Build a business model your customers actually want
How to turn customer insights into a meaningful difference
Founders often obsess over building the right product while overlooking a critical decision: choosing an effective business model.
Your customers don’t just buy a solution—they buy into how you deliver value and how they pay for it. A poorly aligned model creates friction, while a strategic one builds trust. I want to show you an approach I’ve been working on for crafting business models that customers will intuitively prefer.
In my last post, I explored six essential questions that reveal what your customers truly value. Now let’s look at how you can use the answers to make it more appealing for them to choose you over the alternatives.
Too often, founders who seek autonomy and sustainable growth instead of funding treat customer insights as mere product feedback, while defaulting to conventional business models. That's a lost opportunity.
The real advantage comes when you design both your offer and your business model around the customer's job-to-be-done — simplifying their decisions by aligning with their priorities and behaviours.
In this post, I’ll walk you through a four-step process to translate your insights into a differentiated, resilient business model aligned with your goals as a founder.
Business models are not just about how you want to make money. They're about how customers want to experience solving their job-to-be-done.
Step 1: Make your customer insights useful for business model design
After interviewing enough customers to spot patterns, the key is turning those insights into strategic guidance — not just product features but core business model choices.
To transform your insights into clear themes, ask yourself these key questions:
What do customers value most in completing their task?
Flexibility & Control:Tailored solutions or standard options?
Convenience & Accessibility: Fast results, or are they patient?
Risk Tolerance: Cautious, or willing to take a chance for the right outcome?
How should you deliver value and get paid to fit those expectations?
Frequency & Duration: Short or long-term value episodes?
Product Durability: A temporary fix or a lasting solution?
Expertise Requirements: Can they do it themselves, or do they need expert help?
To make this actionable, focus on clarity: pick 2-3 customer priorities that your business model needs to align with.
Step 2: Formulate your primary business model hypothesis
Now that you’ve clarified your customer priorities, the next move is to translate them into an initial business model hypothesis. Not a fully detailed plan — just a strong guess about the structure of your model.
Create a model that serves both your customers' needs and your personal definition of success.
Most business models fall into one of five broad categories:
Transaction Models: Best for one-off or occasional purchases, especially when customers value flexibility and low commitment. (e.g., Etsy, Shopify stores).
Marketplace/Platform Models: Ideal when customers value variety, choice, and connections (e.g., Airbnb, Upwork).
Subscription/Access Models: Ideal when customers need regular access to value and prefer predictability (e.g., Netflix, Spotify).
Expertise/Service Models: Necessary for customers needing specialised knowledge or customisation. (e.g., MasterClass, consulting firms).
Replication/Licensing Model: Effective when customers want proven systems or intellectual property they can independently implement (e.g., McDonald's franchises, software licensing).1
Avoid chasing trends or indulging personal preferences. Ask yourself:
Which model aligns with how my customers want to solve their problem?
Which model reduces friction in their decision-making and use?
Which model feels authentic, not forced, based on what they’ve told me?
Which model lets me build my business at my own pace, maintaining my autonomy?
If you’ve done Step 1 properly, you’ll often find that one or two business model types will stand out. Sometimes, combinations are worth exploring; however, begin by focusing on the main model.
This gives you a coherent foundation to work from and prepares you to stress-test your assumptions more rigorously in the next step.
Step 3: Evaluate your business model options
Once you have a primary business model hypothesis, the next step is to test it. Identify the critical assumptions it relies on — and find out early where the risks are.
What must be true for this model to succeed? This question helps you focus on testing conditions, not opinions.
For your chosen model, work through these questions:
Customer Behaviour: What specific behaviours must customers show? (e.g., willingness to subscribe, comfortable buying through a marketplace)
Market Conditions: What environmental factors must hold true? (e.g., regulatory freedom, adequate supply or demand)
Internal Capabilities: What must your business be able to deliver consistently? (e.g., high service quality, low friction onboarding)
Founder Fit: How does this model support your personal goals and definition of success? (e.g., lifestyle flexibility, growth pace, required investment)
Prioritise the most fragile or uncertain assumptions as your "leaps of faith." Quick experiments, MVP launches, or customer conversations are ideal for testing these. Good founders don’t avoid assumptions; they make them visible, test them early, and adapt based on real evidence.
This habit significantly reduces wasted effort and sharpens your model before you invest heavily in building it.
Step 4: Verify Your Numbers and Refine
A business model isn't just about aligning with customer needs — it also needs to be financially viable.
Unlike venture-backed models that can burn cash for years seeking hypergrowth, a sustainable business requires realistic economics from early stages.
At this stage, verify the numbers:
Pricing: What are customers realistically willing to pay based on the value they receive?
Margins: Can you deliver your solution profitably at that price point, after accounting for all direct costs?
Sustainability: Does your model support the necessary revenue frequency and customer retention?
Runway Requirements: How long until this model generates enough revenue to support you? Can you bootstrap this or will you need external funding?
You don't need a perfect spreadsheet yet, but you do need to spot early red flags:
Models relying on high churn and constant new customer acquisition.
Offers where the delivery cost is too close to the price customers will accept.
Hidden operational complexity that could strain margins as you scale.
Refine and adjust pricing tiers, bundle services, or simplify operations to improve viability. The aim is simple: ensure your business model not only fits your customers' job-to-be-done but can also sustainably fund your journey.
A strong business model is one that benefits both your customers and you.
Stacking and hybrid models
As traction grows, consider blending models—for example, combining direct sales with subscriptions to create a flywheel effect.
Stacking can create powerful flywheels over time. But in the early stages, simplicity is key. Focus on mastering one model first before adding complexity. It’s much easier to layer in additional models later once your foundation is strong.
Final Thoughts: Why this framework, and what's next?
Unlike tools like the Business Model Canvas that map existing models, this framework targets choice — helping you pick the right model upfront that serves both your customers as well as your personal definition of success. It fills the gap between customer insight and founder autonomy.
The more your business model reflects your customers’ reality, the harder it will be to copy—and the easier it will be for them to choose you. That’s the key advantage of designing a model that works for them and for you.
This framework is still a work in progress — not yet fully tested at scale. I’d love to hear your feedback:
What stands out?
What feels unclear or incomplete?
How would you improve it?
Please share your thoughts in the comments. Let’s keep building together.
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This could be seen as a subset of the Expertise category. But it is different insofar as your continuing involvement is much reduced in the case of franchises, or eliminated in the case of IP licensing. These models transfer expertise, whereas the previous ones use it to provide an ongoing service.