Have you used the Lean Canvas or the Business Model Canvas? I actually prefer to work on a Lean Business Canvas that is a blend of Alex Osterwalder’s Business Model Canvas and Ash Maurya’s Lean Canvas. It is still well structured and concise, whilst more comprehensive in the main aspects that an innovation driven business must consider.
The Play-to-Win Strategy Canvas is also a great framework for strategic options analysis. You cannot properly choose a commercialisation, growth and/or diversification path without having undertaken a comparative analysis of the options first and foremost!
I make extensive use of both these frameworks in my RDI exploitation strategy and business development planning workshops, and the various research and entrepreneurial teams that I worked with found them really useful.
Thanks a lot for a very inspiring seminar. It created a lot of new insights and I am certain that it will help us in our future commercialization endeavors!
Prof. Jonas Tegenfeldt, Lund University
Startups and SMEs in particular, but even larger enterprises, cannot afford in today’s fast paced economic environment to spend weeks and months on preparing detailed business plans. However, that does not mean that enterprises can thrive or survive without a business plan! The key is to approach this process in a smart and effective manner. The business planning is more important than the business plan! Today companies need to have a clear business blueprint, understood and shared by the entire team, and then specific business plans and related documentations can be further developed according to the requirements of the day and of various finance providers pursued (e.g. for EU/national grant support, crowdfunding, bank loans, business angels or venture capital equity, etc).