#34 What it takes to continuously reinvent yourself and innovate | Alexander Osterwalder (Inventor of the Business Model Canvas, 5x best-selling author, Founder & CEO at Strategyzer)
Thu May 29 2025
Today’s guest is the Innovation legend Alex Osterwalder - 5x best-selling author, inventor of the widely known Business Model Canvas (BMC), and Founder & CEO at Strategyzer.
We covered a lot of ground here. Everything from unpacking the transformation of Strategizer from a consulting firm to a scalable SaaS platform, to Alex’s hard-won lessons from his journey navigating the tension between exploration and execution, the power of innovation scorecards, why CEOs must own innovation if they want their organizations to survive, where founders and teams go wrong - and a lot more.
This is a masterclass on turning vision into systems, managing risk, and learning how (and when) to kill your own ideas.
We discussed:
* Why business cases are just fantasies - until tested
* How to balance Explore and Exploit
* Why CEOs should spend 40% of their time on innovation
* How to design a system to manage risk and kill ideas quickly
* Why strategic clarity enables innovation autonomy - and how to get there
* Running multiple ideas in parallel, testing different business models
* Team set up and traits & skills you need
* Examples of successful companies
Check out Strategyzer’s platform and guided programs here: https://strategyzer.com/scandinavian-product-podcast
Brought to you by:
Gnist - Gnist is a leading boutique consulting company in Norway that helps companies reach their full digital potential. Whether you are a developer, product lead, tech lead, or business leader - Gnist can help you with the tools and practices you may need.
UX Signals - Don’t let your busy schedule stop you from talking to users.
Automatically recruit interviews and user tests with people who are using your product. Talk to them while their user experience is still fresh in their mind. Used by big companies like DNB Bank, Vipps MobilePay, NAV, and many more.
Tell them Afonso sent you, and get 50% off your trial.
Know more here
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit afonsofranco.substack.com
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Today’s guest is the Innovation legend Alex Osterwalder - 5x best-selling author, inventor of the widely known Business Model Canvas (BMC), and Founder & CEO at Strategyzer. We covered a lot of ground here. Everything from unpacking the transformation of Strategizer from a consulting firm to a scalable SaaS platform, to Alex’s hard-won lessons from his journey navigating the tension between exploration and execution, the power of innovation scorecards, why CEOs must own innovation if they want their organizations to survive, where founders and teams go wrong - and a lot more. This is a masterclass on turning vision into systems, managing risk, and learning how (and when) to kill your own ideas. We discussed: * Why business cases are just fantasies - until tested * How to balance Explore and Exploit * Why CEOs should spend 40% of their time on innovation * How to design a system to manage risk and kill ideas quickly * Why strategic clarity enables innovation autonomy - and how to get there * Running multiple ideas in parallel, testing different business models * Team set up and traits & skills you need * Examples of successful companies Check out Strategyzer’s platform and guided programs here: https://strategyzer.com/scandinavian-product-podcast Brought to you by: Gnist - Gnist is a leading boutique consulting company in Norway that helps companies reach their full digital potential. Whether you are a developer, product lead, tech lead, or business leader - Gnist can help you with the tools and practices you may need. UX Signals - Don’t let your busy schedule stop you from talking to users. Automatically recruit interviews and user tests with people who are using your product. Talk to them while their user experience is still fresh in their mind. Used by big companies like DNB Bank, Vipps MobilePay, NAV, and many more. Tell them Afonso sent you, and get 50% off your trial. Know more here This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit afonsofranco.substack.com