This course is part of the Entrepreneurship: Growing Your Business Specialization

4.6
stars
246 ratings

Alex Cowan

10,253 already enrolled

Offered By

Entrepreneurship: Growing Your Business SpecializationUniversity of Virginia

About this Course

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Have you ever gotten really excited about reading or writing a business plan? You might have started out excited, but I’m going to bet you didn’t stay that way. Let’s be honest- business plans are boring and mostly ignored. 
The beauty of the one-page Business Model Canvas is that it drives meaningful focus. It helps us organize our ideas and have better discussions by forcing specificity and bringing linkages between key business drivers to the foreground. Innovation requires one hand being very focused on a fundamental need or problem while the other hand quickly tests different solutions. For this, the Business Model Canvas is very innovation friendly: It's a lot easier to tweak the model and try things with something that's sitting on a single page

In this course, developed at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia and taught by top-ranked faculty, you’ll learn key tools from the worlds of design thinking and Lean Startup to approach the Canvas with thoughtfulness, focus, and above all a test-driven approach to business model innovation.

Flexible deadlines

Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Course 4 of 4 in the

Entrepreneurship: Growing Your Business Specialization

Beginner Level

Some experience with business development and innovation is helpful, but not required.

Approx. 4 hours to complete

English

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What you will learn

How to create an explicit view of a company or product strategy in 20 minutes (with a little practice!)
How to apply innovation tools from the worlds of design thinking and Lean Startup to your business model design
How to use the Canvas to organize ideas and have better discussions by driving to specifics and linkages between key business drivers
How to apply a test-driven approach to business model innovation

Skills you will gain

Product/Market Fit
Business Model
Product Management
business focus
corporate innovation

Flexible deadlines

Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Course 4 of 4 in the

Entrepreneurship: Growing Your Business Specialization

Beginner Level

Some experience with business development and innovation is helpful, but not required.

Approx. 4 hours to complete

English

Could your company benefit from training employees on in-demand skills?

Try Coursera for Business

Instructor

Instructor rating

4.75/5 (64 Ratings)

Alex Cowan

Faculty & Batten Fellow

Darden School of Business

418,550 Learners

20 Courses

Offered by

University of Virginia

A premier institution of higher education, The University of Virginia offers outstanding academics, world-class faculty, and an inspiring, supportive environment. Founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819, the University is guided by his vision of discovery, innovation, and development of the full potential of students from all walks of life. Through these courses, global learners have an opportunity to study with renowned scholars and thought leaders.

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Syllabus - What you will learn from this course

Week

Week 1

2 hours to complete

Focusing for Profitability and Growth

How do you avoid the distractions that keep companies from innovating their way to organic growth? The best recipe is a hyper focus on finding product/market fit and scaling it. Fortunately, the Canvas is a great way to create that focus. We’ll start the course by looking at the jobs you do for customers and how your particular propositions drive revenue. We’ll also look at how you link those with focused customer journeys to keep these customer-centric linkages healthy and growing.

2 hours to complete

18 videos (Total 81 min), 1 reading, 1 quiz

18 videos

Focusing Innovation with the Business Model Canvas2m

Getting Started with the Canvas2m

Making the Canvas Work for You: Your Role4m

Making the Canvas Work for You: Product Phase4m

Meet Enable Quiz2m

Creating a Testable Product/Market Fit5m

Knowing Your Customer5m

Getting to Know Your Customer Better: Think See Feel Do4m

Knowing What Propositions to Test6m

Creating Testable Propositions3m

Testing Your Propositions8m

Sculpting the Customer Journey: AIDAOR3m

Storyboarding AIDAOR7m

Delivering the Customer Journey through Customer Relationships and Channels2m

Mapping Customer Relationships and Channels6m

Persona/Proposition Fit and Revenue Drivers6m

Scaling Product/Market Fit with the Growth Hacking Canvas5m

Creating a Culture of Experimentation1m

1 reading

Course Overview & Requirements10m

1 practice exercise

Week 1 Quiz on Focusing for Profitability and Growth30m

Week

Week 2

1 hour to complete

How do you focus your capabilities and organization to maximize profitability?

How do you develop the team(s) and capabilities you need to find your next big thing? And then scale it before your competition catches up? This week, you’ll learn how to focus your capabilities and assets on delivering to the customer. In particular, we’ll look at three core business model types which have distinct implications for where you should focus your organization with regard to Key Activities, Key Resources, and Key Partners.

1 hour to complete

10 videos (Total 48 min)

10 videos

The Focused Organization1m

Understanding Business Model Type4m

Business Model Type Implications6m

Key Activities vs Important Activities3m

Key Activities and Strategy-Driven Process Design8m

Key Partners3m

Costs Now vs. Costs Later6m

The Hard Things about Digital Transformation & Corporate Innovation7m

Focusing Your Innovation Pipeline with the Corporate Innovation Canvas5m

Course Conclusion56s

1 practice exercise

Week 2 Quiz on Focusing Your Organization30m

Reviews

4.6

75 reviews

5 stars
74.79%
4 stars
17.88%
3 stars
4.87%
2 stars
1.62%
1 star
0.81%

TOP REVIEWS FROM INNOVATING WITH THE BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS

by ABSep 23, 2019

The information is really well structured and easy to follow. It doesn't live anything unclear and it's all actionable content.

by EADec 16, 2022

An out-of-the-box point of view about how businesses can participate in innovation and satisfy the entrepreneurial part of their resources.

by RBOct 3, 2020

Loved It. Able to use immediately. Week 1 was straight forward whilst Week 2 I found more challenging.

by WYNov 24, 2020

Great stuffs but it is too short. It would be great if Alex can provide more examples of some real live existing companies. Nevertheless, it is highly recommended

View all reviews

About the Entrepreneurship: Growing Your Business Specialization

Growing a business needs a dynamic set of skills, ranging from leadership, employee management, strategy, planning, finance, accounting, ethics, accountability, and profitability.

Developed at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, and led by top-ranked Darden faculty, this specialization covers challenges faced by private businesses, when they attempt to grow substantially. It starts with common challenges and human resource issues faced by private business. It then teaches you essential financial accounting skills for entrepreneurs, such as creating and interpreting cash flow, balance sheet, and income statements to make financial health conclusions. This specialization also presents an exciting new approach to values-driven leadership development in the workplace, in business education, and in life. In an action oriented introduction to Giving Voice to Values (GVV), it is not about persuading people to be more ethical, but instead starts from the premise that most of us already want to act on our values, and we feel that we have a reasonable chance of doing so effectively. It then discusses the emergence of a new story about business, contextualizing it within a societal framework. Finally, it teaches you to write innovative business plans, by driving meaningful focus, forcing specificity, and bringing linkages between key business drivers to the foreground.

Frequently Asked Questions

When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?
Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option:
The course may not offer an audit option. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid.
The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
What will I get if I subscribe to this Specialization?
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
Is financial aid available?
Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.

More questions? Visit the Learner Help Center.

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Innovating with the Business Model Canvas

About this Course

What you will learn

Skills you will gain