How to Be in Business Forever: A Lesson in Sustainability

What You’ll Do

Project: Build a sustainable business model canvas.

What You’ll Learn

This class is based on my blog, AVC. Check out the first post here. I'll be hosting Office Hours on October 1st and October 15th at 6pm EST here.

Much of the emphasis around building a business today focuses on ROI, shareholder value, revenue growth, and driving efficiencies. But looking at many of the challenges facing businesses today, it seems that the focus on performance and efficiency often comes at the cost of sustainability.

Sustainability is all about figuring out how to be in business forever. And it’s crucial to the value of your company, today. We’ll cover why it’s important to avoid temptations to maximize near term profits at the expense of long term health and how to adapt your business to changing marketing dynamics. We’ll also cover how to build a team and culture that can sustain your business after the loss of a leader.

This class will be project-based and collaborative. You’ll build an adapted business model canvas that maps out a plan for the sustainability of your company. We’ll share our canvases with one another for feedback - online and in local workshops.

Themes we’ll cover will include:

Short Term Profit Maximization vs Long Term Business Health
Adapting Your Business to Changing Market Dynamics
Building a Culture That Sustains the Business
Finalizing Your Business Model Canvas

Intermediate Level

This class is for anyone interested in building a business. Whether you own a business or are planning to, you’ll find the real world skills covered in this class applicable and valuable.