model business plan canvas

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.

model business plan canvas

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.

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The Business Model Canvas

Mastering business models

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

Business Model Canvas: Explained with Examples

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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.

Business Model Canvas Explained

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.  

Business Model Canvas Template

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.

Customer Persona Template for Business Model Canvas Explained

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.

Customer Journey Map

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).

Value Proposition Canvas

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

What is an Action Plan? Learn with Templates and Examples

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.

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Business Model Canvas: The Definitive Guide and Examples

What is the Business Model Canvas

Before 2004, entrepreneurs suffered from prolonged and cumbersome business plans. Alexander Osterwalder facilitated the creation of a business model by introducing the Business Model Canvas (BMC) .

By definition, it’s a visual template that illustrates various objects of a business model . Osterwalder’s original canvas includes nine elements, which we will have explained below in the article. They represent vital aspects of business survival.

Business Model Canvas Full

What to Begin With?

Once you decided to use the Business Model Canvas approach, you need to prepare the essentials:

  • Decide on the team members involved.
  • Allocate time
  • Prepare the tools.

The necessary tools depend on how you decide to brainstorm:

  • Offline. Download a PDF Business Model Canvas template, and take several colored markers, sticky notes, and anything else you may need. For example, if you are brainstorming in a big team, a board is a must for enhanced convenience.
  • Online. Choose the platform where you will work with a template. It can be Google Docs, Omnigraffle, or the Stratygizer web app.

Why Choose Business Model Canvas?

What makes The Business Model Canvas stand out in an array of approaches to business model creation? Its 1-page nature drives the following advantages:

  • Focus – With all the data presented on a single page, business owners don’t spread themselves too thin. They formulate key elements and eliminate unnecessary ones.
  • Density – It’s much better to read one dense piece of paper than look through a 30-page report.
  • Flexibility – The canvas is easy to customize; therefore, you can fill out several templates, compare them, and choose the best one.

About the Nine Business Model Canvas Elements

Let’s elaborate on what is behind the nine Business Model Canvas blocks:

1. Customer Segment

Customer Segments

Daily operations highly depend on customers and their behavioral patterns. That’s why customer segmentation is a must when creating a business model.

In this block, you need to describe the buyer persona. The description includes the following:

  • Demographics (age, gender, etc.)
  • Professional status
  • Motivation and goals
  • Shopping preferences

This is a basic list of points. You can add specific parameters. For example, software developers may identify the preferred device type. Already-established brands can also introduce visitors’ tiers that differentiate people according to their level of connection with a brand.

Read an in-depth article about customer segments here .

2. Value Proposition

Value Proposition

A value proposition is a brief description of your product and its ultimate value for a client. In other words, write down in a Business Model Canvas why consumers should buy your goods or services. Ideally, it solves a problem or drives additional value for an end-client.

Keep in mind that the wording should be precise and short. Don’t describe your value proposition in several sentences. Limit it to a single but eloquent phrase. Here is a good example from Maps.me : “Fast, detailed, and entirely offline maps with turn-by-turn navigation – trusted by over 140 million travelers worldwide.”

Read an in-depth article about value proposition here.

3. Distribution Channels

Distribution Channels

Osterwalder, together with Pigneur, described five phases of channel development.

  • Awareness includes channels that establish the initial contact with the target audience and develop the connection. It usually involves marketing channels.
  • Evaluation implies allowing potential buyers to try your goods and see the value. Popular channels are free samples, reviews, and case studies.
  • Purchase is about when and by what means customers can buy your product. The channels vary significantly depending on the prevalence of online or offline communication.
  • Delivery describes how an end consumer receives a product.
  • After-sales is usually limited to customer support that provides after-sales service and resolves problems.

Read an in-depth article about distribution channels here.

4. Customer Relationship

Customer Relationship

A customer relationship strategy determines how your target audience interacts with your brand. You can choose from five types of customer relationships in terms of the Business Model Canvas:

  • Personal assistance is a traditional approach where a customer interacts with a personal assistant when contacting your brand. It implies a high level of personal care and deep, meaningful relationships.
  • Self-service is the opposite of personal assistance: a brand doesn’t directly communicate with a consumer – instead, the consumer can understand the product via guides and FAQs.
  • Automated service involves AI-based suggestions and bots that can provide basic assistance. This type is more engaging than self-service.
  • Communities are spaces developed by a brand itself to help the audience understand the product better. A good example is Oracle, which practices the approach.
  • Co-creation implies educating the customers via user-generated content.

Read an in-depth article about customer relationships here.

5. Revenue Streams

Revenue Streams

The next block of the Business Model Canvas is about determining where your revenue comes from. Here, you should consider the buyer’s persona to identify what the target audience is ready to pay for.

There can be several methods of monetization:

  • Direct sales : Implies selling your service or product for a fee. It’s common for the majority of industries.
  • Advertising : It’s relevant for such niches as blogging or IT platforms. The revenue comes from advertisers who want to reach your audience.
  • Freemium : This applies to services only. Some features are free, while premium ones are paid for.
  • Subscription : It’s similar to a fee-based monetization. The only difference is that a consumer pays for getting access to the service for a limited time, not forever.

Read an in-depth article about revenue streams here.

6. Key Resources

Key Resources - Business Model Canvas

In the Business Model Canvas, key resources are divided into four categories. Here are they explained:

  • Tangible – Any physical resources, from real estate to equipment. The stocks also fall in the category.
  • Intangible – Intellectual property like patents, copyrights, licenses, and customer knowledge
  • Human – Your employees that make the business run
  • Financial – All the finance, regardless of whether it’s an obligation or not. It includes cash, bank loans, grants or donations, and other finances.

Read an in-depth article about key resources here.

7. Key Activities

Key Activities

Key activities included in a canvas are the business activities vital for work. They vary from industry to industry. Some design this block by uniting the activities into one out of three categories:

  • Problem-solving

For example, software developers fall in the first category as they design new products, while an IT company with its own taxi service is attributed to the third category.

Read an in-depth article about key activities here.

8. Key Partners

Key Partners

Key partners are parties like suppliers who are vital to flawless business operations. In other words, a company can’t survive without them. There are four categories to include in the Business Model Canvas:

  • Supplier – A partner who supplies you with raw materials or finished goods
  • Non-competitors – Companies you team up with to leverage their resources: for example, you can source goods from several suppliers
  • Joint ventures – Partners who help you fill the gap: enter a new market or reach a new niche. The result of a joint venture is enhanced mutual profitability.
  • Coopetition – Partnership between two competitors, which may take place as a merger to market a new product

Read an in-depth article about key partners here.

9. Cost Structure

Cost Structure

All the mentioned above blocks of the Business Model Canvas aren’t implemented for free. Startups and enterprises spend money on production and accompanying services. To set realistic revenue goals, a company needs to estimate the costs first.

The costs vary depending on the industry. For example, some businesses have to cover R&D expenditures, together with production and post-service. Others, however, exclude this debit from the template.

Read an in-depth article about cost structure here.

Applications and Analysis

Once the Business Model Canvas is ready, you need to analyze it. For this, you should assess the canvas in terms of three points:

  • Is it logical and coherent? Are there are misaligned blocks? If yes, address the issue.
  • What can be improved? If you find any mediocre blocks, devote more time to improve them.
  • Are there any other ideas to consider? Maybe you can add something to the existing template or design a new one?
  • Does my team agree with the canvas? If not, reconsider the arguable moments. To prove your point of view, rely on data and facts.
  • Have I taken into account a long-term competitive advantage? If no, address the point. You need to consider the market and competitors when building a business plan.

What to Do After?

After you have examined the canvas, you can integrate it into your daily routine. Here is how it can be utilized:

  • Track the changes. Any company evolves with time. A plan helps to make sure that changes don’t contravene core principles.
  • Onboard top-management. The model communicates who you are and how you live. Instead of describing everything on your own, you can let new hires read everything.
  • Guide the brainstorming. Every time you have a meeting where a team is generating ideas, place the canvas in front. It will help to reject unfit ideas.

Besides, you can use the same technique in other areas. For example, if you have several customers, you can describe an approach to them with the help of the BMS.

Some Tips for Beginners

If you have never created the Business Model Canvas before, comprehending all the above-mentioned data may be hard. Here are five tips that will help to navigate across the template easier:

  • Prefer teamwork: It’s better to brainstorm side by side with reliable and competent team members rather than alone. You reduce the risk of designing the canvas from one perspective.
  • Work on a whiteboard: The more space you have, the better. It allows the whole team to have a good look at the template and facilitates the process.
  • Stock up on stationery: Colored markers and stickers will help you to group the ideas when brainstorming. Otherwise, you risk ending up with an incoherent Business Model Canvas.
  • Devote enough time: Don’t allocate half an hour or schedule an important meeting right after the brainstorming. You will need a minimum of one hour for a draft.
  • Determine the sequence of blocks to fill in: It’s advisable to start with customer segmentation or value proposition. After that, you can determine the sequence as it’s convenient for you.

Software for Business Model Canvas

If you prefer digital solutions to traditional paper and markers, you can opt for software to create the Business Model Canvas. There are many useful tools on the web. These three, however, are the best:

  • Canvanizer. The tool is free, simple, and shareable. It allows collaborative brainstorming in Google Docs. Later, the canvas can be exported to an image or other formats.
  • Strategyzer. The free software is more advanced with deep analytics and enhanced user experience. For example, the tool can assess the financial viability of a business idea. It also offers additional modes: for example, a dashboard for Lean Startup development.
  • CNVS. The software with a simple interface is easy-to-understand. It allows building not only the BMC but also a Lean and Feature Canvas.

What Are the Benefits of the BMC?

Businesses of all scopes choose the Business Model Canvas approach because of four core benefits:

  • Enhanced Visibility. Since the canvas involves visual presentation, it facilitates data comprehension. The team has all the information in front of their eyes; therefore, the analysis and decision-making are much easier.
  • Customization. You can change some blocks of the canvas in no time if they don’t match with others. It won’t take several hours to retype and reprint a 40-page report.
  • Focus on Value. Typically, the value of the product is at the core. It means that all the other blocks are designed with the end-benefit in mind.
  • A Single Message. A team gets a clear message of the operation. The Business Model Canvas eliminates risks of failure because of misunderstandings.

What Does the Business Model Canvas Lack?

Although the Business Model Canvas is a popular and recognizable approach, many critics revolve around it. In particular, some executives criticize the model because of the lack of:

  • Competitors
  • Market analysis
  • Brand mission
  • Key priorities

While it may bother some people, in reality, there is nothing wrong. The nature of the BMC doesn’t imply focusing on these aspects. Its ultimate objective is to facilitate the process of crafting business models. And the template includes the core blocks only. After all, the market and competitors’ external outcomes aren’t shaping the company’s inner structure.

Why Should Already-Established Companies Implement the Business Model Canvas?

Traditionally, the canvas approach is the prerogative of startups. But it can also be useful for already-established enterprises. The BMC covers the following tasks: Helps to identify gaps in the model and discover new opportunities.

  • Allows comparing your model to competitors to identify competitive advantages
  • Enhances a presentation of a company to potential investors
  • Allows examining and testing new business models
  • It helps to unite the model and eliminate misunderstandings in a team
  • Allows recreating the company from scratch

As can be seen, the Business Model Canvas helps to effectively analyze the whole company or particular project, map out possible changes or gaps, and address them.

Real Examples of the Business Model Canvas

Examples help executives to grasp the basics of the BMC better. Here are two examples of canvases from different industries:

Airbnb is a provider of affordable accommodation around the globe. Its canvas may look like this:

Airbnb Business Model Canvas

  • Customer segments – budget tourists, unconventional travelers, locals seeking extra income
  • Value proposition – easy and fast booking, huge offer, competitive prices, local lifestyle
  • Distribution channels – social media, travel bloggers, word-of-mouth
  • Customer relationships – self-service with customer support
  • Revenue streams – a fee system, affiliate marketing
  • Key resources – a community of both landlords and guests, platform, IT-specialists
  • Key activities – user research, customer support, maintenance
  • Key partners – tourists and travelers, hosts, investors, payments providers, insurance companies
  • Cost structure – marketing, platform maintenance

LinkedIn is a professional social network.

Linkedin Business Model Canvas

  • Customer segments – HR, professionals seeking employment, marketing specialists
  • Value proposition – building a professional network of contact, sourcing potential employees, blogging.
  • Distribution channels – app stores, website
  • Customer relationships – self-service, customer support
  • Revenue streams – freemium, marketing, and hiring solutions
  • Key resources – platform, IT-specialists, user-generated content
  • Key activities – platform maintenance
  • Key partners – users, SlideShare
  • Cost structure – marketing, maintenance

The Business Model Canvas is one of the numerous approaches to business modeling. For more than fifteen years of existence, it has proved its worth in the corporate community. Despite some critics, the method is effective and illustrates the business plan precisely. Moreover, thanks to its visual feature, it’s easy to comprehend and assess.

Download a Business Model Canvas Template

Download our free tools below to create your own Business Model Canvas right now.

BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS TEMPLATE PDF

BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS TEMPLATE PPT

BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS TEMPLATE EXCEL

BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS TEMPLATE WORD

BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS TEMPLATE GOOGLE SHEETS

BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS TEMPLATE GOOGLE SLIDES

You may also be interested in the Value Proposition Canvas template , a complementary tool to the Business Model Canvas.

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Who is Daniel Pereira ?

I love understanding strategy and innovation using the business model canvas tool so much that I decided to share my analysis by creating a website focused on this topic.

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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).

Business-Model-Canvas-Annoted-760

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:

Brainstorming alone or in a small group Documenting the Canvas in Google Doc’s or MS Office (PowerPoint) Documenting a canvas (if you have a Mac & Omnigraffle) This is a nice tool and very robust.
You can take any of these and project them on to a whiteboard for group sessions This uses the presentation app in Google Doc’s, which does a pretty good job of exporting to PowerPoint.LINK TO INSTRUCTIONS This one uses layering to manage the canvas This one needs a little more set up but has lots of features

*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.

model business plan canvas

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.

Customer Segments

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.

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

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.

Customer Relationships

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 ).

Channels

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?

Key Activities

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 .

Key Resources

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.

Key partnerships

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:

You’re having trouble crystallizing your Customer Segments and Value Propositions I recommend the material here on .
You’re looking for a more end-to-end view of how to design the venture- customer discovery, Lean-style experimentation, product design, product development. The materials provide a more comprehensive view of how to approach a new product or venture.

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).

Screen-Shot-Editing-Master

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.

Business Plan vs Business Model Canvas Explained

Male entrepreneur with shoulder length hair sitting in an office working on his computer. Exploring the business model canvas as a planning option.

6 min. read

Updated July 29, 2024

Download Now: Free Business Plan Template →

It might be stating the obvious, but planning and preparation are keys to success in business.

After all, entrepreneurs put in hard work to develop their product, understand the market they plan to serve, assess their competitive landscape and funding needs, and much more.

Successful business owners also take time to document their strategies for guiding the growth of their companies. They use these strategies to take advantage of new opportunities and pivot away from threats.

Two common frameworks for documenting strategies – the business model canvas and the business plan – are also among the easiest to get confused.

Though they can complement each other, a business model canvas and a business plan are different in ways worth understanding for any entrepreneur who’s refining their business concept and strategy.

Let’s start by digging deeper into what a business model canvas is. 

  • What is a business model canvas?

You may have heard the term “business model” before. Every company has one. 

Your business model is just a description of how your business will generate revenue. In other words, it’s a snapshot of the ways your business will be profitable.

Writing a business plan is one way of explaining a company’s business model. The business model canvas takes a different approach.

A business model canvas is a one-page template that explains your business model and provides an overview of your:

  • Relationships with key partners
  • Financial structure
  • And more…

While the business model is a statement of fact, the business model canvas is a strategic process—a method for either documenting or determining your business model.

It’s meant to be quickly and easily updated as a business better understands what it needs to be successful over time. This makes it especially useful for startups and newer businesses that are still trying to determine their business model.

You can think of a business model canvas as a condensed, summarized, and simplified version of a business plan. It’s a great way to quickly document an idea and get started on the planning process.

The business plan is a way to expand on the ideas from the canvas and flesh out more details on strategy and implementation.

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Components of a Business Model Canvas

The simplest way to think about your business model canvas is to map it out visually. A business model canvas covers nine key areas:

  • Value proposition : A company’s unique offering in the market and why it will be successful.
  • Key activities: The actions that a company takes to achieve its value proposition.
  • Customer segments : The types of people or businesses that are likely to want a company’s products or services.
  • Channels : How a company reaches customers through marketing and distribution efforts.
  • Customer relationships: How a company interacts with customers and maintains important relationships.
  • Revenue streams: The ways in which a company makes money.
  • Key resources: The assets such as property, equipment and staffing that a company needs to perform its key activities.
  • Key partners: The relationships with suppliers, vendors, customers and other stakeholders a company must maintain in order to be successful.
  • Cost structure: The major drivers of company expenses that will need to be tracked and managed.

[Want an even simpler alternative? Try downloading our free one-page plan template and start building your plan in less than 30 minutes.]

To get a better sense of how a business model canvas documents business strategy, consider a company like Netflix. The streaming company’s business model is based on generating subscription revenue through its content library and exclusive content.

If Netflix executives were to create a business model canvas, it would map out how the company leverages key resources, partnerships, and activities to achieve its value proposition and drive profitability. The business model is the destination.

The great thing about a business model canvas is that you can quickly document business ideas and see how a business might work at a high level. As you do more research, you’ll quickly refine your canvas until you have a business idea you think will work.

From there, you expand into a full business plan.

  • What is a business plan?

If a business model canvas captures what a company looks like when it’s operating successfully, then a business plan is a more detailed version along with a company’s blueprint for getting there.

Think of your business plan as a process of laying out your goals and your strategies for achieving them.

The business plan is more detailed, and changes over time. It examines each aspect of your business, from operations to marketing and financials.

The plan often includes forward-looking forecasts of a company’s projected financial performance. These are always educated guesses. But these forecasts can also be used as a management tool for any growing business.

Comparing actual results to the forecast can be a valuable reality check, telling a business if they’re on track to meet their goals or if they need to adjust their plan.

Using an investor-approved business plan template is also a must for companies hoping to receive a bank loan , SBA loan , or other form of outside investment . Anyone putting up funds to help you grow will want to see you’ve done your homework.

So a business plan is how you not only prepare yourself, but also show your audience that you’re prepared.

Components of a business plan

While there are several different types of business plans meant for different uses, well-written plans will cover these common areas:

  • Executive summary : A brief (1-2 pages) overview of your business.
  • Products and services : Detailed descriptions of what you’re selling and how it fills a need in the market.
  • Market analysis : Assessing the size of your market, and information about your customers such as demographics (age, income level) and psychographics (interests, values).
  • Competitive analysis : Documenting existing businesses and solutions your target customers are finding in the market.
  • Marketing and sales plan : Your strategies for positioning your product or service in the market, and developing a customer base.  
  • Operations plan : Describing how you will run the business from day to day, including how you will manage inventory, equipment, and staff.
  • Organization and management team: Detailing the legal structure of the business, as well as key members, their backgrounds and qualifications.
  • Financial Plans : Business financials that measure a company’s performance and health, including profit & loss statements, cash flow statements and balance sheets. Effective financial plans also include forward-looking sales forecasts and expense budgets.

How a business plan and business model canvas inform business strategy

Avoid the trap of using the two terms interchangeably. As we’ve shown, the two have different focuses and purposes. 

The business model canvas (or our one-page plan template ) is a great starting point for mapping out your initial strategy. Both are easy to iterate on as you test ideas and determine what’s feasible.

Once you have a clearer sense of your idea, you can expand the canvas or one-page plan into a business plan that digs into details like your operations plan, marketing strategy, and financial forecast.

When you understand how – and when – to use each, you can speed up the entire planning process. That’s because the business model canvas lays out the foundation of your venture’s feasibility and potential, while the business plan provides a roadmap for getting there.

The work of business planning is about connecting the dots between the potential and the process.

Content Author: Tim Berry

Tim Berry is the founder and chairman of Palo Alto Software , a co-founder of Borland International, and a recognized expert in business planning. He has an MBA from Stanford and degrees with honors from the University of Oregon and the University of Notre Dame. Today, Tim dedicates most of his time to blogging, teaching and evangelizing for business planning.

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Table of Contents

  • How both inform your strategy

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Business model canvas template

Summarize a new business model in its early stages.

model business plan canvas

Use this template to outline all the advantages, targets, challenges, risks, costs, and opportunities of your business. After completing each step, you'll have an exportable canvas representing all the key details.

A business model canvas (BMC) is a one-page model that provides a clear and concise overview of a company's value proposition, target customer segments, revenue streams, cost structure, key activities, resources, partnerships, and channels.

By filling out each section of the canvas, business owners and entrepreneurs can gain a deeper understanding of different business models, identify areas for improvement, and develop strategies to achieve their goals.

The business model canvas template helps with:

  • Gathering observations across an organization and build a strategy
  • Aligning teams around a common vision
  • Identifying areas for improvement
  • Making it easier to communicate your ideas to others

How to use the Business model canvas template

Use the following building blocks to build a cohesive business strategy:

1. Identify your customer segments

Who are the people or organizations that will be using your product or service? Try to be as specific as possible — build a customer persona to consider factors such as demographics, psychographics, and behaviors.

For an added level of detail, map out the customer journey to identify key touchpoints.

2. Define your value proposition

What is the unique value that your product or service offers to your customers? This should be a clear and concise statement that summarizes the benefits of your product or service, and how they address customer needs.

3. Identify your channels

Which methods of communication do you plan to use to spread the word about your business to your customers and your key partners? Will you be using online marketing, social media, direct mail, or some other method? List all the channels you plan to use.

4. Describe your customer relationships

How will you interact with your customer base? Will you be providing customer support, offering loyalty programs, or engaging in other ways? Be specific about the types of relationships you will be building with your customers.

5. Define your revenue streams

How will you generate revenue from your product or service? Will you be charging for subscriptions, selling products, or using advertising? List all the revenue streams and pricing models you plan to use.

6. Identify your key resources

What are the resources you need to deliver your value proposition? This could include things like technology, equipment, human resources, intellectual property, or physical assets.

7. Describe your key activities

What are the core activities required to operate your business? This could include things like product development, manufacturing, distribution channels, marketing, sales, or customer service.

8. Identify your partnerships

What external parties will you need to collaborate with to achieve your goals? This could include suppliers, distributors, or other businesses that complement your product or service. Understanding key partnerships can help give you a leg-up against potential competitors.

9. Define your cost structure

What are the costs associated with operating your business? This could include things like salaries, rent, utilities, marketing expenses, or product development costs.

10. Review the canvas

Once you have filled out all the sections, review your canvas and make any necessary adjustments. You may want to consider whether there are any areas that need further refinement, or if there are any inconsistencies that need to be resolved.

11. Next steps

Use the canvas to guide your decision-making and strategy development. You may want to share it with your team, investors, or other stakeholders to get their feedback and input. Update it regularly as your business evolves and grows to inform your roadmap.

Tips for creating a business model canvas

Invite more collaborators.

Invite more team members into the workflow to help with building out each section of the canvas. Team members can provide valuable feedback and unique insights that will strengthen the quality of your business model canvas

Try use cases other than business plans

A business model canvas can be used for more than new business models or an existing business strategy. For example, try gathering insights across an organization to build a more inclusive environment.

Keep it simple

The canvas is meant to provide a high-level overview of your idea on a single page. Avoid getting bogged down in details and keep your descriptions concise and to the point.

How to create a Business model canvas template

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 Business Model Canvas Template in Miro

Business Model Canvas Template

Determine and align your business priorities in a simple and visual way with the Business Model Canvas Template.

Trusted by 65M+ users and leading companies

About the Business Model Canvas Template

The Business Model Canvas template, designed by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur, provides a strategic and powerful way to understand your business. The Business Model Canvas (BMC)  displays a business model, and it contains nine blocks: fill in each one using stickies, links, sketches, pictures, and videos. Use this business model template collaboratively with your team to clearly explain and visualize your business.

How to use a Business Model Canvas template: 9 key elements

The canvas provides nine key business elements to illustrate, summarize, and track. The nine building blocks of a BMC template are:

1. Key partners

List the key partnerships your business leverages or relies upon for success. Include the resources or value your business gets from these partnerships.

2. Key activities

Summarize the key activities that allow your business to provide services and deliver on your value proposition.

3. Key resources

List the key resources your business relies upon or uses in order to operate and provide services.

4. Key propositions

Summarize the different value propositions that set your business apart from your competition.

5. Customer relationships

Define and describe the primary relationships you have with your customers, including how you interact with them, how these interactions differ among different types of customers, what different customer needs are, and the level of support the different customers receive.

6. Channels

Detail how your customers are reached, how your services are provided, your different distribution channels, and how your value proposition is delivered.

7. Customer segments

Define the ideal customer personas your value proposition is intended to benefit, then describe the key differences between these segments and potential steps in the customer journey.

8. Cost structure

Identify the primary costs associated with operating your business and providing your services, then detail the relationship between these costs and other business functions.

9. Revenue streams

Describe how your business generates revenue through the delivery of your value proposition.

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When do you use the Business Model Canvas template?

Business Model Canvases are not intended to serve in place of a business plan . Instead, the BMC template is used to summarize and visually illustrate the most important information of a business model and to provide centralized ongoing clarity.

This canvas is appropriate for illustrating existing business models, regardless of whether the business is new. The Business Model template is also appropriate for visualizing new business models for startups, as it helps organize and consolidate ideas around your key functions. Keep in mind that the Business Model Canvas should be reviewed periodically, as all the factors listed can change over time.

5 Benefits of creating a Business Model Canvas online

Filling in the BMC template makes it easy to visually and collaboratively outline the core aspects of your business's unique value proposition. Here are a few benefits of using the template:

1. Provides a structure for ideation

The Business Model Canvas is extremely useful for structuring your business model visually. This helps at different stages of defining your business canvas and makes it easy to keep up-to-date as strategies shift.

2. Focuses you on your value proposition

It can be easy to get distracted by the varying factors involved in running a business. The value proposition is at the heart of the entire Business Model Canvas template, so you can continually focus on why your business exists. You should use your value proposition as a guiding star to give you direction as you fill out all other parts of the canvas.

3. Fast to complete

Whether or not your business model is clearly defined or you are testing out different business models, the Business Canvas template can be completed quickly and helps you generate new business ideas. This allows for quicker feedback, quicker ideation, and faster iteration.

4. Provides a holistic view of your business

With the Business Model Canvas, you can see how all of the elements of your business are interrelated and inform or affect each other. This provides you with a better understanding of how your business operates as a system or ecosystem.

5. Gives you a central document to share externally

Once you’ve filled out your Business Model Canvas template, you can share it widely, get feedback, and make any needed updates. Because the visual presentation is easy to grasp and understand, teams, stakeholders, advisors, and partners should find the canvas relatively straightforward and easy to understand.

Can I customize the template to suit my business or add more details?

Yes, you can customize the Business Model Canvas template to match your specific business needs and add additional notes or details as necessary.

How often should I update or review the BMC for my business?

The Business Model Canvas (BMC) is a dynamic tool that should be reviewed and updated regularly to reflect changes in your business model or market.

Can I use the BMC template for both startups and established businesses?

Yes, the Business Model template is suitable for both startups and established companies. It's a versatile tool that can be used for business model development, refinement, and innovation at any stage.

Is there a way to link external resources or documentation directly in the Business Model Canvas template?

Yes, in Miro, you can embed external links directly onto the canvas. This is particularly useful if you want to provide more detailed information or references for specific model sections or business cases.

Can I export my Business Model Canvas to share with stakeholders not using Miro?

Absolutely! Miro provides multiple export options for your canvas. You can save your Business Model Canvas as an image (PNG, JPEG), a PDF, or even a CSV file for the data.

Are there any integrations available to enhance my use of the Business Model Canvas template in Miro?

Yes, Miro offers a suite of integrations with popular tools and platforms to streamline your workflow. For example, you can integrate with tools like Slack for team communication, Google Drive for document storage, or Jira for project management. Using these integrations, you can seamlessly bring in external data, notify team members of updates, or even automate specific tasks directly within your Business Model Canvas board.

Get started with this template right now.

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Go-to-Market Strategy Template

Works best for:.

Marketing, Desk Research, Strategic Planning

It doesn’t matter how innovative or effective a new product is — if it doesn’t get noticed and adopted by the right audience, the product won’t get off the ground. That’s where your Go-to-Market Strategy comes in. It’s a single resource that houses all of your research, insights, and data, and includes your business plan, target audience, marketing approach, and sales strategy. A GTM is especially important for any startups who grow fast, have to make split-second decisions, and have to be fully in sync.

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Three-Hour Brand Sprint Template

Marketing, Workshops, Sprint Planning

Before customers will believe in your brand, your team has to believe. That’s where brand sprints work wonders. Popularized by the team at Google Ventures, a brand sprint will help your team sort through all different ideas about your brand and align on your brand’s fundamental building blocks—your values, audience, personality, mission statement, roadmap, and more. Whether you’re building a new brand or revamping an existing one, brand sprints are ideal for trigger events such as naming your company, designing a logo, hiring an agency, or writing a manifesto.

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BCG Matrix Template

Strategic Planning

Use the BCG matrix template to make informed and strategic decisions about growth opportunities for your business. Assign your portfolio of products to different areas within the matrix (cash cows, dogs, question marks, stars) to prioritize where you should invest your time and money to see the best results.

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Spaghetti Diagram Template

Operations, Mapping, Diagrams

Spaghetti diagrams are valuable for finding connections between assets, services, and products, as well as identifying dependencies in a visual way. Use this template to get an overview of a process and quickly find areas of improvement.

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Project Scope Template

Project Management, Decision Making, Project Planning

A project scope helps you plan and confirm your project’s goals, deliverables, features, functions, tasks, costs, and deadlines. A project manager and team should develop a project scope as early as possible, as it will directly influence both the schedule and cost of a project as it progresses. Though project scopes will vary depending on your team and objectives, they generally include goals, requirements, major deliverables, assumptions, and constraints. Aim to include the whole team when you create a project scope to ensure everyone is aligned on responsibilities and deadlines.

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Ansoff Matrix Template

Leadership, Operations, Strategic Planning

Keep growing. Keep scaling. Keep finding those new opportunities in new markets—and creative new ways to reach customers there. Sound like your approach? Then this template might be a great fit. An Ansoff Matrix (aka, a product or market expansion grid) is broken into four potential growth strategies: Market Penetration, Market Development, Product Development, and Diversification. When you go through each section with your team, you’ll get a clear view of your options going forward and the potential risks and rewards of each.

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How to Create a Business Model Canvas (With Template)

May 19, 2021 - 10 min read

Yuvika Iyer

Do you want to create a simple business plan? Something comprehensive, flexible, and easy to scribble on a napkin? You can do that with a business model canvas.

Every business has ever-changing, diverse interests. Illustrating all of this on a single sheet of paper may sound challenging — but by using a business model canvas template, your team can focus on the key elements of your business to ensure nothing slips through the cracks.

Business model canvas explained

"Lengthy business plans often increase the risk of failure," wrote Alex Osterwalder in his 2008 book “Business Model Generation.”

The business model canvas offers a way to avoid this, providing a simplified version of a business plan. A business model canvas is a simple, visual framework that helps teams outline the most fundamental elements of a business.

As a handy business tool, teams can use a business model canvas to map the nine core areas of a business, such as customer needs, value proposition, and platforms for customer acquisition.

This article will explain the business model canvas, its benefits, and how it can help your team develop a successful high-level business strategy and actionable roadmap .

How can a business model canvas help your business?

Many teams are so overwhelmed with operational issues that they don’t have time to focus on the core business strategy .

Utilizing the business model canvas helps create a unified framework that depicts this strategy alongside an action plan that teams can follow.

But how do you know if you need a business model canvas? If you are starting a business or even toying with an idea, a BMC can create a powerful visual representation of your concept. A business model canvas can also be a handy reference for your team as they move towards successful business outcomes. Here are five more ways in which a business model canvas can help your company.

It’s simple and easy to follow

Whether you have a business idea or are managing a large enterprise, having an easy-to-follow business plan can be immensely helpful. As a precise one-page document, teams can modify specific business model canvas elements as they go along without completely redoing a 50- or 100-page document.

Focused on being actionable 

Every business plan needs to be actionable. Using a business model canvas helps you accurately define your organization’s core value proposition and keep it aligned to your business strategy.

Your focus could be to achieve profitability in the first year or gain a large market share. Stay competitive by defining actionable steps for your team within the business model canvas.

Flexible and scalable as the business evolves 

No business stays the same forever but evolves as it interacts with diverse market dynamics, competitors, product innovations, and changing consumer needs.

To take your idea to market, you need a tool that connects the dots between what your customers want, your business's unique offering, and the desired profitability streams.

By creating a business model canvas template, you instantly get an edge over other market players engrossed in lengthy business plan documents.

How to Create a Business Model Canvas (With Template) 2

Puts the customer first

Ignoring customers sets businesses up for failure . Companies flounder if they direct their energies solely towards making a great product or service. With a business model canvas template, your focus stays on the ultimate end-users of your product. 

Having a business blueprint will force team members to think about what customers want, the primary issues they need help with, and how your product or service can do that. 

Helps get team and executive buy-in

23% of businesses fail without the right team on their side. Every company needs team members with a diverse mix of skills, experiences, and talents.

Companies require a solid business blueprint for hiring team members or bringing in investors. Having a business model canvas can help get everyone on board with your organization’s core vision. Potential employees and investors can visualize how the different organizational parts interact and see how they can become an integral part of the company.

Promotes focus on the unique value proposition of your business

19% of companies fail due to being outperformed by their competitors. If there's no difference between your product and one from another firm, why should customers come to your company? Every business needs a clear value proposition that helps them stand out — that's where a business model canvas template comes in.

When you look at the nine core elements of a business model canvas (explained below), you'll quickly notice some factors are controllable to a certain extent, while others are more fractious.

Your company's core value proposition sits right in the middle. It acts as the central pillar around which all other elements exist, defining the fundamental nature of the business.

What goes into each segment?

To fill out a business model canvas, you should know what goes into each of the nine fundamental segments.

Have a business model canvas template ready before you and your team start brainstorming on each of these elements (you'll find one below) and then add the research and data into the relevant sections. 

Customer segments In this fundamental business area, teams identify the core individuals they will help with their product or service. To do this, they create two to three buyer personas — potential customers that a business seeks to serve.

A buyer persona is a simple but detailed description of a prospective business customer. It assists with capturing the customer’s real-life problems and motivations, helping the business deliver what they want.

Value proposition The value proposition is the ultimate value that a customer will get from your product or service. It seeks to answer the question, “Why will a customer buy?” Here are a few popular value propositions for any organization:

  • Customization ability
  • Unique product design
  • Innovation in product or service
  • Exceptional service or product status
  • Affordable pricing and clear pricing model definition

Channels In a business model canvas, channels are the platforms through which a company sells its product or service to end-users. To identify the best channel for your business, look at how you plan to connect with your customers.

A few possible channels can be:

  • A self-owned retail store
  • Direct sales staff
  • Affiliate marketing platforms
  • Google Adsense

A business can either own its channels or partner with other companies that have their own channels.

Customer relationships Customer relationships in a business model canvas define how the company will obtain, retain, and increase new customers. Let's take a look at how customer relationships are built:

  • Identify how to obtain customers and from which platforms (e.g., Google, Facebook ads)
  • Gain clarity on how to retain existing customers using different techniques (e.g., exceptional customer service)
  • Discover how to increase the customer base of the business (e.g., sending text or email notifications to prompt website visits)

Revenue streams Revenue streams help the business owner decide how to generate revenue and achieve their predefined organizational goals . Key decisions with revenue streams include:

  • Choosing from a one-time payment model or monthly subscriptions
  • Keeping a free plus paid model or a wholly paid product or service with a free trial
  • How payment from customers will be received — website payments, PayPal, or in-store

Key resources Key resources in your business model canvas represent the assets that are vital to your company’s operation. Business assets can include anything from the below categories:

  • Physical assets , including machines, buildings, IT hardware, and vehicles
  • Intellectual assets , including patents, copyrights, partnerships, brands, and employee skills
  • Human assets , including talented employees in knowledge industries such as IT, law, and content marketing
  • Financial assets , like cash balances in the bank or lines of credit

Key activities Want to make your business canvas model work? Make sure to list the key activities that will help expand the business's core value proposition. Key activities can come from any of the below categories:

  • Production: How you will deliver your end product to the customers. You may need to order more stock or upgrade materials
  • Platform: For example, the software used to sell your product, which may require upgrades or maintenance
  • Problem-solving: For example, designing innovative solutions for issues that your customers face

Key partners Every business has some non-core activities that should preferably be outsourced. Key partners are the companies or individuals that complete these non-core activities.

Take a company like Facebook, for example — its key activity is to upgrade and maintain its platform. It doesn't create its own ads, so it also needs to strike deals with companies that wish to advertise on its platform. 

Similarly, it doesn’t create its content — the users do. The primary reasons for choosing key partners can be:

  • Achieving economies of scale
  • Mitigating risk and unpredictability in business
  • Acquiring resources and advertisements for its business (e.g., ads for Facebook)

Cost structure Once the key activities are outlined on the business model canvas, it's time to assign cost structures. Be clear and precise with the estimated business costs of the planned activities to ensure you reach your profitability goal.

Business model canvas example and template

How to Create a Business Model Canvas (With Template) 3

  • Customer segments: Facebook's customers can be divided into two distinct categories — advertisers and platform users
  • Value proposition: The primary reasons platform users come to Facebook. Users feel connected to friends and families, while companies get more leads through advertising on the platform
  • Channels: The website where all data is stored
  • Customer relationships: Facebook incentivizes users to stay on the platform through notifications and new features, leading more companies to advertise on it
  • Revenue streams: Facebook earns money through advertising, while companies gain new customers from Facebook ads
  • Key resources: Facebook's key resources are its platforms — Facebook.com, the Messenger application, and Facebook Ads Manager for advertisers
  • Key activities: Maintaining the website and its infrastructure are two of Facebook’s key strategic activities
  • Key partnerships: Facebook's key partners are its users and advertisers
  • Cost structures: Major costs incurred by Facebook include managing the software, backend engineering operations, product development, regular operations, and staff salaries

How to create a business model canvas (with template)

Ready to create your business model canvas? Before you begin, take some time to brainstorm answers to these questions related to the nine core fundamental areas of the canvas. Here's a simple business model canvas template exercise that can help your team get started.

  • Customer segments: Can you identify your potential customers?
  • Channels: Once the product or service is ready, how will customers discover it?
  • Key partnerships: Can any non-core business activities be outsourced?
  • Customer relationships: How will your business generate leads and retain and increase your customer base?
  • Cost structures: Can the business classify its main costs and expenses into fixed and variable? Is there a way to align costs with the core value proposition and planned revenues?
  • Revenue streams: Has the business decided on a profit margin? How will it make money?
  • Key resources: Which core resources are critical for the business to succeed?
  • Value proposition: Why will customers choose your business? Does the company satisfy any particular need with its product or service?
  • Key activities: Are there any activities that help your business deliver its unique value proposition to customers?

Do I need a lean model canvas? 

If your business is still an idea or in its infancy, choosing a lean model canvas makes more sense.

Inspired by the business model canvas, the lean model canvas was created by Ash Maurya . It is a one-page business plan template that distills the lean startup methodology into the original business model canvas. 

Lean model canvas assimilates multiple essential data points to develop a simpler, start-up optimized version of a business model canvas. It adds four more building blocks to the business model canvas, namely:

  • Problem: Identify the problem faced by the customer and focus on solving it
  • Solution: Start with a minimum viable product that helps solve the customer problem effectively
  • Unfair advantage: List the barriers to entry in a specific sector and your company’s competitive advantages
  • Key metrics: Focus on one goal at one time to ensure you’re doing a good job

Lean model canvas drops four elements from the original business model canvas — key partners, key activities, key resources, and customer relationships. 

While the original illustrates a more comprehensive business approach, the lean model canvas has a sharper customer orientation. Many start-ups prefer the lean model canvas to a traditional business plan for building an actionable roadmap.

The lean model canvas is a great fit for younger companies or those working with a tight time frame or budget to market with a more targeted problem resolution approach.

Why you should use Wrike to build a business model canvas 

The business model canvas’ nine building blocks clearly illustrate the core business areas and their interrelationships. Whether you're trying to figure out the model for a company with three employees or 50,000, a business model canvas can be very useful.

Begin by mapping out the most crucial information about your business, then link the blocks to ensure every value proposition is linked to a revenue stream and a specific customer segment.

Using Wrike to build your business model canvas template, you can iterate faster, communicate with ease, and enable organization-wide success . With a centralized hub, your teams can configure custom dashboards easily and produce better quality work using premade templates . Implement what you've learned about the business model canvas by trying out a free two-week trial of Wrike today.

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Yuvika Iyer

Yuvika is a freelance writer who specializes in recruitment and resume writing.

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These outside organizations have expertise in their specified area, which allows them to manage tasks and processes on behalf of other businesses.  For example, a marketing agency, during their resource planning process, may choose to outsource their payroll and accounting functions in order to focus on the core competencies of their organization.  There are three types of business process outsourcing: offshore, nearshore, and onshore outsourcing.  Offshore outsourcing: The function is managed by an operator or vendor in a different country (often far away and in another time zone) Nearshore outsourcing: The function is managed by an operator or vendor in a neighboring/closeby country Onshore outsourcing: The function is managed by an operator or vendor within the same country — but could be in another state or region  Business functions ideal for outsourcing may include admin, customer service, PR, data entry, HR, content moderation, and more.  Business process outsourcing can improve efficiency and present significant cost savings for companies that may not have the resources to hire a team of in-house customer service specialists or payroll professionals, for example.  In fact, Deloitte research indicates that 59% of companies who outsource say they do so with cost savings as a primary motivator. What is business process as service (BPaaS)? Business process as a service enables BPO by managing specific functions through cloud-based delivery systems. The global BPaaS market is extensive and expected to reach a value of $77.8 billion by 2023. Some well-known names in BPaaS include Accenture and IBM.  BPaaS can help manage:  Finance and accounting  IT services  eCommerce Customer service processes BPaaS leverages the capabilities of infrastructure as a service (IaaS), software as a service (SaaS), and platform as a service (PaaS) solutions in order to help companies manage and address their business objectives.  Business process as a service also relies on automation in many cases, reducing the need for manual intervention. Who needs business process as a service (BPaaS)? Business process as a service can be beneficial for organizations across sizes and industries. For example, instead of hiring an outside firm to manage their finance and accounting needs, a company might instead execute this function via a cloud-based platform licensed through a monthly subscription model.  This naturally brings costs down and offers a more flexible and scalable way of managing operations.  Any company looking to manage processes without the costs associated with hiring, training, and managing an internal team or department may find that BPaaS is an effective solution.  What are the benefits of outsourcing business processes? There are many benefits associated with outsourcing business processes. These benefits include cost and time savings, efficiency gains, the ability to focus on core business competencies, and more. Be sure to keep these in mind when contemplating outsourcing professional services key success factors, and which professional services agency is right for you.Cost savingsHigh costs associated with labor, training, management, and infrastructure can be a barrier as an organization scales and grows its operations. Outsourcing non-core processes can enable businesses to meet their objectives and operational needs while minimizing these internal costs and time commitments. Access to expertise and improved efficiencyBPO gives businesses access to vendors that have the necessary expertise, equipment, and personnel needed to execute a project or function on their behalf. This expertise means they are better equipped to provide cutting-edge, compliant, and effective services.  Ability to focus on key business competencies As a company grows and scales, there is often a need for growth or expansion in other areas of the business.  For example, a high-growth eCommerce company may need increased customer support capabilities to provide quality assistance to customer queries and issues. In this instance, outsourcing customer support staff to an agency or outside vendor allows the business to focus on its main competencies while also addressing customer challenges that can impact the bottom line.  As is the case with most things, business process outsourcing can have its set of challenges and risks. Are there risks to business process outsourcing? Risks in business process outsourcing can include lower than expected or inconsistent quality of service, lack of visibility and collaboration with the vendor, and security considerations. Inconsistent delivery We’ve all been there. A service looks good on paper, but the results turn out to be inconsistent or of a lower standard than expected. This is always a risk, especially when outside vendors are involved.  Lack of visibility and collaboration When handing over the keys to a business function, visibility and communication allow those within the organization to accurately track progress, success, and any challenges. Lack of visibility is a huge risk and could mean that a lower standard of service is inadvertently being passed on to customers.  Privacy and security concerns Privacy and security are a top concern in business process outsourcing. In most cases, BPO will involve some degree of handling sensitive or confidential internal data. Engaging a vendor with lax digital security policies may make an organization vulnerable to breaches or attacks.  As Deloitte notes, the tax implications of business process outsourcing should also be a consideration and factored into any business case. How to choose the right BPO vendor Choosing the right vendor can help avoid headaches, losses, and disputes. Here are some tips for choosing the right BPO partner for your business.  Due diligenceDue diligence will involve researching the vendor and their reputation to determine if they have success and experience with your industry, project type, or company size. Understand costsWhile cost-saving is a major factor when establishing a BPO partnership, unexpected fees may make outsourcing pricier than initially thought. Evaluate security infrastructureWhen determining the suitability of a vendor, be sure to assess their ability to manage and protect sensitive information.  Communicate clear objectives and KPIsClearly communicate objectives, expected outcomes, and KPIs and ensure they have the capacity to deliver.  Ensure stabilityOutsourcing a business function can be risky if the third party is in a financially, legally, or otherwise unstable position. Overreliance on unstable vendors can be a unique challenge to overcome.  How to organize your BPO with Wrike Streamline and simplify your business process outsourcing with Wrike. 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What is the Business Model Canvas?

Download the free business model canvas template, history of the business model canvas, structure of the business model canvas template, example of a business model canvas, additional resources, business model canvas template.

The executive summary of a business

The business model canvas is a strategic planning  tool used by managers to illustrate and develop their business model. The business model canvas template clearly identifies the key elements that make up a business. Additionally, it simplifies a business plan into a condensed form. In this way, the business model canvas template acts like an executive summary for the business plan.

Corporate Finance Institute®’s Corporate & Business Strategy Course has more tools that you can use to manage and improve your business!

Example of Business Model Canvas

Enter your name and email in the form below and download the free template now!

The business model canvas template was originally introduced by Alexander Osterwalder in his 2004 thesis, “The Business Model Ontology – A Proposition in a Design Science Approach”. Since then, the business model canvas template has been taught at business schools and iterated upon to fit more niche businesses.

There are nine main building blocks in the business model canvas template:

  • Key Partners
  • Key Activities
  • Key Resources
  • Value Propositions
  • Customer Relationships
  • Customer Segments
  • Cost Structure
  • Revenue Streams

The following is a breakdown of each of these nine elements. These elements all link and work with each other to ensure the success of the business.

#1. Key Partners

Key partners are the companies or people your business works with to create a strategic relationship. A few examples of key partners are suppliers or distribution partners in the supply chain .

Here are a few things to consider about key partners:

  • What key resources does your company receive from these partners?
  • What key activities are performed by these partners?
  • What is your company’s motivation for working with these key partners? Is there something specific that only they can provide? Do they help lower costs?

#2. Key Activities

Key activities are specific activities or tasks that are fundamental to the operation of your business. An example of a key activity would be the procurement of fresh produce in bulk for a restaurant.

Here are a few things to consider about key activities:

  • What key activities are necessary to deliver your value proposition ?
  • What activities set your company apart from others?
  • How do your revenue streams , distribution channels , and customer relationships differ from competitors? How do your key activities affect these?
  • Do you need to procure specific niche resources?
  • Do you need to streamline to keep costs and prices low?

#3. Key Resources

Key resources are the assets necessary to operate and deliver your value proposition. For example, a diamond mining company cannot operate without mining equipment . Alternatively, an automotive company cannot operate without the human capital and expertise that goes into designing cars.

Here are a few things to consider about key resources:

  • What specific assets are necessary to operate your business and deliver your value proposition ?
  • What resources do your distribution channels and revenue streams need to function?
  • What resources are needed to maintain customer relationships and customer satisfaction ?
  • Does your company require significant capital or human resources?

#4. Value Propositions

Value propositions are arguably the most important element of the business model canvas template. The value proposition determines the fundamental offering the company is trying to give its customers. It is the primary driver of business operations. For example, Spotify’s value proposition,  “Music for everyone.” , eloquently states its mission and offering. Spotify wants to be a music streaming platform that has music selections for everyone.

Here are a few things to consider about value propositions:

  • What exactly is your company trying to give to customers?
  • What problem is your company trying to solve and what needs are your company satisfying?
  • How do you offer something different that satisfies the demands of your  customer segments (e.g. price, quality, design, status, etc.)?

#5. Customer Relationships

Customer relationships are the different types of interactions a company has with its customers. For example, a designer suit company will provide significant help for the customer, tailoring to their needs and working directly with them to create the suit they want. Conversely, telecommunications companies often have poor reputations and customer relationships as many practice aggressive and predatory sales practices through their call centers. Compared to telecommunications companies, the designer suit company has significantly richer and more fulfilling customer relationships.

Here are a few things to consider about customer relationships:

  • What type of relationship does your company have with its customers? For example, do you provide dedicated assistance or are they expected to self-serve their needs through provided support channels?
  • How does the business interact with customers and how does this differ between customer segments ?
  • Does your company frequently communicate with customers?
  • How much support is provided by your company?

#6. Channels

Channels are the different structures and methods that are used to deliver your company’s product and value proposition to its customers. Channels encompass all of a company’s supply, distribution, and marketing channels. It is important to consider all channels of a company and make sure they are functioning cohesively. For example, a company like Amazon needs to consider how its fulfillment centers and shipping services are integrated to send out timely shipments.

Here are a few things to consider about channels:

  • How do you deliver your  value proposition ?
  • How do you reach your  customer segments ? What channels are used?
  • Are your supply, distribution, marketing, and communication channels well-integrated and cost-efficient? Are they being utilized effectively?

#7. Customer Segments

Customer Segments are the different types of customers that a company manages. A company that produces different products will need to interact with different types of customers.

An example of this would be airline companies. Airlines offer tickets for economy, business, and first-class customers. First-class passengers have access to exclusive benefits and luxury travel arrangements. Conversely, economy passengers are provided much less support, thus costing less, but also coming in significantly larger amounts.

Here are a few things to consider about customer segments:

  • Who is the main focus of your value proposition? Who are you creating value for?
  • Who are your most important customers? What are they like? What do they need? What do they enjoy?
  • What are your different types of customers ?
  • What is the customer market like? Is your company targeting a small niche community or a mass market?

#8. Cost Structure

The cost structure refers to how a company spends money on operations. It consists of the company’s key costs and the company’s level of focus on costs. If a company is cost-driven, it focuses on minimizing costs and, thus, prices for customers. Alternatively, if a company is value-driven, it focuses on creating value for its customers, with less focus on cost.

An example of this would be a comparison between fashion retailers, Forever 21 and Gucci. Forever 21 is a fast-fashion company focused on delivering the newest styles at low costs – a cost-driven company. Alternatively, Gucci is a luxury brand focused on delivering high-quality clothes and accessories designed with the latest trends in the fashion industry – a value-driven company.

Here are a few things to consider about cost structure:

  • What are the key costs in your company’s business model
  • What are the major drivers of cost ?
  • How do your  key activities and  key resources  contribute to the cost structure?
  • How do your costs relate to your  revenue streams?
  • Is your company properly utilizing economies of scale ?
  • What proportion of costs are fixed and variable ?
  • Is your company focused on cost-optimization or value?

Check out CFI’s course on Budgeting and Forecasting to learn more about estimating future cash flows, revenues, and expenses!

#9. Revenue Streams

Revenue streams are a company’s source of cash flows . They are the final element of the business model canvas template. Revenue streams are the different ways your company’s value proposition generates money. A company might have multiple revenue streams. For example, Apple has multiple revenue streams between its variety of products and its services, such as Apple Music.

Here are a few things to consider about revenue streams:

  • Does your company have multiple methods of generating revenue ?
  • What is the pricing strategy for the products offered by your company?
  • Through what  channels do your customers pay?
  • Does your company offer multiple forms of payment (up-front, payment plans, financing, etc.)?

Here is a simple example built for an automotive company using our business model canvas template!

Example of a Business Model Canvas for an Automotive Company

Proper financial management is the backbone of any business. Corporate Finance Institute has resources that will help you expand your knowledge, advance your career, and manage the financials of your company! Check out the helpful CFI resources below:

Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA)® Certification Program

Corporate & Business Strategy

Budgeting and Forecasting

Three Financial Statements Summary

See all management & strategy resources

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A Better Way to Think About Your Business Model

  • Alexander Osterwalder

How Nespresso used a simple business model canvas to change face of the coffee industry.

The business model canvas — as opposed to the traditional, intricate business plan — helps organizations conduct structured, tangible, and strategic conversations around new businesses or existing ones. Leading global companies like GE, P&G, and Nestlé use the canvas to manage strategy or create new growth engines, while start-ups use it in their search for the right business model. The canvas’s main objective is to help companies move beyond product-centric thinking and towards business model thinking.

model business plan canvas

  • Alexander Osterwalder is cofounder of Strategyzer.com , a company that builds practical tools for business strategy and innovation. Together with Yves Pigneur, he invented the Business Model Canvas and co-authored the international bestsellers  Business Model Generation  and  Value Proposition Design .

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The 15 Minute Business Plan: Business Model Canvas for Validating Your Startup Idea Fast

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If you have ever thought of starting a new business or working on a tech startup idea , then you must definitely have come up with some sort of a plan.

At least in your mind, you may be thinking of a way to execute your idea and achieve the goal you are looking for from your business.

But how should you plan and how much should you plan? After all, with so much uncertainty and ambiguity what if your plan really doesn’t materialize?

Don’t worry, we are here to help you.

If you are brainstorming about the key aspects of your business and don’t know where to begin or if you are an existing manager who needs a better view of your current business, then you must read this article.

Instead of coming up with a 500 page document, articulating each and every aspect of your business plan, there is a wonderful standard template that applies wonderfully to all different kinds of businesses.

Be it an online business like blogging or ecommerce, or a manufacturing based business, retail or aviation, all types of businesses can use the elegant ‘Business Model Canvas’.

A Business Model Canvas will not only save you the time or hassle of complicated planning, but also provide you a brilliant single page look of your business that you can then use to analyse various aspects of it.

But what is Business Model Canvas?

Let’s dive straight in.

What’s the Business Model Canvas?

“ A Business Model Canvas is a tool used to visualize all the building blocks when you want to start a business, including customers, route to market, value proposition and finance. “ – eship.ox.ac.uk

In fact, a Business Model Canvas divides all the key activities, internal processes and stakeholders of a business into 9 building blocks , each representing an important area or aspect of business.

Following are the nine building blocks and the key questions they answer.

  • Customer Segments : Who are the key customers of your business? And what are their key characteristics and needs?
  • Value Propositions: Why do customers buy your product or service? What is the key benefit that your business offers?
  • Channels : How are these benefits communicated to your customers and how is the product or service sold or delivered and why?
  • Customer Relationships : What are the key touch points between you and your customers? And how do you connect with them throughout their journey?
  • Revenue Streams: How does business actually earn money from various value propositions?
  • Key Activities: What are the key things that your business strategically does to deliver this proposition?
  • Key resources : What are the assets that business requires in order to stay competitive and create value?
  • Key Partnerships: What are the external entities or stakeholders that are key to delivering the product and service to your customer? What are some of the partners to whom you have outsourced certain activities to focus more on your core work?
  • Cost Drivers: What are the major cost drivers for your business and how are they linked to your revenue?

Here is an example of a simple Business Model Canvas for an ice cream vendor.

business model canvas template

These 9 blocks are essential in order to create, capture and deliver value to your customers and affect each other in various ways.

In fact, a change in one of these building blocks may affect other areas and thus looking at them together will give you a sense of what happens in one area if you change another.

For example, say you are in an ecommerce business selling physical products. Today you manufacture your products yourself, but considering the scale you want to achieve you want to outsource manufacturing to an external vendor.

This may affect your key partnerships, cost structure, key resources and key activities. You can then clearly visualize all the changes that such a decision would require.

Well, this gives you a basic idea of what a Business Model Canvas is and its basic template.

But why should you really use a Business Model Canvas and not some other method? And how will it fit in what you want to do?

Why You Should Use the Business Model Canvas. And Not a Business Plan.

A business plan is like a blueprint of the business with detailed business models and financial projections, typically running into hundreds of pages.

On the other hand a Business Model Canvas is like a single page template with 9 building blocks that are key to delivering value to your customers.

So which one should you use and why?

If you are just starting a business or have started one already and are in a growth phase or an environment that is dynamic, we would recommend using a Business Model Canvas and not a business plan .

In fact, today Business Model Canvas is being used for a variety of reasons. And almost 36% of people who use it, do it for an entirely new business.

reasons for using business model canvas

Here are a few reasons why using a business model makes better sense than using a business plan.

1. Business Model Canvas is Built for Handling Change

A Business Model Canvas represents all the key aspects of your business in a very simple fashion on a one page model.

If there is any change that happens in any one part of the model then you can easily visualize the trickling effect and understand what other blocks will be affected.

This way you can easily change and adjust everything in one place . This is important because when you are starting out or working on a new problem in your existing business, there is great deal of uncertainty.

Modern day business work in an iterative manner. That is, they start with certain assumptions and then as things become clearer they keep on adjusting according to the changing environment.

A business plan on the other hand requires you to put in a lot of work upfront and come up with projections that may or may not turn out to be true.

Adjusting the whole business plan is also tough as various parts are present in different sections of a lengthy document. It is also possible that you may miss out on understanding how a change in part affects the other.

2. Business Model Canvas is a Simple and Commonly Understood and Proven Template

Do you know, companies like Microsoft and Mastercard actually use Business Model Canvas.

Not only that it has proved to be an important tool for startups as well.

The key point here is that this template is not only simple but also well understood by a lot of people hence it facilitates great discussion .

If you want to discuss some key points to strategize or propose some business model to your colleagues then it surely makes a lot of sense to use the Business Model Canvas.

The issue with a 400+ page document is that you tend to lose focus in skimming through such a heavy file.

And also, there are so many different templates of business plans available and some sections of those may not really make sense for your business.

On the contrary, all the 9 blocks of a Business Model Canvas are inherent and applicable to almost all business models.

This leads to much better collaboration and understanding, better teamwork and a structured conversation.

In fact, according to a research , with a score of 3.5/4 better strategizing and sharing a common language were the top two areas that people believed following a Business Model Canvas helped them in.

benefits of using business model canvas

3. Business Model Canvas Reduces Risk of Failure

When you look at all aspects of your business in a structured manner in a single page template, you are much better able to understand the bonds or pillars that keep your business stable.

Running a successful business involves both strategic planning and efficient implementation.

In order for both these to work, different departments, areas, resources and customers have to be considered and a balance has to be created.

To avoid the risks of failure, it makes a lot of sense to have a robust Business Model Canvas.

For example, consider that you want to shift your business from offline to online in light of the recent pandemic and your long term vision.

Just cataloging your products and building a website will not make your existing and new customers come to your business.

You may have to revisit your customer segments who now have to be digitally savvy and your channels. Your touch points with your customer or the Customer Relationship block will also evolve.

Since, you can see all these aspects you are now better prepared to execute the plan and make sure that all necessary factors are taken care of while evolving your model.

Now, that you understand the importance and usage of a Business Model Canvas, you need to understand how to really create a Business Model Canvas, and how each of the 9 building blocks can be thought of and filled for best results.

It is important to give careful thought to each of these. Don’t worry we will help you out.

Proceed to the next section of the article.

Practical Business Model Canvas Walk-through

Step 1: customer segments.

Arguably, the most important stakeholders for your business are your customers.

Irrespective of whether you start an online business to earn money , or a business with a physical presence, knowing your customers comes first.

And rightly so, the process of building your Business Model Canvas begins with identifying your customers.

The first step in this exercise is dividing your prospective customers into groups with similar features known as segments .

This is necessary because different groups or segments may have very different needs and hence the product/service that would be most relevant for them may be very different.

Not just for the design of the product or service, but segments are also important when you plan about your marketing communication.

For example, say someone who buys your product in small packs very often may be targeted differently than someone who buys high volumes of your product infrequently.

So, how to go about segmentation.

Deciding between B2C or B2B model

You have to first identify, whether you are going to be in the Business to Business (B2B) or a Business to Consumer (B2C) model .

Typically in a B2B business your customers are other businesses, while in B2C your customers are individual consumers .

The behavior and characteristics of these two types of customers are very different.

B2B customers follow a much more stringent and rational approach towards buying than individual customers and B2B buying is almost never based on impulse.

There are usually clear requirements regarding what a B2B customer is looking for in the product.

On the other hand, a B2C business is mostly driven by brand awareness and the decision making cycle for buying is also much shorter.

In terms of the number of buyers, you may be able to run a very profitable business with a handful of customers in B2B, but you will require a larger base when it comes to B2C.

B2CB2B
Customer typeIndividualsBusiness entity
Sales CycleShortLong
Key DriversBrand AwarenessExpertise, recommendations for similar work, product fit
Revenue per userLowHigh
ExamplesRetail, consumer blogs, ecommerceEnterprise Software, Consulting

If you are already an expert in a particular field or have come up with a SaaS product that enterprise can use, you can be in B2B, but if you want to play on brand awareness and individual engagement, then B2C may be a fit for you.

The segmentation strategy will differ according to whether you are in B2B or B2C business. To segment your prospective customers you will need something called a segmentation variable.

Segmentation variables are the basis on which you will divide your customers.

Choosing a Customer Segmentation Variable

Broadly, there are two ways in which you can divide your audience.

Demographics

Psychographics

The number and characteristics of people who live in a particular area or form a particular group, especially in relation to their age, how much money they have and what they spend it on. – Definition of Demographics by Cambridge University

Demographics will help you understand the basic features or characteristics of your customers and are typically easy to understand and collect.

For example, you can source demographic data from the US Census Bureau and the Pew Research .

Alternatively, you can collect this data through primary research, surveys and questionnaires by asking your customers to fill up forms .

If you are in an online business and want to improve your SEO or find out what are the demographics of users who are searching for relevant keywords, we recommend a tool called Demographics.io .

For example, say you own a website that publishes content related to writing blogs. A search for the keyword ‘blog’ on this site tells you that around 27% of people searching for this keyword are between the age group 25-34 and more than 54% are females.

demographics for customer segment

For a B2B business your segments may be something like Industry type, turnover, geography, number of employees etc.

While demographics are an important indicator of some things, for a deeper understanding of your customers you would need a more nuanced understanding of their motivations and behavior.

Market research or statistics classifying population groups according to psychological variables (such as attitudes, values, or fears) – Definition of Psychographics by Merriam-Webster

Here are some of the questions that psychographics can answer for you.

  • How do your customers spend most of their time?
  • What do they do on weekends?
  • What are their hobbies and interests?
  • What are their religious inclinations?
  • Are they heavy users or light users of your products?

Psychographics are extremely important in order to add value to your customers.

For instance, the same product or service may mean different things for different people and the motivations behind using them may vary.

For example, some people may eat healthy food in order to feel energetic throughout the day, others may be doing it to support their gym routine while some others may just want glowing skin.

Understanding your customers this way will not only help you tailor your products or service according to their specific needs but also help you to create your communication in a way that is the most effective.

demographics vs psychographics

Now after this exercise you need to understand your target segments.

Choosing your target customer segments

Two extremely important things that would determine whether you earn money from your customers or not are:

  • Ability to pay
  • Willingness to pay

Ability to pay depends on the income of individuals or businesses that you want to engage with and can be more or less determined from the demographics data.

On the other hand willingness to pay can be estimated on the basis of the psychographics and whether your product or service has a major value add for the lives of your customers.

Some other factors to consider are:

  • High audience revenue potential : The market size for your chosen segment should be high.
  • Expected growth rate over time: The growth rate of usage and market over time.
  • Customer loyalty: The current loyalty levels of customers to available products.
  • Attainable Market Share: What amount of market share is achievable for you?
  • Market Profitability: Is there enough margin that you can obtain from customers that justifies your cost and goals?

In a nutshell, you would ideally want to be in a market that has substantial demand, which is expected to grow and you can make the existing customers switch to your product because you serve their needs better, at the same time earning profit.

One important thing to understand is that it is possible that you target different segments, this is especially true if you operate a multi sided platform .

For example, say you own a marketplace platform where you earn through your customers by charging them a subscription fee and charge a fixed price from your sellers for advertisements.

Here both end consumers and sellers become your customer. In order for the platform to succeed, you would need to pay close attention to both these stakeholders.

We would recommend, if you are just starting out, to keep your focus on one particular segment.

For instance, say you want to start a blogging business and are deciding on the niche , it is always better to cater to particular segments. This will increase your chances to earn money and your customers are more likely to draw value and become loyal.

deciding on the niche

Possibly you would be certain about your target customer segments by now, so you can fill out these details clearly in your Business Model Canvas.

For instance, say you are opening a romantic restaurant targeted at young couples and the theme of the restaurant is adventure and will be situated in California, then your target segment could be…

“Young men and women aged between 25-40, who reside in California and are fond of adventure”.

Step 2: Value Propositions

A value proposition is like a simple statement of benefits that your target customers get from your products or services.

This is extremely important because your customers use your products or service depending on how strong your value proposition is.

If you are starting a new business then this becomes even more important because you would want your customers to switch from your competitors to you.

Only if you meet their needs better and they find more value in what they pay you than your competitors will they think about switching.

So, how do you begin?

Understand Customer Problems and Competition

First thing is to understand the problems faced by your customers .

The idea is to answer and resolve the most pressing issues faced by your customers effectively.

Once you narrow down on the key problems and needs of the customer, study your competition to understand what needs or problems they are solving well and where the gap lies.

For example, say you are starting an ecommerce business and want to sell physical products like portable bluetooth speakers.

One great place to understand the demands of your customers and the performance of your competitors is Amazon.com .

You could develop a good understanding of your competition from the reviews section.

In the image, you can clearly see where your prospective competition is good and where customers expect better.

The number of reviews also give you an indication of how much demand already exists for the product.

learn from customer reviews on Amazon

In fact, it can provide you information on a lot of categories all the way from electronics to baby care and from automotive parts to groceries.

All you have to do is search for the product you want to research on and study the results.

Here is the list of top product categories on Amazon.com.

top product categories on amazon

Another way to research demand and competition is through keywords .

Estimating Consumer Demand and Competition Through Keywords

The internet today gives you a lot of information about what people are searching.

Do you know, around 48% of online shoppers begin their online journeys through search.

Thus, understanding what keywords are being searched for the most and the competition for advertisements and seo for those keywords is a great first step to estimate demand.

One tool we recommend is SEMRush.com . 

This tool not only gives you an idea of the total volume of search, but also of how much competition exists for the keyword.

For instance, searching for the keyword ‘bluetooth speakers’ clearly gives the exact volume of search.

The ‘keyword difficulty’ and ‘Com.’ metrics tell you how difficult it would be for you to rank in the first page of Google search if you are new to business.

In our case keyword difficulty level is 92% which is on the higher side.

keyword difficulty level and keyword research

Now that you know the key questions your customers are asking and what is required in order to beat the competition, next is to decide how you are going to differentiate yourself.

Building a Strategy to Make Your Customer Switch to Your Product/Service

competitive advantage strategies

To make the customers switch to your products you can choose one of the four quadrants from the above matrix.

A narrow focus means that you concentrate on a particular segment or niche rather than a mass market.

If you are just starting out, it is better to focus on a narrow approach because you will be able to meet the needs of a particular segment better.

The other option you have to choose from is whether you want to beat your competition on price or by offering a better product .

You can make the customers switch to your product by selling the available product in the market at a lesser price. But to follow this strategy you would either need scale or a way to produce your goods and services at a lesser cost than the competitor.

Hence, we would suggest to first differentiate your product and give benefits and features that are not provided in the market by your competitors.

Writing a Value Proposition Statement

Now that you have a fair idea of what your consumer needs and how you will beat the competition.

You have to come up with clear value proposition statements .

If you are catering to multiple target customer segments, then you should have a clear and simple value proposition mapped to each of these customer segments in your Business Model Canvas.

value proposition canvas

For instance, say you start a blog that offers tips on making regular food healthy.

The typical target customer segments you have are the people who want to build muscles and stay at home moms.

Now these are two very different segments and your value proposition would be very different.

A good value proposition statement would look like this:

We help stay-at-home moms lose 14 pounds of fat in 45 days without having a jojo-effect .
We help muscle building enthusiasts reduce fat by 5 percent in 60 days without lowering energy .

Now you just have to enter these in the value proposition segment of your business model canvas.

Here is a quick checklist to validate if your value proposition is good or not.

  • Are the benefits explicit and clearly stated?
  • Is the target customer segment clearly identified?
  • Is the value proposition clear and simple?
  • Is the value proposition supported by evidence of demand?
  • Is the value proposition viable in light of competition?

Step 3: Channels

The third building block of the business model canvas is ‘channels’.

Channels refer to the touch points through which the company delivers value to its customers .

The primary functions of a channel are:

  • Educate the prospects regarding services and products that a company offers
  • Provide an opportunity to prospects to try these services/products
  • Facilitate the purchase of products or services for the customers
  • Helping the customers realize and benefit from the value proposition
  • Providing the after sales services for the clients

But how do you go about planning your channels and what are the factors to be considered. Don’t worry we have you covered.

First let us classify the channels to be decided.

Broadly we can divide the channels into two types:

  • Acquisition Channels : These are the channels that help you acquire your customers and bring to the point of sale.
  • Delivery Channels : These are channels through which the product or service is actually delivered to your customers

Let us see how to go about deciding each of these.

Acquisition Channels

Your acquisition channels help you generate more leads that eventually become paying customers.

This part consists of deciding how you will advertise and communicate about your products to the customers and guide them into buying your products .

You can choose to advertise on billboards, television, radio and other physical areas to make a large number of people aware about your offering. However, these channels help you reach a large audience but are also extremely expensive.

Today the internet offers you various avenues where you can get these leads in a very cost effective manner.

If you want to make money online and are in a digital business, it makes even more sense to try digital channels for advertising and generating leads.

Your methods of traffic acquisition could be either organic , which means natural growth and acquisition of your customers without paying. Or inorganic , which includes paid media and channels online.

The main way to acquire traffic online in an organic manner is through SEO .

Search engine optimization or SEO involves making your content search friendly and relevant so as to feature in the top results when someone searches for a product/service you offer.

With most online journeys beginning with search, SEO is the one of most effective ways for long term victory online.

consumers use search engines for purchase decision

Only downside is that it may take a while before you build your SEO to promising levels.

The next option you have is to advertise on social media channels like Facebook , Instagram, Youtube, Pinterest etc.

The great advantage that these channels offer is that they have sophisticated ways to target customers and you can customize who you want to target based on a variety of factors like demographics, geography and interests.

But how to decide between these channels?

First you have to make sure that the kind of traffic or leads you are looking for are actually logging into these sides.

For instance, if you are in a B2B business then advertising on LinkedIn would be more relevant, given that most decision makers from corporates actually spend time on it or have their profiles there.

While for B2C other channels may make more sense.

social media comparison

It is best to start with multiple channels and then invest more money into the ones which give you better results .

For example, say you invest $50 each on Facebook and Youtube. From Youtube you get 100 leads but only 20 from Facebook.

20 of the 100 leads from Youtube become paying customers and only 5 from Facebook eventually purchase.

Clearly Youtube is offering you better return on investment. Hence it makes sense to pump in more dollars into this channel.

Distribution Channels

Next comes distribution channels. These channels enable the delivery of goods or services to a customer.

For example, if you are in a business of selling clothes. Then how do these clothes reach the end customers? Is it through a retail outlet, or can they purchase online?

All these questions are answered by what channels you choose to distribute your products.

Broadly speaking there are two different types of channels:

  • Direct Channels
  • Indirect Channels

Direct channels are those wherein you as a company directly interact and sell to your end consumers.

For example, say you own a website which sells physical products. Your customers ‘directly’ purchase from you online.

Similarly, if you own the brick and mortar retail stores where your customers come and get your products then also you are directly interacting with your consumers.

On the other hand if you sell to some middlemen and they in turn reach your consumers then it counts as an indirect channel.

types of distribution channels

While you have more control over your margins in a direct channel approach, indirect channels usually offer less margins.

But the flip side is that indirect channels usually buy in bulk and hence are good for volumes.

To choose a particular channel you should consider these factors.

  • Number of consumer segments and types of market you are targeting : You want to be selling at a place where your target customers are most likely to visit. For instance, notice how Coke and Pepsi sell their soft drinks at fast food outlets like McDonalds or Burger King.
  • Total cost for each channel: There is an associated cost for each channel that you wish to set up . For example, the cost of setting up an ecommerce website or leasing or building your own retail channel could result in higher costs than simply selling your products to a wholesaler.
  • Type of product being sold and the consumer's awareness about it: If the product you are selling is fairly standard then you may need much explanation to be given to customers. But a complicated product may require the company to be in direct contact with customers to explain the offering.
  • Amount of control required over experience: Channels owned directly offer more chances of making the experience in line with the brand and product, while indirect channels will offer a similar experience for you and competitor products.
  • Duration of partnership: How long you intend to sell through the same customers also has a bearing on which channel you would choose. Hence, it is important to negotiate your terms in case you employ indirect distributors for your products.

Once you are sure of which channels to choose you can simply write them in the block. Make sure it is extremely convenient to find and buy your products for all your target customer segments.

Remember, the easier it is for customers to get the products, the more you will sell .

Step 4: Customer Relationships

This is an important block of the Business Model Canvas and helps you engage with customers in one or several ways .

Customer relationships block mentions all the ways in which a company chooses to maintain relationships with the customers.

Customer relationships are maintained with a primary motive of selling more to the customers while keeping the customer satisfied.

The goal of customer relationship management is to assist the customer in three stages of his journey with the company.

Customer Acquisition

Customer retention.

Your first task here is to guide a prospect to become a customer .

Typically this happens through different steps in a customer journey.

Let us see how each step in this journey may require different efforts on your part for customer relationship management.

Your customers mainly follow four broad steps before they become paying customers.

These stages are awareness , desire , interest and action .

The first step is to make your target customer segment aware about your offering. This includes letting your customers know that you have a potential solution to a problem that affects them.

Based on the type of business this may be done either in an automated or a manual way.

For instance, if you are in a B2B business you may choose to send over a sales representative or a solution expert to a customer.

Or wait for leads to show up themselves after you publish about your expertise in places like magazines or blogs where these prospective customers find you themselves.

aida model for customer acquisition

Mostly awareness is built through advertising, SEO and word of mouth for a B2C business .

For instance, to build awareness about your offering you may choose to show a video ad to users who see a music video regarding your online music course.

While many users may become aware about your business, some of them may actually be convinced of its value or at least become curious about your product or service.

Consider that you showed an ad which generated 10,000 impressions or 10,000 users saw the ad. Now say 2,000 of them clicked and visited your website to read about your offering.

These 2,000 have now moved up the funnel by showing interest to buy the product.

At this stage, you may choose to save their email addresses for a more personalized conversation. You may even assign a sales rep to contact them if they choose to leave their details.

All these touch points become part of your customer relationship management strategy.

Now say that the person from your company who contacted the user showing interest manages to explain the value proposition you offer to around 500 of these users who now desire to buy your product.

The next step is to seal the deal with an action on the prospect’s part. The action of purchase by which they become your paying customers.

The goal of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) here is to make this journey as smooth as possible and convert the maximum number of prospects into paying customers.

There are certain goods and services that provide continuous value to customers and so customers keep buying them.

This stage deals with creating loyal customers who stick to your brand .

For instance, say you run an ecommerce website selling gifts. You realize that on an average a person buys gifts for someone at least once every two months. You would ideally want your customers to keep coming back for more orders every second month.

To do this your customer relationship program will have to make sure that you keep communicating with the users, apprising them of latest offers and products.

These are the few ways in which you can increase the chances of customer retention:

  • Create a brand image that your customers associate with.
  • Deliver the quality you promise.
  • Always solve problems and reduce friction for your customers.
  • Incentivize them for buying regularly from you with points or freebies.
  • Promptly resolve all their complaints.

Your sales will increase by either getting new customers or selling more to the existing customers.

Upselling deals with making your existing customers buy more from you. You can do this by increasing their usage of the existing products or by selling different kinds of products to them.

For example, if you have an online business that helps people find relevant jobs and you charge a subscription fee for sending them relevant openings. You can add more value to them by offering resume making services and earn more for yourself as well.

In a B2B setup, your engagement manager can actively look for opportunities to sell more.

If you are an independent consultant, then you can offer more services to your customers if you have some expertise.

Maintaining Customer Relations through Touchpoints

Now that you understand the main objectives that you can accomplish with this block, you may want to know how to maintain relationships with your customers for different touch points.

There are broadly six ways of engagement:

  • Personal Assistance : In this method you personally contact the customers through a human touch. These contacts may be made through call center agents or other employees.
  • Dedicated Personal Assistance: For buyers who are very valuable, for example, take people with high net worth for a bank who deposit millions of dollars. A bank may have a dedicated person to maintain the relationship.
  • Self Service: The ‘do it yourself’ method works great for reducing cost, but isn’t as strong as a human touch. This can be accomplished through videos explaining a process or an FAQ section on the website.
  • Automated: These include all the automated methods like an IVR or a chatbot that interacts to solve problems for your customers.
  • Communities: You may create communities and forums with your best customers playing a key role to solve problems for other customers. For example, there are tech groups that help all the users related to a particular technology.
  • Co-creation: There are products and services where you engage with your customers to co-create services that suit them. In this method the customer actively participates in the process to add value to himself/herself. For instance, an interior designing service which actively asks customers to define their taste and be involved in the designing process.

You have to focus on the cost of each of these methods and whether the value that the customer brings to you justifies it or not.

For instance, you may not want to have a dedicated person who you pay $1,000 a month for a customer who only gives you $100 business a month.

All you have to do now is enter your chosen ways maintaining customer relations and put it in the block. Remember you should have touchpoints mapped to each of the customer segments.

So for example, if you have an SaaS (software as a service) online business wherein you charge for monthly usage of the product and have individual users as well as enterprise users.

You can map ‘automated’ service of individual users and ‘dedicated’ personnel for enterprise.

Step 5: Revenue Streams

The revenue streams block covers the various ways in which you monetize your business and earn money from your customers.

There are multiple ways of earning money. Some these are:

  • Sale of Assets : You can completely transfer the goods or property for a price to a buyer. For example, a hotel chain selling one of the hotels to raise some cash.
  • Usage : Payment collected for each usage of a product or service.
  • Subscription: When payment is made for a repeated use of a service over a particular period. For instance, Netflix, Amazon Prime etc.
  • Leasing/Renting: Renting out an asset for use for a fixed period. For example, renting an apartment for a fixed period.
  • Licensing: Allowing the use of your intellectual property for usage by another company or person.
  • Brokerage Fees: Acting as an intermediary between two parties and earning a commission as a result. For instance, stock brokers who earn a commission by enabling sale and purchase of equity shares.
  • Advertising: Allowing your medium to be used as an advertising platform for other companies. For example, Google, Facebook and other platforms that earn money for allowing other companies to advertise on their platform.

Which method and price will work for you, depends on what kind of business you are in.

Pricing your product or service

The basic rule is that your customers pay you when the ‘perceived value’ they get from your product/service is more than what they pay.

From your perspective, you have to sell higher than the cost on an average so you earn money for yourself.

pricing including cost, price, and perceived value

While this is the basic rule, other things to consider is the price at which competition offers similar products and the supply and demand for the kind of product/service you offer.

If your value proposition is very strong, then you can charge a higher price than your competition. Otherwise to make the customers switch you will have to keep your prices lower.

It is possible that you don’t get your pricing right the first time. You can start with some assumptions and planning, and adjust your prices as you go forward. It is important to have a learning mindset.

Here is a quick snapshot of various pricing strategies that can help you.

Pricing Strategies

One you decide on the price of the service, then next is to choose one of the methods of charging.

Method of charging customers for your product/service

  • Transaction Revenue : Charging for each transaction that customer does. For example, each time a user buys an item from your website you charge a fixed amount.
  • Recurring Revenue : Similar to a subscription based service where the revenue is collected automatically every month (or any fixed period) depending on usage. For example, your electricity service that charges every month based on usage.

Onboarding customers to services where the charges are recurring is tougher than transactional method because the customer is worried about committing for a longer duration to a service which is new for him/her.

Hence, you see companies offering a free trial before asking the customers to pay.

This way they try to reduce the ‘cost of trial’ for the customer.

You can decide which method will work for you based on the usage of your offering. For example, if you offer a product that is used only once in a long time, then a subscription based charging may not be the best for you.

Thinking long term with pricing

Most businesses exist to earn profit. So, remember no matter what pricing method you choose it should result in a positive cash flow for your business.

It should also be sustainable and should lead to long term success of your business.

With a dynamically evolving environment, various new offerings may be released in the market and you may get new competitors from time to time. Hence, it is possible that you may have to revisit your pricing strategy from time to time.

The important thing is that you keep the customer at the core of your decisions and be extremely clear about the value that you are adding.

If your customer is also convinced of the value, then it will be easy to make them pay.

Managing multiple revenue streams

Different customer segments may contribute to your revenue in different ways.

Take the example of Microsoft, they sell licenses for softwares like Windows, Microsoft Office for individual customers and also earn from enterprises by offering bulk deals or enterprise services through cloud.

You should be aware about what percentage of revenue is contributed by which customer segment, basis the value proposition.

For example, if you are in an ecommerce business, you may have a corporate gifting option specifically for office going people which contributes 10% of revenue .

This is important for you to understand which part of business contributes the most amount of cash for you.

Step 6: Key Activities

This block consists of all the activities that are key to delivering your value proposition to your customers .

The span of control and how you handle the key activities will vary depending on what kind of business you are in.

Some parts of your activities may be outsourced while some may be controlled internally.

To understand the key activities carried out by your business you should focus on the value chain of your business.

Value Chain Analysis

Following are the key activities and how to decide if they are key to your competitive advantage. While these activities may differ depending on your business model, the basic flow and idea will remain similar.

Let’s dive.

Research and Development

The value of R&D is particularly high in technology based companies and big companies spend billions of dollars on it.

Here are the top 10 spenders on R&D (values in million dollars)

top 10 r&d spenders

Nevertheless, to stay relevant and innovative you always need to research and improve your products.

There are three basic things for which you will use R&D.

  • New Product Development : For growth, one of the ways to increase revenue is by offering more products in the market. Imagine a company like Apple, which first came up with iPods, then iPhones and iPads, and then Airpods. With each of these products it was able to grow its revenues multifold.
  • Modifications to Existing Product: With the needs of the users changing and improvement in other areas you may choose to make modifications to your existing product. The goal of this exercise may be to reduce cost, earn more revenue, stay relevant or a combination of these factors. For instance, Android comes up with a new version of their operating system with added functionalities and increased efficiencies.
  • Radical Innovation: Radical innovation gives you an opportunity to completely disrupt the current ways of working. This innovation may be to develop a product or a process that completely changes the status quo.

Though the chances of success are less in this scenario the gains may be very high. Consider how Uber and Airbnb changed the world, or the invention of smartphones revolutionized the mobile phone industry. If you manage to get a patent, then you can monetize it even better.

This part deals with manufacturing or procuring the end product that your customers may use.

There are three basic models that you can use:

  • Producing everything in house: You may choose to produce everything in your factories or facilities by procuring raw materials. The benefit here is that you are able to control the quality of your product extremely well and if you have some specialized technology this can become your competitive edge. The downside is that it is usually very capital intensive and scaling your business may also be difficult using this approach.
  • Outsourcing production: The next option you have is to completely outsource production and procure the end product through manufacturing partners. This reduces your overheads, allows you to scale quickly while also covering your risks. The only reason to not follow this approach is when you have some proprietary technology you don’t want to share or when the product is so different that it is difficult to find manufacturing partners.
  • Outsourcing a part of the production process: You can also follow a mixed approach where you can outsource a part of the production process. In this case you procure some part of the product and then process it to make the final product. For example, say you manufacture smartphones. You can procure all the parts from outside and just assemble them in house.

benefits of insourcing and outsourcing

This part of the activity will also include handling logistics and inventory.

Logistics include all the transportation including bringing in the raw materials to your facilities, moving the unfinished products between factories (if required), moving the finished products to inventory and then finally delivering to the end customer.

Inventory includes the storage of your products in warehouses that is needed to fulfil demand of the customers. You will have to estimate demand and then plan your inventory to avoid stock outs.

Remember, managing inventory is essential as it is a major cost and you may want to minimize wastage while also maximizing sales.

Sales and Marketing

The key activities that will be performed by this function range from designing the strategy to enabling the last mile fulfillment.

  • Strategy : This includes the overall planning for what the company is trying to achieve from the marketing perspective and how it will go about doing it. For instance, say you are targeting a million dollars in revenue in a year, then the strategy would include everything from what products you will sell, how it will be advertised and so on.
  • Product Development: The marketing team works together with R&D or product development team to validate consumer demand for the new products being developed and help them design features that are most relevant to customers.
  • Communications and Advertising : All the communication to the customers and messaging about the company and product offerings are controlled by marketing. This includes the events that will be arranged for activations of products like exhibitions etc.
  • After Sales Support: These set of activities include helping your customers in the post purchase journey. Your customer support departments, automated chatbots and other ways in which you help your customers maximize the value from products they have bought and solve the required problems are covered here.

These sets of activities are just indicative. It is possible that some of them may not be relevant to your business model.

For example, if you are in a blogging business then production may not apply to you like a manufacturing process. Instead it would mean the development of content, which again you can choose to do by yourself or by hiring external help.

Similarly if you are in an ecommerce retail business then you may or may not own inventory depending on your model. In that scenario, partner management would become your key activity.

Step 7: Key Resources

This building block comprises the assets that help you unlock and create value for your customers. Key resources deal with the operational aspects of your business and are responsible for bringing the value proposition to life for your customers.

There are various kinds of key resources that act as enablers for your business.

These key resources should be well differentiated from your customers in order to be better than them

Types of Key Resources

Broadly there are four different kinds of key resources.

Physical Resources

Physical resources, like equipment, machinery, buildings etc, are tangible resources which are used to create the products and services for the customers.

While these may not be extremely vital for an online business, they have great importance when it comes to businesses which have to deal with the physical world.

For example, Amazon will need to have large warehouses, where the products are sorted and stored. Similarly, a giant like Apple would need labs to experiment on its devices and manufacturing facilities to deliver value.

A telecom company would need towers, switching centers and servers to ensure continuity of services. A cloud company like Oracle will need data centers to meet the demands of the customers.

Depending on the type of industry, these assets may comprise a large portion of the capital required for setting up business.

Intellectual Resources

Intellectual resources are powerful intangible tools that enable a company to maintain its edge over competitors.

Do you know, Coke has a secret formula for producing the syrup that eventually translates into the beverage. Similarly, Google has its proprietary page rank algorithm that retrieves the most relevant search results for you.

In the world of pharmaceuticals, this is even more important when producing medicines which have been patented.

Another intellectual resource that an online business has is the data that it collects over a period of time. With analytics and machine learning uncovering insights and patterns, data can unlock great opportunities. This also includes the customer lists or emails that you collect over a period of time.

In fact, intellectual resources are a great way to get a competitive advantage . No wonder the number of patents granted in the US is increasing year on year.

number of patents granted in the US

Human Resources

Employees are the key enablers of value in an organization. In fact, hardly any company can run successfully without its employees.

Imagine, would the big machines in so many industries function without any operators or maintenance staff? Would Dominos be able to deliver pizzas without delivery guys?

In service industries the role of employees is even more profound. The quality of work delivered by consulting organizations like McKinsey, BCG, Bain or the Big4 is highly dependent on the quality of consultants they have (no wonder they hire the best of people).

Hence, this block should include the key human resources that are important to your business.

In online business, content creators or people who write code for you are very important. Google may not have been the giant that it is, if it did not have expert coders.

This will also give you an idea of what kind of hiring your business would need to deliver the key products.

Financial Resources

Financial resources include the capital , the sources of debt (or line of credit) and the stock owned by a company. The requirement of this kind of resource will vary depending on the kind of business that you choose to do.

For example, the capital requirements of a bank may be completely different from that of a business that makes money through online sale of educational courses.

If you are just starting a business, you may choose to raise funds from friends and family in the beginning. Once it gets established you may turn to investors and venture capitalists.

If your business has massive requirements of advertising or needs rapid expansion to various geographies then financial resources will be the key to your success.

Another important consideration here is working capital . Working capital is the money required to meet your day to day operations like paying your vendors and buying inventory etc to keep your business running.

Which resources are most important?

To decide which resources are the most important for you, you will need to evaluate the resources without which you cannot continue your business and those which contribute greatly to your success.

Hence, employees may be more important than machinery when it comes to consulting business. Similarly, power generation will have a major dependence on plants that produce electricity.

Step 8: Key Partnerships

This block consists of entities which are not internal to your business but are extremely important in delivering value .

Consider the supplier of goods for your business, or the manufacturer to whom you have outsourced business, or the investor who has promised to back your venture.

All these are important partners for your business and are critical to the success of your model.

In fact, with the rise of outsourcing partnerships have become even more important.

in-house versus outsourcing partnerships

Would Kindle be a successful product if book writers don’t agree to publishing their content in the format? Or would the Apple iPod be successful without the music producers selling their music on the platform.

Hence, these outside partners are equally important and this justifies their place in the Business Model Canvas.

There are four broad types of partnerships that you will have:

  • Strategic Alliances : These are partnerships between non competitors that benefit both the parties. For example, an automobile manufacturer may give exclusive rights to a partner in one country to distribute its products.
  • Coopetition : These are alliances between competitors for mutual gain. For example, two video content creators may collaborate for an even greater share of audience, leading to increase in popularity of both influencers.
  • Buyer-Seller Relationships: You may procure raw materials or sometimes finished products from outside. These types of relationships or partnerships are referred to as Buyer-Seller relationships. Sometimes, these relationships can also become a great source of competitive edge. For example, say you have exclusive rights to buying a superior quality of coffee in a particular region with a seller. Outsourcing relationships with partners also fall under this category.
  • Joint Ventures: Joint ventures are partnerships between two separate companies when they have some sort of a mutual gain in working together. This could include sharing of resources, sharing of technology or if they produce complementary products. For instance, a data storage company may partner with an enterprise software firm to offer an end to end solution to the customer.

Key questions to ask before getting into partnerships

  • Have I researched my partner well? The first thing to do is to research your partner well. This includes the history of the company, financial stability, integrity and the quality of products delivered.
  • Is it a win win agreement? The partnership should be mutually beneficial. A good long term relationship cannot be built if one loses and the other wins. Therefore, there should be enough money to be made for both the parties.
  • How long should the partnership be? Your contract duration should be negotiated on the basis of length of the relationship required to make your business successful.
  • Are the key expectations and deliverables well defined? You should be clear about the terms of agreement and they should specifically contain what is to be expected from the partnership.
  • Is the process being outsourced part of my core activity? As long as possible you should have direct control of the most key core activity of your business.
  • Are my financial resources enough to cover the cost of partnership? You will need to pay your vendors on time to stay in business. Hence, be sure that the rate being negotiated is something you can easily pay for.
  • Do I have quality checks in place? Getting work done from partners may require strict levels of quality control. Hence, make sure you have dedicated employees to validate quality.

Why Should You Choose Partners for Some Activities?

We should remember that some types of outsourcing in business process are more common, and there are specific reasons why companies choose to delegate some work to partners.

top reasons for outsourcing

The major reasons are reducing costs and focussing on core activities.

For instance, you may choose to focus on the core activities that generate value and outsource the ones that can be easily done by others.

Do you know, Coke mostly focuses on its marketing activities and outsources bottling to another company?

Some other reasons are improving quality , conserving capital and increasing speed to market .

Step 9: Cost Structure

This brings us to the last building block – the block for cost structures.

Cost structures include the major sources from which your business incurs cost.

The first step is to understand what are the costs contributed by each of the key activities and key partners. In order to be cash positive you should collect your revenues on time and have cost under control.

Now, different business models will have different kinds of costs attached to it. While some business businesses will be capital intensive, that is, they will require a large amount of capital in order to function (e.g. telecom) while others may not require a lot of capital to begin with (e.g. software development).

There are two major kinds of costs associated with a business:

Fixed Costs

Variable costs.

fixed costs vs variable costs

Fixed costs are costs which are paid upfront and do not vary with the number of customers served by a business.

For example, consider the money that the airlines pay to the airports. There is usually a fixed component to it known as the yearly fee. No matter how many customers fly, this cost will always exist.

Another example is rent. Consider a restaurant which pays monthly rent for the building it operates in. No matter how many customers come to dine in, this cost always remains the same.

Now, fixed cost doesn’t always have to remain fixed, it only means that it remains fixed for a particular period of time.

Example of fixed costs:

  • Advertising and marketing expenses
  • Depreciation

Contrary to fixed cost, variable cost varies with the number of customers served. For example, sales commissions paid for each dollar of sales or shipping charges per item delivered to the customers.

The biggest portion of variable costs in most businesses are the raw materials and utility bills.

Examples of variable costs:

  • Raw material cost
  • Labor costs
  • Shipping costs
  • Packing supplies
  • Utility bills like electricity

retail cost structure vs ecommerce cost structure

Your business model will decide whether you have a larger proportion of fixed costs or variable costs.

For example, consider a brick and mortar apparel business and an ecommerce based apparel business.

A brick and mortar based business will have rent as the major fixed cost while the cost of operations is the major driver of cost in an ecommerce business.

Another way to classify costs is categorizing them as Capital Expense (CAPEX) or Operational Expense (OPEX). Capital expenses are costs which are spent in order to acquire an asset.

Operational costs are costs which are expensed. Consider a company buying stationery, this will be counted as an operational expense. On the other hand the expenditure done to buy a big server to support operations will be classified as a capital expense since the acquired server becomes an asset.

Ideally, the margin that you obtain from your revenue over variable costs should be enough to cover your fixed costs in order to generate positive cash for you.

This can be done in two ways:

  • Economies of Scale : Economies of scale occur when you sell enough quantities of an item such that the cost of serving each customer reduces. This happens due to multiple reasons. A first that operates on scale is able to negotiate better prices with the vendors. This is because they get volume discounts. Since, the scale is big, fixed costs are much better covered.
  • Economies of Scope: Economies of scope occur when the same fixed costs are covered by different products and services. For example, consider a firm that operates its own logistics network. If it enters multiple product categories then the same trucks can now transport these multiple products sharing the cost for each of them.

How conservative should you be with costs?

This will depend on whether you consider yourself as a cost driven business or a value driven business .

A cost driven business focuses more on reducing cost. For example, consider ‘Ryanair’, the airline is based on removing all the frills and just offering the basic airline services in order to cut costs.

On the other hand a luxurious hotel business will focus less on cost and more on providing the best of comfort and facilities to its guests.

Usually luxury products are focused more on value and basic products that have less differentiation focus more on cost.

Once you decide your major cost heads, jot them down in the cost driver block and see them in conjunction with revenue from various sources.

It is important to validate whether your business model will be successful in generating cash and what level of scale you will require to make it work and whether it is doable or not.

Business Model Canvas FAQ

A business model canvas is a one page visual template that covers the key aspects required to make a business work. It consists of 9 building blocks which should work in conjunction with each other in order to deliver the key value proposition of business to the target customer segments.

A business model canvas has 9 building blocks. These are: 1. Customer Segments: Who are the key customers of your business? And what are their key characteristics and needs?  2 . Value Propositions: Why do customers buy your product or service? What is the key benefit that your business offers? 3 . Channels : How are these benefits communicated to your customers and how is the product or service sold or delivered and why? 4 . Customer Relationships : What are the key touch points between you and your customers? And how do you connect with them throughout their journey? 5 . Revenue Streams: How does business actually earn money from various value propositions? 6 . Key Activities: What are the key things that your business strategically does to deliver this proposition? 7 . Key resources : What are the assets that business requires in order to stay competitive and create value? 8 . Key Partnerships: What are the external entities or stakeholders that are key to delivering the product and service to your customer? What are some of the partners to whom you have outsourced certain activities to focus more on your core work? 9 . Cost Drivers: What are the major cost drivers for your business and how are they linked to your revenue?

Instead of coming up with a 500 page document that describes your business model, you should start with a quick business model canvas. This will give you an idea of the key parts that are required to make your business work. Start with a business model and come up with an initial version of your business model canvas. Then test your key hypothesis through experiments and take the learning from those experiments to adjust your business model canvas. Use this as an iterative process for learning and keep adjusting your business model canvas till it becomes perfect. Business model canvas is better for testing model assumptions because it is easy to change. It is also a standard template and is well understood by all. Many companies have successfully used it especially in dynamic environments.

There are various kinds of business models depending on what method of monetization you use and how charge your customers for your value proposition. Here are a few of them you can adopt if you don’t have a completely new business model. 1. Brokerage : Bring together buyers and suppliers and charge a commission for the transaction. 2 . Bundling: Offer a few products or services together as one package (eg. iPod and iTunes) 3 . Crowdsourcing : Raise funds from a group of people who are interested in supporting your offering 4 . Disintermediation : Sell directly by cutting out the middlemen 5 . Freemium: Charge a few customers for specialized service and offer a free version with limited functionality 6 . Auction: Sell products through an auction rather than a fixed price (Eg. eBay) 7 . Subscription: Charge for a fixed period of time for unlimited usage of service (Eg. Netflix) 8 . Leasing: Lease or rent an asset for a fixed period of time for money 9 . Usage : A simple model where you charge per transaction or usage of product/service 10. Advertising : Charge other businesses for advertising on your platform. 11. Affiliate: Earn a commission by selling someone else’s products.  This list is just indicative, you can have a lot of business models based on one or many of these ideas.

Business model canvas was invented by Alexander Osterwalder. He is a Swiss theorist, author, consultant, speaker and entrepreneur.

Business-Model-Canvas-Annoted

A lean canvas is just an adapted version of the business model canvas which is more suited for startups. It was created because there are some blocks of the business model canvas which are difficult for a startup to know when it starts doing business. This is because by definition a startup tries to do something that no one has done before making the whole model extremely uncertain. Here is a complete list of differences between the two.

ElementBusiness Model CanvasLean Canvas
TargetNew and existing businessesStartup businesses purely
FocusCustomers, Investors, Entrepreneurs, Consultants, AdvisorsEntrepreneurs purely
CustomersLays emphasis on customer segments, channels and customer relationships for all businessesDoes not lay much emphasis on customer segments because startups have no known or tested products to sell
ApproachIt lays down the infrastructure, lists the nature and sources of financing and the anticipated revenue streams of the businessIt begins with the problem, a proposed solution, the channels to achieving the solution, costs involved and the anticipated revenue streams
CompetitionIt focuses on value proposition in quantitative and qualitative terms as way to stay smart in the marketIt assesses whether the business has an unfair advantage over the rest and how to capitalize on it for better grounding
ApplicationIt fosters candid understanding, creativity, discussion and constructive analysisIt is a simple problem-solution oriented approach which enables the entrepreneur to develop step-by-step

Source: canvanizer.com

Ready to Launch Your Startup using the Business Model Canvas?

Having read this article in detail, you must now be well versed with a business model canvas and how to create a quick one for your business.

If you are looking to start a side business to earn some money online or any full time business then this template is going to be very useful for you.

A lot of learning about your business and whether your assumptions are true or not will become clear only when you start your venture.

The important thing is to think like an entrepreneur and have a learning mindset and you will definitely succeed.

If you are short on money you can apply the business model canvas to earn money from a blogging business with less than a $100 investment or you can choose any business model that suits you.

The important thing is to take the dive and begin, and if you follow all the tips and tricks shared here, you will definitely succeed.

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Anastasia has been a professional blogger and researcher since 2014. She loves to perform in-depth software reviews to help software buyers make informed decisions when choosing project management software, CRM tools, website builders, and everything around growing a startup business.

Anastasia worked in management consulting and tech startups, so she has lots of experience in helping professionals choosing the right business software.

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Business Model Canvas

What is the business model canvas.

A business model canvas provides a high-level, comprehensive view of the various strategic details required to successfully bring a product to market. The typical use case for this tool is to outline the fundamental building blocks of a business, but it can be used effectively for individual products as well. The exact ingredients may vary, but these are some of the typical components included:

  • Customer segments —Who is going to use this product?
  • Product value propositions —What is this going to do for the customer to make their life/job better?
  • Revenue streams —How will the company make money from this product?
  • Channels —How will the product be sold or distributed?
  • Customer relationships —What is the success and support strategy for new customers?
  • Key partners —What other companies or individuals are part of the development and go-to-market strategy?
  • Key activities —What must happen internally to release this product?
  • Key resources —What people, materials and budget are required to pull this off?
  • Cost structure —How much will it cost to develop, manufacture, distribute, and support the product?

Asking and answering these questions should be de rigueur for any new product, but this particular framework is useful for distilling the supporting business case down into something easily digestible. By forcing everything to be on a single page, each question must be answered succinctly, which often cuts through any grandstanding to illustrate whether each area is truly addressed and viable.

How do product managers use the business model canvas?

The business model canvas serves two primary purposes for product managers : focusing their thinking during its creation along with expediting and framing the conversation when communicating with others.

Because the business model canvas is a comprehensive summary of what the product will do, who will use it, why they’ll use it, how it will happen, and how the money works, it requires a lot of thinking and homework to put it together. This exercise is very helpful for product managers to fully understand the market opportunity and refine their story while uncovering potential problem areas and fully vetting their impact. Plus the process of boiling everything down to a single page ensures that what is included is as truthful and well supported as possible.

The business model canvas can serve as a continually referenceable touchstone for the product development process and beyond, essentially serving as a mission statement for the product. As conditions on the ground change and more is learned about the product’s market reception and usage, the canvas can be updated to accurately reflect the latest information; reviewing the canvas periodically is a worthy activity in and of itself.

As a communication tool, the business model canvas is an ideal document for our short attention span world and is as useful with the executive team as it is with a junior developer. Since it only contains the most salient and relevant information, the audience won’t be drowning in details or distracted by supporting evidence or non-sequiturs. The canvas can also create a universal vocabulary for the product and get everyone using the same language and concepts going forward.

[Free report] 2021 State of Product Management ➜

Tips for using the business model canvas

Here is how to make the most of the business model canvas and the process of creating and maintaining it:

  • Note assumptions and challenge them —Since a business model canvas is developed while a product is still “theoretical” there is often a lack of actual facts to rely on. Instead, educated guesses, informed opinions and assumptions are utilized to build it out. While there’s often no escaping these, anything in the canvas that is an assumption versus a proven fact should be called out, with every effort made to both challenge the assumption and anticipate the impact if the assumption turns out to be incorrect.
  • Bounce it off a virgin audience —Fellow employees and even board members will approach a business model canvas with a trunkload of inherent biases. To truly test the veracity and completeness of a canvas, allow some outside parties to validate it independently. It should be a self-explanatory document, so allowing them to review it and provide feedback without any dialogue or explanations is a great test of its worthiness and thoroughness.
  • It’s easy to update, so keep it current —Unlike longer, weightier documents, the single-page nature of the business model canvas means there’s no excuse for it to languish and fall behind the business’s current line of thinking or newly gathered information. Reviewing it on a regular basis and maintaining its accuracy enhances its usefulness and is a helpful process to note when assumptions or plans have changed.
  • An ever-present reminder —Thoughts, plans, goals, and assumptions were laid out succinctly in the canvas with great care and deliberation. Going forward the canvas can be continually referred to for guidance, inspiration, and level setting as folks become swept up in the momentum of product development, sales, and marketing.
  • Present it in pieces —Sure, the entire business model canvas fits on one piece of paper, but there is a lot of things on that 8 ½ x 11 inch page. When presenting it, discuss each piece individually, gradually revealing the entire contents. This will prevent information overload and allow the team to convey things narratively instead of an information dump.
  • Reference all the evidence —Any hard data should be clearly referenced (if not included) in the canvas to give the arguments and statements as much legitimacy as possible. Reviewers will be trying to poke holes (as they should), so firm things up whenever there’s a chance.
  • Be specific —No one needs a business model canvas to understand fundamental business case elements; it is intended to tell the story and rationale for this particular product. Cut out anything generic and make it as relevant to this exact opportunity as possible. In particular, link individual customer segments with their respective value propositions, since a product won’t be all things to all people.
  • Create multiple canvases —During the early phases, generating more than one business model canvas based on divergent assumptions, target markets, or value propositions can be a useful tool for exploring different directions the product could head. After the plans are firmed up, multiple canvases can still be employed, this time to see how different scenarios pan out when key factors change… it can be used as a wargaming tool to prepare for different potential outcomes.
  • Who, what, and why first. How and how much second —Although a business model canvas includes everything from a value proposition and personas to implementation costs and resources, everything should be driven from the market opportunity and rationale for bringing a product to market. If those aren’t solid, spending cycles on technology and costs is a waste of time.

Creating a business model canvas puts new product ideas under the microscope and pulls together disparate sources of intelligence, opinions, hunches and research into a single piece of paper. It forces critical thinking and analysis of assumptions and guesses and provides an excellent reference point for the entire organization.

Once the canvas is approved and productization begins, the canvas can also serve as a straw man for the product roadmap, lining up future features and functionality based on the priorities laid out in the document to achieve market success.

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LEANFoundry

Deconstruct Your Big Idea on 1-Page

Business plans take too long to write, are seldom updated, and almost never read by others. You need dynamic models, not static plans, when going fast and under extreme uncertainty. The Lean Canvas replaces long and boring business plans with a 1-page business model that takes 20 minutes to create and gets read.

Lean Canvas

Lean Canvas is used by over a million people that span startups, universities, and large enterprises.

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What is a Lean Canvas?

Lean Canvas is a 1-page business plan template created by Ash Maurya that helps you deconstruct your idea using twelve business modeling building blocks.

A Lean Canvas can describe a business model, a product release, or even a single feature, making it a highly popular business model innovation and product management tool used by millions worldwide.

If you have ever written a business plan or created a slide deck for investors, you’ll immediately recognize most of the building blocks on the canvas.

model business plan canvas

Lean Canvas helps you communicate your idea clearly and concisely to key stakeholders.

You can outline multiple business models on a Lean Canvas in one afternoon instead of writing a business plan, which can take several weeks or months. More importantly, a single-page business model is much easier to share with others, so it will be read by more people and updated more frequently.

Lean Canvas helps you systematically build and launch successful products.

When taking on a complex project, like, say, building a house, you wouldn’t start by putting up walls. You’d probably start with an architectural plan or blueprint — even if it’s just a sketch.

Building and launching an idea is no different.

Most entrepreneurs start with a strong initial vision and a Plan A to realize that vision. Unfortunately, most Plan As don’t work.

It has statistically been shown that two-thirds of successful startups report drastically changing (or pivoting) their plans along the way.

So, what separates successful startups then isn’t necessarily starting with a better initial plan (or Plan A) but finding a plan that works before running out of resources .

Until now, finding this better Plan B or C or Z has been based largely on gut, intuition, and luck. There has been no systematic process for rigorously stress testing a Plan A.

The first step to iterating your Plan A is gaining clarity on your Plan A.

This is what the Lean Canvas helps you do.  

What is the difference between Lean Canvas and Business Model Canvas?

Lean Canvas was adapted from Alex Osterwalder's Business Model Canvas and optimized for the Lean Startup methodology.

The motivation behind Lean Canvas was creating a more founder-focused business modeling tool better suited for early-stage products.

It replaces these boxes on the Business Model Canvas: key partners, key resources, key activities, and customer relationships with these boxes: problem, solution, key metrics (KPIs), and unfair advantage (a defensible competitive advantage).

model business plan canvas

See what's different

business model canvas

How to create and use a business model canvas

Reading time: about 8 min

We’ve all had those flashes of entrepreneurial inspiration. You know, that brief moment when you think, “Hey, that would make a great business.” Most of the time, that’s as far as it goes. But say you want to take it a step further. (After all, every business, from tech giants to the lemonade stand down the street, started with a similar thought!) What’s your next step?

The business model canvas is essentially a framework for trimmed down business plans—and when we say trimmed down, we mean really trimmed down. As you use the business model canvas, you’ll take the crucial elements of your business model and put them into a single-page template. 

Unsure what those crucial elements are? Don’t worry—we’ll break down the whole process for you. 

What is a business model canvas?

The business model canvas is a template—think of it as a framework for organizing information about a business model. Alexander Osterwalder of Strategyzer came up with the method in the mid-2000s and it has been a staple of the Lean startup methodology ever since. 

At the center of the business model canvas is your value proposition: What do customers get from your product? That’s your starting point. From there, you’ll fill in the canvas with additional information about your company and your customers. The information in a business model canvas should be treated like a hypothesis: Under the conditions presented, could your business survive? It’s a quick and easy way to determine the viability of your model. 

business model canvas

Elements of the business model canvas

As mentioned above, the business model canvas is a template. No matter who is using the template, every business model canvas will look more or less the same. And they all consist of the same nine elements: 

  • Value proposition 
  • Key partners 
  • Key activities 
  • Key resources 
  • Customer segments 
  • Customer relationships 
  • Cost structure 
  • Revenue streams

Each of these elements is represented by a box on the page and these boxes are always organized in the same way. Everything related to business infrastructure (partners, activities, and resources) falls on the left side of the page. Customer-related elements (segments, relationships, and channels) go on the right. Finance-related elements go on the bottom. In the center of the page, the value proposition ties everything together. 

Layout is the easy part—it’s already been done for you. So let’s talk a little bit more about content: What do you actually include in each piece of your business model canvas? 

Value proposition

What are you offering customers? What problem or pain point are you solving? How are you going to do it? Answer those questions as succinctly as possible (one sentence is best!) and there’s your value proposition.  

Treat your value proposition like a guiding star: It should inform every other aspect of your business plan. 

Key partners

It’s unlikely that you’ll be able to provide your product or service all your own. Whether it’s suppliers or distributors, a parent company, or other partners, someone else is going to be involved. 

Think about a neighborhood lemonade stand: The kids running the stand aren’t growing their own lemons—they rely on a grocery store. Similarly, they probably get the table and pitchers from a parent. Both would be key partners. 

To determine if a partner is a key partner, ask this simple question: Could the business model function without them? If things would fall apart without them, they’re a key partner. 

Key activities

Activities are the actions required to actualize your value proposition.

Remember the lemonade stand from the last section? (It’s going to come up a lot.) What activities go into producing the product and bringing it to customers? Someone needs to make the lemonade, pour it, and take money from customers. These are all key activities.

To determine if an activity is “key,” ask the same question as before: Could the business model function without that action being performed?

Key resources

As you list your resources, be sure to consider more than just physical resources. You’ll likely also require human resources (employees), intellectual resources (know-how), and financial resources. 

Customer segments

Who is your solution for? A lemonade stand employee doesn’t have any need for a product developed for software engineers. (At least not your average lemonade stand employee.)

Your customer segments are the people and companies who would receive value from your product. As you list your customer segments, it might be helpful to think in terms of buyer personas. 

Customer relationships

Think about how you are first reaching potential buyers: Is it through social media? SEO? Conferences? These methods of contact are your channels. Whereas sales teams are typically responsible for building and maintaining customer relationships, channels are, for the most part, the responsibility of the marketing teams. 

Cost structure

As you operate your business, you’ll have to spend money—probably more than you’d like. To maintain your key activities, resources, and partners, you will need to pay employees, cover material costs, etc. These expenses make up your cost structure. 

Revenue Streams

Hopefully you’re not just spending money, though. For your business to be successful, you have to generate revenue. Your revenue streams refer to the ways in which you bring money in: How are you converting your value proposition into revenue? Perhaps you offer a subscription based service, or maybe customers pay a one time fee. Whatever model you use, be sure to list all of your revenue streams—when it comes to planning out finances, you want to be especially thorough. 

How to create a business model canvas

Now you’re ready to learn how to fill out a business model canvas for yourself. Understanding each element of the business model canvas is the hardest part, and that’s behind you: All that’s left is to fill out the canvas with your specific business plan.

1. Gather stakeholders and materials

Whether you’re creating a digital or physical business model canvas, you’ll need to be able to fill in the boxes on the template. This could mean typing your info into a digital template or drawing the business model canvas on a whiteboard or paper. (You should really just stick to a digital template—it’s 2020 after all. And a digital business model canvas means more collaboration, easier sharing, and cloud-based storage!)

As you fill in the business model canvas, you’ll likely need input from marketing, sales, and other teams. Schedule a meeting with the necessary individuals and fill out the template together. It’s a quick process—this meeting should only take between thirty minutes to an hour!

2. Fill out the canvas

Do you have your blank template and representatives from necessary teams? Good. You’re ready to start filling out the canvas. Remember: Your goal is not to create an exhaustive business plan. You’re trying to clarify the essential aspects of your business model and make any adjustments you feel necessary.

Start with your value proposition and work from there. If you need a refresher on any specific element, review the list above!

3. Test your assumptions

Your filled out business model canvas is a plan, but it’s not set in stone. As your team gathers information and offers insights, you may realize certain aspects of your model need to be changed. Perhaps you’ve listed a supplier as a key partner, only to find a different supplier with more competitive pricing. Or maybe you decided that a subscription model wasn’t the best payment plan after all. The business model canvas is meant to help you identify such adjustments—don’t hesitate to change things around!

4. Adapt and maintain

The business model canvas is often thought of as a planning tool—and it is a great one!—but its uses extend beyond the planning stages. As you adapt your business model based on insights from your business model canvas, update the canvas to reflect those changes. If you make drastic adjustments, you might even want to create a whole new business model canvas.

An up-to-date business model canvas is a valuable asset to have, regardless of where you are in your business plan. Whether it’s to show stakeholders your business model to gain buy-in or to onboard new employees, the simple format of the business model canvas makes it a flexible and versatile resource.

model business plan canvas

Now it’s your turn to create a business model canvas in Lucidspark.

About Lucidspark

Lucidspark, a cloud-based virtual whiteboard, is a core component of Lucid Software's Visual Collaboration Suite. This cutting-edge digital canvas brings teams together to brainstorm, collaborate, and consolidate collective thinking into actionable next steps—all in real time. Lucid is proud to serve top businesses around the world, including customers such as Google, GE, and NBC Universal, and 99% of the Fortune 500. Lucid partners with industry leaders, including Google, Atlassian, and Microsoft. Since its founding, Lucid has received numerous awards for its products, business, and workplace culture. For more information, visit lucidspark.com.

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Discover the Best Tools for Business Plans

Learn from the business planning experts, resources to help you get ahead, business model canvas, table of contents.

The Business Model Canvas presents a visual chart with elements describing a firm’s value proposition, infrastructure, customers, and finances. It helps entrepreneurs and businesses systematically understand, design, and refine their business model.

Developed by Swiss business theorist Alexander Osterwalder and his co-authors, the Business Model Canvas is a strategic management tool for developing new or documenting existing business models. Introduced in the book “Business Model Generation,” it has gained widespread adoption for business model innovation worldwide.

The Business Model Canvas consists of nine key segments:

  • Key Partnerships : The network of suppliers and partners essential for the business.
  • Key Activities : Primary actions necessary for a business’s operational success.
  • Key Resources : Assets vital for creating and delivering the value proposition.
  • Value Propositions : The collection of products and services that create value for specific customer segments.
  • Customer Relationships : The nature of the relationships a company establishes with its customers.
  • Channels : The ways in which a company delivers its value proposition to customers.
  • Customer Segments : Different groups the business targets and serves.
  • Cost Structure : The various costs involved in operating the business model.
  • Revenue Streams : How the company generates income from each customer segment.

Application

  • The Canvas is used for strategic business planning, ideation, and innovation. It allows entrepreneurs to visualize, test, and iterate on their business models, providing a comprehensive yet concise overview of how a business intends to operate and create value.
  • The Business Model Canvas offers a straightforward approach to conceptualizing and evaluating a business model. Its single-page format makes it easier to understand, share, and modify than traditional, lengthy business plans, making it particularly beneficial for entrepreneurs in the planning and development stages of their businesses.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • How does the Business Model Canvas aid in the strategic planning process?

The Business Model Canvas provides a clear and concise framework for entrepreneurs to map out the critical components of their business. It encourages a holistic view of the business, enabling the identification of potential opportunities and challenges, and assists in aligning business activities with the overall value proposition and customer needs.

  • Can established businesses benefit from using the Business Model Canvas?

Yes, established businesses can benefit from using the Business Model Canvas. It serves as a valuable tool for re-evaluating and refining existing business models, exploring new market opportunities, or adapting to changes in the business environment. It can stimulate strategic thinking and innovation within established companies.

  • Is the Business Model Canvas suitable for all types of businesses?

The Business Model Canvas is versatile and can be applied to various types of businesses, from startups to large corporations, and across different industries. Its flexibility allows it to be tailored to the specific needs and characteristics of different business models, making it a universally applicable tool for business model development.

Related Terms

Also see: Startup Expenses

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What are some recommended business plan templates specifically designed for startups?

June 4, 2024 /

We highly recommend using business plan templates that are specifically tailored for startups. These templates provide a comprehensive framework and guidance for outlining your business goals, strategies, and financial projections. Some popular options include the Lean Canvas , One-Page Business Plan , and the Business Model Canvas . These templates are designed to help startups effectively communicate their unique value proposition, target market, and competitive advantage. By utilizing these templates, you can streamline the process of creating a professional and well-structured business plan that resonates with potential investors and stakeholders.

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Description:

This In Person session will introduce the Business Model Canvas which will serve as the basic tool for developing an effective business plan. This tool allows you to capture the key ingredients of your business idea and how it will work, on a single page using a rigorous, thoughtful process.

It holds the nine essential elements needed to create a successful business model and offers you space to flesh them out and see how they fit together. If you are looking to take concrete steps to make your business idea a reality or grow your business, this is the place to start.

Who should attend?

Anyone thinking of starting a business or who is thinking of growing their existing business and needs to make sure they have all the pieces required in place.

What will I learn? 

How to use the Business Model Canvas to generate a specific business model for your business.

How should I prepare? 

Come prepared to interact. This event is in person but will be recorded and accessible through our web site. Throughout the workshop you’ll be invited to ask questions, share experiences, and participate. 

As a participant, you'll not only benefit from expert guidance on crafting a winning strategy but also receive a Business Model Canvas template.

Copyright © 2024 SCORE Association, SCORE.org

Funded, in part, through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.

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10 wartościowych szablonów Lean Canvas dla doświadczonych przedsiębiorców

10 wartościowych szablonów Lean Canvas dla doświadczonych przedsiębiorców

Praburam

Tradycyjne dokumenty biznesplanów mogą być dość obszerne i często kończą zbierając kurz na półce. Zazwyczaj zawierają one stronę po stronie informacji na temat celów strategicznych, logistyka operacyjna i cele marketingowe, które rzadko są czytane, a co dopiero aktualizowane.

Potrzeba bardziej zwięzłego i łatwiejszego do strawienia dokumentu planu biznesowego dała początek koncepcji lean canvas. Opracowana przez autora i przedsiębiorcę Ash Maurya szablon lean canvas pomaga stworzyć super wydestylowany widok tradycyjnego modelu biznesowego , służąc jako wydajny przewodnik problem-rozwiązanie .

Pożegnaj się z długimi, nudnymi planami biznesowymi i przywitaj się z jednostronicowym dokumentem, który faktycznie zostanie przeczytany. 🥳

Tworzenie od podstaw funkcjonalnego dokumentu Lean Canva jest czasochłonne. Dlatego najlepsi przedsiębiorcy polegają na szablonach, aby skutecznie przekazywać swoją wizję. W tym artykule przedstawimy 10 wyrafinowanych szablonów lean canvas , które pomogą ci stworzyć model biznesowy skoncentrowany na rozwiązaniach!

Co to jest szablon Lean Canva?

Szablon Lean Canvas to szablon modelu biznesowego , który nakreśla i wizualizuje kluczowe koncepcje dla osiągnięcia bezpośrednich celów. Jest to uproszczona alternatywa dla tradycyjnych, długich planów biznesowych, ponieważ pomaga podsumować wskaźniki umożliwiające przekształcenie pomysłu biznesowego w dochodowy produkt lub usługę.

Szablony Lean canvas zostały zaprojektowane tak, aby były szybkie w tworzeniu , skupiając się tylko na najbardziej krytycznych elementach biznesplanu propozycji Business . Mogą one zawierać sekcje identyfikujące kluczowe obszary, takie jak

  • Niestandardowe punkty bólu klienta
  • Proponowane rozwiązania w ramach produktu lub usługi
  • Docelowe segmenty klientów
  • Unikalna propozycja wartości (UVP)
  • Kanały dotarcia do niestandardowych klientów
  • Strumienie przychodów
  • Struktura kosztów
  • Wskaźniki wydajności

Wszystko, co musisz zrobić, to zakończyć ten dokument, aby przekazać kluczowe założenia i strategie modelu biznesowego swojemu zespołowi, inwestorom i innym interesariuszom.

Szablon ten jest żywym narzędziem , które zachęca do iteracyjnego myślenia, ułatwiając przedsiębiorcom dostosowywanie i udoskonalanie modeli biznesowych w miarę uczenia się na podstawie zmiennych rynkowych i informacji zwrotnych od klientów. 🗣️

Jak szablon Lean Canvas może pomóc Twojemu zespołowi?

Szablon Lean Canvas może przynieść znaczące korzyści Twojemu zespołowi, zapewniając przyjazne dla użytkownika ramy do opracowywania strategii wokół koncepcji biznesowych. Niektóre z najważniejszych zalet obejmują:

  • Utrzymanie podejścia skoncentrowanego na kliencie : Umożliwia zespołom nadanie priorytetu spotkaniom z wymaganiami klientów poprzez skupienie się na rozwoju funkcji i pomysłach marketingowych na małą skalę
  • Poprawa spójności zespołu : Wspiera praktyczną współpracę między członkami zespołu dostarczając aktualną, regularnie aktualizowaną wizualną reprezentację modelu Business
  • Optymalizacja zasobów : Zachęca do systematycznego podejścia do identyfikacji ryzyka związanego z dostawą lub rynkiem i testowania strategii w celu ich zminimalizowania, zapewniając tworzenie wysokiej jakości produktów przy minimalnym zaangażowaniu czasu, funduszy i wysiłku ludzkiego
  • Przyspieszenie uruchomienia startupu : Pomaga nowym i doświadczonym przedsiębiorcom zaoszczędzić cenny czas dzięki szybkiemu śledzeniu procesu tworzenia i dostosowywania modeli biznesowych
  • Ustalenie odpowiedzialności : Dokumentowanie kluczowych założeń, obowiązków i wskaźników w szablonie pomaga przypisać własność i odpowiedzialność za wyniki i powodzenie projektu
  • Praktyczne rozwiązywanie problemów: Ułatwia opracowanie planu działania w celu dostarczenia produktów o wysokiej wartości lub wysokim popycie, postępując zgodnie z podpowiedziami zawartymi w szablonie

Przekształć pomysły w działania oparte na wartościach: 10 najlepszych szablonów Excel i ClickUp Lean Canva

Znalezienie idealnego szablonu Lean Canvas może wydawać się trudnym zadaniem. Zamiast przekopywać się przez niekończące się linki lub uciekać się do wersji próbnych i błędów, rozpocznij swoje poszukiwania od tych 10 szablonów stworzonych przez ekspertów ClickUp i Excel. ⏬

1. Szablon ClickUp Lean Canva

Szablon ClickUp Lean Canva

Zakończone wypełnianie formularza na tym szablonie Lean Canva skutkuje automatycznym generowaniem zadań, nie pozostawiając miejsca na niedopatrzenia

Strukturyzowanie pomysłów i przekształcanie ich w plany działania może być wyczerpującym przedsięwzięciem. Ale dzięki starannie zaprojektowanemu szablonowi Szablon ClickUp Lean Canva możesz w mgnieniu oka skierować swój rozwijający się Business na właściwe tory. 💗

Ten szablon zawiera gotową Listę do obszaru roboczego, służącą jako mapa do identyfikacji standardowych elementów lean canvas , takich jak:

  • Natychmiastowe propozycja wartości * Zasoby niezbędne do spełnienia wymagań operacyjnych
  • Zwycięskie rozwiązania

Użyj Pól niestandardowych , aby rozbić, wizualizować i kategoryzować swoje założenia, czy to według segmentu klientów, kosztów, wskaźników, kanałów czy innych czynników. Daje to pełną kontrolę nad organizacją i radzeniem sobie z wyzwaniami biznesowymi.

Widok Lean Canva Form szablonu usprawnia strukturyzację pomysłów, ułatwiając przechwytywanie informacji przydatnych do działania. Każdy zakończony formularz Formularz ClickUp automatycznie generuje zadania - monitoruj je za pomocą statusów takich jak Complete , In Progress i To Do .

Pomyśl o widoku Lean List Tablica jako o swoim centralnym hubie. Przedstawia on zarysowane problemy lean canvas jako szczegółowe karty na interfejsie typu "przeciągnij i upuść", wyraźnie pokazując niestandardowe segmenty klientów i potencjalne sposoby wejścia na te rynki.

Wreszcie, widok Lean Table pozwala dostosować kolumny zadań do własnych potrzeb, ułatwiając nawigację, zbiorczą edycję i eksport danych.

2. ClickUp Lean Business Plan Szablon

ClickUp Lean Business Plan Szablon

Szablon Lean Business Plan firmy ClickUp ma na celu pomóc w skutecznym planowaniu i realizacji strategii biznesowej

Chcesz zaprojektować zasobooszczędny model Business, aby wykorzystać nowe możliwości rynkowe? Zapoznaj się z szablonem ClickUp Lean Business Plan Szablon -oszczędza czas i wysiłek, pomagając zdefiniować cele biznesowe skutecznie i dostarczanie podsumowania statusu projektu przez cały czas.

Podobnie jak poprzedni szablon, ten jest wyposażony w pola niestandardowe do wizualizacji planu biznesowego. Możesz definiować atrybuty za pomocą rozwijanych list, dodawać opisy tekstowe lub przesyłać pliki, aby wzbogacić pole o odpowiednie dane.

To, co wyróżnia ten szablon, to praktyczne typy widoków specyficzne dla biznesu, w tym następujące:

  • podsumowuje kluczowe elementy modelu biznesowego na liście. Dostarcza opisy projektów, identyfikację menedżera zadań i aktualizacje statusu zadań w czasie rzeczywistym
  • Istniejące alternatywy
  • Rozwiązanie
  • Kluczowe wskaźniki
  • nieuczciwa przewaga
  • umożliwia organizowanie zadań według ich ważności w celu uzyskania układu bardziej przyjaznego dla terminów 🚩

Jeśli Twój startup ma ścisłe ograniczenia budżetowe, zalecamy utworzenie kompleksowego arkusza kalkulacyjnego przy użyciu funkcji Widok tabeli w ClickUp . Możesz wcześniej odłożyć budżet na marketing, reklamę i personel, aby uniknąć niepotrzebnych wydatków podczas opracowywania szczupłego modelu biznesowego.

3. Szablon Business Model Canva dla ClickUp

Szablon ClickUp Business Model Canva

Szablon Tablica rozpoczyna się od dziewięciu jasno zdefiniowanych i oznaczonych kolorami segmentów, które stanowią podstawową strukturę modelu biznesowego

Jeśli zastanawiasz się, jak przekształcić wstępny pomysł w dobrze skonstruowany Business Plan nie szukaj dalej niż Szablon modelu biznesowego ClickUp Business Model Canva ! Wzmacnia pozycję Teams poprzez ułatwianie innowacyjnej współpracy na udostępnianej Tablicy. Można go użyć do

  • Planować strategię biznesową poprzez zawężenie obszarów wysokiego wzrostu
  • Rozbijać niestandardowe podróże klientów z pomocą zespołów marketingowych i sprzedażowych * Współpraca przy podejmowaniu świadomych decyzji dotyczących cen, produkcji i dystrybucji

Szablon rozpoczyna się od tych dziewięciu odrębnych, kolorowych segmentów , które służą jako podstawa modelu lean business canvas:

  • Kluczowi partnerzy
  • Kluczowe działania
  • Propozycja wartości
  • Relacje z niestandardowymi klientami
  • Niestandardowe segmenty klientów
  • Kluczowe zasoby
  • Strumień przychodów

Polegaj na podpowiedziach szablonu, aby określić szczegóły firmy, nazwy uczestniczących członków zespołu i datę powstania. Dodatkowo, w przypadku wielu iteracji modelu biznesowego, można odpowiednio nazwać i ponumerować wersje.

Co najlepsze? Tablice ClickUp mają nieskończoną powierzchnię Canva i łatwy w nawigacji pasek narzędzi z opcjami dodawania notatek, obrazów i innych elementów multimedialnych. Nigdy nie zabraknie Ci przestrzeni do odkrywania i rozwijania swoich pomysłów. 🔄

4. Szablon tablicy ClickUp Startup Canva

Szablon tablicy ClickUp Startup Canva

Szablon Tablica jest przyjazny dla użytkownika i pomaga stworzyć zwięzły obraz swojego biznesu i jego drogi do powodzenia Rozpoczęcie powodzenia startupu to staranne połączenie dobrego planu i skutecznego działania. Jak więc zapewnić startupowi dobry start? To właśnie tutaj Szablon tablicy ClickUp Startup Canva wchodzi. 🔝

Szablon ten jest najlepszym partnerem do szczupłego modelowania biznesowego i testowania pomysłów o niskim zaangażowaniu w celu określenia propozycji wartości i modelu przychodów. Domyślnie otrzymujesz 13 kompleksowych segmentów obejmujących praktycznie każdy aspekt Twojego startupu.

Załóżmy, że pracujesz nad uruchomieniem startupu agrotechnicznego, aby pomóc rolnikom w zakupie sprzętu rolniczego po niskich kosztach. Zacznij od wymienienia kluczowych partnerów i nakreślenia problemu, który rozwiązuje twój biznes lub produkt (np. ograniczenie pracy fizycznej po przystępnych cenach). Możesz zdefiniować swój rynek docelowy, zidentyfikować konkurentów i substytuty, ustawić cele ( jak utrzymanie 20% marży zysku ), a nawet oszacować koszty sprzętu. 🌱

Ten jednostronicowy szablon Tablica jest bardzo przyjazny dla użytkownika, ułatwiając proces podsumowywania zwięzłego obrazu swojego biznesu, w tym tego, co chcesz osiągnąć i jak planujesz odnieść sukces. Jego profesjonalny układ jest idealny do prezentacji inwestorom , ale może również służyć jako wstępny szkic bardziej kompleksowego planu biznesowego w miarę rozwoju firmy.

5. Szablon burzy mózgów ClickUp Squad

Szablon burzy mózgów ClickUp Squad

Pracuj dobrze jako zespół dzięki szablonowi Squad Brainstorm od ClickUp

Szukasz dynamicznego narzędzia, które usprawni współpracę w Twoim zespole? Szablon Szablon burzy mózgów ClickUp Squad może być Twoim rozwiązaniem! Jeśli w Twoim zespole chodzi o to, aby pracować mądrzej, a nie ciężej - ten szablon jest tutaj, aby to osiągnąć. 💡

Jak sama nazwa wskazuje, ten szablon jest Twoim usprawniony przewodnik po burzy mózgów pomaga w zbieraniu i kategoryzowaniu pomysłów od każdego członka Teams. W ramach tej interaktywnej i wysoce konfigurowalnej Tablicy, otrzymujesz Team Work Canva , aby uporządkować i nadać priorytety swoim pomysłom.

Szablon oferuje dziewięć sekcji dyskusyjnych oznaczonych kolorami , które zapewniają, że każdy aspekt dynamika zespołu jest odrębna i łatwa do zidentyfikowania. Obejmuje kategorie takie jak Team Health , Team Rhythm i Team Consensus , pozwalając zrozumieć, w jaki sposób te koncepcje są zgodne z nadrzędnymi celami zespołu. Szablon ten można również wykorzystać do zatwierdzania spotkań i cykli pracy, wprowadzając porządek w typowo chaotycznych działaniach nowych startupów.

Członkowie Teams mogą po prostu chwycić samoprzylepną notatkę, wprowadzić swoje pomysły i umieścić je na Tablicy tematów za pomocą akcji przeciągnij i upuść. Użyj statusów takich jak Open i Complete , aby śledzić postęp każdego pomysłu.

6. Szablon ClickUp Skuteczne tworzenie procesów

Szablon ClickUp Create Process Efficiently

Szablon ClickUp Create Process Efficiently Template został zaprojektowany z myślą o zwalczaniu nieefektywności procesów poprzez eliminację marnotrawstwa

Szablon Szablon do efektywnego tworzenia procesów ClickUp polega na eliminacji marnotrawstwa procesów w celu optymalizacji cykli pracy dla szczupłych teamów projektowych . Główną ideą jest tutaj wizualizacja bieżących procesów we wszystkich działach, wskazanie wąskich gardeł wydajności i pozbycie się zadań o niskiej wartości, pochłaniających zasoby, które spowalniają pracę zespołu. 🛞

Ten szablon ma wstępnie zaprojektowane pola niestandardowe do przechwytywania danych zadań za pomocą atrybutów, takich jak złożoność zadania, współczynnik ukończenia, rola i poziom wysiłku. Wypełnij dane dla procesów, które przeglądasz i uzyskaj równą podstawę do porównania.

Wiele widoków szablonu zostało zaprojektowanych w celu wizualizacji procesów z różnych perspektyw. Przykładowo, widok listy Process Overview umożliwia tworzenie i zarządzanie zadaniami dla bieżących lub planowanych procesów.

Następnie dostępny jest widok Widok wykresu Gantta , który wyświetla działania na osi czasu, wyraźnie wizualizując ich daty rozpoczęcia i zakończenia, czasy trwania i zależności. Jest to niezwykle przydatne do śledzenia, które zadania czekają na inne i wstrzymują zasoby.

Widok tablicy SIPOC (Suppliers, Inputs, Processes, Outputs, and Customers) jest fantastyczny do współpracy w zespole, ponieważ pomaga nakreślić proces biznesowy od początku do końca przed jego wdrożeniem. Tymczasem widok Process Map przyjmuje unikalne podejście wizualne, pozwalając na mapę procesów i szybko zauważyć obszary do poprawy.

7. Szablon mapy drogowej dla biznesu ClickUp

Szablon mapy drogowej ClickUp Business

Wyświetlanie strategicznej mapy drogowej firmy w widoku osi czasu ClickUp

Szablon Szablon biznesowej mapy drogowej ClickUp to nie tylko wizualizacja modelu biznesowego - to wsparcie dla efektywnej śledzenie projektów i zarządzanie, aby utrzymać zespoły w zgodzie i wydajności.

Wyobraź sobie, że zarządzasz kampanią marketingową. Szablon Wszystkie inicjatywy na kwartał widok listy działa jak Twój kalendarz kampanii rozkładając zadania na kwartały i dając ci jasny plan na każdy okres.

Można ustawić konkretne cele na dany kwartał, takie jak zwiększenie ruchu na stronie i zaangażowanie w mediach społecznościowych . Widok Strategic Goals List działa jak plan strategii, grupując zadania w oparciu o zdefiniowane cele. Jeśli chodzi o Roadmap Gantt view , pomyśl o nim jak o Roadmap Gantt view oś czasu projektu . Podkreśli on kolejność działań marketingowych i ich zależności, dzięki czemu plan marketingowy będzie dobrze zorganizowany i określony w czasie.

Widok Oś czasu na Kategorię biznesową przyjmuje inne podejście, pomagając określić, które działania w projekcie zajmą najwięcej czasu. A co najlepsze?

Możesz łatwo zmienić harmonogram lub dostosować czas trwania każdego elementu za pomocą prostego ruchu przeciągnij i upuść, dzięki czemu plan jest jeszcze bardziej elastyczny! 🤸

8. Szablon Excel Business Model Canva autorstwa BusinessModelAnalyst

Szablon Excel Business Model Canva autorstwa BusinessModelAnalyst

Szablon Excel Business Model Canvas dzieli plan biznesowy na kluczowe bloki konstrukcyjne

Szablon Excel Business Model Canvas firmy BusinessModelAnalyst eliminuje potrzebę długich wyjaśnień. Zamiast tego koncentruje się na jednej kanwie.

Ten szablon modelu biznesowego służy jako plan, dzieląc strategię biznesową na dziewięć podstawowych bloków. Obejmują one Segmenty klientów w celu zidentyfikowania głównych odbiorców, Propozycje wartości w celu wyróżnienia oferty oraz Kanały w celu optymalizacji sposobu dotarcia do klientów.

Oto jego piękno: szablon zapewnia szczegółowy, jednoekranowy widok Twojego biznesu. Pomaga to kompleksowo zaprojektować model biznesowy i zrozumieć, w jaki sposób każdy element pasuje do szerszego obrazu. 🖼️

9. Szablon Excel Business Model Canva autorstwa Someka

Szablon Excel Business Model Canva autorstwa Someka

Ten szablon Excel upraszcza zadanie podsumowywania, projektowania i analizowania planu strategicznego firmy

Uzyskanie jasnego obrazu komponentów Businessu jest kluczowe dla planowania strategicznego , a szablon Excel Business Model Canvas firmy Someka jest cennym narzędziem do osiągnięcia tego celu!

Ten szablon lean canvas Excel oferuje jednostronicowy model lean canvas , upraszczając proces podsumowywania, projektowania i analizowania planu strategicznego firmy. Dostarcza on dwie opcje wizualizacji komponentów biznesowych:

  • Dynamic Canva : Zawiera przestrzeń do tworzenia kolorowych notatek post-it dla różnych komponentów
  • Blank Canva : Daje większą swobodę w projektowaniu płótna za pomocą edytora typu "przeciągnij i upuść". Użytkownik może niestandardowo dostosowywać notatki za pomocą różnych opcji, takich jak kolory, czcionki, kontury i inne, korzystając z zakładki formatu kształtu

Ten szablon jest kompatybilny z programem Excel 2010 i nowszymi wersjami i jest dostępny w formacie gotowym do użycia dla platform Mac i Windows.

10. Szablony Excel Business Model Canva i Lean Canvas firmy NeosChronos

Szablony Excel Business Model Canvas i Lean Canvas autorstwa NeosChronos

Ten szablon jest odpowiedni dla startupów i firm, które chcą uprościć i przyspieszyć procedury planowania i podejmowania decyzji

Excel Business Model Canvas i Lean Canvas Templates firmy NeosChronos to podwójne rozwiązanie dla zespołów programistycznych, które chcą wizualizować swój model biznesowy, przestrzegając zasad metodologii lean .

Szablon Excel oferuje dwa arkusze: business model canvas i lean canvas planning . Pierwszy z nich dzieli model biznesowy na kluczowe elementy, takie jak segmenty klientów, propozycje wartości i strumienie przychodów. Arkusz lean canvas pozwala krótko zdefiniować problemy startupu, rozwiązania i kluczowe wskaźniki na jednej stronie. 📑

Format oparty na Excelu zapewnia uporządkowane wprowadzanie danych i łatwe aktualizacje. Szablon ten może jednak nie być dla każdego, ponieważ trzeba stale przełączać się między dwoma arkuszami, aby usprawnić rejestrowane informacje. Ale projekt jest nadal całkiem solidny!

The Unique Burial of a Child of Early Scythian Time at the Cemetery of Saryg-Bulun (Tuva)

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Pages:  379-406

In 1988, the Tuvan Archaeological Expedition (led by M. E. Kilunovskaya and V. A. Semenov) discovered a unique burial of the early Iron Age at Saryg-Bulun in Central Tuva. There are two burial mounds of the Aldy-Bel culture dated by 7th century BC. Within the barrows, which adjoined one another, forming a figure-of-eight, there were discovered 7 burials, from which a representative collection of artifacts was recovered. Burial 5 was the most unique, it was found in a coffin made of a larch trunk, with a tightly closed lid. Due to the preservative properties of larch and lack of air access, the coffin contained a well-preserved mummy of a child with an accompanying set of grave goods. The interred individual retained the skin on his face and had a leather headdress painted with red pigment and a coat, sewn from jerboa fur. The coat was belted with a leather belt with bronze ornaments and buckles. Besides that, a leather quiver with arrows with the shafts decorated with painted ornaments, fully preserved battle pick and a bow were buried in the coffin. Unexpectedly, the full-genomic analysis, showed that the individual was female. This fact opens a new aspect in the study of the social history of the Scythian society and perhaps brings us back to the myth of the Amazons, discussed by Herodotus. Of course, this discovery is unique in its preservation for the Scythian culture of Tuva and requires careful study and conservation.

Keywords: Tuva, Early Iron Age, early Scythian period, Aldy-Bel culture, barrow, burial in the coffin, mummy, full genome sequencing, aDNA

Information about authors: Marina Kilunovskaya (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail: [email protected] Vladimir Semenov (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail: [email protected] Varvara Busova  (Moscow, Russian Federation).  (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences.  Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Kharis Mustafin  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Technical Sciences. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Irina Alborova  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Biological Sciences. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Alina Matzvai  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected]

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  1. Business Model Canvas

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    The Business Model Canvas template, designed by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur, provides a strategic and powerful way to understand your business. The Business Model Canvas (BMC) displays a business model, and it contains nine blocks: fill in each one using stickies, links, sketches, pictures, and videos.

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  17. Business Model Canvas » Businessplan.com

    The Business Model Canvas offers a straightforward approach to conceptualizing and evaluating a business model. Its single-page format makes it easier to understand, share, and modify than traditional, lengthy business plans, making it particularly beneficial for entrepreneurs in the planning and development stages of their businesses.

  18. Best Business Plan Templates for Startups: Lean Canvas, One-Page, & More

    We highly recommend using business plan templates that are specifically tailored for startups. These templates provide a comprehensive framework and guidance for outlining your business goals, strategies, and financial projections. Some popular options include the Lean Canvas, One-Page Business Plan, and the Business Model Canvas. These ...

  19. Live In Person 102 Turn Your Dream into Action with the Business Model

    The session will introduce the Business Model Canvas which will serve as the basic tool for developing an effective business plan. This tool allows you to capture the key ingredients of your business idea and how it will work, on a single page using a rigorous, thoughtful process.

  20. 10 wartościowych szablonów Lean Canvas dla doświadczonych ...

    8. Szablon Excel Business Model Canva autorstwa BusinessModelAnalyst. Szablon Excel Business Model Canvas dzieli plan biznesowy na kluczowe bloki konstrukcyjne. Szablon Excel Business Model Canvas firmy BusinessModelAnalyst eliminuje potrzebę długich wyjaśnień. Zamiast tego koncentruje się na jednej kanwie.

  21. Russia's Special Operations Forces Command and the ...

    In the formative period of the KSSO (2009-2013), the General Staff leadership extensively studied the development, training and methods used by the special forces of the world's leading military powers. Finally, in March 2013, the KSSO was formally created and subordinated directly to the CGS (Novosti Rossiya, February 28, 2019).

  22. Module : Location map/data/Russia Moscow Oblast/doc

    Main page; Contents; Current events; Random article; About Wikipedia; Contact us; Donate; Help; Learn to edit; Community portal; Recent changes; Upload file

  23. The Unique Burial of a Child of Early Scythian Time at the Cemetery of

    Burial 5 was the most unique, it was found in a coffin made of a larch trunk, with a tightly closed lid. Due to the preservative properties of larch and lack of air access, the coffin contained a well-preserved mummy of a child with an accompanying set of grave goods. The interred individual retained the skin on his face and had a leather ...

  24. "Moscow Compass" company

    The Model 11 is recommended for beginners in orienteering and skilled tourist. Variations Model 2. Model 3. Model 8. Model 9. Model 2. Fast. Needle setting time: 0,5-1 sec. Stability during running: good; Magnet: extra high-power; Scale: b/w, scale unit 2 grad. Recommended for orienteers, who prefer fast orienteering style. It is the fastest ...