【NY Startup Lesson】Entrepreneurship Course 3: Business Model Canvas & Customer Segmentation

This year, i2i has partnered with American accelerator EntreCamp to launch the 2024 IP2 Scale Out Program in New York. This initiative aims to help promising Taiwanese startups participate in a six-week, all-English expert course.

Instructor

Terry Hsiao

Course 3: Business Model Canvas & Customer Segmentation

Summary

In the third session of the EntreCamp online course, our lecturer delivered a presentation on the Business Model Canvas. This canvas visualizes nine critical components of a startup business and aids startup teams in conducting comprehensive analyses of their businesses.

The lecturer explained the key aspects of each component and offered advice on best practices and common pitfalls. This session equipped the participating teams with insights on effectively structuring a comprehensive business canvas.

Course Outline

Value Propositions

• Identify your unique selling point.

Customer Segmentation

• Categorize your customers by their distinctive characteristics.

• Your product’s user may not always be your customer.

• The key to maintaining customer relationships is to listen to their feedback and respond promptly.

• VCs may seek feedback directly from customers about your product/service.

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Revenue Model

• Aim to maintain a diversified source of revenue.

• Carefully consider your pricing strategy.

Key Partners

• Avoid relying on a single supplier for your company.
  

Key Activities

• As a founder, prioritize your key activities.

• Many founders spend significant time on product development or design but neglect to fully explore their business’s unique selling points and target customers. This oversight is a common pitfall.

• Process optimization is essential, but timing is crucial.

Others Key Takeaways

• Among all the components of a Business Model Canvas, a founder may only have a clear understanding of the value propositions initially. For the other components, you can evaluate and make predictions. Then, test, prove, adjust, and repeat the process until you achieve product-market fit.

• Many startups use funding from VCs to pursue growth rate, often overlooking the need to clearly identify their target customers.