Business Model Canvas: Pinterest

Pinterest is the latest successful site in the Web 2.0 era. 

The Pinterest site provides users the ability to "pin" images and videos to their pinboards, as well as the ability to manage that content based on user defined themes.  But beyond that, Pinterest allows their users to view each others boards and "re-pin" that content to their own boards.  Some say that Pinterest rivals Facebook regarding the rapid growth rate the site has experienced over the past 24 months.  It is estimated that the site grew over 1000% in 2012, and at current, Pinterest has an estimated 47 million active users. And what makes it attractive is that it appeals to individuals' desire and/or sentimentality to collect things, and the site attracts users who are drawn to imagery.   As you can tell from the graphic on the right, the user demographic can be broad and the business model canvas below lists some specifically. The Pinterest site also allows users to signup through Facebook and Tweet about their pinning activities.

Pinterest raises most of its revenues through venture capitalists and in their latest round of raising revenues they fetched $200M.  To date, Pinterest has avoided generating revenues from advertising, but there is obvious upside long-term revenue growth if they choose to go that route eventually.  Their costs are primarily related to the hosting, maintenance, and development of their website. 

Pinterest is unique in that it lets it users segment themselves based on the content on their boards. And based on the themes of their boards, the users are essentially creating their own more granular segments.  Additionally, businesses are keen on this technology, because they can use it for marketing purposes and furthering recognition and branding of their products.  And the site also offers some web analytics to let businesses know which pins are most popular, most repinned, and how the pins fare over time, which can give companies valuable insight.

As also noted in the business model canvas below, the channels used are PCs, tablets, and smart phones and propagated through user communities.  And the key resources for Pinterest are their website and their active users.


Business Model Canvas: Pinterest