This building block represents all the costs that a business can or will incur if it opts for a particular business model. 90% of new businesses fail in the first 3 years because they fail to understand their costs or what it will take to create the goods and services they have promised in their value propositions. At least three other building blocks are contributors to the cost structure block. One must evaluate the cost of creating and delivering the value proposition, creating revenue streams and focus on long-term customer relationships. All three of these blocks represent a financial investment into the business. However, when an entrepreneur has effectively figured out their key resources, key activities and key partnerships the aforementioned costs become easier to calculate. If you have a major cost stream which cannot be matched to a Key Activity, it needs to be given a closer examination. Either your Key Activities block is missing a vital activity or your costs are being inflated by an activity which is unimportant and yet has still been included in the business model. It is important to note that cost can be a fundamental concern for some business model. One example is ‘no frills’ airlines like SouthWest which are completely focused on reducing costs.