How a Business Actually Works
Like Duolingo, but for How a Business Actually Works. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.
A short one: 12 levels across 2 sections, about 24 minutes end to end, roughly 5 days at five minutes a day. It moves through The Core Exchange and The Mechanics of Profit. It starts from scratch.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in How a Business Actually Works
- A business exists to remove a specific obstacle for a customer
- Customers pay for the resolution of their own pain points
- The price is the value the customer places on having that problem gone
- Effort and cost of production do not automatically equal market value
- The tools and labor are just the mechanism, not the purpose
- Value is subjective to the person receiving the solution
- The fundamental definition of a business as a problem-solving mechanism
- Understanding that value is determined by the customer's relief, not the creator's work
- The customer is the one who must achieve the 'win'
- Must-have products solve urgent, unavoidable problems (vitamins vs. painkillers)
- The business provides the expertise and path to success
- Nice-to-have products are the first things cut from a budget
- Marketing fails when the business tries to be the center of attention
- Successful businesses target 'bleeding neck' problems
- Distinguishing the roles of the customer and the business in a brand narrative
- Differentiating between 'nice-to-have' and 'must-have' solutions
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives How a Business Actually Works the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
When a customer hands over money, what are they primarily paying for?
Get it right to open this lesson and 11 more in the app.
Where How a Business Actually Works takes you
Strip away the jargon and discover the core engine of every successful company. Learn how to spot real problems, create value people will pay for, and manage the simple math that keeps a business alive.
- 1
The Core Exchange
- Solving a Problem for Someone Else
- Finding and Keeping Your First Customers
- 2
The Mechanics of Profit
- The Simple Math of Staying Alive
- Scaling the Value
2 sections · 4 units · 12 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
How a Business Actually Works is taught in the The Professor style: clear, structured, thorough. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start How a Business Actually Works today.
Download Tomo, search How a Business Actually Works, and play your first lesson in under a minute.