Business model canvas
The holy grail of design thinking tools. Understand a business model in a straightforward, structured way, from the customers you serve and the value propositions you offer to how your company makes money. Created by Alexander Osterwalder of Strategyzer.
What it is
The Business Model Canvas, created by Alexander Osterwalder of Strategyzer, describes any business on a single page through nine building blocks: customer segments, value propositions, channels, customer relationships, revenue streams, key resources, key activities, key partnerships and cost structure. Together they show how an organization creates, delivers and captures value.
What you use it for
Use it to map the business you have, design the business you want, or challenge both. Because the whole model sits on one page, the canvas gives a team a shared language: everyone can see how a change on one block, a new segment, a different revenue stream, ripples through all the others. It works equally well for a global corporation, a startup and a single new idea.
How to work with it
Start on the right with customers and the value you offer them, then work left through how you deliver it and what it costs. Use sticky notes, one assumption per note, and keep it rough. The canvas is not a form to fill in once. It is a living document you revisit as your experiments prove your assumptions right or wrong.
Free to download, print and use. Helping people help themselves starts with the tools to do it.
Want this canvasworking for you?
Explore the possibilities with Patrick van der Pijl and the BMI team. Every big shift starts with a conversation.