XY Learn · Value Discovery
Business Modelling
Conceptualise a business model that survives contact with the market.
Δ Business model
Duration
2 days
Hours
8 hours (4 hours/day)
Delivery
Online, live cohort or private team
Who it's for
Founders, CXOs, product leaders
The hook
Most startups do not fail at execution. They execute perfectly on a model whose arithmetic never worked.
Intent · Leave with two or three modelled alternatives — segment, offer, price, channel, cost to serve — each with ballpark numbers, so the build decision is arithmetic, not opinion.
Take this if
Six signals you are leaking this value
01
You cannot plot the big picture on one page
02
Segmentation is a demographic, not a behaviour
03
No articulated customer-perceived value
04
Channels to market are unknown or borrowed
05
Discounting is how you close
06
Unit economics only work at a scale you have never seen
About the course
A business model is a calibrated engine, not a canvas exercise. It identifies opportunity, defines what a customer actually wants, segments who will pay first, and fits the key activities, processes, assets, people and partners that create and deliver that value.
We navigate from 30,000 ft to 30 ft: market structure and game theory at the top, cost-to-serve and margin per transaction at the bottom. You model alternatives instead of defending the first one you wrote down.
2026 additions: AI-cost-of-goods modelling (inference as COGS), usage vs seat vs outcome pricing, platform and marketplace liquidity mechanics, and agent-mediated distribution — where the buyer is increasingly software, not a human browsing a website.
Tools you will use
- Business Model Kit
- Value chain map
- Unit-economics workbook
- Pricing architecture matrix
- Assumption register
Prerequisite
Curiosity and willingness to have your arithmetic questioned.
Curriculum
What we cover, hour by hour
01 · The big picture
- Opportunity framing: market structure, incumbents, substitutes
- Value chain map — where margin actually pools today
- Game theory: how the market responds when you win
- Model archetypes from adjacent industries
02 · Customer and value
- Behaviour-based segmentation and beachhead selection
- Customer-perceived value vs delivered value
- Jobs, pains, substitutes and current spend
- Experiential journey and relationship design
03 · Economics
- Pricing architectures: seat, usage, outcome, hybrid
- AI inference and infra as variable COGS
- Contribution margin, CAC payback, cost to serve
- Ballpark modelling: three scenarios, one spreadsheet
04 · Delivery and defensibility
- Channels to market and partner leverage
- Buy, build or partner decisions per key activity
- Network effects, data loops and switching costs
- Risk-to-ship assumption register with kill criteria
Key takeaways
- How to build and stress-test a business model
- Stitching the elements into one story
- What customer value really means
- Channels to market and experiential journey
- Pricing the value, not the cost
- Network effects and value-chain leverage
- Buy / build / partner calls
- Assumption register and cost structure
You leave with
- One-page model canvas for 2–3 alternatives
- Unit-economics workbook with scenarios
- Segment and beachhead rationale
- Assumption register with kill criteria
Measured value
The numbers this course is meant to move
| Metric | Target |
|---|---|
| Contribution margin | Modelled per segment, > 60% at target scale |
| CAC payback | < 12 months in the chosen channel |
| Assumptions retired | Top 5 economic assumptions given a test and a date |
Run this with your team
Cohort seats or a private team session — 8 hours (4 hours/day), delivered online and applied to your own venture.
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