LITTERATI
How might we design business models that would be sustainable and profitable while also building a community to eradicate litter from our planet,
one piece at a time?
Background
The importance of business models in this case is focused on visualizing if an idea has business potential. Identify what are the resources needed to start. Set a solid ground for business innovation within the culture of the company. Evaluate risks to decide which to take. Start a more productive and efficient operation.
Client: LITTERATI [ Jeff Kirschner - Founder & CEO ]
Litterati, an early stage start-up, aims to build a global community that identifies, maps and collects the world's litter.
Duration: Five months I Spring2016
Role: Business model consultant
The Challenge
When the passion is to clean the world, building a business model becomes a point of tension. The big question was where should the focus be profitability or community. Through customer research and series of co-creation workshops with stakeholders, we found that there are 3 main pillars for Litterati: passion, community and business. But they were misaligned. We needed to figure out business models that would help align all 3 parts of the business.
Team's Approach
Understand the opportunities and constraints that a start up has and map out the big picture to ground an entrepreneurial frame for business model design. Understand how to drive business and social impact together through business model design and innovation.
What If...
a business doesn’t have to operate under one business model, in order to align people and profit we did not have to unite them but define a unique model for each?
Solution
Litterati’s intention and the user needs were in misalignment. All stakeholders agreed on the positive impact that picking litter signifies for the environment, but that was immediately followed by assurance that it was not them who were going to do it. We identified that the expectations Litterati has from users implies a dramatic change of behavior that is most likely to fail on implementation. Therefore, we focused on amplifying the stakeholders that shared the responsibility, from community to government and corporate, and designed a business model for each one of them.
Consultancy Model - Litter Impact Assessments
A litter impact assessment is a comprehensive methodology to help eradicate litter from our planet through high-accuracy data collection and analysis. The assessment consists of five components: data gathering, litter clean up, data analysis, and the choice between a customized orpre-designed impact plan.
Community Model - The Litterati Movement
The Litterati Movement is a meaningful way to explore and document the impact of litter on our planet,with community leaders mobilizing and inspiring a new generation of environmentally conscious people. The movement enables individuals to become part of a more focused online community where they can learn about how litter impacts the planet and contribute to scientific research.
