business-plan, marketing, business-modelOften find that startups don’t even look at existing common business models - is there a good way to insure that the business model selected best fits the market for the business and that common business models have been evaluated, if only in theory?
For example, I was chatting with a “startup” that has been around a year, and we were going over trends in their sales and marketing. At one point, based on what they mentioned, I suggested they look at selling the product on a subscription basis. They liked the idea, but it was completely obvious that they never even thought of doing this even though though patterns in their sales clearly pointed to this opportunity; to some degree I understand founders have an idea and that’s “the idea” - though do not understand how a startup would not even briefly run through common business models just to think about the impact it might have on the business’s strategy, the market it speaks to, etc.
What you’re talking about is business due diligence: http://www.marsdd.com/mars-library/your-investors-business-due-diligence-process-in-detail/
It should be done both internally and externally at select points during the start-up curve.
So the best way is to plan for due diligence early. One of the first questions after having an idea for an app should be “is it free, paid or subscription?”. Then plan to review it at key points.
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