274 Context 2004: Alexander Osterwalder com- pletes a Ph.D. dissertation on the topic of business model innovation with Professor Y ves P igneur at hEC L ausanne, Switzerland. Fast forward. 2006: The approach outlined in the dissertation starts being applied around the world based on Alexander’s business model blog, notably in companies such as 3M, Ericsson, Deloitte, and Telenor. During a workshop in the Netherlands Patrick van der Pijl asks “why is there no book accompanying the method?” Alexander and Yves take up the chal- lenge. But how does one stand out in a market where countless strategy and management books are published every year? INNOVATING the model Alexander a nd Y ves d ecide they can’t credibly write a book about business model innovation with- out an innovative business model. They d itch p ublishers a nd l aunch t he hu b, an o nline p latform to s hare t heir writings f rom d ay o ne. A nybody w ith an i nterest in t he t opic c an j oin t he platform f or a f ee ( initially u. S. $ 24, which is g radually r aised to u. S. $ 243 to keep t he p latform e xclusive). T hat t his and o ther i nnovative R evenue S treams finance t he b ook p roduction in a dvance itself is an i nnovation as w ell. It b reaks the f ormat of c onventional s trategy a nd management b ooks in o rder to c reate more v alue f or r eaders: it is c o-created highly v isual, a nd c omplemented by exercises a nd w orkshop t ips. key audience visionary and game changing . . . entrepreneurs / consultants / executives WhERE DID ThIS BOOK COME FROM? onsultants / ecutives nd bmgen_final.indd 274 6/15/10 6:01 PM