Your Business Model Can't Be Outsourced

Reflections from Adam Nash's talk at Startup Grind Conference 2025

Adam Nash, CEO and co-founder of Daffy.org, shared that your business model is one of the most important strategic decisions you'll make as a founder.

Your model doesn't just shape your revenue.

It shapes your product. Your team. Your culture. Your future.

He opened by sharing this.

Beautiful Design Doesn't Save Bad Business Models

"Design won't save you." Especially in fintech, where he's seen (and backed) countless startups. Plenty of award-winning designs and well-loved products have still ended up in the tech graveyard, not because the product failed but because the business model couldn't sustain the business.

Why? Because revenue, like gravity, pulls everything towards it.

The bigger your company gets, the more your strategy bends around how you make money.

Nash summed it up neatly:

“Revenue has a way of inserting itself into your strategy.”

You Hire Great People - Then the Business Model Steers Them

One of the most eye-opening parts of the talk was this: even if you hire smart, ambitious, trustworthy people, they will focus their energy on the goals that match your business model.

Folks are working towards targets, goals, and objectives, and these should be aligned with those of the business, which in turn are driven by revenue. So it's no surprise that your revenue engine will decide where your team focus their energy.

So, as a founder, you can't outsource this. Not to your CFO. Not to your head of sales. This one's on you.

Business Models Drive Behaviour

Towards the end, Nash outlined a truth most founders eventually learn (sometimes the hard way):

Ad-supported businesses optimise for engagement and clicks.

Marketplaces chase transactions.

Subscription models push for retention, value delivery, and lifetime customer growth.

Each model shapes your product and team in very different ways.

So choose carefully.

And once you've chosen, make sure your business model aligns with your mission, product, and market. If it doesn't, the model will pull you off course.

Your business model matters. More than you think. So don't treat it as an afterthought; treat it like the strategic foundation it is.

If you're a founder, don't rush this decision.