Decisions, Money & Entrepreneurship
Business Model Basics
This lesson helps students understand the core parts of a business model. They connect the customer, the value offered, how the money works, and delivery into a one-page Business Model Sketch.
What you will learn
- Understand that the first question any business model has to answer is who the customer is and what job they are hiring the business to do.
- Understand that the value a business offers is the specific reason a customer picks it over the alternatives, described from the customer's point of view.
- Understand how a business captures money through pricing, direct costs, contribution margin, and fixed costs, and be able to read the basic money story of any small business.
- Assemble the four pieces (customer, value, money, delivery) into a one page Business Model Sketch that describes a real small business.
What happens in this lesson
Chapter 1: Who Is The Customer?
Understand that the first question any business model has to answer is who the customer is and what job they are hiring the business to do.
What you make: A saved customer note naming the real customer and the specific job that customer is hiring a familiar business to do.
Chapter 2: The Value Offered
Understand that the value a business offers is the specific reason a customer picks it over the alternatives, described from the customer's point of view.
What you make: A saved value statement naming what one familiar business offers that makes its customer pick it over the other options.
Chapter 3: How The Money Works
Understand how a business captures money through pricing, direct costs, contribution margin, and fixed costs, and be able to read the basic money story of any small business.
What you make: A saved money note estimating the price, the main costs, and the rough contribution margin on one sale at a familiar business.
Chapter 4: Pulling It All Together
Assemble the four pieces (customer, value, money, delivery) into a one page Business Model Sketch that describes a real small business.
What you make: A saved one page Business Model Sketch covering customer, value, money, and delivery for a familiar small business.
Chapter 5: Compare Two Business Models
Evaluate two possible business model sketches for the same small business and decide which one fits the customer, value, money, and delivery best.
What you make: A saved comparison note that names the stronger of two business model options and explains why the other one is weaker.
Chapter 6: Fix The Broken Model
Diagnose a business model that does not work and revise one or more parts so the customer, value, money, and delivery fit under a real constraint.
What you make: A saved revision note showing one broken business model, the problem, and a better version that could actually work.
Key terms in this lesson
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