Business Model Patterns: A Sneak Peek at the Invincible Company

Have you heard? We’re writing a new book called The Invincible Company.

The book builds upon Business Model Generation and Value Proposition Design, and it takes a deep dive into how world-class companies continuously reinvent their business models.

In Business Model Generation we discussed business model patterns, and in The Invincible Company we are taking this one step further with more granular patterns. As we were introducing the Business Model Canvas to clients and coaches, we talked about how to improve and protect business models.

However, we noticed that our audience was often struggling to think outside of the box — the value proposition box. Improving a business model means much more than just finding a new product, new technology, a niche market segment or even a new price. How could we get our audience to think about business models as a whole?

This is how we first came up with the 7 Questions for Assessing your Business Model, and why we started to formulate The Invincible Company. We decided to update the 7 questions by studying how some companies disrupted entire industries with better business models, not just new products or technologies. In The Invincible Company we developed an entire library of patterns to help you assess and improve your own business models.

We thought we’d highlight three of our upcoming cases as a sneak peek into our new book.


Front Stage Disruptor - Dollar Shave Club — Channel King - The Disintermediator

Dollar Shave Club (“DSC”) disrupted the market for shaving products by selling directly to consumers through its online store. Because they cut out the middleman (retail), they can pass onsavings to customers. DSC makes up for the lack of established brand and distribution reach by harnessing the power of viral videos and internet marketing.

Could you access your customers in an unprecedented and scalable way? How could you cut out the middleman and create direct access to your end-customers?

Back Stage Disruptor - Waze - Resource Castle - Userbase Castle

Waze transformed traffic navigation by building a value proposition that depends on the size and engagement of its user base. Real-time information from users helps shorten commutes and reduce traffic congestion. Every new user improves information accuracy. The user base becomes a competitive advantage that is extremely hard to replicate. How could you make difficult-to-copy resources a key pillar of your business model?

Profit Formula Disruptor - Fortnite - Revenue Differentiator - Subsidizer

Epic Games released Fortnite: Battle Royale in September 2017, and it immediately became a cultural phenomenon — a place to go rather than just a game. Fortnite is a free to play, multi-player game funded by micro transactions rather charging for the game itself. Gamers can play the full game for free or purchase collectibles for aesthetic purposes only. Fortnite unlocked a massive market of casual players (and a significant revenue stream) by incentivizing personalization and showboating over winning.

Which new revenue streams or pricing mechanisms could you introduce to capture more value from your customers or unlock unprofitable markets? How could you give away your main value proposition for free and generate revenues from an alternative revenue stream?

This is just a sampling of some of our new case studies which we can’t wait to share with you.

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