altMBA - Business Model Navigator
The Business Model Navigator is a library of 55 recurring business model patterns you test against your own resources and market position, so innovation starts from what's already proven rather than a blank page.
Pattern cards from the library of 55 sit beside a simple test-and-select path a team follows.
Reach for this when…
- You're competing purely on price and can't see another way to structure the business.
- A team keeps reinventing generic ideas instead of drawing on what's already proven elsewhere.
- You need shared language for 'what kind of business model is this' before you can change it.
How to run it
- Introduce the 55 business model patterns.
- Identify the pattern or patterns most relevant to the organisation or idea.
- Map how the organisation would operate under that pattern.
- Test the pattern's fit against resources, market position, and strategic intent.
- Select the best-fit pattern and redesign the business model accordingly.
A worked example
Situation. Mai Thi Lan ran a small batik retail brand in Hanoi, Vietnam, undercut on price by imported fast fashion and unsure which direction to take the business.
Applied. Her team worked through the 55 patterns, tested a handful against her actual resources and customer base, and landed on 'razor and blade': cheap starter pieces, higher-margin custom orders.
Result. Custom orders became the bulk of her margin within two seasons, and she stopped trying to compete on price.
The catch
55 patterns is a lot to hold - teams often anchor on the first one that sounds clever rather than testing several against their actual resources. A pattern that works for one company's market position can be a poor fit transplanted wholesale. And choosing a pattern is the easy part; redesigning the operating model around it is where most attempts stall.
A pattern chosen because it's fashionable, not because it fits your resources, is a rebrand, not a new business model.
Origin: Oliver Gassmann, Karolin Frankenberger, Michaela Csik