Episode #17
Alex Osterwalder: The Playbook Approach That's Replacing Corporate Training
Connect with Alex https://strategyzer.com **Michael's Upcoming Book** https://a.co/d/045OQdAa Music by ThunderWof. https://www.instagram.com/apache_thunderwof_18/ https://open.spotify.com/artist/4092jgp59goD4nZIL2mQw5 Alex Osterwalder, creator of the Business Model Canvas and founder of Strategyzer, joins Show Your Priors to break down what actually works when you combine business strategy with AI. We cover why most AI in business efforts fail without evidence based decision making, how the ambidextrous organization protects new business models from getting killed by the core business, and why Alex tells his own teams they need to fail more, not less. Alex walks through the playbook approach Strategyzer uses to turn business model innovation and innovation strategy into a repeatable, testable process instead of a slide deck exercise. We dig into real corporate innovation case studies, including Ping An building an AI first business model years before ChatGPT existed, and how Honeywell and Bosch use evidence based decision making and skin in the game experiments to rank and retire ideas instead of funding whoever pitches the best. You will also hear Alex's personal lessons from building Strategyzer, including why having too much money can quietly kill a startup, why disruptive innovation needs a different governance model than the core business, and why AI is making it easier to build a product while making it harder to actually learn if anyone wants it. We also get into value proposition design, customer discovery, and why product market fit still has to be earned the same way it always has. If you work in corporate strategy, finance, marketing, product, or leadership, this conversation is a practical guide to testing business ideas before you build them, not after. Subscribe for new episodes of Show Your Priors every week, where we sit down with the sharpest minds in business strategy, finance, marketing, and management to challenge conventional thinking. Chapters 00:00 Intro 01:18 How AI Is Changing Business Testing and Strategy 03:28 The Ambidextrous Organization and Protecting New Business Models 07:02 Strategy vs Business Model and the Ping An AI Case Study 14:49 Condemned to Succeed and Why Failure Needs a Rebrand 18:42 Evidence Based Innovation at Honeywell and Bosch 33:26 Founder Lessons on Money, Premature Scaling, and Quibi 40:01 AI, Learning Velocity, and Why Corporations Block Fast Testing 44:26 Testing Legally, Ethically, and Around Sales Conflicts 53:31 Where to Find Alex Osterwalder and Strategyzer Keywords: business strategy, business model canvas, innovation strategy, AI in business, corporate innovation, lean startup, Alex Osterwalder, business model innovation, value proposition design, startup strategy, disruptive innovation, Strategyzer, business experimentation, testing business ideas, evidence based decision making, ambidextrous organization, corporate strategy, AI strategy, innovation management, business model design, startup validation, customer discovery, product market fit, digital transformation, leadership and innovation
