Your decisions about your business model will demand key resources to make it run successfully.
Accordingly to Alexander Osterwalder, these resources are:
- Physical: machines, stores, buildings, vehicles, etc.
- Intellectual: brand, software, patented products or processes, etc.
- Human: professionals that bring an advantage to the company because of their knowledge.
- Financial: cash availability that leverages companies’ business model activities.
WHY IS IT A FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION?
Because failing to map and maintain key resources is failing to execute your business model.
Let’s suppose your startup’s value proposition is to provide innovative furniture designs that increase users’ productivity by, at least, 20%.
In this case, designers’ knowledge is a key resource for your startup. Therefore, failing to recruit and retain these designers prevents you from delivering what you promised to your customers.
FINDING THE ANSWER
Look at your value proposition and your customer segments blocks.
Now, ask yourself: what are the physical, intellectual, human, and financial resources required to deliver what I’m promising? Take into account all resources that are the core of your strategy and that couldn’t be taken out without ruining your plans.
Then, for each key resource, identify what managerial actions are required to acquire and maintain those assets. In other words, besides knowing which are your key resources, you must define a strategy to manage them.
That definition will serve to anticipate any setbacks on your current business model hypothesis, because of your key resources.
Okay. Enough talking. Go there and come back when you have the answer to this post’s question.
Done? Let’s jump into our next question…
WHAT ARE YOUR STARTUP’S KEY ACTIVITIES?
Book Recommendation:
Business Model Generation
by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur