Do you still have a business model?
Are you still in business?
This is what we're going to
talk about in this video.
But before going there, imagine
a situation where you are a just
newly minted CEO and pretty much
the first thing you need to do is
lay off two thirds of your people.
And you realise that you don't have
any business left more or less.
95% of your revenues are gone.
What do you do?
You still have a bit of assets.
You still have a bit of time,
but the things are not working
the way they used to do.
I'm going to tell you more about this
case, it's a real case, what the CEO did.
But before that let's
focus on your business.
Let's focus on what are we doing now?
Pretty much everyone is
coping if you have a business.
Do you still have a business model?
For a lot of people, a lot of companies,
2020 actually killed the business, the
business model, the revenue model, the way
it was carried out, the way it was done.
But for many, like the saying goes:
first, gradually, and then suddenly.
It may not have
materialised completely yet.
You may have a bit of feeling in
your stomach that it's not really
working, it's not getting back.
But you're still getting money
and you still have customers.
Things are still going, BUT,
and this is the big BUT.
This is something I've been
thinking a lot this year.
This is something I've been really focused
on with the companies I've been working.
And this is something I think
what you should do as well.
Because customers, they are not stopping.
They are adapting already.
Everybody's a consumer.
So we are all adapting
to this new reality.
We have been staying more at home,
we've been doing things differently.
We've been skipping things.
We've been replacing things.
Probably our values have changed a bit.
Also the way we think about some things.
What is cool?
What is trendy?
All these things have changed.
And because this has been going on
quite a bit of the year already, it
means that we are not going back.
So we are really starting to
replace the old with the new.
And in a way we could also consider
that we are in a new world.
Imagine if you just landed on the moon.
And you're just figuring out the
lay of the land, gravity, how all
things are working in this colony.
Obviously it's not earth.
You cannot go back.
The last shuttle just left.
The only way is forward.
You just cannot hide.
You need to cope with the reality and it's
this big of a change what's happening now.
And it's uncomfortable.
It's not fun, but it is what it is.
So it's just better to start
and look, wake up, explore,
be playful, brave as well.
But act now.
And what I suggest is that you actually
look with the fresh set of eyes.
Maybe you borrow someone else's
insights if you know someone who
is not vested in your business.
So you can ask and could you take
a look and tell me brutally honest
what I'm doing is it really working?
You could also talk to your customers,
some of them prospective or new or old,
and really have an honest discussion
with them and say that, Hey, what I'm
doing is it really working for you?
Do you still love it?
Why you're using us?
All these things, because
things have changed.
It may not be so evident and quick
like in the beginning I was saying
that 95% of the revenues are gone.
But it's happening.
And in some cases it can be only
one thing which has changed, but
there's a lot of things going on
all this year and this decade.
But let's take one, the physical aspect.
If you're not providing things
synchronously, meaning at the same
time with the same place with the same
people, interacting, having some kind
of experience doing something together.
And you just start to do that
digitally that may actually mean that
things have fundamentally changed
and they are not working anymore.
You may not have a business model anymore.
What I did, I took a deep
breath and I stopped.
And I suggest you do the same.
Stop and question everything.
What is it what I do?
Why I'm doing?
Is it worth my time and effort?
Is it providing value to
the people at this point?
And in the future?
If you think about it in five or
ten years, is it still the way to
go and brutal honesty is needed.
Let's not fool ourselves.
Let's not fool others.
Let's see how things really are.
And there's no right or wrong.
We all here together figuring this out.
There's a lot of trials and errors.
Everybody's trying to
swim the best they can.
And some will succeed because they find
something which works in this new world.
This is my message.
There's no turning back.
No point waiting.
It's new.
It's uncomfortable.
And we are in a new world.
Get over it.
You can do it.
Do you remember the guy I was
talking about at the beginning?
It's an actual real case.
The CEO is called Miika Huttunen.
The organisation is Slush.org.
They are one of the biggest
business conference organisers
in the startup field globally.
And they've been doing that from really
humble beginnings the last decade.
Now it's, one of the
biggest events in the world.
This was the situation earlier this year.
They change their CEO every year.
Miika just started and they were planning
the event already for a few weeks.
And then corona happened.
95% of the business is gone.
They didn't really feel
like doing a digital event.
They decided cancel the
whole event this year.
They didn't want to do it
because of too much uncertainty.
So what did they do?
They started to ask the questions,
the difficult questions.
They asked the questions
about why do we exist?
What we do?
The whom we are doing it?
And, are there any other ways we could
actually do the things we are doing now
instead of having a two day event, once a
year, could we help startups and investors
and other stakeholders continuously?
365 days a year, a year
round with a new way.
And this is basically what they did.
They started to pivot and they launched
a new product just after four months from
starting from scratch and now it's alive.
If you want to know more, I just
happened to have a podcast episode
recorded with Miika Huttunen.
That's available.
You can check it out like all my
episodes www.talkswithpetri.com.
And I hope to see you next time!
