by Laurence McCahill

A new business era beckons. There’s a new breed of entrepreneur putting purpose before profits and measuring success in the happiness of their employees and customers, not revenue. It’s time we made our businesses more human and in the process give them a better chance of survival.

Before setting up The Happy Startup School, we ran a startup studio, helping tech entrepreneurs bring their digital ideas to life. Those few years were our apprenticeship – learning from others mistakes, as well as our own. We worked with various tools and techniques but felt that too many of these, and the startup world in general, focused on the mechanics of starting a business.

Most entrepreneurs have heard the stats ‘9 out of 10 new businesses fail’ banded about, yet the tools we’re given to build businesses are no longer fit for purpose.

The lean canvas or business model canvas work just fine if you want to build a product, but if you want to build a community – a tribe of customers and supporters that feel part of your mission – it falls down.

How can we give businesses a better chance of survival?

This is where our canvas comes in. Used for existing businesses or new ideas, it helps you to tap into the growing trends that will ultimately affect how your business operates and start to bake happiness into your DNA:

Customers care more about who they’re buying from – they‘re becoming more interested in the story, than the price tag.

Employees care more about who they’re working for – they want to feel like they’re contributing to something worthwhile.

Founders care more about the impact they’re making – there’s a growing breed of entrepreneur that wants to make money and do good. And if you’ve got this far, we’re guessing you’re one of them.

The canvas is meant to be a starting point for creating or redefining the DNA of your organisation. It will get you and your organisation on the road to becoming a happy startup allowing you and your team to live a more purposeful life, building a business with impact.

We developed the canvas almost three years ago and since then it’s been used in workshops and accelerators all over the world, translated into multiple languages and helped thousands bring their startup ideas to life. It’s been one of the key factors in us building our global community of founders and movement makers.

While it’s a simple tool, it takes a bit of work to know how to use it. Luckily help is at hand…

You can just download the canvas and do it yourself.