Hi everybody,
Over the weekend I tested the BMG on a group of researchers planning spin-offs. It worked very well when coupled with a case study simulation.
My approach was as following:
Day 1
- introduction to BMG, individual building blocks, using a familiar example to explain each of them
- asking participants to complete individual models in order to check if they grasped the essentials
- then individual presentations and discussions to learn how to work with the canvas individually
after lunch:
- creating two teams (each - 7 persons) based on different roles, expertises, etc.
- presenting each with a real-life consultancy case - one team presented with the case of a high-tech firm with 20 yrs experience in face recognition, another - a start-up in semantic search - both in need to develop new value propositions
- giving tools to the teams for idea generation, explaining how to do ideation, feasibility check and technological analysis
Day 2
- team work on analysing business of models based on presented case materials, internet search and additional information provided by the company representatives who agreed to the experiment
- role-playing presentations from both company and customer perspective of each simulated company by each team explaining business model on canvas with follow-up questions from a rival team (to give it an edge of competition)
- giving tools to the teams for competitive inteligence analysis and a list of 4-5 tasks to be completed with clearly defined questions for each
after lunch:
- team work on new business models for each simulated company and selection of one for prototyping, final check done against the checklist for SWOT of BMG
- each team asked to prepare a role-playing narrative (ca. 5 min) to be filmed on video explaining value proposition in a simulated sales pitch environment
- videos presented to the audience, evaluated and followed by a brief Q&A session
RESULTS:
- a new viable business idea generated for one of the simulated companies
- possibility of a start-up considered
BUT:
- the problem emerged: how to deal with a business idea which can be of commercial value to the simulated company? To develop it into a value proposition and try to sell it or do something else?
I am planning to develop a more consistent model for blending BMG with simulation techniques. If there are more people interested in this, I would be happy to share ideas and perhaps experiment.
However, before going any further, one needs to be prepared for the eventuality when the simulation of the real can also lead to the situation where the generated ideas could become a challenge to the companies which were simulated and which agreed to provide some materials for the case studies.
If you have come across such issues, I will appreciate for any ideas or hints how to deal with that
Linus
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