The Business Model Wizard

1. 1 The Choice Stack
2. 2 The reality check
3. 3 The AI-native rival
4. 4 Premises and tripwires

The Choice Stack

Every business model is a stack of choices. Make them in order: each one narrows the next. Answer for the model you have, or the one you are planning.

1. 1 Who pays: Who pays for what you sell?

   The payer and the user are not always the same person. Advertising, marketplaces and licensing all split them.

   The person who uses itA business, for its staff or its customersAdvertisers, for the users' attentionBoth sides of a match we makeCompanies that license what we holdSoftware agents, buying on someone's behalf
2. 2 What is sold: What exactly does the customer get for the money?

   AI has made two new things sellable: finished work and measurable results.

   Access, for as long as they payA quantity of use: storage, calls, tokensFinished work: a drafted contract, a closed ticketA result they can measureA product they own outrightA free version, with a paid upgrade
3. 3 How it is priced: How is that unit priced?

   A flat fee per seat or accountBy the amount usedPer task or per resultIn tiers: good, better, bestA commission on each transactionA project fee or a day rate
4. 4 Who does the work: Who does the work the customer pays for?

   This is the choice AI moves most. Answer for today, then ask how a rival would answer it.

   Our people, customer by customerOur software; the customer does the restAI agents, with people checking the workOur engineers, inside the customer's businessOur users and partners
5. 5 Where the margin comes from: Which cost decides whether the model pays?

   Pick the line that would sink the model if it rose by half.

   People: salaries are most of the costComputing powerBuying traffic and customersMaking and moving physical goodsBuilding it once; serving it is cheap
6. 6 What keeps customers: Why do customers come back?

   Leaving would mean rebuilding how they workEveryone they deal with is already on itData or history only we holdHabit, and trust in the nameWe are the cheapestNothing much yet
7. 7 What stops a copy: Why couldn't a rival copy the whole model next year?

   AI has cut the cost of copying almost anything. Be hard on this answer.

   Data a rival cannot gatherOur scale and our cost baseOur network of usersA license, a patent or a ruleOur brandHonestly, not much