Guiding Your Flight Progress: The Power of Dashboards--Building a Better Business Model Through Trial and Error

By: John Mullins and Randy Komisar

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Synopsis: As entrepreneurs, many of our assumptions and initial plans are shaped by the examples of companies and business models that came before. But what happens when these analogs reach the limit of what they can tell us? A leap of faith is required, driven by a burning question that cannot be answered without some real-world data. Once hypotheses have been formed, we need to test them as quickly and cheaply as possible to measure the results of our risks. In this chapter, the authors outline the process of dashboarding--keeping a systematic record of your hypotheses and their results. Dashboarding will allow you to constantly test your assumptions at every stage of your journey from Plan A to a Plan B or C or Z that will deliver you the kind of success you seek. This chapter demonstrates the importance of this iterative process using the inspiring cases of GlobalGiving and Aggregate Knowledge. This chapter was originally published as Chapter 2 of "Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through to a Better Business Model."