In the social entrepreneurship field as in the classical economy field, business modeling is likely to bring some tricky errors. Here are someones to avoid:
1. Confusing business model and business plan
2. Not clearly defining the business model
3. Confusing beneficiary and customer
4. Willing to solve everything at the same time
5. Believing that projected impact guarantees the market
6. Underestimating the communication
7. Underestimating the competition
2. Error number 1
Confusing business model and business plan
• The business model is the logical construction of the organization, telling
what it does, for whom it works, how it does, in what context ...
• To build the business plan, you must add the vision of the future, the
strategy, the action plans, the projects, the investments and the financial
plans in the short, medium and long term.
3. Error number 2
Not clearly defining the business model
• An incomplete business model, ill-defined, without
its validation by the stakeholders is like a lame
construction.
• It is difficult to communicate and fail invariably in
its persuasive tries
4. Error number 3
Confusing beneficiary and customer
• The direct beneficiary receives the benefit, but he is not
necessarily the one who pays ...
• The customer pays for the service, but he is not necessarily the
one who receives
• The indirect beneficiary does not receive the benefit, but can
make a huge a profit by proximity effect and impact chain
5. Error number 4
Willing to solve everything at the same time
• The best way to fail is to want to tackle all social
issues at the same time, under the pretext that a
solution can be complementary with another
one
• A helping slogan : prioritization!
6. Error number 5
Believing that projected impact guarantees the market
Sometimes the degree of their
need awareness, among the
potential beneficiaries of the
solution, is not sufficient for
their interest to be awakened
Inertia and change resistance can ruin all
forecasts for your business
model, probably too optimistically
dimensioned
7. Error number 6
Underestimating the communication
• Croire qu’un site WEB suffit à être visible
sur la toile, ou que la création d’une page
Facebook suffira à vous attirer 10'000 fans
sont des erreurs classiques, commises par
bien des entrepreneurs, et peut-être plus
particulièrement par des entrepreneurs
sociaux.
8. Error number 7
Underestimating the competition
• You will also face strong competition in
accessing initial funding, as available funds in
Foundation or public departments are not
infinitely expandable.
• Your funding application is not the only one
and the stack is huge!
9. This presentation, as well as factsheets, forms, posters and other tools for
collaborative thinking can be viewed and freely downloaded on the website
of the Social Business Models association.