The business canvas was an interesting experience for multiple reasons. It not only challenged my personal means of operating, but it taught me several important lessons about the way I think and process projects. The following are observations that stood out to me through the entire process:
I. Canvas as a Constraint: The business canvas clearly outlined the nine different aspects to any company and easily organized the various questions we had to ask. Normally, I greatly appreciate organization; my life revolves around series of detailed to-do lists. However, I found that the canvas irritated my process. I felt that its glaring sub-categories pushed me to investigate the topics at hand, and only the topics at hand. We did investigate the cost and revenue structures, however, we followed the guiding questions and principles mentioned in our text book. Even though we may have discovered the details of BriteWeb’s operations, I never felt that our project was really complete. Various CEO’s mentioned that our presentations weren’t creative enough; as typical business students, we found the flaws and did not seek revolutionary recommendations. The canvas pulled us into it, and did not let us see farther than it’s dark bold rectangles it consists of.
II. Steve Rio: the CEO I Will Never Be: In contrast to the previously mentioned observation, our interview with Steve Rio was arguably one of the most interesting things I have experienced this year. I was amazed at the great atmosphere of his office and the love he had for his job really made me think. I want to be like Steve one day… but I also don’t want to be like him. I will never have the passion for social-venture and not-for-profit he has, though I greatly value volunteering service. Steve is a divergent thinker; he is creative; very creative. Though I am creative, I need certainty in my process. I want to work towards a goal, and unless a clear goal is present, I find it extremely hard to find any motivation to work towards it, let alone be creative with it. Steve doesn’t believe in “business growth”, a concept that I certainly do not agree with. To me, growth is inevitable for both businesses and individuals. Steve’s divergent thinking and my convergent thinking clashed on multiple topics such as these.
III. The Freedom of the Business Canvas | Defusing Motivation: The final observation of the Business Canvas became apparent to me on the day of the presentations. Usually I am very excited to get in front of a group of people to present. However, in this case I was reluctant to speak. I feel that the constraints and “vague” objectives of the project utterly demotivated me. I was looking forward to the project, but I think I would have done a much better job if I had omitted the business canvas. I would have developed my own set of sub-topics and built on an outline from there. Instead of a colorful poster, I might have performed better with a black/white pen-ink hand-drawn diagram.
In conclusion: I agree with Mina as she states: “I felt that the way that the initial Business Canvas was laid out hindered us in our search for the connections.” Though the exercise did not push me to my personal quality standards, I feel it was a good excercise in developing divergent thinking. Evidently I still have a long way to go, but I believe that the canvas has certainly forced me to appreciate the colorful/non-linear ways of thinking (even though my love for straight-lines and perpendicular displays will never fade).
Hi Tim,
I really enjoyed reading this post. You brought up a lot of points that I could compare with in my own experience. I do agree the Canvas was a bit limiting, however it for me it was a very good starting point. It helped me clarify the elements of the business that I think should be clear for an entrepreneur, investors and a customer. But I interpreted the project/deliverable as going beyond the canvas. Taking from it and then creating something that was digestible for you. In my case that was a whole re-structuring of the canvas itself, to something that looked completely different. Basically I wanted to demonstrated the interconnectedness of the “boxes” and literally take them away.
Meeting the entrepreneur was also really eye opening, one of my favourite parts of the project. Not only did we get to meet them, but actually visit their space which is so important. Going into their world, where they think and create helps us get a better sense of the business and who they are. It’s so interesting to meet entrepreneurs and know what drives them. I’m interested to know more about why Steve Rio doesn’t believe in growth? Is it that he doesn’t believe in expanding, selling, going IPO, etc? But surely he agrees that growth is more than that, like generating new ideas, building upon foundations previously created, working and collaborating…?
That’s not just the best aswner. It’s the bestest answer!
Very interesting reflection! Now that I think about it, I can really relate to how you felt somewhat reluctant or less confident upon presentation. Throughout the course of the project, I had this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that there was something more that we should be doing for our client, I wasn’t convinced that the business canvas alone was providing any significant added value to their perception of the business. My group member and I tried to move away from the canvas’ limitations by re-modelling our version of how the business canvas should look like for our client, which was step 1; however, failed to address our sixth sense on how we felt uncomfortable with not providing the client with inherently valuable information. Lesson learnt.
Great reflection! I was thinking that perhaps later in the course, I would be able to understand the true depth and effectiveness of the business canvas, however, I think I still agree with you and Mina. Though the business canvas does have distinctive categories, they are vague, somewhat redundant, and limited by the borders that they are sectioned into. I recently used the business canvas in my workshop, and both we and the client had some trouble deciding what section “x” information should be included in…although it was evident that it should be included. I would love to see a new approach on the business canvas (ie. a business proposal format re-designed in a visual way) that encompasses the elements of business while still allowing for freedom of ideas.