⚡ How even an 𝘂𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲 will help you build your corporate venture
In 2020 I started work on a new project for fahrrad.de / Internetstores.
The task was to bring a 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗲-𝗯𝗶𝗸𝗲𝘀 to market. We had two main aspects to cover:
𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 (building and managing the inventory, creating the processes, setting up the digital storefront and marketing, hiring the team, contracting all the suppliers, checking for desirability and feasibility essentially…) and
𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘃𝗶𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆, meaning: does it even make sense to grow this business even though it theoretically cannibalizes the core business?
At that point Christian Ensslen, my business partner, brought Franz Bajorat into our expert network. 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘂𝗽 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗯𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗔-𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗲: Franz being the A-player in business case modelling.
So we started building the business case together.
For me as the Co-Preneur / external Venture Lead of the program 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿.
After only a few weeks of iteration in the business case we had 𝗮 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀.
The most important insight: 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄. By doing a sensitivity analysis across the case we learned which of the tens of parameters were influecning the strongest whether the case would turn profitable or unprofitable.
Suddenly we could 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀, do a proper Customer Lifetime Value & Profitability forecast and best of all:
𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹 (which we kinda had, but you know how startups go - things change on a daily basis).
Hope that makes the point for building an early, unverified business case and helps you in building your corporate venture!
P.S. thanks to Nele Weltner Maren Frey Dr. Hans J. Dohrmann for your trust!
