After delivering some impromptu 1-to-1 advice sessions at the SHINE Unconference in May, I decided to do some scheduled 1-to-1 business modelling advice sessions at the Rewire London Unconference on Tuesday 8 June at Rich Mix in Shoreditch. The inaugural event was organised by Alison Coward and my friend, Sinead Mac Manus.
The Rich Mix was all a-buzz in the main area where the presentations and larger-audience interactive sessions were being held. I set myself up in the ground floor café by the window – it was a vibrant, healthy, quieter atmosphere – perfect for meeting Rewire delegates and listening to their great enterprise ideas and creative ventures.
The afternoon’s topics included building community and collaboration, working with partners with complementary skillsets, making transitions, prototyping, defining vision, and identity. All of these ideas, challenges, and opportunities feature in developing a business model – defining the key components of a business and the relationships among them.
Here’s a brief rundown of who I had the pleasure of meeting and some of the things we discussed:
- Candy Willems, who is developing Why Create, a creative agency and centre for collaboration, helping students and recent graduates in creative industries connect, grow, swap and share resources. We discussed making connections with the organisations and companies that might hire the people within the community she is creating and other sources of support for the creative industry.
- Vita Gottlieb, a print and textiles designer, who is interested in extending her designs and printed fabrics into fashion (lounge wear, intimate apparel). We had an interesting conversation about transitioning from one business focus to another and about making samples – prototyping for fashion.
- Alex Haw, who described himself as a trained architect when he sat down to speak with me, but by the end of the conversation I described him as an innovator. He runs the atmos studio and we spoke also of working with partners with complementary skills and what a redefined business might be and look like.
- Vincenzo Di Maria and Bruno Taylor, co-founders of Common Ground, applying design to deliver public services more effectively. We had an inspired chat about defining vision – the seed or core around which a business model is built.
- Nayan, from Food For All, dropped in at the end of the day who asked me the challenging question of what processes exist for making decisions and choosing amongst multiple ideas and options. In my mind, decision-making is not always solely a logical or intellectual process. I described reaching agreement amongst my intellectual (logic, thoughts), emotional (feelings), spiritual (intuition), and physical (body, physical ability) elements as being a sign of a good decision. More on this concept in a future post!
I must also give credit for the Business Model Canvas, which I like to use as a tool when I explain the concept of business modelling and describe how things join up. I really enjoyed the afternoon and value the opportunity to help people move their ideas steps forward. It also re-ignited my love for design and creative work and I, myself, am thinking about ways design can help make business modelling easier to understand and less daunting to undertake. Afterall – business modelling is about designing a business.
The Shine Unconference is a two-day event for social entrepreneurs to gather, learn, and make connections for getting things done. The emphasis was definitely on sustainable business models – entrepreneurial solutions for challenges we presently face.
What’s your business model?
I liked Alexander Osterwalder’s Business Model Canvas. Laying out the key components to a business model on a big sheet of paper is more helpful than trying to write it up in a linear fashion in several paragraphs. I highly recommend, for those who are not familiar with business modelling and planning, getting some guidance around the parts to a business model and how things connect and are related to each other.
napkin sketch –> business canvas –> business case –> field test
A lot of people start with a napkin sketch, leap ahead believing they have a business case, and rush to get financing for their idea. Instead, start with a sketch and assemble ideas. Create different models and combinations – do this in a group and do many to see the vast possibilities using the Business Model Canvas as a tool. There is more than one solution for each problem. From the various alternatives you come up with, you’ll be in a better position to spot the business case. The next step is to field test your model with a minimal viable product. This is much like prototyping which I discuss further on in this post.
Investment readiness
The key message from financiers is that few business proposals they receive are investment ready. Recent research into the social enterprise sector identifies the need for more business support. There are free services provided via the Business Link network and regional small business centres. Support can also be delivered by peers through networks like The Hub (which is membership based). However, translating an idea into something that can meet community requirements, social needs, or market demand and being able to articulate it in the form of a business model and plan can be like learning a new language. Free business modelling and strategic planning advice is a bit like learning a language through a website. Getting guidance from a business advisor (like getting private language tuition) vastly improves the depth and speed of learning.
Prototyping
My good friend David Pinto developed a tool for social innovation called the Action Cycle. It is an experiential tool requiring the participation of nine people ideally. David had tried to apply the Action Cycle once before in a very small group and got mixed results. We needed different conditions to exist in order to give it a proper shot. So I created a space for it. I contacted the organisers of the Shine Unconference and applied for a slot on the event programme. I helped communicate David’s idea to the organisers and succeeded in getting a session time. Establishing this goal post in the future helped set the wheels in motion for a prototype of the Action Cycle to be created. We premiered the Action Cycle at Shine on Saturday afternoon at the Hub King’s Cross. We were hoping for seven other participants (David and I would be participants as well and so we would gave a group of nine). Instead, we attracted quite a bit of interest and sixteen people in total were in the room! Prototyping isn’t just for tangible products – they are also a great way to get services, events, or experiences out into the community, to test them, and get feedback about them. For more information about prototyping or the Action Cycle, do get in contact with me.
Great spaces
I was pleased to see more innovative ideas about using space and premises for greater social purpose and benefit. I get inspired by buildings too! However, it is vital to remember that what happens inside the building must be appropriate for the community – the services being provided, goods being sold, or experiences being shared must meet a need suitable in that location otherwise property will become a financial burden. Property can be an enterprise enabler if planned and designed properly. Start with the content first – whether you are an enterprise or someone looking for space or a property owner looking to redevelop a space.
Intentional connections
The atmosphere at the Shine Unconference was great and I was able to engage in many, deep, and valuable conversations – I sometimes imagine if this could happen everyday. There is something about conferences or unconferences that focuses people very intensely. Perhaps it is the fact it doesn’t happen everyday that people make an extra effort to be open and engaged at such events. However, engaging, productive conversations can happen more often. This is another project I’m exploring with a colleague in The Hub network – to greater develop skills and the social technology to increase the number of intentional connections. At present, I do so through a sound knowledge of my network and contacts and thoughtful research into with whom else I could develop a mutually beneficial relationship.
I read today that Tesco is planning to develop four mixed-use properties anchored by a Tesco supermarket. They have been called “mini-villages” in the media. Concerns around the food retailer’s dominance in the market and impact on the national economy were expressed.
One such development is happening around the corner from where I live, around a site already occupied by a Tesco Superstore at Bromley-by-Bow. Approval is next month expected for 400 homes, a primary school, hotel, and park on this site near to the Olympic Park in Stratford. Other housing and retail developments are expected in Streatham, Dartford, and Woolwich.
At first, news of this reminded me of the model villages of the late 1890’s and early 1900s. These were housing developments founded and created by large companies and manufacturers for the benefit of their workers. One such example is Port Sunlight, “purpose built by William Hesketh Lever (later Lord Leverhulme) starting in 1888 for the employees of Lever Brothers soap factory… Between 1899 and 1914, 800 houses with a population of 3,500 were built, together with allotments and public buildings including the Lady Lever Art Gallery, a cottage hospital, schools, a concert hall, open air swimming pool, church, and a temperance hotel. He also introduced schemes for welfare, education and the entertainment of his workers, and encouraged recreation and organisations which promoted art, literature, science or music.” (Source: Wikipedia) However, it is unlikely the Tesco schemes have such social purpose in mind. Instead the food retailer is said to be “diversifying” from retail.
It would be great if Tesco was not only creating jobs in these communities (as they say they are), but also developing homes to house its local workforce. It would be nice if Tesco employed the capital available to it and created more amenities that could be enjoyed by the local community and public in general. The hotel at Bromley-by-Bow is most certainly opportunistic with the Olympics only two years away. That they are building a school and park on this site is a vast improvement from the cookie-cutter Tesco Metros that appear on the ground floor of almost every new development of flats in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. If Tesco has such capital available to it and is “able to invest and create jobs in areas that many other developers cannot and will not” (said a Tesco spokesperson as reported in the Telegraph), wouldn’t it be great if Tesco invested instead in skills training and local enterprise. Imagine if it really invested in local communities and the economic and social development of local residents.
