We Love the Business Model Canvas (and so should you!)

In 2008,  Alex Osterwalder developed a tool to facilitate the analysis, mapping, and visualization of a company's business models. The “Business Model Canvas” is a summary (about the size of a page) of the strategic details that a company needs to generate, deliver, and capture value. The tool is divided into nine blocks that allow you to keep the focus on the most important strategic elements of your business.
Benefits of the Business Model Canvas

There are various benefits of the business model canvas. Among them are:

• It promotes teamwork by generating a common language to hold conversations about the strategy.
• Visual representation on a single page about what you need to do to generate and maintain a competitive advantage.
• It promotes innovation by facilitating the design of new business ideas while allowing the visualization of existing businesses.
• It promotes the strategic discipline of the company since it is a living document that needs to be constantly updated.

Guide to fill the Business Model Canvas

The Business Model Canvas contains 9 categories that answer important questions about your business. The correct way is to divide the Canvas into two large units of analysis: the right or market part, and the left part (internal company analysis)


Step 1: Previous activities

Print a Canvas format on a plotter size 841 x 1189 mm and paste it on a wall. Buy bookmarks and post-its. Because it is an intellectual property tool of Strategyzer (Alex Osterwalder company) you should always print the formats of the Business Model Canvas with the legend.

• Customer segments
  It is a group of customers that creates value or solves a problem. To analyze this block you can rely on other methodologies such as:
   
  • Value Proposition Canvas
  • Buyer Persona
  • Empathy Map
  • Others

• Value proposal:

• • Value Proposition Canvas
  • Jobs to be Done
  • Customer Experience Journey Maps
  • Blue ocean strategy
  • Others
    
    
• Channels

It is the means by which you reach your customer segments. The channels can be your own or from third parties. In the case of third parties, analyze them as a segment and see what value they obtain from your product/service. In the channels consider the following moments:

• • Means you use to publicize your value proposition to customer segments.
  • The way you deliver your value proposition to customers.
  • The ways your customers evaluate and give feedback.

• Relationships with customers

• Revenue streams

• Analysis of the left part internal analysis of the company

• Key resources

• Key activities

• Key alliances

• Cost structure

After analyzing the key activities, key resources, and key partnerships, reflect on the costs your company has.

• Use post-its so that the Canvas has flexibility, as it will allow you to move ideas when required.
• Write down one idea per post-it, use words, images, or a mixture of both.
• Define a color code: for example, if your model has two customer segments, use post-its of different colors for the ideas in the blocks that correspond to each of them, to differentiate "as is" from "to be", and to differentiate the facts (proven) from the assumptions (unproven).
• Avoid orphan elements in the business model, each idea must be related to another idea in the other blocks.
• Use the KIS method (Keep it simple), avoid using many different ideas in a single format as it may be confusing. If required, use different formats.