The same products, services or technologies can fail or succeed depending on the business model you choose. Exploring the possibilities is critical to finding a successful business model. Settling on first ideas risks the possibility of missing potential that can only be discovered by prototyping and testing different alternatives.

Constantly talking to real potential customers from the very inception of your ideas all the way to their execution is a prerequisite for any serious founder. Great entrepreneurs are often great listeners and they can spot patterns and pick up on small details in customer stories.

Once you have an idea of those customer jobs, pains, and gains you don’t want to rest until you’ve tested if what you’ve learned from talking to customers is actually real. Actions speak louder than words. There is a big difference between what people say and what they do. People might tell you they are excited about your new product, but when they are in a buying situation their behavior might be totally different.

Get potential customers to perform real actions. This could be, for example, something as small as getting them to sign up with their email for the launch date of your upcoming product. Or, market a so-called minimum viable product (MVP) – a product or service prototype with a minimal feature set – to early adopters. What you will learn will be invaluable.

Do it the right way!

The Business Model Canvas is an excellent tool to help you design better and more profitable business models. Yet, without combining it with business model testing it’s just as static as a business plan. The market might reject even the smartest business model design if it’s not stress tested.

Alexander Osterwalder is an entrepreneur, speaker and business model innovator. Together with Professor Yves Pigneur he co-authored “Business Model Generation,” a global bestseller on the topic of business model innovation. His Business Model Canvas, a tool to visualize, challenge and (re-) invent business models is used by leading organizations around the world, like GE, P&G, and more.

This is a personal extract from this original post by Steve Blank. All the credits of the words above goes to him. Follow him on @sgblank.