When I started out as an independent consultant while still in youth service, a friend once recommended me to a client who had a long-harbored fantasy of owning a dream business ― mobile toilet in the streets of Abuja. We settled for an appointment and met in a pub in Central Business District and for a stretch of hours he poured out his dreams and desires. I took note.
Finally, after he emptied his Red Label he asked “Val, can you get me ALL of these in ink?”

“Sure sir”

Days later I turned up with a single sheet of paper secured in a flat file. He was furious. “Is this ALL of it! My multi million naira shit business in a single sheet of paper?” he squealed waving it in the air.

“Not exactly sir, I smiled “but if you would let me I could explain something interesting to you” I said calmly. He looked from me to the paper and back. The disgust in his eyes shone brightly like the noonday sun. “Go ahead” he said

 “I know you were probably expecting a 70 page business plan with 10 rolls of spreadsheets and tens of slide presentations that essentially contains a plethora of assumptions in market probability, scalability and financial projections.'' I continued  ''You want to feel the raw digits. I quite understand sir. However we can only land safely on that happy shore through that single sheet of paper in your hands. What you have there is the sweetheart of all startups. It’s a business Model Canvas! In one swipe any mind can read into the soul of your business. It’s the architectural brief of your soon-to-be business edifice. Flexible, measurable and susceptible to immediate adjustment as predefined factors dictate. Investors love that sheet sir.” I paused

“Ok that’s quite incredible, but how then do we start and how do I see the future without a business plan?” He inquired sitting back now to digest more

“If you’ll permit me,'' I kicked off again ''I could develop a cost structure with digits based on the outline of the Business Model Canvas. We could walk with that for maybe three to five months while we gather data from our daily operations. These collected data will be analyzed and developed into the tool to create a solid business plan nearly or entirely devoid of unwarrantable assumptions. That we could run with for years. And that would be the future!”

After Thought
This business like many wannabe ventures never kicked-off beyond the papers as my client left town suddenly. But the point is a lot of startups spend an ample amount of valuable time and energy trying so hard to craft an extensively perfect business plan which only if you look closely is often riddled with untested assumptions that is destined to hit rock bottom. Today’s market is so volatile that even large establishments with all the artificial intelligence are getting their assumptions and product predictions messed up by untamable market reactions.

In fact many other promising ventures that were largely based on curated data even with huge financial backing from venture capitalist have folded up largely due to evidential failure in walking with a simple model or rather an over reliance on a voluminous business plan that has grown too big for modification without immediate consequences.


In making it simple, here's is a list of reasons why a model should come before a plan

1. Business Model Canvas is not entirely the absent of a Business Plan. My submission is that a Business Model Canvas on just one sheet of paper which can be developed in less than an hour should be a major priority before a 70 page Business Plan that could consume valuable months of research and documentation.
 
2. By setting up a Model Canvas, a business owner can technically run a business until a comprehensive Business Plan can be crafted.
 
3. With a Model Canvas you can adequately scale your business and make further adjustment which would be transformed into determining factors when designing a Business Plan.
 
4. If a business is managed with a Model Canvas, the business owner gets firsthand data on market situation, customer feedbacks and other relevant statistics. With this realistic information, the assumptions that are often credited especially when developing financial projections on a Business Plan would be largely reduced as the figures gathered while running the business on a Model Canvas will come very handy.
 
5. For startups that often worry there head out over a Business Plan they would be glad to know that in recent times investors are attracted to Model Canvas because it takes you straight to the pilot seat.