A business model is a framework that describes how a company creates, delivers, and captures value. It outlines the company's revenue streams, cost structure, and key activities. It describes the how of your business and breaks down the operational and financial results it expects to achieve. A strong business model can dictate how your business generates revenue and can also be a point of value differentiation from other businesses.

Create a Business Model Canvas, a tool helps you visualize all the fundamentals of your business (including mission statement, customer segments, value propositions, customer relationships, revenue streams, key resources, key activities and partnerships, and cost structure). Create a simple financial model showing how money flows through your business. Regularly test and validate key assumptions about your model with real customers and market data.

• Look at successful business models in your industry and adjacent fields for inspiration. 
• Identify the right customer: the one who can afford to pay isn't necessarily the one being directly affected. Extend your stakeholder map to find the deeper pockets that care about solving the same problem your trying to solve.

• Engage stakeholders and early supporters in your research and pilots so they can see the outcomes for themselves and validate your business model.
• Be prepared to pivot elements of your business model canvas based on market feedback, recognizing that your model is not set in stone and that most successful startups change their model multiple times throughout their development. 
• Align your revenue strategy and pay structure with your venture’s vision and values. (For example, Dr. Bronner's, a long-standing soap and household item business, employs a 5-to-1 salary cap, in which the highest-paid employee’s salary is capped at five times more than the lowest-paid employee.)