Tool

Business Model Canvas

The Business Model Canvas (BMC) was first developed by Alexander Osterwalder as part of his PhD work. Since its release it has become a very popular tool amongst start-ups and large firms. The BMC is a great way to summarize a business model and asses if all components fit well together.

We typically apply the BMC during our Innovation Bootcamps, during the business model discovery sprints in our Customer-Centric Growth Flow, and the maturation phase of our Think Tank process.

We have made one adaptation to the typical BMC, to change one of the components from ‘key activities’ to ‘key technologies’. With many of our customers this resonates better. For each components, as you can find in the template, there is a series of questions that can guide you.

Business model canvas top picture

Filling in the canvas

We start by asking innovation teams to define their ambition. We then use the BMC to generate strategic options and not simply fill in a summary of the idea. For example, you may have several customer segments that you may want to target, and for each customer segment, the BMC may look very different. Only once they have generated options and evaluated them (e.g., based on suitability, feasibility, & acceptability), we complete a BMC with the final choices. This ensures that we have considered different options and evolutions of the business model over time.

The top part of the business model if first filled out from right to left (i.e., from customer segments to key partners). Then the bottom, namely revenue streams and cost structure is filled in. We use many of our other tools to support the decision making, such as Targeting Matrix (customer segments),  Positioning Matrix (value proposition), jobs-to-be-done canvas (value proposition), and Market Sizing (revenues).

Download the Business Model Canvas tool

MTI2 Tool Business Model Canvas bottom picture