The Business Model Canvas (ビジネスモデルキャンバス) is a framework that splits who a business serves, what value it delivers and how it earns money into nine building blocks drawn on a single sheet.
Building block
Question it answers
Customer segments
Who is the business for?
Value propositions
What value do we offer customers?
Channels
Through which routes do we deliver the value?
Customer relationships
How do we stay connected with customers?
Revenue streams
Where does the money come from?
Key resources
Which people, assets and technology are essential?
Key activities
What do we do to create the value?
Key partners
Who do we work with?
Cost structure
Where does the money go?
The nine blocks are linked, so changing the target customer segment usually means rethinking the value proposition, channels and revenue streams as well. Because the whole picture fits on one sheet, teams use it to discuss with stakeholders how to turn a new technology into a business, swapping blocks in and out to compare options.
AnalogyIt is like planning a new shop by sticking notes for target customers, products, suppliers and costs on one planning board, then rearranging them while looking at the whole.
How to rememberA canvas is what painters paint on. Picture the whole business sketched onto a single canvas.
The API economy (APIエコノミー) is the economic sphere that grows when companies publish their functions or data as APIs (connection points other programs can call) and other companies combine them to build new services.
Publish functions as APIs
Others call and embed them
New combined services
Wider use brings revenue and customers
The more services adopt the functions, the more new revenue and customer opportunities the publishing company gains.
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Instead of developing every function in-house, a company can bring in outside functions and launch a new service quickly. Disclosing how to connect to one's own systems so that other companies can use them is called an open API (オープンAPI), one of the ways the API economy expands.
AnalogyJust as appliances built for a standard wall socket work in any home, publishing a fixed connection point lets many companies plug in their products and services, widening what they can do.
How to rememberAn economy is a place where many participants trade with one another. Read the term as a marketplace where companies trade through APIs.
Exam points
ExamThe API economy (APIエコノミー) is built on connection points whose specifications are public and which other companies' systems can call. The more companies join, the wider the range of combinations, and the easier it becomes to create new services that bundle several firms' functions.
VC is the abbreviation formed from the initials of Venture Capital and refers to venture capital (ベンチャーキャピタル).
VC means an investment firm that funds promising young companies, or the pool of money (a fund) raised for that purpose. How it picks companies and recovers its returns is covered next under venture capital.
How to rememberA venture is an undertaking that involves risk. Read VC as capital staked on businesses that may or may not succeed, and the meaning falls into place.
Exam points
Mix-upVC provides money as an equity investment (出資) in exchange for shares, with no obligation to repay. That makes it a different kind of money from a loan (融資) from a bank or similar lender, which assumes repayment of principal and interest.
Venture capital (ベンチャーキャピタル) refers to investment firms that put money into unlisted young companies with growth potential and profit by selling their shares once the companies have grown.
Invest in a promising unlisted company
Support management to drive growth
IPO or sale to another company
Sell the shares and recover the gains
It sells the shares it holds and keeps the difference from the amount invested as profit.
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Many of the companies it backs will fail, so it spreads its money across several of them and relies on a few big successes to make the whole portfolio profitable. For start-ups, it is a way to raise money at a stage when they lack collateral and a track record and struggle to borrow from banks.
AnalogyIt resembles a sponsor who funds an unknown young athlete early on and collects a return once the athlete becomes a star.
Exam points
ExamVenture capital (ベンチャーキャピタル) firms provide money to unlisted companies seeking growth through new businesses, and their main aim is the profit from selling their shares after those companies have grown.
CVC is the abbreviation formed from the initials of Corporate Venture Capital and refers to corporate venture capital (コーポレートベンチャーキャピタル).
CVC means investment by an operating company in start-ups, or the organization it sets up for this, such as an internal unit, a subsidiary or a fund. Why such companies invest is covered next under corporate venture capital.
How to rememberThe leading C stands for Corporate, meaning a company with its own core business. Think of it as VC with an operating company's C in front.
Corporate venture capital (コーポレートベンチャーキャピタル) is investment in start-ups by an operating company whose main business is not investing, aimed at synergy with its own business, along with the organization that carries it out.
Through these investments, the company gains early access to new technologies and business ideas it lacks, leading to new businesses or a stronger core business. It is positioned within technology development strategy as one way to bring in technology from outside young companies rather than developing everything in-house.
AnalogyIt is like a company sports team backing a young player who could strengthen its squad, hoping to play alongside them in the future.
Exam points
Mix-upCorporate venture capital (コーポレートベンチャーキャピタル) puts weight on a strategic goal: synergy between the investee and the company's own business. Venture capital (ベンチャーキャピタル) mainly aims at the financial gain from selling its shares.
Investment firms and funds that specialize in investing
Operating companies with their own core business (or their subsidiaries and funds)
Key differenceMain goal
Financial gain from selling the shares
Synergy with its own business, gaining new technology and new businesses
How investees are chosen
Whether it can grow big and sell at a high price
Whether its technology or business helps the company's own business
Key points
The Business Model Canvas (ビジネスモデルキャンバス) draws how a business works on one sheet using nine blocks, so stakeholders can share it and compare options.
The API economy (APIエコノミー) grows as companies open their functions as APIs and others embed them, producing services no single company could build alone.
Venture capital (ベンチャーキャピタル) invests in unlisted growth companies and recovers its profit by selling the shares after they grow.
Corporate venture capital (コーポレートベンチャーキャピタル) is investment by an operating company in start-ups to bring in new technologies and business ideas.