspiring to entrepreneurship. The initial random contact was made at a Regional Meeting of Ecademy in Weybridge with Paul Harvey.
The 3Cs Community (www.3cscommunity.com) in the UK is focussed on encouraging entrepreneurship in a supportive atmosphere and receives sponsorship in the form of meeting facilities from a range of organisations - professional firms, research and academic institutions, libraries.
One of the business pitches in May was by Bio Music, whom I introduced, and subsequently suggested they use the value network approach to further refine their business planning.
This note briefly describes the process we undertook to apply value networks over a period of two months.
Developing the Discovery Map
The first conversation was to allow the business owner / CEO to develop what I call a Discovery Map, underpinned by the value network way of representing the key role plays and both formal and informal flows. This was done in free style with a large piece of paper, pens and sticky notes and took about two hours of time together. A tidied up version is shown below.
Data was then fed into a proprietary analysis and report generator tool and sample outputs obtained and distributed.
A comment from the owner at this point is included below the map.
Discovery Map of the Bio Music Business
"Dear David, Just wanted to say, once again, a very big thank you for yesterday’s session at the ICE and for your invaluable input in helping us identify the ‘mechanics’ of our business, which, I find, has greatly helped us to pin-point the priorities to make and the strategy to follow up in order to achieve the overall goal of a global success.
Please let me know if I can be of any assistance to you in your future presentations of our business model or in any other way at all.
I look forward to receiving your final map in due course and to see you again in the near future, most likely at a future 3Cs event, if not before…
All the very best,
Jean-Louis
Loriana Music"
Developing the business model and strategy blueprint
The next stage was to involve another key member of the team, Paul Harvey, and allow both to co-develop a business model that incorporated the business strategy. This means using the Discovery map to tease out and use further components that addressed the key questions of "What should we be doing and when?" and " Who will do it and why?"
The technique used in this case was to project the Discovery map (as the underpinning value network) on to the wall which was covered with a large blank sheet of paper. The facilitated conversation was a mix of standard value network analysis subjects, interlaced with strategy considerations, extended over a working day with a break for lunch. The value network was extended by adding new deliverables, highlighting cash flows, and adding the sequence of the flow of deliverables. (Called transactions in the methodology). Some role plays / participants were removed for strategic reasons.
The resulting drawing is shown in the photograph below.
Subsequently, a neat version of the map was created and a nice twist added to the title to create....
A vibrational pull business model.
"Vibrational pull" resonates particularly well in this case for two reasons:
>>> The marketing approach is geared up to the "pull" from potential served markets as opposed to "product push"
>>> The product itself features vibrations of a special nature
This represents the current position. The diagram is now available for use in conveying, through conversation, the dynamics of the emerging and developing business. It can also be used to progress to creating the Business process blueprint and technology blueprints which create prototype and working workflow systems in quick time.
A final word from the entrepreneur..
"Dear David
Many thanks for the Bio Music Vibrational Pull Model.
It seems all fine to me.
Thank you also for the value network map attached to your email.
It does show how valuable the exercise of creating a value network map is in order to enable a clear overview of a business model and to facilitate the process of elaborating the changes required.
I like this a lot!
Best regards,
Jean-Louis
Loriana Music
www.biomusic-6in1.net"
You are at http://tinyurl.com/nqkrzl
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David is one of the co-founders of 3Cs Community and served on the Board of Directors of the servicing company for many years.
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Comments
For an interactive map of this business model, please refer here and for a guide to using the four key components of the business model, see the Introduction here.
This is a pioneering way of allowing permitted participants to interactively assess where the value lies in the organisation, the risk, and the criticality of the transactions and exchanges that generate wealth.
It paves the way for the role of business ecosystem orchestrator to be realised.