Once upon a time, not all that long ago, Google was a startup.
No one who attended The New Digital Age, hosted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs last Thursday at the Swissotel, asked Google’s Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen about the juggernaut’s humble, scrappy beginnings. They were there to hear about technology’s power to thwart terrorism and bring dictators to their knees.Continue reading →
Remember when you wrote that 50 page business plan—the one that nobody actually read? Well, you never have to do it again! Now you can put it all on ONE PAGE.
It’s called the BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS, a.k.a. the LEAN CANVAS. It’s fast. It’s visual. It’s a living document. It’s the new tool of choice among startups, big business, and major universities.
I’m at my old school, taking in the big, all-day ”entrepreneur@nu” conference and they just handed me the Canvas on a slick clipboard, complete with a dry erase marker. Want to see how it works in 2 minutes? Check out this cool video from the genius that developed the concept:
Here at Northwestern it looks like total commitment. All the departments are teaching the Canvas. This entire event actually feels like walking around the Canvas itself.
This new line of thought originated with Alexander Osterwalder. I remember when it became a huge subject on LinkedIn—people were struggling to find ways to implement his brilliant conception. Then books came out, refinements were made, and software got developed—some by Osterwalder and more by a number of other people like Steve Blank and Ash Maurya.
Everybody’s got a slightly different slant on the details but they all reach the same goal—incredible efficiency and flexibility. Check out the weblinks below. You can find lots more if you look around.
I’ll be back later with more new thinking and just who won all the money at e@nu.
From Startup to the New Digital Age
