The 10-minute business plan
It only takes a few seconds to assess your idea's viability.
There’s a magical tool I used in business school to create business plans, present, and assess the potential success of an idea in just a few minutes: the business model canvas, invented by Alexander Osterwalder.
Writing a business plan takes a lot of time, energy, and commitment, which is necessary — but can be overwhelming and thus, discouraging. That’s why I always start by sketching a biz model canvas to check if an idea is viable and worth pursuing before diving into the longer process of researching, writing, etc.
Here’s how/why you can use it as well:
In class, for group projects — ideal for brainstorming sessions.
To kickstart the innovation process and develop an existing company.
To introduce the overview of your business idea to investors.
To determinate if your idea is worth pursuing, and clarify your thoughts.
This is an example I really like, from www.innovationtactics.com. They also wrote a detailed case study that goes over all the canvas building blocks, which will give you an excellent overview of how it works.