Business Model Innovation Flagship Course

$499 $0

This is a limited-time offer for the launch of the FourWeekMBA Business School, read on! 

Back in 2011, I got my international MBA. I found the program extremely valuable, as I was making a transition from law to finance; and at the same time, I wanted to bridge the gap between the university world and the entrepreneurial world.

On the other hand, I’ve also found many flaws in the way the MBA is conceived given the changed premises of today’s business world. And that is why in 2015, I set to build my own business school. It took me a while to process the way I wanted this business school to look like.

But finally, in 2019, I’m taking this step and launching the FourWeekMBA business school. Why did I do that? Let me explain.

Has the business world changed?

The business world has changed. This might sound a trivial statement. Yet, not so if you go inside most business schools around the world.

The digital world has changed how entrepreneurship works and it has become critical to understanding those dynamics.

That is why I’m building up the FourWeekMBA Business School. I want to make this platform the go-to place for business students, professionals, executives, entrepreneurs, and aspiring digital entrepreneurship.

What’s going on with higher business education?

An MBA can still be a valuable program for people that want to progress their business career. And for aspiring entrepreneurs. However, there are some fundamental aspects of an MBA program that are fundamentally flawed.

As the business world changes at a faster and faster pace, the opportunity cost associated with enrolling in an MBA program has become too high for most people to bear.

That is also why there seems to be a sharp decline in interests for the program:

By looking at the data related to MBA enrollments, it appears that in 2018, most top business schools experienced a sharp decline:

And not even top business schools really make money from MBA programs.

How Harvard Business School really makes money

Most people believe that Harvard Business School primarily makes money from its MBA program (I thought it too). But then I looked at the hard numbers, and I figured a different story: 

While the MBA is one of the most significant contributors to HBS revenues, it is not, by far, the main one.

In addition to that, the MBA program itself generates high fixed costs for the school, which makes the program highly unprofitable.

Therefore, when you look at the Harvard Business School business model, you realize how they need to charge high-tuition, as they need to pay salaries and benefits to professors and academics working at the business school.

While this is normal, as research is expensive.

If we were to look at HBS Business School as a company, its MBA is a losing business unit.

Indeed, 16% of HBS revenues come from MBA tuitions and fees, 44% of its total expenses go to salaries and benefits, instead. Not all the costs for salaries and benefits go to the MBA, most of them do.

Thus, the MBA itself is a model which is not financially sustainable for the school, if it weren't for donations from alumni.

To be sure, HBS is an incredible reality, as it manages to still be profitable nonetheless as an educational institution which, in any case, has to finance research.

Thus, HBS really makes money via its publishing arm.

But here comes my point. How valuable is research in the business world?

Business innovation happens "outside the building"

However, business innovation primarily happens through business model innovation. And business model innovation doesn't happen in a vacuum. As Steve Blank would put it, that happens "outside of the building."

That means academic research in the business context is valuable if it is highly tied to classifying real-world entrepreneurial tools. But as often happens, either the academia is too slow in recognizing the proper value to certain phenomena (as it needs to be rigorous).

Or it lacks the proper incentives to simplify the tools and frameworks for entrepreneurs (academics are rated for the complexity of their ideas, rather than their effectiveness in a real-world scenario).

Entrepreneurship requires focus, experimentation, and a good dose of learning, fast, so that business objectives can be achieved.

When entrepreneurs test assumptions, they don't have to be rigorous or precise. They need estimate and ballpark, well-executed, and tested using the real-world as a lab.

In short, my whole point (which you can agree or not) is that while for other sciences, there might be a clear benefit of research. When it comes to the business world, research might bring little real-world benefits. 

Who is the FourWeekMBA Business School for?

You will benefit from the school if you are in one of the following categories:

  • Business school student: you are a student of business at a business school who want to complement the curriculum of the classes taken to get the most out of my MBA, get the highest grades, and a set of resources you'll have for life.
  • Business professional: you are a professional in a field that goes from accounting, finance, to sales, marketing, or engineering. You're not yet in a managerial role, but you're looking to take that step. The FourWeekMBA Business School will give you the insights and knowledge to step-up your career.
  • Aspiring digital entrepreneur or entrepreneur: you are an entrepreneur looking to grow an online business from scratch. Or to leverage an existing business to scale it further. Also, you might be an entrepreneur who is willing to put the effort to understand the digital world, to enhance a more traditional business. The FourWeekMBA Business School will give you the tools, resources, and frameworks to business growth.
  • Executive: you are a business professional already in a managerial role, and you're looking to level up your game to bring it to the next level. Thus, you're trying to become a partner of it. The FourWeekMBA Business School will give you the insights and resources to make it through.
  • Analyst: you are an analyst that understands the financial world pretty well. However, you're still missing higher-level business concepts that would help to gain a better understanding of the companies you'll be analyzing so that you can move from pure finance to other fields like venture capital, or private equity. The FourWeekMBA Business School will give you the toolbox to gain a deeper understanding of digital businesses, beyond pure financials. 

Why a course on business model innovation?

One of the people that I like to follow the most in the business world, venture capitalist, Fred Wilson, in a recent article, highlighted something that many are still missing today:

I believe business model innovation is more disruptive than technical innovation.

That might sound trivial, yet it's not. Most of us believe that technical improvements (what we call technology) are what enabled global changes.

While this is true, there is another component, the business model innovation which caused even more massive changes to our society. That's because technology enables a new way of doing business. And assumptions that in the past were the basis of doing business, suddenly become outdated.

As Fred Wilson further explained:

The move from desktop computing to the web. We saw massive disruption as we went from a licensed software business model to an advertising-supported business model, which has evolved into an advertising/subscription freemium business model.

When new, revolutionary technology finally is widely adopted, that is when a massive phase of business model innovation happens. For instance, we're still looking at how the Internet enabled the digital economy still ongoing explosion.

What benefits do you get?

- Professional growth to help your organization learn the mindset, methodologies, and frameworks for business model innovation 

- The tools and frameworks to validate your business idea or to start your next startup 

- The tools to help other entrepreneurs grow their digital businesses 

- Improve your business acumen as an analyst or finance professional trying to make sense of tech business models

What does the course cover?

The Business Model Innovation Course will comprise and follow along with these topics:

  • #1: Business models basics for entrepreneurs and professionals
  • #2: Mindset and methodologies of digital entrepreneurship
  • #3: The fundamental tools you need as an entrepreneur and professionals to succeed
  • #4: The critical facets of digital strategy and digital distribution to make your business gain traction
  • #5: How to use business model innovation to build or grow a digital business

Will this price be available again in the future?

Unfortunately not!

This product is not currently for sale.
$1,599 off will be applied at checkout (Code FOURWEEKMBAMEMBERS)
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$499 $0

Business Model Innovation Flagship Course