An initial business model
by Kevin McDonaghI've long wanted to develop a business within the realms of contemporary art. As vacuous as that may sound, to me, it's made sense. I've mentioned this to experienced investors, and they've thought me mad. Conventional wisdom would warn any ambitious entrepreneur away from the volatile personalities and infrequent customers of art's existing industry. But Entrepreneurship is about creating new, unexpected value. There are many flip sides to this state of affairs. When a customer eventually becomes a 'patron' of art, they are exceedingly passionate. Besides, entrepreneurship needn't be about hockey stick profit alone. There is nothing that motivates me more than really enjoying my challenge. My challenge is to open up the world of contemporary art to a greater audience.
I've got to have to start somewhere. To develop an initial business model, I spoke to the most likely existing customers: galleries, artists, and collectors. Apart from the exclusivity attitude problem, which is sadly prevalent, most people were very willing to answer questions and sacrifice 40minutes, which is a good sign of how engaged they are already. I've been methodically detailing their pains and gains, and slowly I'm documenting their journeys. Through four months, six collector conversations, eight artist conversations, and many galleries, I've arrived at my first customer personas. I've used what I've learned to develop initial value propositions and a lean business canvas. Leading on from this research, I've developed a whole slew of hypothesizes that I will now test with some super-duper primary offerings.
