Nick Himo

Business Model Coach

Imperial College London

Every summer, I run a programme of innovation workshops for 1,000+ student entrepreneurs from all over the world as part of Imperial College's Global Challenge Lab.

Innovation Coach

Strategyzer

Our purpose is to unlock millions of people’s potential to create value for themselves, organizations and society. We succeed when people find the clarity to drive healthy growth and build invincible companies worldwide. To make this happen, we design the global standard methodology for business strategy and platform for solving universal business challenges. We shift mindsets to transform strategic innovation, organization, and culture.

As an innovation coach at Strategyzer, I help large multinational organizations create new business models that generate value and growth. I use Strategyzer’s tools, methodology and tech platform to guide teams through the innovation process, from ideation to validation. I work with clients on various innovation initiatives, such as venture building, innovation incubators and accelerators and training. I also help them measure the impact of their innovation investment, using data and evidence to make better decisions. I help teams save time and money on projects that don’t have potential, and scale up the ones that do. I help teams design and test value propositions and business models that solve customer problems and create competitive advantage.

Strategyzer Coach

As host of Strategyzer webinars, I have the privilege of facilitating engaging and insightful conversations with some of the world’s leading experts on corporate innovation. We explore topics such as business model design, innovation culture, leadership and strategy with guests like Hubert Joly (Former CEO of Best Buy) and Garry Ridge (former CEO of WD40). I work alongside Alex Osterwalder, the inventor of the Business Model Canvas and a best-selling author, and Tendayi Viki, an award-winning author and innovation consultant. My role is to ensure that our webinars are interactive, fast-paced, informative and fun and that our audience gets the most value out of them. I enjoy connecting with our community of innovators and learning from their experiences and challenges. You can watch recordings of previous webinars by clicking the links below.

Host of Strategyzer Webinars

As a content creator at Strategyzer, I am responsible for producing high-quality and engaging video content for our online academy and our social media channels. I plan, shoot, edit and post videos that showcase our products, services and thought leadership in the field of corporate innovation. I have helped grow our online community to over 200,000 followers across all platforms. I also write blogs and design webinars that provide valuable insights and tips for our audience. Additionally, I create content for our live virtual masterclasses led by Alex Osterwalder, the inventor of the Business Model Canvas and a best-selling author. My role is to deliver compelling and educational content that helps our customers and prospects learn and apply the tools and methods of Strategyzer.

Content Creator

University of Exeter

Associate Professor of Innovation & Entrepreneurship

General Assembly

I teach the Rapid Innovation workshop at General Assembly.

Course Instructor - Rapid Innovation

Google

I delivered facilitator training to more than 1,500 people from all around the world to enable them to deliver this life changing workshop themselves.

#IamRemarkable is a Google initiative empowering women and underrepresented groups to speak openly about their accomplishments in the workplace and beyond, thereby breaking modesty norms and glass ceilings.

Learn more at g.co/IamRemarkable


Contracted via Chesamel.

Program Facilitator for #IamRemarkable 

Founders of the Future

Founders of the Future is an invite-only community of the most promising entrepreneurial talent in technology in Europe. It is made of talented young individuals who may not be currently founders or recognised leaders in the technology ecosystem, but exhibit strong signals that they will be someday. 

Founders of the Future grew out of Founders Forum which believes in the power of technology, entrepreneurship and collaboration to make the world a better place.

Ambassador & Member

CIM | The Chartered Institute of Marketing

Course Director

Lightbulb to Launch

Host & Event Organiser of Lightbulb to Launch

Freeformers

I was responsible for generating and implementing are go to market strategy for the services part of the business. I exceeded my personal and team revenue targets and massively contributed to the growth of the business. My clients included Santander, John Lewis, RBS, 3i, Barclays and Sky.

Head of Sales

I supported companies with the people part of their digital strategies by assessing their needs and developing and implementing effective learning & development programmes including online training, design sprints and innovation labs.

My clients included Barclays, John Lewis, RBS, E.ON Energy, 3i and Santander.

I spoke in front of audiences of senior executives at international conferences and interviewed industry experts as part of the Digital Heroes initiative.

Innovation Consultant & Trainer

Having worked with innovation leaders like Alex Osterwalder and Tendayi Viki, and global brands including Google, American Express, LEGO, Microsoft, and Novo Nordisk, I know what it takes to turn a good idea into a great business.

When Imperial College London runs their Global Challenge Lab, an accelerator with thousands of founders worldwide, they bring me in to lead every workshop.

Why? Because I help get results fast.

"Nick’s facilitation brought more clarity, speed, and impact than anything I saw in 25 years at Microsoft."
- Mike Kropp, Ex-Microsoft Leader / CEO, Iridius

But when most founders come to me, they’re stuck.
They feel frustrated because they’ve already tried everything:

→ Reading the Lean Startup
→ Filling out all the free Miro templates
→ Watching The Futur or Alex Hormozi on YouTube
→ Asking ChatGPT to rewrite their landing page copy
→ Hiring expensive Facebook ad agencies
→ Joining masterminds, Skool, or Whop

And still… they don’t have clear answers.

No one’s challenged their assumptions.

That’s where I help.

We start with a structured conversation I call Innovation Therapy. It's designed to quickly surface your riskiest assumptions, hidden challenges, and growth opportunities.

Together, we’ll identify:

→ Who your real customer is
→ What they’re actually willing to pay for
→ How to position your product so it sells
→ The smartest path to profitable growth

You’ll walk away with:

✔ Clear strategy, grounded in evidence
✔ Stories that resonate with customers, teams, and investors
✔ A shared language your team can align around
✔ The right experiments to reduce risk and speed up traction
✔ Confidence in what to build, sell, and scale

And we do it all using Strategyzer’s global-standard methodology (including The Business Model Canvas and The Value Proposition Canvas) the same tools used by the top companies.

“Nick is a world-class facilitator. He is also an expert in Strategyzer’s methodology. I enjoy working with him, and I’m confident you will too.”
— Alex Osterwalder, Creator of the Business Model Canvas

Whether you’re validating an MVP, scaling a product, or rethinking your direction, 
I’ll help you move forward with confidence.

👉 Book a 15-minute discovery call
https://calendly.com/nick-himo/15-minute-meeting

You can build a product people love and still fail.
Because loving the product isn’t enough.
If the business model doesn’t work, the whole thing falls apart.

It has to be:

→ Desirable – people want it
→ Feasible – you can actually build it
→ Viable – you can make money from it
→ Adaptable – you can change it as you learn

This is truer than ever with AI.
It makes it easier to build something quickly.
But that doesn’t mean you should.

That’s why I use the Business Model Canvas.
But with a twist.
I’ve adapted it for AI-native products.

Here’s what each section helps you figure out:

1) Customer Segments
Who are the people drawn to AI-powered outcomes?

2) Value Proposition
What can they do only because AI is at the core and how quickly do they see results?

3) Channels
Where do people discover, try, and use your product?

4) Customer Relationships
Can people use it on their own and naturally bring others in?

5) Revenue Streams
How do free users turn into paying ones?

6) Key Resources
What models, data, infra, or skills make it work — and hard to copy?

7) Key Activities
What needs constant improvement to keep your growth loop turning?

8) Key Partnerships
Who helps your product get adopted, integrated, or shared?

9) Cost Structure
Where do costs grow with usage, and how do you keep margins healthy?

To show how this works in practice, I mapped out Lovable on the canvas.
They’re one of the fastest-growing AI startups ever.
They hit $100M ARR faster than ChatGPT, Spotify, or Slack.
But the model isn’t perfect.
That’s what makes it useful to study.

Anton Osika is Lovable’s CEO.

He has a brutally honest metaphor for what it’s like to build an AI startup right now:

“It’s like shooting chickens out of a cannon.
Most go flying. But only the ones that keep flapping survive.”

(on his second 20VC interview with Harry Stebbings)

The biggest challenge for them is most of their revenue goes straight to AI providers like OpenAI and Anthropic.

But Anton’s betting those costs will fall over time and in the meantime, they’re capturing the market.

Here’s how:

→ They’re focused on speed to value (apps in 30 seconds)
→ They’re building a brand users love and a community that sticks
→ And long-term, they want to become your AI co-founder — not just a tool

This positioning will make Lovable feel like a partner in your journey, not just another app which builds trust, loyalty, and retention which is hard to copy!

Check out the full canvas and framework in the PDF below.
And use it to pressure-test your own idea (before you go flying out of the cannon too)

♻️ Share this if your found it useful
📍 Save it for later.”

Credit to Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Strategyzer for the Business Model Canvas.

P.s. have you used the business model canvas before?

Nick Himowicz

#1 Business Model Coach | Helping Leaders Build Winning Business Models | Trusted by 1,000+ Teams Worldwide

How to build an AI-native business model

OpenAI is betting $7 billion+ on freemium.
It could reshape tech forever or bankrupt them.

Hundreds of millions use ChatGPT every week.

Most pay nothing.

A small fraction upgrade to Plus at $20/month.
If the bet pays off, the rewards are massive.
If it doesn’t, the costs could crush them.

The freemium business model of ChatGPT:

1) Customer segments
→ Global mass market, mostly free

2) Value proposition
→ Ask anything, get instant answers

3) Channels
→ browser, app, Apple + Microsoft integrations

4) Customer relationships
→ self-serve, sticky, deepened by memory

5) Revenue streams 
→ subscriptions fuelled by a giant free funnel

6) Key activities
→ training models, fundraising, shipping improvements

7) Key resources
→ models, data, GPUs/inference stack, talent, brand

8) Key partners
→ Microsoft (cloud), Nvidia (GPUs), investors

9) Cost structure: 
→ GPU + cloud costs rise with every prompt

With Spotify or Dropbox, each free user costs almost nothing.

With ChatGPT, every free prompt burns GPUs and cloud compute.

These costs are brutal. 

OpenAI’s plan:
→ Capture the mass market before rivals
→ Build the brand people think of first
→ Layer in API + enterprise contracts alongside freemium

Essentially they're figuring out monetisation as they go.
They're in a growing market.
They have loads of investment.

Most companies can't do that though.

This is why business model matters as much as product.
The tech can be brilliant, but if the economics don’t add up, it won’t last.

That’s why OpenAI keep experimenting.
From Plus plans to $10M+ enterprise consulting.

The best companies constantly innovate.
Even when they're winning!

You need to experiment too.
 → Map your current business model
 → Sketch future versions
 → Run business experiments

Use the Business Model Canvas by Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur and Strategyzer.

Have you mapped out your business model canvas yet?

P.s. Follow for more business model breakdowns.

♻️ Share this if you found it useful.

A square diagram of OpenAI’s Business Model Canvas. The nine building blocks are shown: Customer Segments (global mass market), Value Proposition (instant answers from AI), Channels (chatgpt.com, apps, Apple and Microsoft integrations), Customer Relationships (self-serve, sticky, deepened by memory), Revenue Streams (subscriptions from a large free funnel), Key Activities (training models, scaling, product development), Key Resources (AI models, data, GPUs, safety systems, talent, brand), Key Partners (Microsoft, Nvidia, investors), and Cost Structure (GPU and cloud costs that rise with usage). The layout follows the Strategyzer canvas format.

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