business plan on canva

Business Model Canvas: Explained with Examples

Got a new business idea, but don’t know how to put it to work? Want to improve your existing business model? Overwhelmed by writing your business plan? There is a one-page technique that can provide you the solution you are looking for, and that’s the business model canvas.

In this guide, you’ll have the Business Model Canvas explained, along with steps on how to create one. All business model canvas examples in the post can be edited online.

What is a Business Model Canvas

A business model is simply a plan describing how a business intends to make money. It explains who your customer base is and how you deliver value to them and the related details of financing. And the business model canvas lets you define these different components on a single page.   

The Business Model Canvas is a strategic management tool that lets you visualize and assess your business idea or concept. It’s a one-page document containing nine boxes that represent different fundamental elements of a business.  

The business model canvas beats the traditional business plan that spans across several pages, by offering a much easier way to understand the different core elements of a business.

The right side of the canvas focuses on the customer or the market (external factors that are not under your control) while the left side of the canvas focuses on the business (internal factors that are mostly under your control). In the middle, you get the value propositions that represent the exchange of value between your business and your customers.

The business model canvas was originally developed by Alex Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur and introduced in their book ‘ Business Model Generation ’ as a visual framework for planning, developing and testing the business model(s) of an organization.

What Are the Benefits of Using a Business Model Canvas

Why do you need a business model canvas? The answer is simple. The business model canvas offers several benefits for businesses and entrepreneurs. It is a valuable tool and provides a visual and structured approach to designing, analyzing, optimizing, and communicating your business model.

• The business model canvas provides a comprehensive overview of a business model’s essential aspects. The BMC provides a quick outline of the business model and is devoid of unnecessary details compared to the traditional business plan.
• The comprehensive overview also ensures that the team considers all required components of their business model and can identify gaps or areas for improvement.
• The BMC allows the team to have a holistic and shared understanding of the business model while enabling them to align and collaborate effectively.
• The visual nature of the business model canvas makes it easier to refer to and understand by anyone. The business model canvas combines all vital business model elements in a single, easy-to-understand canvas.
• The BMC can be considered a strategic analysis tool as it enables you to examine a business model’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges.
• It’s easier to edit and can be easily shared with employees and stakeholders.
• The BMC is a flexible and adaptable tool that can be updated and revised as the business evolves. Keep your business agile and responsive to market changes and customer needs.
• The business model canvas can be used by large corporations and startups with just a few employees.
• The business model canvas effectively facilitates discussions among team members, investors, partners, customers, and other stakeholders. It clarifies how different aspects of the business are related and ensures a shared understanding of the business model.
• You can use a BMC template to facilitate discussions and guide brainstorming brainstorming sessions to generate insights and ideas to refine the business model and make strategic decisions.
• The BMC is action-oriented, encouraging businesses to identify activities and initiatives to improve their business model to drive business growth.
• A business model canvas provides a structured approach for businesses to explore possibilities and experiment with new ideas. This encourages creativity and innovation, which in turn encourages team members to think outside the box.

How to Make a Business Model Canvas

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to create a business canvas model.

Step 1: Gather your team and the required material Bring a team or a group of people from your company together to collaborate. It is better to bring in a diverse group to cover all aspects.

While you can create a business model canvas with whiteboards, sticky notes, and markers, using an online platform like Creately will ensure that your work can be accessed from anywhere, anytime. Create a workspace in Creately and provide editing/reviewing permission to start.

Step 2: Set the context Clearly define the purpose and the scope of what you want to map out and visualize in the business model canvas. Narrow down the business or idea you want to analyze with the team and its context.

Step 3: Draw the canvas Divide the workspace into nine equal sections to represent the nine building blocks of the business model canvas.

Step 4: Identify the key building blocks Label each section as customer segment, value proposition, channels, customer relationships, revenue streams, key resources, key activities, and cost structure.

Step 5: Fill in the canvas Work with your team to fill in each section of the canvas with relevant information. You can use data, keywords, diagrams, and more to represent ideas and concepts.

Step 6: Analyze and iterate Once your team has filled in the business model canvas, analyze the relationships to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges. Discuss improvements and make adjustments as necessary.

Step 7: Finalize Finalize and use the model as a visual reference to communicate and align your business model with stakeholders. You can also use the model to make informed and strategic decisions and guide your business.

What are the Key Building Blocks of the Business Model Canvas?

There are nine building blocks in the business model canvas and they are:

Customer Segments

Customer relationships, revenue streams, key activities, key resources, key partners, cost structure.

• Value Proposition

When filling out a Business Model Canvas, you will brainstorm and conduct research on each of these elements. The data you collect can be placed in each relevant section of the canvas. So have a business model canvas ready when you start the exercise.  

Let’s look into what the 9 components of the BMC are in more detail.

These are the groups of people or companies that you are trying to target and sell your product or service to.

Segmenting your customers based on similarities such as geographical area, gender, age, behaviors, interests, etc. gives you the opportunity to better serve their needs, specifically by customizing the solution you are providing them.

After a thorough analysis of your customer segments, you can determine who you should serve and ignore. Then create customer personas for each of the selected customer segments.

There are different customer segments a business model can target and they are;

• Mass market: A business model that focuses on mass markets doesn’t group its customers into segments. Instead, it focuses on the general population or a large group of people with similar needs. For example, a product like a phone.  
• Niche market: Here the focus is centered on a specific group of people with unique needs and traits. Here the value propositions, distribution channels, and customer relationships should be customized to meet their specific requirements. An example would be buyers of sports shoes.
• Segmented: Based on slightly different needs, there could be different groups within the main customer segment. Accordingly, you can create different value propositions, distribution channels, etc. to meet the different needs of these segments.
• Diversified: A diversified market segment includes customers with very different needs.
• Multi-sided markets: this includes interdependent customer segments. For example, a credit card company caters to both their credit card holders as well as merchants who accept those cards.

Use STP Model templates for segmenting your market and developing ideal marketing campaigns

Visualize, assess, and update your business model. Collaborate on brainstorming with your team on your next business model innovation.

In this section, you need to establish the type of relationship you will have with each of your customer segments or how you will interact with them throughout their journey with your company.

There are several types of customer relationships

• Personal assistance: you interact with the customer in person or by email, through phone call or other means.
• Dedicated personal assistance: you assign a dedicated customer representative to an individual customer.  
• Self-service: here you maintain no relationship with the customer, but provides what the customer needs to help themselves.
• Automated services: this includes automated processes or machinery that helps customers perform services themselves.
• Communities: these include online communities where customers can help each other solve their own problems with regard to the product or service.
• Co-creation: here the company allows the customer to get involved in the designing or development of the product. For example, YouTube has given its users the opportunity to create content for its audience.

You can understand the kind of relationship your customer has with your company through a customer journey map . It will help you identify the different stages your customers go through when interacting with your company. And it will help you make sense of how to acquire, retain and grow your customers.

This block is to describe how your company will communicate with and reach out to your customers. Channels are the touchpoints that let your customers connect with your company.

Channels play a role in raising awareness of your product or service among customers and delivering your value propositions to them. Channels can also be used to allow customers the avenue to buy products or services and offer post-purchase support.

There are two types of channels

• Owned channels: company website, social media sites, in-house sales, etc.
• Partner channels: partner-owned websites, wholesale distribution, retail, etc.

Revenues streams are the sources from which a company generates money by selling their product or service to the customers. And in this block, you should describe how you will earn revenue from your value propositions.  

A revenue stream can belong to one of the following revenue models,

• Transaction-based revenue: made from customers who make a one-time payment
• Recurring revenue: made from ongoing payments for continuing services or post-sale services

There are several ways you can generate revenue from

• Asset sales: by selling the rights of ownership for a product to a buyer
• Usage fee: by charging the customer for the use of its product or service
• Subscription fee: by charging the customer for using its product regularly and consistently
• Lending/ leasing/ renting: the customer pays to get exclusive rights to use an asset for a fixed period of time
• Licensing: customer pays to get permission to use the company’s intellectual property
• Brokerage fees: revenue generated by acting as an intermediary between two or more parties
• Advertising: by charging the customer to advertise a product, service or brand using company platforms

What are the activities/ tasks that need to be completed to fulfill your business purpose? In this section, you should list down all the key activities you need to do to make your business model work.

These key activities should focus on fulfilling its value proposition, reaching customer segments and maintaining customer relationships, and generating revenue.

There are 3 categories of key activities;

• Production: designing, manufacturing and delivering a product in significant quantities and/ or of superior quality.
• Problem-solving: finding new solutions to individual problems faced by customers.
• Platform/ network: Creating and maintaining platforms. For example, Microsoft provides a reliable operating system to support third-party software products.

This is where you list down which key resources or the main inputs you need to carry out your key activities in order to create your value proposition.

There are several types of key resources and they are

• Human (employees)
• Financial (cash, lines of credit, etc.)
• Intellectual (brand, patents, IP, copyright)
• Physical (equipment, inventory, buildings)

Key partners are the external companies or suppliers that will help you carry out your key activities. These partnerships are forged in oder to reduce risks and acquire resources.

Types of partnerships are

• Strategic alliance: partnership between non-competitors
• Coopetition: strategic partnership between partners
• Joint ventures: partners developing a new business
• Buyer-supplier relationships: ensure reliable supplies

In this block, you identify all the costs associated with operating your business model.

You’ll need to focus on evaluating the cost of creating and delivering your value propositions, creating revenue streams, and maintaining customer relationships. And this will be easier to do so once you have defined your key resources, activities, and partners.  

Businesses can either be cost-driven (focuses on minimizing costs whenever possible) and value-driven (focuses on providing maximum value to the customer).

Value Propositions

This is the building block that is at the heart of the business model canvas. And it represents your unique solution (product or service) for a problem faced by a customer segment, or that creates value for the customer segment.

A value proposition should be unique or should be different from that of your competitors. If you are offering a new product, it should be innovative and disruptive. And if you are offering a product that already exists in the market, it should stand out with new features and attributes.

Value propositions can be either quantitative (price and speed of service) or qualitative (customer experience or design).

What to Avoid When Creating a Business Model Canvas

One thing to remember when creating a business model canvas is that it is a concise and focused document. It is designed to capture key elements of a business model and, as such, should not include detailed information. Some of the items to avoid include,

• Detailed financial projections such as revenue forecasts, cost breakdowns, and financial ratios. Revenue streams and cost structure should be represented at a high level, providing an overview rather than detailed projections.
• Detailed operational processes such as standard operating procedures of a business. The BMC focuses on the strategic and conceptual aspects.
• Comprehensive marketing or sales strategies. The business model canvas does not provide space for comprehensive marketing or sales strategies. These should be included in marketing or sales plans, which allow you to expand into more details.
• Legal or regulatory details such as intellectual property, licensing agreements, or compliance requirements. As these require more detailed and specialized attention, they are better suited to be addressed in separate legal or regulatory documents.
• Long-term strategic goals or vision statements. While the canvas helps to align the business model with the overall strategy, it should focus on the immediate and tangible aspects.
• Irrelevant or unnecessary information that does not directly relate to the business model. Including extra or unnecessary information can clutter the BMC and make it less effective in communicating the core elements.

What Are Your Thoughts on the Business Model Canvas?

Once you have completed your business model canvas, you can share it with your organization and stakeholders and get their feedback as well. The business model canvas is a living document, therefore after completing it you need to revisit and ensure that it is relevant, updated and accurate.

What best practices do you follow when creating a business model canvas? Do share your tips with us in the comments section below.

Join over thousands of organizations that use Creately to brainstorm, plan, analyze, and execute their projects successfully.

FAQs About the Business Model Canvas

• Use clear and concise language
• Use visual-aids
• Customize for your audience
• Highlight key insights
• Be open to feedback and discussion

More Related Articles

Amanda Athuraliya is the communication specialist/content writer at Creately, online diagramming and collaboration tool. She is an avid reader, a budding writer and a passionate researcher who loves to write about all kinds of topics.

Check out our new Consent management feature here

• Case Studies
• Book a Demo

How to Create a Canva Template for a Business Plan

Creating a solid business plan is crucial for any aspiring entrepreneur or business owner. A well-designed template can streamline the process and help you organize your thoughts and ideas. In this article, we will explore how to create a Canva template for a business plan, taking advantage of Canva's user-friendly features and customizable options.

1. Introduction to Canva and Its Benefits for Business Plans

Before we delve into the specifics of creating a business plan template with Canva, let's take a moment to understand what Canva is and why it is a valuable tool for this purpose.

Canva, a web-based graphic design platform, has gained immense popularity in recent years for its ability to simplify the design process and empower users to create stunning visual content effortlessly. With a vast array of templates, graphics, and editing tools, Canva caters to both design novices and experienced professionals.

But what sets Canva apart from other design platforms? Well, it's the user-friendly interface and intuitive features that make it a go-to choice for many individuals and businesses. Whether you need to design social media posts, presentations, or even business plans, Canva has got you covered.

What is Canva?

If you are not already familiar with Canva, it is a web-based graphic design platform that offers an array of templates, graphics, and editing tools for creating stunning visual content. Whether you are a design novice or an experienced professional, Canva provides a user-friendly interface that allows you to create professional-looking designs effortlessly.

Canva's extensive library of templates covers a wide range of design needs, from social media graphics to marketing materials and everything in between. With easy drag-and-drop functionality, you can customize these templates to suit your specific requirements, ensuring that your designs stand out from the crowd.

Moreover, Canva's collaboration feature allows teams to work together seamlessly, making it a valuable tool for businesses of all sizes. Whether you're working on a business plan with your colleagues or seeking feedback from stakeholders, Canva simplifies the entire process, making collaboration a breeze.

Why Use Canva for Creating a Business Plan Template?

When it comes to creating a business plan template, Canva offers several advantages. Firstly, Canva provides a wide range of pre-designed templates specifically tailored for business plans, making it easier to get started. These templates are designed by professionals, ensuring that you have a solid foundation to build upon.

Secondly, Canva allows you to customize every aspect of your template to reflect your brand identity. This flexibility ensures your business plan template aligns seamlessly with your overall branding strategy. From choosing the color palette to incorporating your logo and typography, Canva empowers you to create a visually cohesive and professional-looking business plan.

Furthermore, Canva's user-friendly interface and intuitive editing tools make it easy to add charts, graphs, and other visual elements to your business plan. These visuals not only enhance the overall aesthetics but also help convey complex information in a clear and concise manner.

Lastly, Canva's cloud-based platform ensures that your business plan is accessible from anywhere, anytime. You can collaborate with team members, share your progress with stakeholders, and make updates on the go, all within the Canva ecosystem.

In conclusion, Canva is a powerful tool for creating business plan templates. Its user-friendly interface, vast library of templates, and customization options make it an ideal choice for individuals and businesses looking to create visually appealing and professional business plans. So, let's dive into the specifics and explore how you can leverage Canva to create an outstanding business plan template.

Understanding the Key Elements of a Business Plan

Before diving into the process of creating your business plan template, it is essential to understand the key elements that make up a comprehensive business plan.

When it comes to starting a new business, having a well-thought-out plan is crucial. A business plan serves as a roadmap, guiding you through the various stages of your entrepreneurial journey. It provides a detailed outline of your business goals, strategies, and financial projections, helping you make informed decisions and stay focused on your objectives.

Now, let's take a closer look at the key elements that should be included in your business plan:

Overview of a Business Plan

A business plan is more than just a document; it is a comprehensive representation of your business idea. It acts as a communication tool, conveying your vision to potential investors, partners, and stakeholders.

The first section of a business plan is usually the executive summary. This concise overview highlights the main points of your plan, giving readers a snapshot of what your business is all about. It should capture their attention and make them want to delve deeper into your proposal.

Following the executive summary, the company description provides a detailed overview of your business. It includes information about your company's history, mission, vision, and values. This section helps readers understand the purpose and uniqueness of your business.

Next, the market analysis section delves into the industry and market in which your business operates. It includes research on your target market, competitors, and industry trends. By conducting a thorough market analysis, you can identify opportunities and challenges, allowing you to position your business strategically.

Once you have established a solid understanding of your market, it's time to describe your product or service offering. This section should provide a clear and compelling explanation of what you are offering to customers. It should highlight the unique features and benefits of your product or service, demonstrating why it stands out from the competition.

Marketing and sales strategies play a vital role in the success of any business. In this section, you will outline your plans for promoting and selling your product or service. This may include details on your target audience, pricing strategy, distribution channels, and promotional activities.

The operational plan outlines the day-to-day operations of your business. It covers areas such as production processes, facilities, inventory management, and staffing. By clearly defining your operational plan, you can ensure smooth and efficient business operations.

Finally, financial projections provide a forecast of your business's financial performance. This section includes projected revenue, expenses, and cash flow statements. It helps potential investors and lenders assess the financial viability and potential return on investment of your business.

While the structure of a business plan may vary depending on your industry and specific needs, some essential sections should be included in every business plan template. These sections typically include an executive summary, company overview, market analysis, product or service description, marketing and sales strategies, operational plan, financial projections, and appendices.

Remember, a well-crafted business plan not only helps you secure funding and attract partners but also serves as a valuable tool for guiding your business towards success. Take the time to research, analyze, and refine your plan, ensuring that each element is carefully considered and aligned with your overall business objectives.

Planning Your Business Plan Template

Before you begin designing your Canva template, it is important to plan ahead and identify the key aspects of your business plan template.

Identifying Your Target Audience

Consider who will be using your business plan template. Are you creating it for internal purposes or to secure funding from potential investors? Understanding your target audience will help you tailor the template to their needs and ensure it effectively communicates your business concept.

Defining the Purpose and Goals of Your Business Plan Template

What do you hope to achieve with your business plan template? Are you looking to attract investors, secure a loan, or gain internal alignment within your organization? Clearly defining the purpose and goals of your template will enable you to focus on the most relevant information and design elements.

Designing Your Canva Template

With your planning complete, it's time to start designing your Canva template. In this section, we will explore various design considerations to ensure your template is visually appealing and effectively conveys your message.

Choosing the Right Layout and Format

Canva offers a wide range of layout options for your business plan template. Consider the style and tone you want your template to convey. You may opt for a clean and professional layout or something more stylized to reflect your brand's personality. Whichever you choose, consistency and readability should be your primary focus.

Selecting Appropriate Fonts and Colors

Fonts and colors play a significant role in the overall design of your business plan template. Choose fonts that are easy to read and align with your brand identity. Similarly, select a color palette that complements your brand and enhances the overall visual appeal of your template.

Customizing Your Canva Template

Now that you have designed the structure and aesthetics of your template, it's time to add your own branding elements and make it uniquely yours.

Adding Your Business Logo and Branding Elements

Incorporate your business logo and other relevant branding elements into your template to reinforce your brand identity. Consistency in branding creates a professional and cohesive look throughout the document.

Incorporating Relevant Images and Graphics

Visual elements such as images and graphics can enhance the overall impact of your business plan template. Use these elements strategically to illustrate key points or break up lengthy sections of text. Be mindful of copyright restrictions when selecting images and ensure they align with your brand's image.

By following these steps, you can create a visually appealing and comprehensive business plan template using Canva. Remember, your template should align with your brand identity, effectively communicate your business goals, and cater to your target audience. With Canva's user-friendly features and customization options, you can create a professional business plan template that sets you apart from the competition.

Storing Templates in the HIVO Platform

In the world of digital asset management, having a secure and accessible platform to store your templates is essential. The HIVO platform provides a robust solution for organizing and storing your Canva templates, and it offers several benefits.

One of the key advantages of using the HIVO platform is the ability to centralize your templates in one location. This provides easy access for your team members, ensuring consistency in branding and messaging across your business plan templates.

Furthermore, the HIVO platform offers advanced search capabilities, allowing you to quickly locate specific templates based on keywords or tags. This saves valuable time and improves efficiency when working on multiple business plans simultaneously.

Additionally, the HIVO platform provides secure storage and user permissions, ensuring that only authorized individuals can access and modify your templates. This protects your intellectual property and maintains the integrity of your business plan templates.

In conclusion, by combining Canva's powerful design features with the storage capabilities of the HIVO platform, you can create, manage, and store professional business plan templates with ease. This streamlined workflow ensures your business plans are visually appealing, consistent in branding, and readily accessible when you need them.

The Business Model Canvas

The Business Model Canvas is a strategic management and entrepreneurial tool. It allows you to describe, design, challenge, invent, and pivot your business model. This method from the bestselling management book Business Model Generation is applied in leading organizations and start-ups worldwide.

The Business Model Canvas enables you to:

• Visualize and communicate a simple story of your existing business model.
• Use the canvas to design new business models, whether you are a start-up or an existing businessManage a portfolio of business models
• You can use the canvas to easily juggle between "Explore" and "Exploit" business models.

About the speakers

Download your free copy of this whitepaper now, explore other examples.

Get Strategyzer updates straight in your inbox

Mastering business models

A self-paced online course with 
Alex Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur.

Are you trying to improve your existing business model? Or trying to create a new one that can compete in today’s market?

• Integrations
• Learning Center

How to Build a Product Roadmap Based on a Business Model Canvas

Could you list all of the key building blocks you need to develop, manage, maintain, market, and sell a product on a single sheet of paper? With the business model canvas, you can! Using the business model canvas approach is a great way to force yourself to focus on the most strategically important elements of your product. As the name suggests, the typical use case for this tool is to outline the fundamental building blocks of a business, but it also can work really well for a product.

Today we’ll show you how the business model canvas works and how you can use it to come up with a high-level product strategy.

What is a Business Model Canvas?

As you can see from the sample example below (thanks, Strategyzer.com), a business model canvas is a one-page summary describing the high-level strategic details needed to get a business (or product) successfully to market.

The categories or buckets contained in a canvas can be customized. But most will look similar to the one here—covering such key areas as:

• The product’s value propositions (what it does and promises)
• Customer segments (who it’s for)
• Key activities (the steps the team must complete to make it successful)
• Key resources (what personnel, tools, and budget the team will have access to)
• Channels (how the organization will market and sell it)
• Customer relationships (how the team will support and work with its customer base)
• Key partners (how third parties will fit into the plan)
• Cost structure (what it costs to build the product as well as how to sell and support it)
• Revenue streams (how the product will make money)

If you think about it, that’s a fairly comprehensive set of building blocks you’ll need to think through for your product before you begin developing it. There will certainly be additional factors that’ll affect your strategy, but if you can fill in these high-level details—which, as you can see, should fit comfortably on a single page—you’ll have a useful strategic guide for developing your product roadmap.

Why Should I Use a Business Model Canvas to Develop a Product Roadmap?

Okay, but why? What’s the benefit of building a business model canvas (or the, even more, stripped-down variation, the lean canvas) to guide my product roadmap ?

There are plenty of reasons. But simply put, you can think of a business model canvas as a mission statement for your product roadmap. It’s a handy reference you can refer to, to make sure your roadmap always reflects all the strategic elements needed for your product’s success.

Tweet This: “Think of a business model canvas as a mission statement for your product roadmap.”

Our co-founder Jim Semick has a couple of great short videos explaining the business model canvas concept, which you can check out in the player below.

As Jim explains, here are a few of the benefits of using a business model canvas to think through product strategies:

1. You can use a business model canvas to roadmap quickly.

You can use this canvas approach in just a few hours (and as Jim says, you can even do it with sticky-notes).

This way, rather than trying to write out every detail about your product plan beforehand, you can just document the highlights—and then you can get rolling translating the canvas into your product roadmap.

2. A business model canvas will be more agile.

One problem with the old structure of documenting a business model—the traditional business plan—was that it was almost always inaccurate as soon as the author finished drafting it.

These meaty plans included detailed cost estimates, revenue projections going years into the future, and long-term plans for growing the staff. How could any of that remain accurate for long?

In product terms, you can think of the business plan as resembling an MRD (Market Requirements Document). It’s long, detailed, and probably mostly untrue by the time it’s done.

But because you can put a canvas together so quickly, it will much more accurately reflect your strategic thinking and your company’s current reality. And if things change, it’ll be easier than a long and detailed plan to adjust. This brings us to Jim’s third benefit…

3. Business model canvas roadmaps allow you to pivot as needed.

If you build a business model canvas to guide your business roadmap , and something happens that forces you to re-prioritize or pivot your product , it will be a lot easier to update this short, high-level document than it would be if you had some monster MRD or business plan to tear apart and edit.

With a one-page business model canvas acting as the strategic undergirding for your roadmap, you’ll always be able to quickly spot any items or plans that need updating whenever priorities change or new realities demand that you adjust your approach.

How Can I Use A Business Model Canvas to Guide My Product Roadmap?

The alexa example.

Let’s talk through a hypothetical example, using Amazon’s Echo device (“Alexa”) as our guide.

Imagine that as they were talking through what belonged in the “Revenue Streams” bucket of the business model canvas, Amazon’s Echo team came up with three sources of revenue to start with:

1) Selling Echo devices.

2) Using the device to sell other stuff as customers ask it to connect to the Amazon marketplace. (“Alexa, please add laundry detergent pods to my shopping cart.”)

3) Licensing Echo’s proprietary speech-recognition technology to other businesses.

Now, if the Echo product team put these on their business model canvas, they’d know that they need to make room for budget, time, and resources on their product roadmap for all of these revenue streams.

Another Hypothetical Example of the Business Model Canvas: Channels

Or think about the Channels bucket in the business model canvas. If your team was building out a canvas, maybe you’d have several ideas for reaching customers:

1) The in-house sales team. 2) Affiliate partners. 3) Word-of-mouth advertising from users.

It’s easy to write. But how are you going to translate that “word-of-mouth” strategy into an actual plan?

Maybe you’ll need to budget time and resources for developing things right into your product that make it easier for users to share their experiences with friends, such as a handy tool to help them tweet about it. Maybe you’ll even want to include an “Invite a friend” feature that lets users easier send a trial license to friends, or a couponing feature that offers some reward to a user who brings in two more users.

The point is, your business model canvas can serve as a great strategic reminder of the things you’ve determined are important enough to make it onto your product roadmap .

So you can always look back and see immediately—it’s just one page, after all—if you’re still working on all of the essential elements of your product, or if you’ve inadvertently strayed from them and gotten lost in the wrong details.

That’s why we’re big proponents of the business model canvas approach to guiding your product roadmap .

Do you have an opinion about using the business model canvas approach for developing and documenting your product’s strategy? Feel free to share them in the comments section.

Product Management Training: 5 Excellent Resources

If you want to become a software developer, one option is to major in computer science or software engineering in...

A Product Manager’s Role in SAFe®

Agile started with software development. Although many organizations have found the principles beneficial. The ability to quickly assess, adjust, and...

5 Roadmap Templates for Product Executives

Product roadmaps shouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all proposition, as different stakeholders care about various elements and require different levels of detail....

Continue exploring

You can search or explore specific categories.

Product Updates

Company news and updates, templates and workbooks, remote product management, product metrics and analytics, product strategy example, product managers, prioritization and backlog, tools and resources, customer-centricity, product leadership, product management, roadmap and roadmap management, product strategy, agile & product development, career and interviews, try productplan free for 14 days, share on mastodon.

6 Business Documents You Can Easily Create With Canva

Want to create professional-looking business documents, but not sure where to start? Here's how Canva can help.

Whether you’re a solopreneur at the very start of your business journey, or a more established business looking to get your branding in order, Canva has the tools you need to completely transform your business documentation.

How to Use Canva for Your Business

Canva has proven itself to be a very versatile tool for businesses of all sizes. Besides being great for social media graphics and also content scheduling , it also features a number of other very useful templates.

Whether you’re a solopreneur, freelancer, a growing small business, or an emerging scale-up, there’s something for everyone within the Canva software. Here are just six business documents that you can create on Canva.

1. Presentations

Canva is an awesome alternative to Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoint. There are literally hundreds of different multipage presentation templates to choose from, including company presentations, pitch decks, sales presentations, marketing presentations, and even roadmap presentations.

Once you’ve found a design you like, you can then customize it with your own text and change the colors of any elements that don’t fit with your business branding. When you’re ready to present your finished presentation, you can do so from within Canva itself, or you can download your presentation as a PDF. If you need to send your presentation to someone else, there’s even the option to share a direct Canva link.

Once you’ve found a presentation template that you like, it’s worth customizing it and then saving it as a template for yourself to use in the future. This way, all of your business presentations will remain on-brand, and you won’t need to spend time editing a new template ever again.

With so much competition in the job market these days, your resume needs to stand out from your competitors, and what better way to do so than by jazzing it up a bit in Canva.

Once again, Canva is preloaded with countless resume templates, making it easy to copy and paste your existing resume information into a more visually appealing layout. Change your resume colors, add text elements, use graphics, or even turn the entirety of your resume information into an infographic. Canva gives you the freedom to let your personality shine through—whatever that may look like for you.

Once you’re done editing your new resume, you can easily download it in a variety of different formats, including as a PDF, JPEG, or PNG. Whenever you need to update your resume, just log back into Canva and make any amendments as necessary.

3. Letterhead

Having your very own on-brand letterhead can help your business to look and feel more professional. Whether you’re a corporate business or a creative, there are plenty of different letterhead templates to choose from.

To add your logo to your design, simply upload it into Canva and then drag and drop it to where you need it. If your logo isn’t already a PNG with a transparent background, then Canva has a helpful background remover tool that will do it for you.

Have a play around with different graphic elements to make your letterhead unique to your business, and change the preexisting colors to ensure they match your brand. Canva makes it easy to add your letter text into your design, or alternatively, you can keep the body of your letter blank and have your letterheads printed for use in your own office printer.

4. Business Cards

Gone are the days when you need to hire a graphic designer to create your business cards. With Canva, anyone can choose a design they like and edit the template to create their own unique design.

Many of Canva’s business card templates are double-sided, so all you need to do is add in your own information and make them personal to you and your business. Drop in your logo, add your social media handles and customize your font. Once you’re happy with your design, you can then download it as a PDF to share with your chosen printers or have your business cards printed from within Canva itself.

If you choose to have your business cards printed elsewhere, you can select “add crop marks and bleed” to your design and resize your design if necessary.

5. Proposals

No one wants to read a boring proposal. Thanks to Canva, they won’t have to anymore. Make your proposals stand out by bringing them to life with Canva’s design elements.

Take a look at some of the many proposal templates already in Canva, or have a go at designing your own from scratch. Effortlessly add pages, remove pages, and edit pages until your proposal fits your needs, and then download it to share with your clients.

Canva also gives you the option to present your proposal as you would a presentation or to share it directly through a link, which is helpful if the final file size is too large to send via email.

6. Invoices

Lastly, Canva is also a fabulous tool if you regularly send out business invoices. With Canva, you can create a stunning invoice document in a matter of seconds.

As with all of the other business documents listed above, Canva supplies dozens of pre-designed invoice templates, which cover all manner of business niches from finance and law, to the creative arts.

Add in your own logo, adjust the template colors to fit your branding, edit what you need and then add in your figures. When you’ve finished, download your finished invoice as a PDF, PNG, or JPEG to print or send digitally to your clients.

Creating More Than Just Business Documents With Canva

While Canva is an extremely handy tool for businesses, it is also ideal for anyone looking to get a little more creative. Amongst other things, Canva makes it easy to create stickers, photo books, and greetings cards, as well as posters, social media graphics, Instagram stories, and even video messages.

Whether you’re new to design or a seasoned pro, there’s something for everyone on the Canva platform.

Canva Business Model: An Examination of Freemium

At the crux of Canva’s successful venture in the tech industry is its innovative application of the ‘freemium’ business model. This model is essentially Canva’s primary strategy for revenue generation.

The freemium model in Canva’s context provides users with an array of basic features at no cost. Simultaneously, it charges for advanced features, effectively creating a “free-to-play, pay-to-win” dynamic.

The underlying rationale is that users who appreciate the platform’s value from the free version will upgrade to the premium version to access enhanced features and tools.

Canva Freemium Model Tiers

Subscription fees, on-demand purchases, advertising, partnerships and collaborations, user acquisition and retention, business acquisition and retention, key partnerships and collaborations: a competitive edge, what is canva’s primary revenue source, what are some of canva’s key partnerships, how does canva attract and retain its users, what strategies does canva use to attract and retain businesses, what are the different revenue streams for canva, canva freemium model: the tiers.

Canva’s freemium model is split into three distinct tiers: Free Users, Canva Pro, and Canva for Enterprise.

• Free Users: This category of users has access to a wide variety of features such as more than 8,000 templates, free images, and basic design tools. It is the entry point for new users and serves as a gateway to the paid services;
• Canva Pro: Canva Pro, priced at $9.95 per user per month (billed annually), offers a wider range of features such as the brand kit, magic resize, unlimited storage, and access to over 60 million premium stock images, videos, graphics, and much more;
• Canva for Enterprise: This tier, custom priced for larger teams or businesses, includes everything in Canva Pro plus additional features like built-in workflows, team controls, and 24/7 enterprise-level support.

Revenue Streams: The Pillars of Canva Monetization

The freemium model serves as the foundation of Canva’s business model. However, there are other important revenue channels that contribute to Canva’s bottom line.

Canva’s primary source of income is derived from subscription fees. The company offers two main subscription plans: Canva Pro and Canva for Enterprise. Users who opt for these plans pay monthly or annual fees, contributing a substantial portion to Canva’s overall revenue.

Subscription Plans

• Canva Pro: This subscription plan is designed for individual users, including professionals, freelancers, and small businesses. It provides access to advanced features, additional design elements, and enhanced collaboration tools. The Canva Pro subscription can be purchased on a monthly or annual basis;
• Canva for Enterprise: This subscription plan caters to larger organizations and businesses with more extensive design needs. It offers additional features tailored for team collaboration, brand consistency, and workflow management. The Canva for Enterprise subscription is available on a per-user basis and is billed either monthly or annually.

Pricing Structure

The subscription fees for both Canva Pro and Canva for Enterprise vary based on the chosen billing cycle (monthly or annual) and the number of users (for Canva for Enterprise). Canva’s pricing structure is designed to accommodate the needs of different users and organizations. The following table outlines the pricing details:

Canva for Enterprise:

Revenue Contribution

Subscription fees constitute a significant portion of Canva’s overall revenue. The consistent and recurring nature of subscription payments provides a stable income stream for the company.

These fees contribute to Canva’s continuous investment in product development, customer support, and platform improvements, ensuring a high-quality user experience for subscribers.

In addition to subscription fees, Canva generates revenue from on-demand purchases. This revenue stream allows users to purchase individual graphic elements that are not included in the free version of the platform.

These elements typically include premium images, illustrations, icons, and other design assets that users can incorporate into their projects.

Benefits of On-Demand Purchases

• Access to Exclusive Content: On-demand purchases give users the opportunity to access a wide range of premium and exclusive graphic elements that are not available in the free version of Canva. These elements often include high-quality images and illustrations that can enhance the visual appeal of designs;
• Flexibility: Users have the flexibility to choose and purchase only the specific elements they need for their projects. This allows for greater customization and ensures that users are only paying for the assets they require.

Purchasing Process

When using Canva, users can easily browse through the available on-demand graphic elements. These elements are typically categorized based on different themes, styles, or types. Users can then select the specific elements they want to purchase and proceed to the checkout process.

The pricing for on-demand purchases varies depending on the type and quality of the graphic elements.

On-demand purchases contribute to Canva’s overall revenue by offering users the option to enhance their designs with premium graphic elements. The availability of exclusive content and the convenience of purchasing individual elements attract users who require specific assets for their projects but may not need a full subscription plan.

By catering to these users, Canva diversifies its revenue sources and expands its customer base.

Although not the primary source of revenue for Canva, advertising still plays a role in the company’s financial ecosystem. Canva offers brands and businesses the opportunity to promote their services or products through advertising on its platform, leveraging its extensive user base.

Benefits of Advertising on Canva

• Wide User Base: Canva boasts a large and diverse user base, including professionals, freelancers, and small businesses. Advertising on Canva allows brands to reach a broad audience and potentially connect with their target customers;
• Creative Opportunities: Canva’s design platform provides advertisers with various creative tools and templates to design engaging and visually appealing ads. This enables businesses to showcase their offerings in a visually compelling manner and effectively communicate their brand message.

Advertising Options

Canva offers multiple advertising options for businesses to promote their products or services on the platform. These options include:

• Sponsored Content: Brands can collaborate with Canva to create sponsored content that is seamlessly integrated into the user experience. This can involve sponsored templates, design elements, or curated content that aligns with the brand’s objectives;
• Display Ads: Canva provides display ad spaces within its platform where businesses can showcase their advertisements. These ads can be strategically placed to capture users’ attention while they are creating or browsing designs;
• Targeted Promotions: Canva leverages user data and behavior to offer targeted advertising opportunities. Brands can target specific user segments based on demographics, interests, or design preferences, ensuring their ads are seen by the most relevant audience.

While not the primary revenue source, advertising contributes to Canva’s overall income. By offering advertising opportunities to brands and businesses, Canva generates revenue streams from advertising fees and partnerships.

This additional revenue diversifies Canva’s income sources and supports the company’s ongoing investments in product development and platform enhancements.

Canva’s strategic collaborations with other businesses and software applications play a significant role in expanding the capabilities of the platform and generating additional income streams.

Through these partnerships, Canva integrates services and functionalities into its platform, resulting in mutually beneficial relationships and revenue-sharing opportunities.

Benefits of Partnerships

• Enhanced Functionality: Collaborations enable Canva to offer users access to additional features and tools that are integrated seamlessly within the platform. These partnerships expand the capabilities of Canva, providing users with a more comprehensive design experience;
• Extended Reach: Partnerships with established brands or software applications allow Canva to tap into new user bases and reach a wider audience. By integrating with popular tools or services, Canva increases its visibility and attracts new users who may not have previously been familiar with the platform.

Types of Partnerships

Canva engages in various types of partnerships and collaborations with businesses and software applications. These partnerships can involve:

• Integration Partnerships: Canva integrates its design platform with other software applications, allowing users to access Canva’s design tools directly within those applications. Examples include integrations with productivity tools, project management platforms, or social media management software;
• Content Partnerships: Canva collaborates with content providers to offer users a diverse range of high-quality design elements, such as images, illustrations, and templates. These partnerships ensure that users have access to a vast library of content to enhance their designs;
• Brand Partnerships: Canva forms strategic alliances with well-known brands to offer co-branded design templates or exclusive content. These partnerships leverage the brand recognition and expertise of both parties to deliver unique and engaging design options to users.

Partnerships and collaborations form an additional income stream for Canva. The specific revenue structure varies based on the nature of each partnership. Revenue-sharing agreements or fixed fee arrangements are typically established, allowing Canva to monetize the integrated services and functionalities.

These partnerships contribute to Canva’s overall financial success and support the company’s continuous growth and innovation.

Canva Growth Strategies: Expanding the User Base and Enhancing Retention

Canva’s impressive growth curve is due to its well-implemented strategies that target both individual users and businesses. The company’s strategies revolve around two core aspects: user acquisition and retention, and business acquisition and retention.

The following factors play a crucial role in acquiring and retaining individual users:

• Simplicity and User-Friendliness: Canva’s design platform is highly intuitive and easy to navigate, which appeals to new users and encourages them to continue using the service;
• Constant Innovation: By regularly introducing new features and improving existing ones, Canva ensures that its product remains appealing and relevant in the rapidly evolving digital space;
• Community Building: Canva has a strong emphasis on building a vibrant and engaged community. It frequently organizes webinars, tutorials, and design challenges to keep its user base active and engaged.

The strategies for acquiring and retaining businesses differ from those for individual users:

• Integration: Canva’s compatibility with a wide array of apps and software means businesses can easily incorporate Canva into their existing workflows. This seamless integration is highly valued by businesses;
• Custom Solutions: Canva for Enterprise provides businesses with tailored features specific to their needs. This personalized approach significantly enhances businesses’ productivity and efficiency;
• Security and Support: By offering robust security measures and 24/7 support, Canva becomes an attractive option for businesses. This focus on security and support helps Canva stand out from its competitors.

Beyond its primary revenue streams and growth strategies, Canva’s collaborations have played a critical role in its success. These partnerships not only bring in additional revenue but also enhance the platform’s offerings, thus making Canva more appealing to potential users.

One of Canva’s most strategic collaborations is with stock image providers such as Getty Images and Pixabay. This gives Canva users access to a vast library of high-quality images. Canva has also partnered with print and delivery companies to offer an integrated design-to-delivery solution for printed materials.

Moreover, Canva’s integration partnerships with platforms like Google Drive, Dropbox, and Instagram provide a seamless user experience. Users can directly import photos or save their designs to these platforms, thereby making Canva an integral part of their digital ecosystem.

Through a blend of strategic growth tactics, collaborative partnerships, and a carefully crafted freemium model, Canva has created a profitable and scalable business model. Its success is a testament to the power of combining user-centric design with smart business strategies.

Canva’s primary revenue source is the subscription fees from its Canva Pro and Canva for Enterprise users.

Canva has formed key partnerships with various companies, including stock image providers like Getty Images and Pixabay, print and delivery companies, and platforms like Google Drive, Dropbox, and Instagram.

Canva attracts and retains users by offering an intuitive and user-friendly platform, continually innovating, and building a vibrant community through webinars, tutorials, and design challenges.

Canva uses strategies like seamless integration with other apps and software, offering tailored solutions through Canva for Enterprise, and providing robust security measures and 24/7 support.

Canva’s revenue streams include subscription fees, on-demand purchases of graphic elements, advertising, and income from partnerships and collaborations.

Mobile Menu

• Skip to primary navigation
• Skip to main content
• Skip to primary sidebar
• Skip to footer

HDD & More from Me

The 20 Minute Business Plan: Business Model Canvas Made Easy

Table of Contents

What’s the Business Model Canvas?

How do you get started, why use the business model canvas, when should you use the business model canvas, how do you use the canvas to facilitate alignment and focus, step 1 (of 10): customer segments, step 2 (of 10): value propositions, step 3 (of 10): channels, step 4 (of 10): customer relationships, step 5 (of 10): revenue streams, step 6 (of 10): key activities, step 7 (of 10): key resources, step 8 (of 10): key partnerships, step 9 (of 10): cost structure, step 10 (of 10): applications, analysis & next steps, example a: enable quiz (startup), example b: hvac in a hurry (enterprise), using the google doc’s/powerpoint template.

If you’re already familiar, you can skip to the next section, ‘ How do I get started ?’.

The Business Model Canvas (BMC) gives you the structure of a business plan without the overhead and the improvisation of a ‘back of the napkin’ sketch without  the fuzziness (and coffee rings).

Together these elements provide a pretty coherent view of a business’ key drivers–

• Customer Segments : Who are the customers? What do they think? See? Feel? Do?
• Value Propositions : What’s compelling about the proposition? Why do customers buy, use?
• Channels : How are these propositions promoted, sold and delivered? Why? Is it working?
• Customer Relationships : How do you interact with the customer through their ‘journey’?
• Revenue Streams : How does the business earn revenue from the value propositions?
• Key Activities : What uniquely strategic things does the business do to deliver its proposition?
• Key Resources : What unique strategic assets must the business have to compete?
• Key Partnerships : What can the company not do so it can focus on its Key Activities?
• Cost Structure : What are the business’ major cost drivers? How are they linked to revenue?

The Canvas is popular with entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs for business model innovation. Fundamentally, it delivers three things:

• Focus : Stripping away the 40+ pages of ‘stuff’ in a traditional business plan, I’ve seen users of the BMC improve their clarify and focus on what’s driving the business (and what’s non-core and getting in the way).
• Flexibility : It’s easier to facilitate alignment by tweaking the model and trying things (from a planning perspective) with something that’s sitting on a single page.
• Transparency: Your team will have a much easier time understanding your business model and be much more likely to buy in to your vision when it’s laid out on a single page.

The first time you engage with the canvas, I recommend printing it out or projecting it on a whiteboard and going to town (see below for a PDF). However, if you’re ready to put together something a little more formal (for distribution, presentation, etc.) here’s a Google App’s template you can copy or download as MSFT PowerPoint:

*Omnigraffle a popular diagramming program for the Mac. It has a fairly easy to use layering environment which you may find handy as you want to tinker with and produce different views of the canvas. You can try Omnigraffle for free (the basic paid version is $99).

The short answer is this: because it’s simple yet focused and that means more of your audience is likely to pay attention to it. Also, it’s highly amenable to change on the margins.

This matters a lot- more than most people think. A company that wants to innovate has to be ready to be wrong . A good VC in early stage investments succeeds with a prevalence of something like a 1/10. If you think you’re doing a lot better than that with substantial new innovation investments (a startup or a new line of business inside an enterprise) you’re probably throwing good money after bad.

Transparency, simplicity, and focus are great facilitators of the ‘creative destruction’ a good innovation program needs, and the Canvas does a nice job of delivering that across lines of business. For a large corporation with multiple lines of business at various levels of maturity, I actually prefer the Corporate Innovation Canvas as a starting point. However, from there, the Business Model Canvas does an excellent job of bringing clarity to the questions of how, for example, a given line of business creates focus and then implements it in an innovation-friendly way with, for example, ‘objectives and key results’ OKR’s . It’s a central element in the ‘innovation stack’ where an enterprise is able to go from priority innovation areas (with the Corporate Innovation Canvas) to testable business model designs (with the Business Model Canvas) to product charters (with an agile team charter ) to individual learning pathways to cultivate the talent they need to execute.

Even more important than the top down cascading of objectives with testable results and KPI’s is the improvement in the feedback in outcomes that helps the overall innovation program learn and adapt quickly. With layer appropriate innovation metrics, it’s much easier for the achievements of individuals to cohere (or not) to the job of teams and in turn from there to lines of business back up to corporate objectives. This helps both help the company’s talent understand where they might benefit from more practice and learning as well as what constitutes success in their individual roles and collaborations.

Anytime you want to have a focused discussion about what matters to a given line of business, the Business Model Canvas is a good place to start. The Canvas has received a lot of attention as a tool for startup entrepreneurship. While this may be one of the ‘sexier’ and more ostensibly simple applications of the Canvas, I actually think it’s one of the least compelling. For a startup, the only thing that matters is product/market fit, which the Canvas represents as a set of relationships between Customer Segments and Value Propositions. The Canvas doesn’t do a bad job of describing this, but it’s kind of overkill- the whole left side of the Canvas which describes the delivery infrastructure is mostly irrelevant for startups that are still finding product market fit, since all that’s provisional about where (and whether) they arrive at product/market fit.

Where the Canvas really shines is describing an existing line of business to answer questions like: a) What does product/market fit mean for this business? b) Where have we focused our company building and is it still relevant to ‘a’? c) What are our key revenue, cost, and profit drivers, and how do we improve those?

Now we’re taking! Whether you’re an ‘intrapreneur’ exploring a new extension to the business or a ‘digital transformation’/IT consultant trying to facilitate a discussion about what ‘strategic IT’ means and how you’ll know if you achieve it, the Canvas is a quick and productive place to anchor such a discussion.

First and foremost, I’d try it out for yourself. Fill out the elements the business you’re working on and then ask yourself ‘Does this make sense?’ ‘What are the most important linkages and components of the model?’

From there, you may just want to use the Canvas you sketch to facilitate alignment on some other topic. However, if you’re working with a team on a new venture or with a client on a new project, you may then want to take it from the top and facilitate a workshop where you facilitate a fresh take on the Canvas, levering your experience thinking through it once. The link below will take you to a related curriculum item that has workshop slides, prep. items, and agenda.

LINK TO WORKSHOP PAGE

Otherwise, the next sections (10 steps) offer a tutorial on how to think through a business model design with the Canvas. The closing sections offer notes on how to use the Google Doc’s/PowerPoint and Omnigraffle templates.

Output : a list of Personas, organized by Customer Segment if you have more than one segment. I recommend trying to prioritize them- Who would you pitch first if you could only pitch one? Who next? And so forth…

Notes : If you’re spending a lot of time on this first item, that’s OK (and it’s probably good). The Canvas is a tool, not a strategy and not all the nine blocks are equal. The pairing of Customer Segments and Value Propositions is really the ‘independent variable’ that should be driving everything else in your business model. When I use the Canvas in my Venture Design classes, we usually spend all of the first session (plus time for field research) on Customer Segments and Value Propositions.

For example, at Leonid, an enterprise software company I founded, we thought our largest customers worked with us because of the cost savings we offered and our knowledge about best practices. It turned out that was mostly wrong- reducing their time and risk to get new services to market was the most important. It’s not that the other things weren’t important, but they weren’t the top Value Proposition. That made a difference on how we sold the product and how we focused on operationalizing it for customers.

This mapping says ‘We have 3 personas. Persona 1 cares about VP 1 & 2. Persona 2 cares about VP 2; Persona 3 cares about VP3. (One segment only so segments not noted)’.

Output : a prioritized list of Value Propositions and linkages from each Personas to the VP’s relevant to them.

Notes: Again, this pairing is the key driver for most business models and if you want more on how to describe and discovery what to put in this part of the canvas, I recommend this: Tutorial- Personas .

Maybe you feel like you’re in good shape on understanding the customer’s world but you don’t have any validation on whether the Value Propositions are clicking because this is a new venture? If you’re not sure, that’s OK and good for you for acknowledging the uncertainty! It’s the responsible thing to do. The key is to write down those assumptions, prioritize them, and figure out the quickest and cheapest way to prove or disprove them. That’s what Lean/Startup is about and there are resources here to help you with that, if you’d like- Tutorial: Lean Startup .

Channels includes entities you use to communicate your proposition to your segments, as well as entities through which you sell product and later service customers (see AIDAOR journey below). For example, if you sell bulbs for light houses and there’s a website all light house attendants purchase equipment, that site is a sales Channel. If you use Google AdWords, that’s a Channel, too (for getting attention). If you use a third party company to service the bulbs when they break, that’s also a Channel.

Output : a list of important Channels, linked to Personas or Segments if they differ substantially. Make notes on what steps are relevant for each- promotion, sales, service, etc. See Note this section for more structure on this.

Notes: Channels and the next item, Customer Relationships, define your interface with the Customer. It’s important to think all the way through the customer ‘journey’ in specific terms. For most businesses, the way they get a customer’s attention is different than the way they onboard them or support them over the long term. For this, I recommend the AIDA.OR framework (attention-interest-desire-action-onboarding-retention) and storyboarding your way through it. Here’s a post explaining all that- Storyboarding AIDA(OR) . If you don’t want to do the storyboards, I recommend at least making notes about your customer journey through the AIDA(OR) steps.

Another consideration is whether your channels will give you enough visibility into the user, including, for example, a way to follow up with users. Not sure? Document your assumptions Lean Startup style and figure out how you’ll quickly prove or disprove them.

Output : a description of Customer Relationships, with notes if they differ across Customers (between Segments or among Personas within a Segment) or across the customer journey.

Notes: If you’re a startup, be sure to document and review critical assumptions here. Also, the focal items are in a kind of specific order- you should validate your Segments and their relationship to the Propositions above all else. If this means you provide personal support in the early days (a ‘concierge test’ in Lean Startup terms) to do discovery and validation of Segments and Propositions, that’s OK. You can subsequently test the Customer Relationship models. (Here’s a post on using consulting as a concierge vehicle in B2B if you want more detail: Consulting as B2B Concierge Vehicle ).

Notes : If you have a startup or are re-engineering the business, this is a time to look at where you’re driving revenue and whether it aligns with the rest of your focal points. Are you charging on value? Perceived value? They say everyone loves their banker; hates their lawyer. Why is that? Is there an actionable analog in your business?

For a product-driven business, this probably includes ongoing learning about users and new techniques to build better product. If you’re focused on doing a bunch of things for a particular set of customers (ex: comprehensive IT for law offices), this probably includes maintaining superior expertise on the segment(s) and creating or acquiring products and services that are a good fit, whatever that entails. For an infrastructure business (ex: electric utility), it probably includes keeping the infrastructure working reliably and making it more efficient.

Outputs : a list of Key Activities linked to your business’ Value Propositions.

Notes : One question this analysis should raise for you is whether or not certain Activities and Resources are actually core, actually focal to your business, something you’ll want to think through .

Outputs : a list of Key Resources linked to your business’ Key Activities.

Notes : Product-driven businesses have a differentiated product of some sort. Rovio, the company that makes the popular app Angry Birds, is such a company. Key Resources in product-driven businesses are typically key talent in critical areas of expertise and accumulated intellectual property related to their offering.

Scope-driven businesses create some synergy around a particular Customer Segment. For example, if you started a business that would take care of all the IT needs for law firms, that would be a scope-driven business. These businesses typically have key knowledge about their segment, a repeatable set of processes, and sometimes infrastructure, like service centers.

Infrastructure-driven businesses achieve economies of scale in a specific, highly repeatable area. Telecommunications is traditionally an infrastructure business. Retailers focused on retail, like Walgreens or Costco, are primarily infrastructure-driven businesses. The Key Resources for this type of business are, you guessed it, various types of physical or virtual infrastructure.

Let’s take a single product category: diapers. The Honest Company or another innovating around compostable or otherwise more environmentally friendly diapers would be a product-driven take on the category. Procter & Gamble which has a cradle-to-grave strategy for providing consumer products is a scope-based take; so are various baby-focused retailers. Kimberly-Clark (wood pulp) or DuPont (chemicals and polymers) are both infrastructure-based takes: diapers is just another way to sell something they produce at scale with relatively little differentiation.

If there are major cost components that don’t map to a Key Activity, I’d take a closer look at those costs.

Output : a list of Cost Structure elements with notes on their relationship to Key Activities.

Congratulations- you have a working canvas! The section below offers a few analytical ideas and suggestions for next steps.

Core Applications The most core and obvious applications of the Canvas are to ask: – Does it make sense? – Could it be better? – Does the rest of my team understand and agree? Have additional ideas? – (rinse and repeat at least quarterly)

Competitiveness The canvas does a good job of helping you figure out your business, which is a good place to start. You also want to look at the competitive environment and think about if and how you have/maintain a long term competitive advantage.

For this, I like Michael Porter’s Five Forces framework ( Wikipedia Page ; see also Chapter 2 of ‘ Starting a Tech Business ‘). Try walking through the Five Forces for your company and then bounce back to your canvas. How does it all hang together?

Next Steps Every business is a work in progress (sorry, I try to avoid saying things like that but it seemed to fit here). As you go through the canvas, you may encounter areas that give you trouble. The table below summarizes a few of the most common that I see in my work as a mentor and coach:

Want to make innovation an everyday thing?

What is Enable Quiz?

Enable Quiz is a (fictional) startup that’s building a lightweight quizzing application for companies that hire a lot of technical talent (engineers). Their take is:

For hiring managers who need to evaluate technical talent, Enable Quiz is a talent assessment system that allows for quick and easy assessment of topical understanding in key engineering topics. Unlike formal certifications or ad hoc questions, our product allows for lightweight but consistent assessments of technical talent.

Why and how would Enable Quiz use the Business Model Canvas?

They have a small team, but arriving at a clear, shared understanding of what they’re after is still important. That said, it’s important that the way they talk about this is both highly visible and amenable to change. Given that, the Canvas is a good fit.

The Business Model Canvas at Enable Quiz

This page shows Enable Quiz’s current working view of product/market fit:

What is HVAC in a Hurry?

HVAC in a Hurry is a mid-sized enterprise that services commercial HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems. Their take on the business is:

For facilities managers & business owners who need their heating & cooling systems managed and repaired, HVAC in a Hurry is a full service provider that allows for easy and responsible management of a business’ HVAC systems. Unlike smaller firms, our commitment to best practices and training allows customers to worry less and realize superior total cost of ownership for their HVAC systems.

Why and how would HVAC in a Hurry use the Business Model Canvas?

HVAC in a Hurry has a working version of product/market fit. However, their industry is competitive and successful firms increasingly use technology to improve customer experience (CX) and reduce cost (overhead) in their operations. HVAC in a Hurry has a small ‘digital transformation’ team that’s working on digital applications to improve the company’s performance. This team decided to use the Canvas to ‘manage upwards’ in order to facilitate better discussions about where they should focus, how that aligns with the business as a whole, and what success definition makes sense for them.

The Business Model Canvas at HVAC in a Hurry

Here’s their current view of product/market fit:

If you’re not familiar with it, Google Doc’s is a web-based office suite, similar to MS Office. If you have a gmail account, you can access it (no guarantees- that was the case last time I checked).

First, you’ll want to link to the template file: BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS TEMPLATE IN GOOGLE DOC’S .

Once you’re accessed the file, you can make make it your own by going to the File menu and either ‘Make a copy…’, creating a copy in your own Google App’s domain or you can use the ‘Download as…’ option to download it as PowerPoint (and a few other formats).

What’s your experience with the Canvas? How have you used it? What worked? What didn’t? Please consider posting a comment!

Copyright © 2022 Alex Cowan · All rights reserved.