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Using the Lean Canvas to Map + Drive Your Startup
Presented at to
Oct 1, 2015 Kingston, Ontario
Agenda
● What is the lean canvas?● The lean canvas as map● Driving with the lean canvas
Caveats + Clarifications
● Frame of reference = tech● Goal = a real tool for you to use!● One size does not fit all + YMMV● Academic context is specific● Questions any time!
1. What is the lean canvas?
Let’s start with a definition
“Lean Canvas is an adaptation of Business Model Canvas by Alexander Osterwalder which Ash Maurya created in the Lean Startup spirit. Lean Canvas promises an actionable and entrepreneur-focused business plan. It focuses on problems, solutions, key metrics and competitive advantages.”
https://canvanizer.com/new/lean-canvas
Business Model Canvas (2008)
http://www.freemium.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Blank-Business-Model-Canvas.jpg
Lean Canvas (2009)
https://milanpevec.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/lean-canvas_blank.png
The “canvas” movement is part of larger trends in the business world
● Agile● Lean startup● Decreasing cost of entry● Seed investment explosion● Startup “hacking”
These trends are equally relevant to startups and big companies
http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/book
The Business Model Canvas is a work of “practical business theory”
● Arose out of PhD work - “The Business Model Ontology. . .”
● As such, it’s a distillation of specific theories about value creation
● But it’s also a (very popular) strategic planning tool for business practitioners
The Lean Canvas offers a similar tool focused more on risk and action
My main objective with Lean Canvas was making it as actionable as possible while staying entrepreneur-focused. The metaphor I had in mind was that of a grounds-up tactical plan or blueprint that guided the entrepreneur as they navigated their way from ideation to building a successful startup.
My approach to making the canvas actionable was capturing that which was most uncertain, or more accurately, that which was most risky.
I had found the initial Business Model Canvases I created back in August 2009 missing on things I’d consider very high risk while other things on the canvas didn’t register as high enough risk.
http://leanstack.com/why-lean-canvas/
Here’s what Ash removed
Here’s what he added
https://milanpevec.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/lean-canvas_blank.png
2. The lean canvas as a map
Now that we’re situated, let’s have a closer look
Now that we’re situated, let’s have a closer look
PRODUCT/COMPANY MARKET/CUSTOMER
1. Problem
● be specific!● start small● multiple problems ● nested problems● is it falsifiable?
2. Customer
● be super specific!● can you find them?● multiple customers? ● consider personas
3. UVP
● Not your product!● Marriage of problem
and customer● Value creation!● Differentiation● Tag line?
4. Solution
● Your product!● Key features● Platform?● Core use case?
5. Channels
● Be specific!● Multiple channels● Now vs. later● Cost matters
6. Metrics
● Measuring success● KPIs● Vanity vs. Actionable● Unit economics● OMTM● Data availability?
7. Revenue
● Be specific!● Back of envelope● LTV● Gross margin● Revenue vs. users● Future streams?
8. Costs
● Salaries!● Channels?● CAC● Operations● Unit economics
9. Unfair Advantage
● Not my favorite box● Often doesn’t exist● Often must be
developed/earned
3. Driving with the lean canvas
But What Does a Business Model Have to Do With My Startup?
Your startup is essentially an organization built to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. As a founder you start out with:
1) a vision of a product with a set of features,2) a series of hypotheses about all the pieces of the business model: Who are the customers/users? What’s the distribution channel. How do we price and position the product? How do we create end user demand? Who are our partners? Where/how do we build the product? How do we finance the company, etc.”
http://steveblank.com/2010/01/25/whats-a-startup-first-principles/
“Your startup is a series of hypotheses. . .”
Your job is to fill the Canvas with hypotheses. . .
Then prove or pivot them.
Every startup is at a different stage of
proving hypotheses!
Entrepreneurship Class
Problem/Solution Fit
Product/Market Fit
Know your stage, know your riskiest
hypothesis, and start testing!
