Creating New Business Opportunities With Business Model Bingo

I’m lucky to be able to work with a lot of brillant entrepreneurs.

One entrepreneur I was working with had a fairly successful freemium startup generating revenue through premium subscriptions. It was doing well, but growth was more difficult than originally anticipated.

The CEO – coming from a complex sales background – looked at the situation from a different angle and explored the idea of setting up licensing agreements with channel partners.

In just a few months, the company was able to sign dozens of partners and generate revenue on pace to at least double the previous model’s revenue. The best part of it? It was (almost) completely invisible to the competition.

As entrepreneurs, we’re often stuck in our own models and patterns.

I’ve tried to force a SaaS model in a previous business and, my first instinct in marketing is to go with the strategies that have made me successful in the past.

But, what if another model could double, triple or quadruple your growth?

I created the Business Model Bingo Experiment Board using Traction’s 19 Channels for Growth and Dr. Michael Rappa’s 9 Business Models for the Web. You can view it below:

Business Model Bingo
The Business Model Bingo Experiment Board

At the crossing of each business model and marketing channel is an hypothesis for your business. By exploring these hypotheses, you can test wilder / more creative strategies and get out of your habits.

Don’t be too stiff with your model. Google is not the only way to find customers and your business doesn’t have to fit the subscription model.

I’m releasing the board as a draft (you can download it here). Share your thoughts and ideas and help me make it even more useful.

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