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Free Must-Attend Workshops for Local Businesses

March 31, 2014

Note: The date of the first session has been moved to May 5.

One of the most important jobs for anyone starting or running a company is to understand your customer.

Until recently, this has been more art than science, combining best guesses and gut instinct with survey results that might — or might not — offer valid insights into the real needs and motivations of your customers.

Now new ideas are transforming business best practices. An entire "Lean Start-up" movement has emerged from the Business Canvas model developed by Steve Blank. The idea is simple: in our rapidly changing world, businesses need to enter markets faster and adapt quickly to changes in what customers need and also competing offerings.

The Lean Canvas model discards the old-fashioned business plan in favour of a "canvas" that is focused around understanding the problems a customer has, as well as the solutions and value that a company can offer to solve those problems.

Now businesses and start-ups in Whitchurch-Stouffville will be able to learn about the Lean Canvas approach in two seminars being hosted by the Town and Venture Lab.

The first session, on May 5, will explore a new model for understanding your customers: Steve Blank's Customer Development methodology. Blank's customer development methodology is thought to be a more scientific approach to market research and customer understanding.

The second session (date to be confirmed) will build on the first session and take participants through the Business Model Canvas tool.

These workshops are must-attend events for local businesses and anyone looking to start a new business.

Why? Because the business world is changing. The way customers make buying decisions is becoming more sophisticated, with options no longer just within Canada, but anywhere around the globe.

Canadian businesses — local businesses — cannot afford to assume that the status quo is acceptable. Even if your customers are loyal today, your business could be devastated by a disruptive market shift if you are not highly aligned with your customers.

Here is what you can expect to learn in the two workshops.

Workshop 1: Discovering Your Customer and Improving Your Business Model

Date: May 5, 2014 (note date change)

You will learn:

• how to get out of your business and talk to customers;
• how you can use customer interviews to test, validate and refine your business model.

Workshop 2: Discovering Your Customer and Improving Your Business Model — Part 2

Date: TBD

You will learn:

• how to use the Business Model Canvas tool;
• how to better define your company's business model.

Really, the decision about whether to attend / not attend these sessions should be a no-brainer.

If you want to stay in business, go. If you want to outdo the competition, go. If you want to better understand your customers and deliver value, go. If you find you struggle to properly communicate the value of your products and/or services to your customers, go.

If you do decide to go — (and I think we've conveyed as strongly as we can that you should!) — please RSVP with nirvana.champion@townofws.ca.