Joe Exotic, Entrepreneur

In the past year of my Entrepreneurship classes, I have been learning about the Business Model Canvas. The Business Model Canvas is a framework for understanding how a venture creates, delivers, and recaptures value.

The framework was originally devised by authors Alexander Osterwalder and and Yves Pigneur in their Business Model Generation book. Having no formal background in business, this book provided me with an intuitive and entertaining explanation of how a business model is created and analyzed.

For extra credit for an exam in my New Venture Planning course, we were tasked with applying what we have learned to a fiction or nonfiction work. I chose to build a business model canvas for perhaps the world’s best known entrepreneur right now: Joe Exotic.

Here is my analysis of the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park, as operated by Joe Exotic:

GW Zoo Business Model Canvas

Click for a larger view of the canvas

I’ve really enjoyed building my understanding of business and how they operate. Understanding the whole picture of a business’s operations is incredibly helpful not only as an entrepreneur, but also as an employee and an individual.

I’ve already begun applying the concepts in Osterwalder’s books to student organizations that I am a part of; I’ve also started building a personal Canvas for my professional goals.

If you’re looking to get started with entrepreneurship and business, definitely check it out!