Guide
Innovation Strategy
28.10.2024
Lisa Yerebakan

Built to Last - Is Your Business Model Worth the Effort?

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In business, effort isn’t the problem. Misplaced effort is. I work with founders and successors who are relentlessly dedicated - hustling to grow, modernize, or pivot. But here’s the uncomfortable question I often have to ask: Is the business model you’re building actually worth the effort? In this issue, I’ll share how I evaluate whether a model is built for long-term value - and how I helped a client move from limited profitability to scalable potential by evolving within their core. Let’s get into it.


What Exactly Is a Business Model?

At its core, a business model is your formula for creating and capturing value. It answers four essential questions:

  1. What is your value proposition?
  2. Who is your target customer?
  3. How will you deliver that value?
  4. Why is it profitable?

Sounds simple. But building a model that holds under real pressure is anything but.

Insight

Whether you’re building from scratch or modernizing a legacy company, effort alone won’t save a weak model. That’s especially true for SMEs, where resources are tight and opportunity cost is high. Many founders start from passion. Legacy leaders often start from operations. But both fall into the same trap: focusing on doing instead of stepping back to ask if the model can actually scale. That’s why I’ve been digging into Exponential Organizations 2.0 by Salim Ismail, Peter H. Diamandis, and Michael S. Malone - not because every company needs to scale exponentially, but because the framework helps clarify what makes a model future-proof.

Here’s what I look for when assessing a model’s potential:

What Makes a Business Model Worth the Effort?

  • Market Alignment - Is the business riding a growing wave - or swimming upstream?
  • Profitable Customers - Are you solving a problem people will pay premium prices to fix?
  • Scalability - Can your model scale without a 1:1 cost increase? Think asset-light structures, data, or network effects.
  • Outperformance - Are you solving the problem better than anyone else?
  • Built for Change -Does your model evolve with your market - or fight it?

Case: The Clinic That Didn’t Pivot to Tech


Since 2021, I’ve worked with a mental health clinic. On paper, they were in the perfect market: growing demand, professional credibility, operational excellence. But one thing held them back - profitability. They were bound to a regulated pricing structure with limited upside. Not exactly the dream conditions for scaling.

My first instinct? Go digital. That’s what the market was doing. But here’s the catch: their strengths weren’t digital. Their team wasn’t tech-native. And their brand was rooted in trust, quality, and evidence-based care. So instead of forcing a pivot, we doubled down on what made them great - and built outward from there. We identified complementary tariff classes, expanded strategically, and focused on leveraging their core capabilities in new, more profitable directions. No reinvention. Just smart evolution.


The Lesson:

You don’t need to chase every trend. You need to know which structure supports your growth - and which one drains your energy without real return. Even when a model looks good on paper, if the economics, market fit, or internal alignment isn’t there, you’re just pushing a boulder uphill. The best models feel lighter the more you build. They create momentum, not friction.


Question

How well does your current business model measure up to the criteria above? Are you building something that scales with you - or something you have to drag behind you?

Opportunity

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