Lean Start-up Business Model Canvas Competition
Background on Lean Start-up and the Business Model Canvas Tool:
An existing business executes a new idea, product, or service using already established
infrastructure, resources, and business models. Conversely, the start-up does not have any of
that; they must build everything from scratch. Thus, the concept of Lean Start-up is based on
searching and discovering a business model that works versus executing a previously defined
model. The Lean Start-up process is an iterative (step by step) process where the entrepreneur:
1. establishes an assumption of what they think some part of the business model should
be (value proposition, customer segment, etc.),
2. develops a test for validating the assumption,
3. gets out of the building and implements the test with real people in real places,
4. evaluates the findings and either confirms the assumption or pivots to a new
assumption based on the findings, and
5. tests again until an assumption is validated by the incoming information
The Business Model Canvas is a tool that tracks the process of making assumptions, testing,
pivoting, and eventually validating a business model. The canvas takes the user through a
search and discovery process culminating in a business model based in evidence and proof.
The Business Model Competition – Judging/Scoring
Judging of the Business Model competition is in two major parts. The first is whether the
student or team of students has put due diligence and effort into following the steps of the lean
start-up method using the Business Model canvas tool. While there is a quality aspect, the first
part is much more objective in its judging, that is, the student or team of students either did or
did not due the required steps of the business model process.
The second overall area is the real-life viability of the idea and the ability to communicate it to
others. To be a successful entrepreneur, it is important to follow a logical and sound process of
searching and discovering an optimal business model. However, doing all the right steps might
not be enough if the product/service is not viable in the end. The second part is much more
subjective based on the judge’s expertise and life experience.
What will score well?
- Following the process, testing assumptions especially priority ones, following the
evidence, documenting and making needed changes (pivoting), and proven validation
- Getting out of the building & talking to customers (how many, what type of interaction)
What will not score well?
- Sales pitch with no validation, un-validated claims, no interaction with potential
customers, no testing of assumptions
Competition Process
A full search and discovery of the business model by establishing assumptions, testing, and
validating each area of the business model canvas is beyond the scope of this competition.
Flow of the Competition
- Students can present as individuals or as teams.
- Students will have approximately two minutes to set up any props, electronic audiovisuals, and/or poster of the Business Model Canvas.
- Students will have up to ten minutes for presentation followed by three minutes of
questions from the judges.
- Judges will then have up to two minutes to tabulate their scores while the next person is
setting up.
Notes
- Depending on the number of competitors, there may be two rounds where the second
round is a playoff of top scores from an initial round.
- Student competitors should note that not placing in this competition is not a final
answer of the viability of their idea. It is information, but the final judge, whether profit
or non-profit, is the marketplace. Remember, Thomas Edison’s light bulb did not work
the first 10,000 times!
- The scoring rubric is shown on the following page.
References
- Many materials on how to use the Business Canvas Model are available on the
Entrepreneurship website (http://www3.uwplatt.edu/entrepreneurship)
Top four presentations from past national competitions.
(http://www.businessmodelcompetition.com/past-winner-videos.html)
Judges’ Scoring Rubric
Student or Team:___________________________ Title:___________________________
(Scale: 1 = very poor through 10 = excellent)
Use of Business Model Canvas Process
1.
Did the team use the Business Model Canvas or similar tool to identify
and track assumptions?
2.
Did the team clearly state their assumptions/hypotheses?
3.
Did the team identify the most crucial assumptions to test first (the ones
that will kill their business)?
4.
Did the team design low cost, rapid, but reliable tests of these
hypotheses?
5
Did the team conduct the tests in a reliable manner? Number of tests - #
should be adjusted for industry, product type (web vs physical product), and
business type (B2B vs B2c)
6.
Did the team conduct the tests in a reliable manner? Quality of tests interviews are high quality, surveys & focus groups are much lower quality (you
don’t know which questions to ask) unless interviews have been conducted first
7.
Was a pivot the team made supported by evidence or did they fail to
pivot when the evidence clearly stated it?
8.
Did the team clearly state what they learned and how that learning
informed a pivot?
9.
Has the team developed a prototype or minimum viable product (we
want to reward prototypes over full products unless the product is the result of
many prototypes tested with customers—in other words, we want to reward
working from prototypes up to products, and we do not want to reward just
building products from the start)?
10.
Does the team have significant evidence that the solution is validated
(includes letters of intent, purchase contracts, sales, and partners)?
GRAND TOTAL
Comments, Feedback or Notes:
/10
/10
/10
/10
/10
/10
/10
/10
/10
/10
__________/100