As Osterwalder et al, the creators of the [[Business Model Canvas]], put it, business models are "the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value..."[^1] > We believe a business model can best be described through nine basic building blocks that show the logic of how a company intends to make money. The nine blocks cover the four main areas of a business: customers, offer, infrastructure, and financial viability. The business model is like a blueprint for a strategy to be implemented through organizational structures, processes, and systems... [^2] Steve Blank says a business model describes the “flow between key components of the company.”[^3] In terms of digital products, Jamie Levy dissects Osterwalder's definition "in the context of digital products": > By create, we are talking about the thing that our entire product team designs and implements—i.e., mobile app production. By deliver, we are talking about the way that thing is put in front of our customers—i.e., smartphones, the app store, and the internet. By capture, we are talking about the way that thing ultimately generates something deemed worthy—i.e., tons of users to monetize. The logic that explains the workings of all of these elements is our business model.[^4] A few key tools I like to use to *visualize* and *articulate* this rationale. 1. [[Business Model Canvas]] (or its derivative, the Lean Canvas), a one-pager oriented to seeing how the inter-related parts of a value chain come together. 2. [[Business Model Triangle]], which condenses a business model down to four key points (originally for the purpose of considering how business model innovation can happen). 3. While not strictly for business model diagrams, I like [[Ecosystem maps]] for their value in articulating the network of people *involved* in the business model. [^1]: Osterwalder, Alexander; Pigneur, Yves. Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers (The Strategyzer Series 1) (p. 12). Wiley. Kindle Edition. [^2]: Ibid., p. 15 [^3]: Steve Blank and Bob Dorf, The Startup Owner’s Manual (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2012). [^4]: Levy, Jaime. UX Strategy (p. 17).