How do you iterate your business model innovation after failure?

2 Pivot or persevere

The second step is to decide whether to pivot or persevere with your business model innovation. A pivot is a strategic change in one or more elements of your business model, such as your customer segment, value proposition, revenue stream, or channel. A pivot can help you find a new problem-solution fit or product-market fit, or explore a new opportunity or niche. A persevere is a decision to continue with your current business model, but with some minor adjustments or improvements. A persevere can help you refine your value proposition, optimize your processes, or scale your operations. To make this decision, you need to assess the viability, feasibility, and desirability of your business model, and weigh the costs and benefits of pivoting or persevering.

3 Test and validate

The third step is to test and validate your pivoted or persevered business model innovation. Testing and validation are essential to reduce uncertainty, avoid waste, and increase confidence in your business model. You need to design and run experiments that can test your assumptions and hypotheses, and measure your outcomes and results. You can use methods such as interviews, surveys, landing pages, prototypes, or minimum viable products (MVPs) to test your value proposition, customer segment, revenue stream, or channel. You can use tools such as the validation board, the experiment canvas, or the lean analytics cycle to plan, execute, and analyze your experiments.

4 Iterate and improve

The fourth step is to iterate and improve your business model innovation based on your testing and validation results. Iteration and improvement are continuous processes that involve making changes, learning from feedback, and making more changes until you find a fit between your business model and the market. You need to be flexible, agile, and open to feedback and learning. You can use tools such as the build-measure-learn loop, the feedback grid, or the pivot pyramid to guide your iteration and improvement process.

5 Communicate and collaborate

The fifth step is to communicate and collaborate with your team, customers, partners, and stakeholders throughout your business model innovation process. Communication and collaboration are crucial to align your vision, goals, and strategy, and to leverage the skills, knowledge, and resources of your network. You need to share your progress, challenges, and learnings, and solicit feedback, input, and support from your key stakeholders. You can use tools such as the stakeholder map, the empathy map, or the team alignment map to identify, understand, and engage your stakeholders.

6 Celebrate and learn

The sixth step is to celebrate and learn from your business model innovation process, whether you succeed or fail. Celebrating and learning are important to acknowledge your efforts, achievements, and learnings, and to motivate yourself and your team for future challenges and opportunities. You need to recognize your wins, losses, and learnings, and share them with your team, customers, partners, and stakeholders. You can use tools such as the retrospective, the learning journal, or the innovation portfolio to document, review, and share your business model innovation process.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?