Using the FBMC if your business isn’t “feminist”
It’s called the “Feminist” Business Model Canvas because the modeling process and the business models focus follow feminist values. Still, you can use this Canvas for any kind of business — as long as you want that business to demonstrate values that matter to you rather than values that matter to the status quo.
To be sure, some features of the FBMC are decidedly feminist. For example, it’s a feminist move to start with your company’s strengths and values instead of jumping to the market opportunity. Similarly, it’s a feminist move to lead the design process through inquiry and conversation. Still, the whole point of the FBMC is to help you unfold your business vision.
Consider that any time the Canvas mentions “feminist values” or simply “values”, you can insert any value(s) that you want your company to demonstrate and reinforce.
For example, if your company values “democracy”, “resilience”, or “sustainability”, you might change the questions to:
- “How can we design our products so that our customers practice democracy?”
- “So that they experience resilience?”
- “To enhance customers’ sense of connection to the earth and their responsibility for stewardship?”
As it happens, the FBMC has been used a few times in contexts that were decidedly hostile to the label “Feminist” but much more welcoming to the term “Values-Driven”. So we renamed the tool, briefly, just for these organizations. And you know what? The entrepreneurs loved the tool, because it centered on their strengths and helped them bring their values forward at every design decision.
