Discussing Business Model Innovation With Felix Hofmann, CEO of BMI Lab

In this episode, I took the chance to ask, Felix Hofmann, CEO of the Business Model Innovation Lab, a spin-off from the University of St. Gallen, a few questions about business model innovation and more!

To give a bit of context the Business Model Innovation Lab is a spin-off from the University of St. Gallen, from which research, the book “Business Model Navigator,” came up. The Business Model Navigator is one of my favorite books when it comes to understanding business model innovation.

Key takeaways from the interview

• Business model innovation implies a lot of testing and iterations
• Beware of falling in love with vanity metrics
• A business model comprises a revenue model, but they are not the same thing
• A revenue model is part of the “why” dimension of a business model
• The blueprint of a business model is called a pattern. This needs to be repeatable
• Often a successful business model implies mixing up several business model patterns
• Before a business model might become viable it might take up years of experimentation and testing
• A business model scalability implies two dimensions: internal and external
• The business models of the future are becoming more about creating ecosystems
• Thus, circular business models might become dominant in the future

Questions:

• What brought you to study and research business model innovation?
• Did you find the freemium model to be an effective model in your first start-up?
• Do you think can we call a business model viable when we’re missing the profit formula?
• What is for you a good definition of business model?
• What’s the difference between a business model pattern and the business model?
• Is business model innovation about mixing up those patterns and blueprints?
• How does business model scalability work?
• Are there business models that you see will be dominating in the future?
• Are there any interesting business model patterns that you notice so far in the blockchain world?
• Is there any person, academics, that you suggest following from the business modeling side?
• Is there a companion book that you suggest reading together of course with the “Business Model Navigator?”
• Key takeaways from the interview
• Suggested readings from the interview
• A glance at the business model patterns from the Business Model Navigator