Lesson 4: Business Models

I am just back from school done with our group Elevator pitch video for Thursday presentation again. Arghhhh..... We really had a hard time from last week till today trying to get the Elevator moving.

We spend some time on last friday trying to figure out how to go about designing it and getting it done. We search on the internet for examples and view a few before trying to brainstorm our very own Elevator pitch. Today we spend like another 3 hours plus to integrate all our materials we have done before hand into our very first Elevator pitch. But to our horror in the very last minute when we tried to convert the Powerpoint file we have came out with into a video file, an error occurs in the converted file format.

Okay.. Okay... we will think of a way to solve this problem before Thursday presentation, anyone with any solution do drop me a comment. Thanks.

Last Thursday, our session kick off with a series of presentations from different groups on the JBP language system problem. I was rather suprise by the solution post by the team offering the bar code system which have never come across my mind for this project on my part. I thought that was rather interesting and fresh idea as compare to the rest of our ideas which very much evolve around the mobile handsets and operator technology.

I think the ideas of getting all the teams to present their different ideas and summerising them up for discussion was very meaningful and actually demostrate the idea of "Wisdom of Crowds" we had learnt in the earlier seminar. As we try to learn from each other of our very own ideas and try to integrate them together into our system to form a better and more impressive system for the JBP problem.

However, the actually topic for this seminar of the day was 'Business Models'. We discussed the Commerce Spaces between the Comsumers and the Businesses with the role of the Government. We also touch on the essentials of Business Model Elements. The first and most interesting value of all 8 mention was the 'Customer Value'.

I guess from day one of this module started in week 1, all the topics that we have covered and discussed could not escape the issue around 'Customer Value'. From the day one Disruptive Technologies we have been talking about how these emerging technologies could help the service providers to increase the customer's valua. To the Starhub case study also evolved around bundling services from Starhub as a new entrance to capture market share with incresing customer's valua from their services. And today in the JBP systems presented are also about how our new systems are all going to increase customer's valua. Therefore, to really create a good business model that would help generate profit for the organisation, the element on 'Customer Valua' should be carefully look into.

However, the highlight of the day that wake everybody up from the longest seminar we had so far was really our project explaination from Prof. Gilbert. The "Elevator Pitch"........ What is that??? Question marks form within most of our minds in the room. This was the first time I heard of this new term as Prof. Gilbert went on to explain to all of us how this term came about from the...... Sillicon Valley... Haha... That is interesting.

For these who are not sure about what is an 'Elevator Pitch"? Worry not, here is the help:

What is an "Elevator Pitch"?

An "Elevator Pitch" is a concise, carefully planned, and well-practiced description about your company that your mother should be able to understand in the time it would take to ride up an elevator.

What an "Elevator Pitch" is not:

It is not a "sales pitch." Don't get caught up in using the entire pitch to tell the Investor how great your product or service is. The Investor is "buying" the business, not the product. Tell him/her how you will run the business.

Creating the "Elevator Pitch"

Six questions your "Elevator Pitch" must answer:

1. What is your product or service?Briefly describe what it is you sell. Do not go into excruciating detail.

2. Who is your market?Briefly discuss who you are selling the product or service to. What industry is it? How large of a market do they represent?

3. What is your revenue model?More simply, how do you expect to make money?

4. Who is behind the company?"Bet on the jockey, not the horse" is a familiar saying among Investors. Tell them a little about you and your team's background and achievements. If you have a strong advisory board, tell them who they are and what they have accomplished.

5. Who is your competition?Don't have any? Think again. Briefly discuss who they are and what they have accomplished. Successful competition is an advantage-they are proof your business model and/or concept work.

6. What is your competitive advantage? Simply being in an industry with successful competitors is not enough. You need to effectively communicate how your company is different and why you have an advantage over the competition. A better distribution channel? Key partners? Proprietary technology?

What your "Elevator Pitch" must contain:

1. A "hook" Open your pitch by getting the Investor's attention with a "hook." A statement or question that piques their interest to want to hear more.

2. About 150-225 words Your pitch should go no longer than 60 seconds.

3. Passion Investors expect energy and dedication from entrepreneurs.

4. A request At the end of your pitch, you must ask for something. Do you want their business card, to schedule a full presentation, to ask for a referral?

Want to learn more and read up more information? Here is the link:

http://www.businessknowhow.com/money/elevator.htm

Business Know How website is an very informative website to learn some business basic if you are some newbies like me learning more about the business matters.

After the short discussion on our project with Prof Gilbert as time is running out. Everybody left the room pondering what is going to come up next in our next seminar... including me... I am waiting...............