Page 98 - AC/E's Digital Culture Annual Report 2015

Cultural business models on the Internet98empathise with that archetype and, if possible, incorporate it into the development process.We are speaking to an extent of co-creation,a perspective that is chiefly addressed by the discipline of Design Thinking and currently taught at the most prestigious business schools, both international (Stanford, Harvard and Rotman School) and national (IE, ESADE and EOI).It is true that if we build products that are consonant with the needs of the user or our customer (company) we are more than halfway there and we will possibly come up with “something” that someone is willing to pay for. However, although this is a necessary condition, it is not enough by itself, as most times we build perfectly executed products (Problem-Solution Fit) but lack a market (Solution-Market Fit). This takes us to the next lesson.If we build products consonant with the user’s needs we are more than halfway there.Lesson four, companies often fail because instead of being concerned with searching they are obsessed with delivery. That is, they focus on the functional building part butnot on identifying and building the market. User-centred project management processes point to a direct active presence of the user in the process of developing the product or service, but lack an approach centred on converting users into customers, that is, the need to monetise (sell).To understand this better, let us take as a refer- ence the technology adoption lifecycle or Rogers’ Bell curve. Good development underpinned by a project methodology mostly ends up satisfying innovators or early adopters, but lacks the ability to reach the following groups of users. This is not due to faulty development of the product or service; it is because the mechanisms and adjust- ments needed to ensure a good market fit have not been provided for.Source: Rogers’ Bell curve, innovation adoption life cycleBasically, we are speaking of a situation in which, without having defined the business model canvas, we set about building a groupof hypotheses that need to be tested and understood in order to ensure the feasibility of the project. Because in addition to product/ service development, further variables need to be taken into account, such as channels, customer relations, poor identification of segments, etc.It is in this context that agile customer develop- ment methodologies or processes are emerging as part of the Lean Startup philosophy where build- ing a clear and concise ecosystem or niche takes priority over developing a satisfactory product. ItsHow to apply Design Thinking (DT) and Lean Startup (LS) to finding new business opportunities for the culture industries of the twenty-first century