Our model has evolved since then, and I have also developed my thinking on how best to conceive and explain our model. Rather than including all of our activities on the visual, we have covered these in a separate Strategic Overview document. This means our business model can focus on the relationships between our activities and how they build on each other.
In subsequent posts I will go into more detail on the elements of the business model, but for now I will just provide a quick overview of the concepts.
Focused brands. At a high level we are focusing on AHT Group and Ross Dawson as the major brands. We will certainly be building awareness for each of the individual companies and brands to suit their needs, but across our activities we will most often promote the umbrella AHT Group brand.
Building credibility and visibility. My personal visibility means that any or our company activities can readily be seen, and the scope of both company and personal activities means that each builds visibility and credibility for each other.
Expertise. Our credibility is based on deep expertise across a number of domains relating to the future of business and society, and the network economy. We continually build our expertise by applying it with clients and in our business, and generate premium revenue from high-level corporate services.
Content. We share our expertise and lessons learned through a wide variety of content channels, both revenue-generating and free ones that build group visibility.
Ventures/ Projects. As we identify opportunities that are aligned with our existing capabilities and activities, we establish companies, using a set of common platform and processes. We provide limited seed funding, and then bootstrap or raise funds where relevant or possible. We are early in this phase, with currently just one additional company launched in stealth mode, with several more in planning.
Talent. We are building core and extended teams of talented project managers, developers, writers, and designers (see We’re Looking For Talent.) Our work principles are centered around attracting awesome people by providing flexible, part-time work on interesting projects and rewarding through base pay, profit share, and potential equity participation.
Activity loop. Each of the four major domains are linked by feeding on each other.
Financial loop. We generate consistent revenue from premium services and high-value content, invest in ventures and talent, and share profits with our team.
The framework is released on a Creative Commons license, in case anyone finds it useful to adapt to thinking about their own ventures. In line with our philosophies of open business we will share the things we find useful as we develop our business model.
I will comment in more detail on some aspects of the business model as I get the chance; I hope this useful!
