Session 6: From Graph to Go-To-Market · Vanderbilt Owen MBA

⭐ Vanderbilt Owen MBA · Spring 2026

Session 6: From Graph
to Go-To-Market

Where MBA students bridge from graph theory
to business building Tuesday, March 25, 2026

OP

Oliver Park

Instructor · ✦ Inkwell Labs

🏗️ Workshop Day 🕸️ Graph → Business 📊 Business Models 🚀 Go-To-Market

Recap

The Journey So Far

🕸️

Sessions 1-2: Social Graph (WHO)

Stakeholders, relationships, influence mapping

🚀

Session 3: Teams formed, projects launched

From theory to application

📊

Session 4: Knowledge Graph (WHAT)

Triples, entities, ontologies

🔍

Session 5: Deep Research (Intelligence Layer)

7 Rights Framework, NotebookLM, VanderBot

🎯

Today: We wire it all into a business

Knowledge graphs without business application are academic. Today we cross the bridge from theory to revenue.

⚠️ The Reality Check

"You have a graph.
You don't have a business yet."

Knowledge without application is academic.
Today we cross the bridge.

Graphs are the foundation. Business models are the application layer.

🏗️ The Framework

The Business Graph

"How Trinity Graph maps to business model components"

🕸️

Social Graph

Customer segments
Channels
Partnerships

WHO buys, WHO sells, WHO influences

📊

Knowledge Graph

Value proposition
Key resources
Key activities

WHAT you know that others don't

⚡

Generative Graph

Revenue streams
Cost structure
Unfair advantages

WHAT IF you could scale this?

The Three-Layer Business Architecture

Every successful venture operates on all three graph layers simultaneously. Miss one layer, and you're missing a third of your business model.

🎯 Value Creation

Graph-Powered Value Proposition

"Your knowledge graph IS your moat."

What unique relationships/insights does your graph capture?

• Domain expertise that's hard to replicate

• Relationship patterns others can't see

• Data connections across silos

• Predictive insights from graph topology

💡 THE DEFENSIBILITY TEST

Knowledge graphs compound value. Every new node, every new relationship, every new query makes the graph smarter. Your competitors can't just copy the data — they have to replicate the learning process.

🤔

Exercise Prompt

"What does your graph know
that Google doesn't?"

⚡ GRAPH ADVANTAGE

Unique relationships
+ Domain context
+ Continuous learning
= Sustainable moat

👥 Customer Intelligence

Customer Discovery Through Graph Traversal

"Not personas — actual graph topology"

Social graph analysis reveals:

• Who are your early adopters? Find the nodes with high connectivity in your target domain

• What clusters exist? Community detection reveals natural customer segments

• Where are the bridges? Between communities - these are your connectors and influencers

🕸️ GRAPH APPROACH

Map influence networks → Identify cluster connectors → Find shortest path to ideal customer segments

🎯 GRAPH METRICS FOR CUSTOMERS

• Degree centrality: Who's connected to everyone?
• Betweenness centrality: Who bridges communities?
• Clustering coefficient: How tight are their networks?
• PageRank: Who has authentic influence?

💡 THE INSIGHT

Demographics tell you WHO.
Graphs tell you HOW to reach them.

💰 Revenue Models

The Revenue Layer

"How does the graph generate value?"

Three patterns for graph monetization:

• Data products? Selling insights, reports, predictions

• Intelligence? Custom analysis, consulting, advisory

• Automation? AI-powered workflows, recommendations

• Curation? Filtered, contextualized information

🎯 REVENUE QUESTION

What would your ideal customer pay $1000/month for that only your graph can provide?

💡 Three Revenue Patterns

Graph-as-Product: The graph IS the offering

Graph-as-Service: Graph-powered consulting/platform

Graph-as-Infrastructure: Graph enables other products

⚡ SCALING

Each pattern has different unit economics, scaling characteristics, and competitive dynamics.

🛠️ Workshop Block 1

Business Model Canvas on a Graph

"15 minutes — Map your 9 BMC boxes to graph components"

📋 INSTRUCTIONS

1. Draw your Business Model Canvas
(9 boxes: Key Partners, Key Activities, Key Resources, Value Prop, Customer Relationships, Channels, Customer Segments, Cost Structure, Revenue Streams)

2. For each box, ask:
Which graph layer does this belong to?

3. Color-code your boxes:
🔵 Social Graph | 🟣 Knowledge Graph | 🟢 Generative Graph

🎯 THE KEY QUESTIONS

• Which boxes are Social Graph? (WHO-focused)
• Which boxes are Knowledge Graph? (WHAT-focused)
• Which boxes are Generative Graph? (WHAT IF-focused)
• Where do the boxes connect across graph layers?

📊 DELIVERABLE

Annotated Business Model Canvas
showing graph-business connections

⏰ 15 MINUTES

Work in your pods
One canvas per team

🏰 Competitive Advantage

Competitive Moats & Network Effects

"Graph businesses compound — every node added makes the graph more valuable"

Three types of graph-based moats:

Network effects: More users = more valuable graph for everyone

Data flywheels: More data = better algorithms = more users = more data

Switching costs: Leaving means rebuilding all your graph connections

🕸️

"Your graph should get smarter every time someone uses it"

This is the fundamental principle of defensible graph businesses. Usage creates value, which attracts more users, which creates more usage.

🔄 THE COMPOUND EFFECT

Node 1 + Node 2 = 1 connection
1000 nodes = 499,500 possible connections
Exponential value creation

🚀 Go-To-Market

Go-To-Market Graph Strategy

"Launch strategy = graph seeding strategy"

Key GTM questions through graph lens:

• Who are your first 100 nodes? Not just customers — all stakeholders

• Why them? Strategic position in the network, not just demographics

• What edges connect them? How will adoption spread between nodes?

• Viral coefficients through graph topology — design for network effects

🎯 GRAPH SEEDING STRATEGY

Start with high-centrality nodes (connectors), not high-volume nodes (masses). Influence spreads faster through well-connected individuals.

🕸️ NETWORK LAUNCH SEQUENCE

Phase 1: Seed high-centrality nodes
Phase 2: Activate their immediate networks
Phase 3: Bridge to adjacent communities
Phase 4: Scale through weak ties

⚡ VIRAL DESIGN

Design your product so that using it creates value for connected nodes. Viral coefficient > 1.0

🛠️ Workshop Block 2

GTM Graph Mapping

"15 minutes — Map your launch as a graph expansion strategy"

📋 INSTRUCTIONS

1. Identify your first 10 nodes
Who are your earliest stakeholders? (Not just customers)

2. Draw the edges between them
How are they connected? What relationships exist?

3. Map expansion paths
How does adoption spread from first nodes to next clusters?

4. Design network effects
How does each new node add value for existing nodes?

🕸️ THE SEQUENCE

First nodes → First edges → First clusters → Network effects

📊 DELIVERABLE

GTM graph sketch showing
how adoption spreads

⏰ 15 MINUTES

Think networks, not funnels
Expansion, not acquisition

📊 Measurement

Metrics That Matter for Graph Businesses

"A dense graph is a defensible graph"

Traditional metrics (still important):

• CAC — Customer acquisition cost

• LTV — Lifetime value

• Churn — User retention rates

• Growth rate — User/revenue growth

📈 GRAPH-NATIVE METRICS

Graph density: Connections/possible connections
Clustering coefficient: How connected are neighborhoods?
Average path length: Degrees of separation in your network

🎯 WHAT TO TRACK

Network growth rate: New nodes + new edges per period

Viral coefficient: How many new users does each user bring?

Network engagement: Active connections per node

Graph resilience: What happens when key nodes leave?

🔄 THE INSIGHT

Network health metrics predict business health metrics. Graph density today = switching costs tomorrow.

🔮 Coming Soon

The -ity Framework Preview

"The qualities that make graphs alive"

Coming in Sessions 8-9: The ontological framework

Connectivity

How well-connected is your graph? Density, centrality, clustering.

Generativity

How productive is your graph? Value creation, innovation, emergence.

Authenticity

How genuine is your graph? Trust, reputation, signal vs. noise.

🎯

"Every business decision maps to an -ity"

Should you expand to new markets? Check Connectivity.
Should you launch new products? Check Generativity.
Should you trust this partnership? Check Authenticity.

🔍 PREVIEW

The -ity Framework provides a systematic way to evaluate graph vitality and strategic decisions.

🛠️ Workshop Block 3

Pitch Your Graph Business

"20 minutes — 3-minute pitches structured as graph narratives"

📋 PITCH STRUCTURE

1. The Graph
What knowledge/social/generative graph do you have?

2. The Gap
What problem does your graph solve?

3. The Business
How do you monetize the graph?

4. The Moat
Why can't competitors replicate your graph?

🎯 PEER FEEDBACK

Use graph thinking:

"Where's the weakest edge in their model?"

"Which graph layer needs strengthening?"

"How could network effects be stronger?"

⏰ TIMING

3 minutes to pitch
2 minutes for feedback
1 minute transition

🎯 GOAL

Synthesize graph theory into business narrative

💡 Key Takeaways

Session 6 Key Takeaways

🏗️

Graphs without business models are academic

Knowledge systems need value creation systems. Today we bridged the gap between theory and revenue.

🎯

Trinity Graph maps directly to business components

Social → Customer/Channel, Knowledge → Value Prop/Resources, Generative → Revenue/Moat.

🏰

Your graph IS your competitive moat

Unique relationships and insights create defensible advantages. Competitors can't just copy data.

📈

Network effects compound value exponentially

Every node added makes the graph more valuable for everyone. Design for viral growth.

🚀

Launch strategy = graph seeding strategy

Start with high-centrality nodes, not high-volume audiences. Influence spreads through networks.

📊

Graph-native metrics predict business health

Graph density, clustering coefficient, and viral coefficient are leading indicators of success.

From Graph Theory to Business Practice

You now have the frameworks to build businesses ON graphs, not just graphs FOR businesses.

📝 Assignment + Looking Ahead

Assignment + Looking Ahead

📋 DUE BEFORE SESSION 7

Complete Business Model Canvas
with graph annotations

Map all 9 BMC boxes to your Trinity Graph layers (Social, Knowledge, Generative)

🗓️ COMING UP

Session 7: Midterm presentations begin
March 30

Teams present full graph projects with business applications

"The journey from graph theory
to business building culminates in
your midterm presentations."

— ✦ Inkwell Labs